BBAW Day 3: What does book blogging mean to me (with a special guest)

Today as I was thinking about what to write for this post, I came up with a few different words, all very worthy, that I was going to expand upon. Words like friendship, validation, encouragement, entertainment, and so many more.

Instead though, I want to give an example of the kind of thing that makes blogging so much fun.

Several years ago now, Kristie J from Rambling on Romance started a crusade to get as many people as possible to watch the BBC adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South starring the scrumptious Richard Armitage. Now I was prepared to like the mini-series and I did. What I didn't expect was to get completely hooked, and to still be completely gaga over Richard, mainly because I don't tend to get obsessed with specific actors normally.

Since then, I had the DVD player that revolted when I tried to put anything other than a Richard Armitage disc in, I have watched the lovely RA read bedtime stories, The Vicar of Dibley, Captain America, Robin Hood and more, and I can't wait for The Hobbit. More than 4 years later watching North and South and The Vicar of Dibley still bring me joy on a regular basis.

Whenever I happen to see someone discovering the mini-series, I still get excited and it invariably leads me to rewatching more clips. I can pretty much do the final scene of North and South word for word.

Just tonight I happened on a conversation about Richard Armitage on Twitter, which had me thinking about the various famous scenes and then suddenly I found myself watching the final scene of North and South again (sigh) and then all of The Vicar of Dibley wedding specials. And here's the thing. I actually really needed a laugh. As in really needed a laugh because I was in danger of becoming a bit morose tonight. And this moment is something that I can directly attribute back to the influence of bloggers and blogging not only back when my obsession started but also now, just in having a conversation with friends tonight.

Whilst using this as my example does mean that I can insert gratuitous Richard Armitage pictures here, the fact is that I could have talked about the discovery of some of my favourite authors, some of my favourite books, some great friends and so much more to illustrate my point.

If I have to summarise really briefly though, it would be this.

Blogging makes me happy!

And let's face it, you can't ask for more than that for something that you have stuck with for as long as I have, and that I can't see stopping anytime soon!

BBAW Day 2: Interview with Heather from Capricious Reader

Welcome to Day 2 of Book Blogger Appreciation Week which is interview swap day!

Over the years I have participated in these kinds of events I have always been matched up with new to me blogs which has always been fun, and some of those blogs have made it onto my must read daily blog list. This time  though I was totally thrilled to end up being matched up with someone who I have been following for many years, who I consider a bloggy friend - Heather from Capricious Reader.

True to form we ended up with more of a conversation instead of an interview as such! You can read the first part of our interview discussion chat over at Heather's blog. Heather's thoughts are in purple and mine are in black.

Marg: Has blogging changed the way you read?

Heather: Absolutely!!

Right after I got out of college, I was so burned out on reading. I majored in English, so I spent two years reading books, dissecting books, and writing writing writing. I used to read such crap back then! Then I found blogging and all of a sudden, I was hearing about all the great books and was reading all the great books. It really helped me find what I enjoy reading.
Marg: One of the things that I think has changed about blogging is that there is so much more to blogging than just the blogging now. There is Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and so much more. How do you keep up with all the other stuff?

Heather: All I can say is Thank God for my iPhone! I can’t get on anything at work any more (once upon a time I could get on Twitter) (miss those days!), so now at lunch and breaks I check in on things. Twitter does email me now when someone mentions my handle (most of the time), so that helps too. And once the kids are in bed, I’ll hop on for a bit if the mood hits.

How do you keep up?

Marg: I have become selective about what I do.

Whilst I loved Pinterest and spent a lot of time there when I first joined I now haven’t visited there for months. I used to play a lot of Facebook games but that has stopped. So really now I focus on blogging, on Facebook and Twitter. Nearly everything else has gone by the wayside. Oh, although recently I have become a little bit attached to Instagram.

Even with those decisions made, I am still behind on blog reading!

What are the best books you have read this year?

Heather: Oh, now we get down to the good stuff, eh? :)

Let’s see, I’ll just list them, shall I? Because there are SO MANY.

• Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, excellent historical YA epistolary/WWII espionage thriller
• Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, YA sci-fi dystopian kind of thing
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, read by Wil Wheaton is incredible! Especially for an 80s child like me!
• The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss, a fine example of a book I would have never read before book blogging, which is so sad! I love this series fiercely
• Lips Touch, Three Times by Laini Taylor, great collection of 3 short stories, all of which I adored
• Railsea by China Mieville, so glad I finally read a Mieville. He intimidates me!
• The Stand by Stephen King, a direct influence of book bloggers. I would have never read this and it’s probably on my all time fave list now
• The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan, I’m convinced. The woman can do no wrong.
• Every Day by David Levithan, I feel a fierce, protective love for this book. So good.

How about you?

Marg: I just finished the Margo Lanagan last week (although here it was called Sea Hearts) and thought it was fabulous! And yay for The Wise Man’s Fear.

Other highlights for me include (but are not limited to)

• Me Before You by Jojo Moyes - completely absorbing, heart breakingly good story.
• Legacy by Susan Kay - I thought I was all Tudor’d out, but this book showed me that I could still love a well written account of Elizabeth I’s life. 
• Fables series by Bill Willingham - I have been wanting to read these for ages, but finally started them this year.
• A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness - Ugly, sobbing crying but oh so good.
• The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - such amazing imagination.
• The Girl in Steel-Capped Boots by Loretta Hill - Rural fiction is currently a huge seller in Australia and this is one of the better ones I have read
• Ride with Me and About Last Night by Ruthie Knox - Sexy contemporary romance from a new author that is really good reading.
• The Siren by Tiffany Reisz - The publicity for this book was very firmly targeted at the Fifty Shades of Grey crowd, but in my opinion it is a much better book
• Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne du Maurier - it’s been years since I have read DdM but I should really make more of an effort as I have enjoyed the books I have read by her.
• Bad Power by Deborah Biancotti - awesome short story collection which is part of the Twelve Planets series.

