It’s Book Blogger Appreciation Week, and this year we decided to participate in an interview swap! Our featured blogger is Elizabeth of ‘As Usual, I Need More Bookshelves.’ She blogs about all kinds of books, and even movies too! We actually share the same dilemma–not enough room for all of our beloved books! Here’s our quick interview with Elizabeth. Be sure to check out her book blog where you’ll surely find a new book to add to your “to-read” list. I did.
–What do you enjoy most about blogging?
My favorite part about blogging in the community it allows me to be a part of. I’ve “met” people from all over the world through my blog, and getting to know them, sharing their opinions, likes and dislikes, has been the most fun part of this blogging journey for me. For the most part, everyone I have met has been so kind, gracious, smart, and funny – they are all people I would love to know in real life, and I feel grateful to share even a small part of their lives with them.
—What are some of your biggest challenges in blogging?
I think my biggest challenge right now is finding the time to read and blog! With two kids under 1 year old, my free time is almost nonexistent. I’ve always looked at blogging as a fun hobby, so I don’t ever let myself get too stressed out about meeting “quotas” of how much I SHOULD post, or what my content SHOULD look like – I figure I’m really just doing this because I think it’s fun, so I’m not going to let myself get bogged down in a bunch of “rules”. I know this means I’m probably not a very serious blogger, but I’m okay with that.
–If you could put any two fictional characters in a room together, who would they be?
I would love to put Anne Shirley from the Anne of Green Gables series and Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games series together in a room. They are two of my all-time favorite heroines, and I would love to see whether or not they would be friends. Their personalities are so different – Anne is all hopes and dreams, and Katniss is all grit and reality, so I can’t tell if they would become immediate best friends, or detest each other at first glance. I think eventually they would come to admire the courage and strength in each other, and probably learn much from each other, but I think it would be an entertaining ride whatever the outcome!
–What one book can you remember reading as a child that helped you to fall in love with reading?
Mine was Lazy Tommy Pumpkinhead by William Pene’ Dubois. My family literally wore out the copy from the library, checking it out over and over again, and just rolling with laughter every time we read it. It’s sadly out of print now, but this is one of the first books I can remember WANTING to read over and over, and it lived in my imagination long after we had turned the last page.
–What book or books have you read that everyone else just LOVED, but you couldn’t stand?
Well, for me, Huckleberry Finn tops this list. I know it’s a classic, but seriously, has a more boring book ever been written? How many pages of floating down the river can a person take? I’m sure my viewpoint is tainted by the fact that I had to read it 3 or 4 times throughout my educational career, but I just cannot stand it.
Also, The Time Traveler’s Wife makes this list. On paper, it is a novel that I should probably love, but every time I try to read it I just get creeped out by the relationship. I can just never shake the feeling that Clare never had a choice – that Henry manipulated her as a girl, so she never knew that she didn’t have to marry him. I know, I’m probably over-analysing, but I can’t get over that slightly uncomfortable feeling, and consequently the novel never really takes off for me.
–Are you a book hoarder or a book releaser? (Do you compulsively stockpile, finding yourself with shelves full of unread books; or do you release a book as soon as you read it, by either returning it to the library, giving it away to a friend, or in some other way getting it out of your house?)
I’m a hoarder – see the title of my blog! I physically feel better when I have books around. One time I tried to calculate how many years it would take me to read all the unread books in my house – then I got freaked out, and stopped trying to do that math. But rest assured, it was a lot of years! Every so often I make myself do a “purge” and get rid of some, but it’s never really enough to make a dent. I’m hopeless!
See my responses to Elizabeth’s interview questions via her blog ‘As Usual I Need More Bookshelves.’
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Thanks Elizabeth for sharing your blog with us! We loved your answers and your questions! PS- Alex and I are somewhere in the middle with our book hoarding. We made a deal with each other that for every 5 books we buy, 1 or 2 have to go. Because with the both of us, it can really get out of hand! 🙂
