Book Blogger Love-a-Thon Interview Swap

The Book Blogger Love-a-Thon has barely even start and I’m already loving it!  Earlier this week I had the pleasure of swaping interviews with the lovely Andrea at The Overstuffed Bookshelf.  

When and why did you start your blog?

I started The Overstuffed Bookcase on January 14, 2012.  I had a personal blog before that and in 2011, I participated in a reading challenge, and because of that I started reviewing books on that blog.  But I followed a few book blogs and I really wanted to start a new blog that was strictly about books, and therefore started The Overstuffed Bookcase.  I’ve always loved to read and write and I knew that this was a way to share my love of books and also to keep writing consistently, even if it wasn’t in fiction form.

Tell us a little about your blog.

I review mostly YA books on my blog, because that is about 90% of what I read.  But I do occasionally review adult books, as well as middle grade books and some classics.  I have a couple of features on my blog, but I don’t do them very often.  I need to start doing them more!  One is called Blind Reads, where I read a book without knowing hardly anything about it.  I make theories about the book and then see if I’m correct once I’ve read it.  The other one is called TypeCasting, where I cast a few of the main characters in books that I’d like to see adapted to film.  And my reviews are kind of mixed.  Sometimes they’re really serious and sometimes I’m making up lyrics to songs about the books.  I like to add some humor to my reviews.

What is your favorite thing about blogging?  

The community.  I mean, I love to read and review books but I really think the awesome community is what makes it all worth it.  I co-wrote a movie review blog for a while and while we had fun doing that, we only had about 3 people who ever visited, so it felt like we were doing a lot of work for little to no reward.  So we shut it down.  I still miss it sometimes but mostly I’m glad it’s over, because it really was a lot of work.  But I do feel like if there had been a community like the book blogging community, we would still be doing it.  It’s just so great to meet other people who love to read as much as you do, people who hoard books like you do, who fangirl over meeting their favorite authors like they’re rock stars, just like you do.  There may be drama at times in this community (and there has been a lot of it since I’ve had my book blog!), but I really do think it’s a great community where the majority of bloggers do it because they love books and they love sharing that love with others.

What is your favorite genre and which is most out of your comfort zone?

My absolute favorite genre is Science Fiction, specifically YA Sci-Fi.  Hand me a book that has anything to do with spaceships, aliens, post-apocalyptic societies, dystopian societies, etc., and I’ll most likely fangirl the whole time I’m reading it.  I’d say the genre that is most out of my comfort zone is erotica.  I read an erotica book once for my book club and it just was not for me.

What was your favorite book when you were growing up?

My absolute favorite book growing up was The Girl Who Owned a City by O.T. Nelson.  In it, everyone over the age of 13 has died from some type of virus and all the kids are left to fend for themselves.  I think it was probably my first introduction to a post-apocalyptic story and I think it really influenced my love of all things Sci-Fi.

Your 5 favorite books now?

It’s so hard to narrow it down!  I have like 40 books on my “Favorites” shelf on Goodreads.  Here’s five, but my list is always slightly fluctuating:

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Wicked:  The Life and Times of The Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire

Extras by Scott Westerfeld

Besides reading and blogging, what are your other interests?

I have a 3-year-old son, and I’m a stay-at-home mom, so most of my time is spent with him.  But I also love to play pool.  I played on a competitive team for several years and it was a lot of fun.  I also write YA fiction, and I’ve participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) for the past 4 years.  I would love to have a book published someday.

If you could give advice to a newbie blogger what would it be?

Pace yourself.  You don’t have to have thousands of followers or get tons of ARCs to be a good book blogger.  And you do NOT have to post every day.  Take a look at some of your favorite blogs.  What do they do that you like?  Is it their page design, their witty reviews, their interesting features?  How often do they post?  Several bloggers do post every day, but it’s just not realistic for everyone, in my opinion.  It’s YOUR blog.  Do what’s right for you.  Be consistent and read a lot and above all, have fun!

It is awesome that you play pool!  I’d like to give a big thank you to Andrea for being so wonderful during the interview process.  It was great to get to know her better and discover a fantastic blog.