Heather: Oooo you have some great books in there! A Monster Calls and The Night Circus in particular. And you know how much I love Fables. It’s been so long since I’ve read Tudor book, for the same reasons. I thought I was Tutor’d out. Now I’m thinking I should look that book up! And I can’t wait to hear what you think of the Margo Lanagan, no matter the title. :)

Marg: The longer I blog, the more involved I find myself getting in the community. Recently you and Andi relaunched the Estella Society lit magazine. Do you want to tell us a little bit about that project?

Heather: Of course I do! Andi and I loved doing The Estella’s Revenge E-Zine, but school for her, new parenthood for me, made it hard to continue it, so we shut it down a few years ago. Now, she’s out of school, my kids have gotten older and a touch more self-sufficient, so we decided we wanted to bring it back. As we talked (and this went on for like nine months, our new daughter so to speak) we realized one thing we really wanted to do was bring the book blogging community together. You know, that “playground” aspect we have in our tag line. We wanted somewhere for book bloggers to come to get to know each other, have readalongs, readathons, learn tips and tricks about blogging and just relax. Seems like every other month or so our community gets up in arms about something and we want to get away from that, although we will tackle it if something should come up. You know how Andi likes her snark!

We’re still in our infancy, but we are having so much fun and the response has been terrific. Really, more than we ever hoped for.


Marg: Thanks Heather! This was fun!

BBAW Day 1: Appreciation Day

The daily theme for today is:

Appreciation: There are no awards this year, but it can still be hard to navigate the huge universe of book blogging. Share with your readers some of the blogs you enjoy reading daily and why.


BBAW is back for another year, albeit in a more pared back format that in previous years. One of the things that has gone by the wayside are the awards, which I do think is a good thing in a way. I always felt a bit uncomfortable with some of the nomination processes and at times with the results but there were also lots of really deserving blogs that were given focus as a result of the process. Even on the year where there are no awards I am still torn as to what I thought of them!

Today though, it is a chance for me to give my own awards. I did something similar last year and I am really trying not to repeat my responses, even though I assure you that I do still value people like Kelly, Heather, Bree, Beth and Sarah! I also really wanted to spotlight some Australian bloggers this year as well.

The How Does She Do It award goes to

Shelleyrae from Book'd Out!

Shelleyrae gets through a ton of books, and seems to manage to review them all as well (something I gave up trying to do years ago). She is also involved in other events around the blogosphere as well. I don't know how she does it as well as being a mum and all round nice person!

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The next award is the Wow, Look how Lucid and Detailed That Review is award goes to

Dani from Alphareader

I can't tell you how many reviews I have read by Dani where I have been blown away at the breadth and depth of the review!

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The It Must Be Time for a Catch Up award goes to

Lisa from ANZ Litlovers! 

We only met for the first time face to face at last years Melbourne Writers Festival and we have met up a few times since. Even though we read very differently most of the time in terms of genre and focus, we still never run out of things to talk about (and we don't only talk about books!). Besides, she just got back from a dream holiday so I am looking forward to living vicariously through her! 

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My final award for this year is not so much for a blogger but rather an event (although the founder, Elizabeth Lhuede) deserves a huge amount of kudos!

The Event that Significantly Changed my Reading for the better this year goes to

Australian Women Writers Challenge

Most years since I began blogging one of my aims has been to read more Australian authors. I would read 10 or 12 and been happy with that. This year though, participating in the Australian Women Writers Challenge has inspired me to really pushed me to read more. So far this year I have read more than 30 books by just Australian women authors, and there are also a few male authors to add to that total! This also had the added effect of meaning that I have had a bumper year for the Aussie Author Challenge hosted by Booklover Book Reviews as well!

BBAW: No guilt blogging

It's the end of BBAW for this year and we all made it to the end!  I always tend to feel a bit tired at the end of these kinds of events!

Today's prompt is:

The world of blogging is continually changing. Share 3 things you are essential tried and true practices for every blogger and 1-3 new trends or tools you’ve adapted recently or would like to in the future.

I am not really 100% sure what I want to say today that hasn't already been said! A bit of reiteration never hurt though so here goes.

Probably the most important practice is commenting. Yes, I know it takes time, and I know that it is often easy to feel overwhelmed by being 'behind' but the truth is that commenting is probably the best way to connect with new to you bloggers.

I do think that commenting is a bit of a habit, and like all habits it is easy to make a new bad habit and hard to break it but not so easy to create a new good habit and easy to lose it.

Over the years I  have developed a few strategies to help with commenting so I thought that I would share a couple of them here. It is however important to decide what suits you and what works for you! These helped me when I felt like I should be commenting more than I was.

• Sort your feed reader (Bloglines/Googlereader etc) into various categories. I have them sorted into Aussie Bloggers, Historical Fiction Bloggers, Must Read, Book Reviewers and others. If I can get through my Aussie blogger folders and the must reads then I am happy with my blogging day. On a really good day I get through everything!
• If you need to hit "Mark all as read" in your feed reader, then do it! (I feel guilty about this one sometimes but it will relieve unnecessary pressure)
• If you have limited time, set yourself a target. For example, if you only have half an hour to spend blog hopping, say that you need to leave 5 comments in that time.
• Make it easy as possible for other people to comment on your blog, and then return the favour when they do so.

What if the dreaded blogger's block happens? Again, a couple of strategies that have worked for me in the past.

• Most of the time I spend time blog hopping and then decide to write my own post with the left over time. Sometimes you need to put your own blog first!
• Try something new! This year for example I started participating in the Weekend Cooking meme hosted by Bethfish Reads. You might think that is because I have a passion for cooking, but I don't really. I am a functional cook at best. What I enjoy is looking for another post that may or may not be book related!
• Read some of your own old posts. I sometimes take half an hour to have a look through my archives and it gives me a lot of enjoyment when I do it. Often I get a little surprised at what I have posted about, or what I haven't posted about!
• It's okay for your blog to change and evolve. If my blog was exactly the same as it was when I first started I am pretty sure I would have quit ages ago.
• Preschedule posts. If you are feeling inspired, write a few posts and have them sitting there ready to go on days when you aren't feeling quite so inspired
• You don't have to post every day, or a certain number of times per week etc!

