Book Blogger Appreciation Week Day Two: Interview Swap!

Some of the awards have been given out already (congratulations Book Smugglers!) but Book Blogger Appreciation Week continues. Today, bloggers will interview other bloggers about blogging (and other things). Today, I will be interviewing Beatrice from My Kingdom for a Book. She comments and reviews on fantasy novels (which I love) and paranormal romances (which I am slowly, gradually coming to love).

*turns on HOLY CRAP BRIGHT POLICE LIGHT* BEATRICE (whose answers are in red)! YOU VILL ANSWER ZE KVESTIONS!

Quick! What's your favourite colour?
Blue, any shade!

What made you want to start book blogging?
I love reading, and I love to write. I had a friend who was encouraging my writing about a year ago, and she suggested I start reviewing books. I started out with some books I'd picked up at the library, and have taken off from there. It's been an amazing experience that has opened a lot of doors for me.

What process do you go through when you review a book? Do you take notes, or just review from memory?
I read a book without taking any notes! It's probably a bad habit. With big reviews, I try to blog some during the reading so I can get all the little details. If I haven't blogged during the reading, I try to blog as soon as possible after I finish so that nothing slips away. It's difficult to try to blog about one book after you've started reading another!

Who is your favourite author and why?
My favourite author is Peter S. Beagle (OMG - he's one of my favourites, too! Innkeeper's Song is the shizz!). I love his books about unicorns! I also had a chance to meet him at Dragon*Con recently, which moved him to the top of my list! He was wonderfully attentive to his fans, and spent several minutes talking with me about some writers that we had in common. He had gone to Stanford with them, and I had been their student during my undergraduate years studying writing.

What aspects of your life and/or childhood shaped you into the kind of reader you are today?
I watched The Last Unicorn when I was very young -- probably about four years old. I was captured by the beauty and wonder of unicorns. As soon as I was old enough, I read the book. It was so well done, and so well-adapted into the movie (I should hope so - Beagle wrote the screenplay!). I think that Beagle's book and movie were what turned me toward fantasy and science fiction in the first place. It continues to be my favorite genre even now. (If you love unicorns, I might suggest Lord of Legends by Susan Krinard - where the romantic hero is a unicorn!)

I can also remember my parents reading to me at night before bedtime. One favorite was Where the Wild Things Are! I loved Max and his wolf suit. I am really excited about the movie next month. I will always hear my dad's voice reading that book to me. I almost think I could quote it from memory because we read it so many times!

My parents really were a big influence on my reading. They always had a book around, and my mother tells me that I would sit at her feet while she was reading and tell her that I wished I could read, too. My parents and I swap books all the time now.

Given the recent controversy about paid book bloggers - what's your take?
I would love to be one of them! No, not really. I don't feel like my opinion is for sale. I don't want to feel forced to tell people that I like something when I don't really. I also think it's unethical if you do not disclose that you've been paid for your opinion.

What bloggers do you like - and what do you like about them?
I love Rip My Bodice! They are hilarious. They read a lot of books that I enjoy, so I get what they're talking about. I am really quite a bad book blogger. I drop by book review blogs, but there are so many! It's a full-time job to keep up with them all.

I also read The Barefoot Kitchen Witch. She doesn't blog about reading, but about cooking! I love her step-by-step photos, but what really keeps me coming back is what she shares about her family. I love getting a peek inside people's lives. I'm kind of a voyeur in that way, but hopefully not creepy! Oh, and Knotty Yarn! I heard her read one of her blog posts as BlogHer, and she's hilarious! I guess I like blogs that make me laugh.

Wow! Well, it was very nice to meet you and I'll definitely be checking out your blog more in the future! Hope you're enjoying Book Blogger Appreciation Week, folks - next up is my review of Tessa Dare's Goddess of the Hunt.