I relieved a lot of the pressure that I was feeling by realising that I didn't have to review every single book that I read. Oh, sweet freedom. It does come back to haunt me when I realise that I would like to read a review of a book that I read a couple of years ago, but that is a small price to pay for the lack of blogging stress.

Decide what you can and can't do and don't feel guilty if you can't do more! There are always lots of new and shiny things coming along that can be distracting. Some examples are Google+, Klout, Pinterest, Tumblr and more! Personally, I have a pretty full schedule with my blogging, Facebook and Twitter and for the most part I am happy to keep it to that. I know that I am missing out on things by not being on some of these other sites, but like everyone else I have other responsibilities that need to be a priority for me. I am all for no guilt blogging!

At the end of the day blogging is meant to be fun. If it is becoming a chore that you dread having to do, then it is clearly not working for you and you might need to think about making some changes!

BBAW: Mini interviews

On Tuesday I offered up the opportunity to participate in mini-interviews for those people who had missed out on interview swap partners!


Here are the answers of those people who responded to the offer! First up, Kelly from The Written World

What is your blog called? What was the inspiration behind the name?
My blog is called The Written World. The inspiration is simply it sounded good at the time and I couldn't think of anything else.

What kind of books do you like to read?
I would say that fantasy is my favourite genre, but I also enjoy historical fiction, non-fiction, and try to read as much Canadian books as possible because I live there. Otherwise, I will branch out into other genres if books sound interesting.

What is your favourite recent read?
In September I have read two books that will make my best of list for the end of the year: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson.

Where is your favourite place to read?
In bed. I put a pile of books in easy reach, arrange the pillows just so, and am set for a while!

E-book, paper book or both?
Both. I always said it would just be paper, but I have learned the benefits of an e-reader in the last few months.

Share one thing about yourself or your blog that your readers might not know.
My blog used to be called 'Kailana's Written World'. And, I still go by Kailana in comments and things. Kailana was a name I made up when someone I know needed a name for a web comic and then I just borrowed it as my nickname online. I have considered many times since just going by Kelly, but my name is so popular and I can think of about 5 bloggers that share it, so I stick with the original name. I like to be different. :)

Next up - Pamela from I Read. Do You? (great blog name!)

What is your blog called? What was the inspiration behind the name?
My blog is called "I read. Do you?" Choosing a blog name was a bit of a challenge for me because I really wanted to convey my blog's purpose in one short title.

What kind of books do you like to read?
I like to read the great classic works of literature but my heart belongs to the travel narrative genre. Since I can't afford to travel the world, I live vicariously through travel books. (Me too)

What is your favourite recent read?
My most favorite recent read combined both of my favorite genres! I recently read "Travels with Charley" by Steinbeck as part of the Classic Circuit blog hop.

Where is your favourite place to read?
I have a wonderfully large over-stuffed chair that sits in front of window facing the sun. During the summer I can open the window and smell the jasmine planted there. I love it.

E-book, paper book or both?
I steadfastly hold to the paper books. I do own a reader and have tried to read e-books, but the e-books don't hold the same charm.

Share one thing about yourself or your blog that your readers might not know.
Well, it's not really a secret, but I am a mom who homeschools her children. We have been schooling at home since 2005.

Next I welcome Pam from I Write in Books! Pam is a regular commenter here! Thanks Pam!

What is your blog called? What was the inspiration behind the name?
I'm at I Write In Books since I'm a hopeless dogear-er (is that a word??) and note writer. I really don't deface my books and often will take notes in a notebook or on stickies, these days, instead of actually writing IN the books but the name remains.

What kind of books do you like to read?
It depends on my mood. I like well-written, "literary", sometimes absurdist, off beat books but I do occasionally love my campy mysteries and good, fun YA too.

What is your favourite recent read?
I'm in the middle of Philippa Gregory's Cousin's War series which I love a lot. I'm not sure I can count it was my favorite, though, so let's see. Oh! Going Bovine by Libba Bray is probably my top pick, these days.

Where is your favourite place to read?
Anytime, anywhere! I think, these days, when things are so busy, I like my hot tea in my cafe at the bookstore. I like commotion but I like to watch it not be in it. I don't do well reading in quiet.

E-book, paper book or both?
Oh, paper. I know it's not green but I can't help myself.

Share one thing about yourself or your blog that your readers might not know.
I am not, generally, a big t.v. or movie fan but I'm a sucker for movies made by the Coen brothers. How's that for random trivia? :O)

This next blogger is a relatively newbie, having just started her blog earlier this year! Introducing Joy from Joy's Book Blog

What is your blog called? What was the inspiration behind the name?
Joy's Book Blog. Kind of obvious, but what isn't clear is that I actually went to a great deal of work, submitting lists of names to a bunch of friends and family. Nothing really popped, so I eventually decided that the straightforward name had stellar Search Engine Optimization characteristics, so I would go with that.

What kind of books do you like to read?
A wide variety -- history (fiction and non), fantasy, romance, self help, cookbooks, YA

What is your favourite recent read?
I just devoured All-American Girl by Meg Cabot. So much fun!

Where is your favourite place to read?
The bathtub

E-book, paper book or both?
Lots of paper (bathtub, remember?) but I've started using e-books for books that I work through like writing books and self help books with lots of exercises.

Share one thing about yourself or your blog that your readers might not know.
I grew up in a small Mississippi River town 30 miles south of Hannibal -- and read lots of Mark Twain before leaving for college

Finally, welcome to Bybee from Naked Without Books!

What is your blog called? What was the inspiration behind the name?
My blog is called Naked Without Books. I was inspired to name it that because I was moving to another country and I had to be without my collection for a few weeks. I felt so vulnerable.

What kind of books do you like to read?
I like early to mid 20th century fiction, Mark Twain, Biographies, History and have a love for GWTW, Little Women and the Little House books that borders on insanity.

What is your favourite recent read?
My favorite recent read is My Thoughts Be Bloody, which is about Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth's family.

Where is your favourite place to read?
My favorite place to read is outdoors at a cafe table.

E-book, paper book or both?
Both e-book and paper book. Absolutely!

Share one thing about yourself or your blog that your readers might not know.
I first heard of blogging back in 2004 when I was heavily into frugality websites. Blogging was presented as a free pastime, so being short of money, I went for it. I'm shocked that I'm still at it 7.5 years later.

BBAW: Readers

Welcome to Day 4 of BBAW! Here's the daily topic for today:

Book bloggers blog because we love reading. Has book blogging changed the way you read? Have you discovered books you never would have apart from book blogging? How has book blogging affected your book acquisition habits? Have you made new connections with other readers because of book blogging? Choose any one of these topics and share your thoughts today!

My reading has definitely changed as a result of blogging. It's hard to believe that when I started blogging I didn't really read any fantasy, very few short stories and I didn't read a lot of YA (although to be the fair there wasn't anywhere near as much out there).

I thought though that today I would talk about more recent changes to my reading related habits - short stories.

In the past I would read anthologies only if one of the stories in a book was part of an ongoing series. It used to annoy me because often there were stories from other series also in the anthology and because I couldn't not read the whole book (it's the completist in me!)  I would be reading series out of order. Other than that I most certainly didn't make any effort to read any short stories and I was quite content with that!

I am trying to think how my short story odyssey began this year.

I think it was that I started talking to a blogger on twitter (I am thinking it might have been Sean) who then posted about the Galactic Suburbia podcast which is where I heard about Twelfth Planet Press who have published three (and a half) of the collections that I have read so far this year. I have enjoyed them all, and I have already pre ordered the next three collections that are due to come out later in the year.

In addition I have also discovered the awesome short stories of Margo Lanagan and I have a couple of different collections/anthologies sitting on my book shelf waiting to be read!

One thing I haven't yet figured out is how to count and record the short stories that I read online for example, or that I listen to on podcasts. When I read a complete collection or anthology I just count it as a book read, but when it is single stories I haven't quite worked that out! How do you do this?

I would encourage everyone to occasionally follow the links as you never know where you might end up and how your reading may well be changed as a result!

Click on the images below to go to the reviews of the short story collections that I have read so far this year.

And the best thing about all of the collections I have read so far - all the authors are Australian and with the exception of the Sprawl anthology they are all female authors!

BBAW: Circles of Community (aka blogging as a venn diagram)

Today we are talking about community again, specifically about finding your place in the blogging community.

The world of book blogging has grown enormously and sometimes it can be hard to find a place. Share your tips for finding and keeping community in book blogging despite the hectic demands made on your time and the overwhelming number of blogs out there. If you’re struggling with finding a community, share your concerns and explain what you’re looking for–this is the week to connect!

When I have been thinking about what I wanted to write today, my mind kept on coming back to circles and so that is what I am going to blog about today - the circles of community within the book blogging world. This is a very different post to the one that I thought I would write when I started thinking about this topic a couple of days ago!

Events like BBAW are fantastic at increasing the sense of community which is a great thing. I know from personal experience that I always find many new to me blogs during events to this. Sometimes they are relatively new bloggers, but other times they have been blogging for years and our paths just haven't crossed before.

The thing is though, the book blogging community has grown exponentially over the years. When I started blogging nearly six years ago there was a vibrant community and most people connected in some way or another. These days though there is really no way that you can meaningfully connect with every blogger out there, or at least there is no way that I could, because there are just so many awesome blogs out there!

My tip for community relates to forming and participating in smaller circles of community within the community. There are a couple of different ways for this to happen.

Firstly, if you are a niche blogger, look for other bloggers who share your interests. If you really love romance and you are going to blog predominantly about romance, look for other romance bloggers. If fantasy is your thing, or poetry, or GLBT, look for others who you know that you will be able to start interact with by leaving comments about books you have both read, participating in events like readalongs or blog hops etc. That doesn't mean to say that you shouldn't read blogs outside of your niche, just that you are more likely to find people with similar interests.

This is sometimes harder if you don't blog exclusively or predominantly in one genre which is where I find myself! At times I find myself thinking that I don't quite fit into the any "community" simply because I read widely across genres. Some days  I feel kind of on the periphery of the romance and fantasy communities and at times wonder about my place in the historical fiction community! The thing is though, that actually reflects my own issues which is probably an important thing to remember. The one thing that you bring to blogging is yourself!

Another circle of community might be to look for bloggers who live in the same area as you. For me, this has meant finding ways to connect with other Australian bloggers whenever I can. Try organising to meet up with people if they are close enough. For example, this year I met up with a group of Sydney bloggers, attempted to organise a get together with Melbourne bloggers, have shared coffee and meals with Bree from All the Books I Can Read and a couple of other local bloggers.  There is nothing more interesting than chatting blogging and books with someone who shares your passion!

Is there something missing in your local area? Recently I noticed that a group of Perth bloggers have set up a project to try and get more authors to visit Perth! The project is called Perth YA Fans Unite, and I am willing to bet that not only will the project raise the profile and hopefully achieve their aims, but some friendships will be formed and strengthened through the process.

Keep an eye out for local events and see if you can find other bloggers who are attending. Meet up for coffee or at arrange to meet up even if it is just to sit together. As much as I loved the author events that I attended at the recent Melbourne Writers Festival, my highlight of the weekend was getting to know Lisa from ANZ Litlovers.

So what if you don't have bloggers living near you? Perhaps your circle might include people who you see regularly on Twitter? If they keep the same hours as you on a regular basis maybe start interacting with them!

One of the most important circles that you can concentrate on are those people who you have already formed relationships with. For me, these are the people who I have become friends with, who started blogging about the same time as me, the people who comment regularly on my blog. If you find yourself thinking about emailing someone for any reason - do it! You never know, that one simple contact that you make could make their day!

At the end of the day, the only way to extend your circle of community is to reach out. Your effort might not always be reciprocated, but by the same token, you might find someone who is just as eager to extend their community as you are! One thing though, if you do have an established circle, don't forget to let new people in. We should be aiming for inclusion not exclusivity!

So there you have my theory on circles of community. Are there other circles that I should have included?

BBAW: Mini interviews

Last year I came up with a plan to host some mini-interviews because I thought my proposed swap had fallen through! This year though, I decided to do it again just because it was a lot of fun.

So, here's the deal.

If you didn't get to sign up for a BBAW blogger interview swap, and you are regretting that decision, answer some or all of the following questions in the comments, and over the next couple of days I will put the answers up in a series of posts. Click on the link to see some examples of what the posts looked like last year

What is your blog called? What was the inspiration behind the name?

What kind of books do you like to read?

What is your favourite recent read?

Where is your favourite place to read?

E-book, paper book or both?

Share one thing about yourself or your blog that your readers might not know.

Don't forget to check out my interview with Cass from Bonjour, Cass!, my answers to her questions and importantly to come back in the next few days to see the various posts!

BBAW Interview swap - Welcome Bonjour, Cass!

Today it is Interview Swap day and I am thrilled to welcome Cass from Bonjour, Cass! to my little corner of the blogosphere!


Your blog name is Bonjour, Cass, but you are not French! What was the inspiration behind your blog title? (I am currently a bit obsessed with all things French!)

I once had a pet unicorn who was French, and all she could say was "Bonjour, Cass!" (Even when we said goodbye. It was all very confusing.) I decided to honor her memory by calling my blog Bonjour, Cass!

Okayyyy, maybe that's not all true. The real reason is that I couldn't think of anything else to call my blog, and Bonjour, Cass! was the first thing that came to mind. It took me two weeks to think of THAT, so imagine how long a title that actually made since would have taken!

My story about the unicorn is way better. Lets go with that one.

What's the best book you have read recently and why should we all read it?

I'm a big non fiction reader, and I tend to get into these “I must know everything about ____” kicks where I have to read about one thing until I know everything I could possibly know about the topic. Earlier this year I was really into biographies and cultural histories about Old Hollywood. Currently I’m really into former US President Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal. So, the best book I’ve read recently is Nixonland by Rick Perlstein, but it’s like 900 pages of political historical goodness and I really doubt I could convince most folks to read the book, despite how UTTERLY AWESOME it is.

The best book I’ve read recently that won’t put non-US Presidential history nerdis to sleep is Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, a dystopian novel about a time in the future where everyone avoids the harsh reality of every day life by entering a virtual reality world called OASIS. It’s an adventure story with amazing world building and lively characters and jokes that made me laugh out loud.

You have been shortlisted for Best GLBT Lit blog. Congratulations! What was your reaction when you got the news?

Thank you! I’m incredibly excited and honored to have been nominated. My instant reaction was: HOW CAN I FIND GLITTERLY UNICORNS TO GIVE TO EVERYONE SO THEY’LL VOTE FOR ME?? My next reaction was: wow this is great! AND TERRIFYING.

You are involved in a number of events in the blogging world (NerdsHeartYA, Indie Lit Awards as a couple of examples). What is the best thing about events like this?

I really like lists, so I’m going to write a list in answer to this question:

1. I get to have an excuse to chat with some of my favorite bloggers
2. There are tons of new-to-me books I discover through nominations for the awards
3. Sometimes people refer to me as Director or Judge and it makes me really happy. Much easier than changing my name.

When you are not reading or blogging what else do you like to do?

I’m trying to convince my cat to roll over on command. We already mastered “sit,” so I think it’s just a matter of time.

Beyond this, I’m brushing up on my trivia, marathoning some show or another on Netflix (right now it’s Buffy), searching for the perfect pair of vintage shoes (I guess all the women with good shoe sense were a size 7 back then?), and hitting the streets of Boston on a quest for the perfect strawberry martini.

BBAW: Community

Welcome to the first day of Book Blogger Appreciation Week 2011. This week's theme is Cultivating a Community of Bloggers and Readers and today's post topic is:

While the awards are a fun part of BBAW, they can never accurately represent the depth and breadth of diversity in the book blogging community. Today you are encouraged to highlight a couple of bloggers that have made book blogging a unique experience for you. They can be your mentors, a blogger that encouraged you to try a different kind of book, opened your eyes to a new issue, made you laugh when you needed it, or left the first comment you ever got on your blog. Stay positive and give back to the people who make the community work for you!

Today I thought I would spotlight a few bloggers for different reasons.

Blogger I would love to send a bunch of flowers and some chocolates to:

Zibilee from Raging Bibliomania  for her faithful support of my blog and constant comments, especially when I put up posts which no-one else seems to find interesting! Thanks again Zibilee!

Blogger who I would love to have a cup of coffee or three with

Beth Fish from BethFishReads.com. Pretty sure we could have a good old chinwag that might last quite some time.

Blogger who I have had coffee with but will hopefully do so many more times in the future

Bree from All the Books I can Read. One of the joys of being on Twitter is that over the last year or so I have met book bloggers and tweeps who live really close to me! We've met up quite a few times since then and I look forward to continuing to do so!

Blogger who likely doesn't know I exist but who I would love to chat books with

Julie from Booking Mama always posts about books that I think I would love to read!

Blogger who influences me the most in terms of adding the most books to my TBR list

This honour goes to Sarah from Reading the Past. She not only reviews lots of really interesting sounding historical fiction, but when she posts some of the upcoming releases I have been known to just add the whole list to my TBR list!

Blogger who I have known the longest, who I chat to all the time and who needs to come and stay in my spare room!

Kelly from The Written World.

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There are a ton of other bloggers who I could highlight, and feel a little bit bad that I haven't but you have to draw the line somewhere! Besides, I would have had to have thought of even more categories!

Have you shared about some of your favourite bloggers as part of BBAW?

Sunday Salon: Book Blogger Appreciation Week

This week is going to be a busy blogging week, mostly due to Book Blogger Appreciation Week.

We are very excited at Historical Tapestry because we made the shortlist for Best Historical Fiction blog! Wooo-hoooo. We have made the shortlist before (in fact, three out of the last four years) but never won so fingers crossed! The other two blogs (Medieval Bookworm and Passages to the Past) are both blogs I love to read though so they would be deserved winners too!

During this week I will be posting the daily topics (or at least that is the plan) plus my normal posts so there might be a few more posts than normal. Later today, for example, I will be posting my first post for the Fragile Things readalong which is being run as part of RIP VI. I am also planning to do the mini-interviews that I did last year, so keep an eye out for that post on Tuesday (I think!)

The theme for BBAW this year is "Cultivating a Community of Bloggers and Readers" and I would encourage book bloggers everywhere to participate in events like Book Blogger Appreciation Week because it does do help with just that - cultivating community and with feeling a part of that community. Events like this do really make you realise just how big the book blogosphere has become because I always find lots of new to me bloggers during events like this. Another good reason to participate is just because it is a lot of fun! It's not too late to sign up to participate this year if you haven't already done so!

Several weeks ago now I declared that I was going to start including my current and future reads at the end of each Sunday Salon. I have just realised that I completely forgot to do this on my last three Sunday Salon posts. I guess I just got carried away with the topics I was posting about!

Currently reading:

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman for the RIP VI readalong. My first post about this book will go up later today and My Husband's Sweethearts by Bridget Asher.

Up next:


Tiger Hills by Sarita Mandanna, Empire of Silver by Conn Iggulden or Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton.

BBAW: Impromptu blogger interviews - Part (iv)

This is the final instalment in the impromptu blogger interviewThank you to everyone who volunteered for this! I had a load of fun doing it!
First up is Alibird from Flirting with Fiction. Alibird said in her comment that she spent all morning reading the interviews and wishing she had signed up! I am a big Fforde fan myself, and think her secret is very cute!

What is your blog called? What was the inspiration behind the name?

Flirting with Fiction-- I like to think that I build relationships with the books I read. We come to understand each other, give gifts, play with emotions, and then there's that warm fuzzy feeling I get when I think about a book I really cared about... I call my blog a 'Flirtation' because I don't 'fall in love' with books terribly easily-- they have to be really remarkably special to get to that point. I do, however, have multiple book-'flirtations' going on at any given time.

What kind of books do you like to read?

All kinds? I'm a grad student in Post-Colonial Literature so my 'long-term, formal relationships' tend to be with African and Middle Eastern lit. When those relationships get too stressful, however, I have guilty 'affairs' with YA lit, literary detective fiction, and even romance novels.

What is your favourite recent read?

I came across Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series a couple weeks ago and just went crazy over it. I ran out and got all 5 books and gobbled them up in a week. So much fun!!

Where is your favourite place to read?

There's an adorable coffee shop a couple blocks from my house. They have a front-porch swing that is absolutely covered in cushy pillows. I like to grab a mocha, bury myself in the pillows and swing away.

Share one thing about yourself or your blog that your readers might not know.

I'm a former ballroom and Latin dance instructor. Sometimes, when I get bored, I use my fingers to create little people and have them practice their dance steps across the table.

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Next up is Zee from Notes from the North - the north in question being Sweden! I always enjoy chatting with her when we happen to be on Twitter at the same time!

What is your blog called? What was the inspiration behind the name?

Notes from the North. I live in northern Europe and I make notes :D

What kind of books do you like to read?

A lot of everything really but right now mostly classics and mysteries, with the occasional non-fiction book (primarily biographies)

What is your favourite recent read?

Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers

Where is your favourite place to read?

My rockingchair or my friends hammock

Share one thing about yourself or your blog that your readers might not know.

I'm quite shy in person but I hide it by talking incessantly which I know sounds contradictory but it is the truth

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And now one of my favourite people in the blogging world! Eva from A Striped Armchair

What is your blog called? What was the inspiration behind the name?

A Striped Armchair: I like the blog name formula a/the + adjective + noun (it's what I used for my study abroad blog too), and when I made it my favourite reading chair was in fact striped. Kind of random, and sometimes I wish I'd put more thought into it, but I was just too impatient to start! lol

What kind of books do you like to read?

Fiction: classics, mysteries, fantasy, international
Nonfiction: international studies/culture, women's studies, science, travel (just getting into reading more about religion too)

What is your favourite recent read?

I just finished Small Island by Andrea Levy yesterday, and it blew me away. But if we go back a month, Diana Wynne Jones' Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Vol. One has me head-over-heels in love.

Where is your favourite place to read?

In my new (to me, got it used) overstuffed grey reclining armchair!

Share one thing about yourself or your blog that your readers might not know.

Ohh...this one's tricky. Maybe that I watch quite a bit of TV? And I'm a total fangirl about certain series!

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And now for a fellow historical fiction lover! Amy from Just Book Reading

What is your blog called? What was the inspiration behind the name?

The name of my blog is Just Book Reading. I noted this is another post earlier this week so I’m going to do a little cut and paste job --- When I decided to stake my blog claim I picked the name — Just a Book Reader — which I was very happy with. It left me a bit of anonymity and I felt it described me pretty well. After all, I was just a book reader…well, one with lots of opinions but one just the same. A day later, and a Google search later, it turns out that there was another blog out there with that name. It was defunct but I still felt weird about it so I shortened the name to Just Book Reading because it was close to the original name and easy enough to change without jumping through too many hoops. And, thus, that is how I became Just Book Reading. What I learned was to get my Google fu on before setting my heart on a name without a more thorough search. Will not happen again. So there you have it, true confessions.

What kind of books do you like to read?

I read a lot of historical fiction but I’m also a big fantasy fan. I haven’t been reading much of it lately and I want to get back into it.

What is your favourite recent read?

This is easy. The Road my Cormac McCarthy and The Shipwreck that Saved Jamestown: The Sea Venture Castaways and the Fate of America by Lorri Glover and Daniel Blake Smith.

Where is your favourite place to read?
I can read almost anywhere but I like to curl up on the couch.

Share one thing about yourself or your blog that your readers might not know.

Well, readers probably don’t know a lot about me since I tend to keep personal info out of most of my posts but I can offer this one up --- I grew up in Pennsylvania and I make excellent pizza.

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And my final mini-interview is with Serena from Savvy Verse and Wit, who among other things, co-hosts a totally awesome challenge called War Through the Generations!

What is your blog called? What was the inspiration behind the name?

Savvy Verse & Wit and the inspiration was just the poetry I love the read, the humor I hope to impart, and my love of the word Savvy.

What kind of books do you like to read?

I like reading all kinds, especially poetry, but I'm really not into westerns, self-help, or cheesy romance.

What is your favourite recent read?

Favorite recent read would have to be Watermark by Vanitha Sankaran. That book has stayed with me for months.

Where is your favourite place to read?

I love reading on the subway and outside on the porch (well what the apt. complex calls a patio).

Share one thing about yourself or your blog that your readers might not know.

I adore photography and I'm crazy in love with my dog!

BBAW: Impromptu Blogger Interviews - Part C

I snuck in at lunch time to post, but then didn't end up posting! Whoops!

Here are the next few people who volunteered to be part of the impromptu interviews when I put out the call a few days ago!

What is your blog called? What was the inspiration behind the name?

My blog is called everything distils into reading. Becos whatever I am doing I end reading all kinds of stuff!


What kind of books do you like to read?


I read almost everything except paranormal erotic fiction and YA! I love crime fiction and poetry!

What is your favourite recent read?


A tie between Still Missing by Chevy Stevens and Stolen by Lucy Christopher.

Where is your favourite place to read?


My living room.

Share one thing about yourself or your blog that your readers might not know.

For that you come and read BBAW: Self-Interview post! Yes, I interviewed myself!

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Next up is Mary, who said she wasn't organised enough to join in the BBAW fun this year. Mary's blog is new to me, but I will definitely be adding it to my feed reader!

 

 

 

What is your blog called? What was the inspiration behind the name?

My blog is Bookfan. The name is what I am - a fan of books.

What kind of books do you like to read?

I like fiction: historical, current, romance.

What is your favourite recent read?

I have two recent favs: The Blessings of the Animals by Katrina Kittle; The Life You've Imagined by Kristina Riggle.

Where is your favourite place to read?

I love to read in our small library/parlour. It's the reading room in our house.

Share one thing about yourself or your blog that your readers might not know.

I'm a former teacher - music in the classroom setting and piano lessons at home. I 'retired' from the classroom when my kids came into the picture. I stopped teaching piano lessons when my kids' schedules got busy during prime piano lesson times.

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Next up is Heather from Tales of a Capricious Reader (or as I know her, Heather who has been known to change her blog template a lot! ;-). Heather is one of my favourite bloggers, and I have been reading her blog for years now! Thanks for playing along Heather!

What is your blog called? What was the inspiration behind the name?


It's called Tales of a Capricious Reader, or Capricious Reader for short. It was originally A High and Hidden Place, but I never really liked that, it was just something I picked because I couldn't think of anything else! But about a year ago I decided I needed something that reflected ME a little bit better. I love the word capricious and feel it describes me and my reading pretty accurately, so, I picked that!

What kind of books do you like to read?

A little bit of everything. I'm an equal opportunity reader.

What is your favourite recent read?

The Little Stranger. I just finished it and I am head over heels in love with it.

Where is your favourite place to read?

In a nice, hot, relaxing bath in my calm, quiet house. As you can imagine, that doesn't happen often.

Share one thing about yourself or your blog that your readers might not know.

I ♥ comments. ;Þ

BBAW: Impromptu blogger interviews Part 2

Here are the second batch of impromptu interviews! Thanks to everyone who responded. You can see the first three interviews here.

First up we have Erin from Erinreads, who came too late to BBAW to be able to sign up for the interview swap.

What is your blog called? What was the inspiration behind the name?

My blog is called Erin Reads. When it came time to choose a name, I tried to think of something witty, but every idea I had felt wrong. I wasn't sure what my blog would become, only that it would be based on my reading and my love of books. That's what it still is!

What kind of books do you like to read?

I enjoy fiction most, both contemporary and historical, YA and adult. I love unique and engaging narrators. If I'm not reading fiction I'm probably reading a memoir or well written miscellaneous nonfiction. I also listen to a lot of audiobooks.

What is your favourite recent read?

Two recent books have really stood out to me. I read them back to back:

The first is "The Cailiffs of Baghdad, Georgia" by Mary Helen Stefaniak. It's told from the perspective of a young girl named Gladys (who is a wonderful narrator) and tells the Depression-era story of what happens when Miss Spivey comes down from up North to teach in the one-room schoolhouse of tiny Threestep, Georgia.

The second is "One Amazing Thing" by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. When nine strangers are trapped in the visa office of an Indian Consulate by an earthquake, they turn to storytelling to pass the time and connect with their fellow survivors. It's a lovely book, the kind that gets stuck inside you and stays on your mind long after you've read the last page.

Where is your favourite place to read?

For me, it's not so important where I'm reading. I tend to get so absorbed in my book that I don't even notice where I am anyway. Instead, it's how I'm sitting; I'm only comfortable enough to settle into a book if I can pull my feet up. I've even figured out how to do this on an airplane!

Share one thing about yourself or your blog that your readers might not know.

I grew up in the US, but my husband is from India. I visited his hometown for the first time earlier this year and feel like I've found my second home. It's already starting to influence my reading choices!

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Next up, SuziQOregon, from Whimpulsive. Love the story of how you came up with your blog name, and where you like to read!

What is your blog called? What was the inspiration behind the name?

My blog is called Whimpulsive. The inspiration is that I may have made up the word. Shortly after we were married I was doing something silly just to annoy The Hubster and when he asked me "Why are you doing that?" I replied "Lack of whimpulse control." We giggled about it and have use the words 'whimpulse' and 'whimpulsive' as if they were real words. When I decided to rename my blog I used Whimpulsive because it best describes both my reading and my blogging habits.

What kind of books do you like to read?

My favorites tend to be mysteries, thrillers and suspense stories. I also love historical fiction. I do tend to be a genre jumper and bounce around between many genres routinely.


What is your favourite recent read?

I've been re-reading the Harry Potter series via audio book and it's been a pure delight. As for other books, my most recent favorite is 31 Bond Street by Ellen Horan because it's a wonderful blend of two of my favorite genres - crime fiction and historical fiction.


Where is your favourite place to read?

Someplace where I can see and hear the ocean and enjoy a glass of wine along with my book.


Share one thing about yourself or your blog that your readers might not know.

I spent a semester in Italy when I was in college and it was the best learning experience of all my years in school.

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Charlie from The Worm Hole was also too late to sign up for an interview swap, so here are her answers to my questions!

What is your blog called? What was the inspiration behind the name?

My blog is called The Worm Hole. On my personal blog I found myself constantly trying to write clever or witty titles as my posts and the concept stuck when it came to name my book blog. I thought of book worms and then played around with the idea in my head.

What kind of books do you like to read?
I'm open to reading anything, but my favourite genre is historical fiction. I love to get absorbed into a world that I never could otherwise.

What is your favourite recent read?

Definitely Alex Bell's The Ninth Circle. I had come to it thinking it was a thriller and a bit of a mystery but never expected the heavy theological content, which, being very interested in religion, was like Christmas arriving early. I liked it so much I devoured Alex's other books and started a series of posts to promote her.

Where is your favourite place to read?

This will sound incredibly odd but I like to read in the bathroom at home. I'll just go in and sit against the bath because the closed door means I'm not likely to be disturbed. I don't stay there for long though because though I like the peace it's a bit silly really.

Share one thing about yourself or your blog that your readers might not know.

I'm bad at just writing a post and publishing it, especially in the case of reviews I'll go over what I've written a dozen or more times. If I haven't posted for a while, 50% of the time this is the reason.

BBAW: Impromptu blogger interviews Part I

Earlier this week on the interview swap day, it looked as though my blogger swap wasn't going to happen, and so I put out a call for anyone who wanted to answer a few questions to take part in an impromptu interview! I was really pleased, and a bit overwhelmed, with the response. This post is the first instalment highlighting the bloggers who responded!

First up we have Janicu who blogs at janicu.wordpress.com, who said in her comments that she intended to sign up for the interview swap later, and then forgot! I've been there before!

What is your blog called? What was the inspiration behind the name?

It's janicu's book blog (janicu.wordpress.com). Which is because my name is Janice and one of my nicknames is "Janicu". This is because in college I had a couple of Japanese roommates and they decided the way to make my name cuter was to add an "oo" to the end of it. By the way it's pronounced "janis-oo", not "janik-oo". Anyway, that was the best I could come up with when I started my blog.

What kind of books do you like to read?

My taste is a little eclectic, but my favorites are in genre fiction. I like science fiction, fantasy, romance, and Jane Austen and fairy-tale retellings.

What is your favourite recent read?

I JUST read BAYOU MOON by Ilona Andrews which is coming out soon. It is so great. It's set in a place called the Edge, which is sort of an overlap between our word (called the Broken), and a parallel world where magic exists (called the Weird). There's a wolf shapeshifter who is trying to track down an agent and kill him, and he runs into a girl with a sword who's family has been threatened by the agent. The girl has a very big, crazy family, the setting is a gigantic swamp, and the fight scenes are like something out of NINJA SCROLL.

Where is your favourite place to read?

I love to read in bed, but I have to read in the living room. The cat is not allowed in our room and if I leave for bed a little too early he gets very whiny. My cat is quite spoiled.

Share one thing about yourself or your blog that your readers might not know.

Um.. when I was a kid I had a few pet squirrels. Actually they were called squirrels but they looked more like chipmunks. They don't have the same kind of squirrels that they have in the US in the tropics.

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Next up is Katherine from one of my favourite recent blog discoveries!

What is your blog called? What was the inspiration behind the name? 

My blog is called Historical Fiction Notebook. It was inspired by the stacks of half-finished journals I have lying around. Each one has lists of books I've read, books I want to read, favorite quotes from books and little jotted-down notes about aspects of historical novels I liked or didn't like. I thought it was time to bring it all together in one place!

What kind of books do you like to read? 

For historical fiction, I like anything that takes me into someone's daily life - royal or non-royal. I love detail - chances are that if I liked a book, it's because the author was able to seemlessly integrate detail into the narrative. I love European and American history.

What is your favourite recent read? 

Definitely Sally Gunning's Satucket novels set in Colonial Maasachusetts. Even if you don't think you're interested in that time, you should give them a try.

Where is your favourite place to read? 

I recently picked up a grey-green recliner on Craig's list - I have it set up in a corner by a window and have decorated the space with framed paintings and plants. It's perfect! I can't wait to get home from work and settle in!

Share one thing about yourself or your blog that your readers might not know. 

In my professional life as a journalist, I've specialized in the history and culture of Afghanistan. I produce a weekly TV show that airs on the largest channel there.

I have been wanting to read those Sally Gunning books for a while. Looks like I need to make an effort to find them!

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How gorgeous is this blog header? We are just coming to the end of a long winter, and so these colours are just screaming spring to me!

What is your blog called? What was the inspiration behind the name?

Gerbera Daisy Diaries -- because they are the flowers I had for my wedding.

What kind of books do you like to read? 

Anything really, but current fiction and historical fiction mostly. With some biographies throw in there too!

What is your favourite recent read?

Still Alice by Lisa Genova -- knocked my socks off!

Where is your favourite place to read? 

Anywhere my kids are NOT!

Share one thing about yourself or your blog that your readers might not know. 

That I used to be a lobbyist in Washington DC -- a lifetime ago.

Stay tuned for more blogger interviews tomorrow!