Interview with a Blogger

As part of BBAW, today's celebration includes interviewing another blogger: today Kailana of The Written World and I are exchanging a quick set of questions. It's the Insta-Interview version, as we decided to interview each other since our original partners hadn't replied. We've asked each other the same questions: here are my answers; then pop on over to her blog for her replies.

1. As a Canadian blogger, do you make an effort to read Canadian or does the 'nationality' of a book matter to you? What is your favourite Canadian novel?

I do make an effort to keep up with Canadian fiction, as I feel it is important to know what is going on in my own milieu. (also, it’s important for my job!) I also love participating in the Canadian Book Challenge and finding out what everybody else is reading and enjoying. But I also like to read books from elsewhere, so that I’m not restricted to a view of only what is around me. I guess nationality would affect my reading in that I’d be more likely, not less, to pick something up if it was from somewhere else that interested me.


2. 'Do your real life friends/family know you blog/read your blog? Does this make any difference to how you write?

I never thought that my family read it until my dad started asking me things about it!  So now I know that they read it, but it doesn’t really change what I write. I’m close to my family and we talk a lot so they probably know everything I’m likely to say, anyway! I do tell everyone about my blog now, but when I started it I wasn’t saying anything. Now that I’m more comfortable with it even my coworkers know and look at it.


3. I was reading at work the other day & someone asked me what I was reading. Before I even had a chance to answer, he said 'a romance'? Do reading stereotypes bother you? Do you prefer/avoid any genres due to lurking stereotypes?

Well, I can’t imagine what I would have said to your co-worker! ;) I only had that happen to me once: one summer I was working in a mall selling raffle tickets and to keep myself sane I was reading a lot. This particular day I was reading a textbook for a course I would be taking in the fall, on Feminist Theory. An older man came up to buy a ticket and asked if I was enjoying my smut novel. Then I closed the book and he saw the title and backed away slowly…

But I read nearly every genre according to my mood. Except horror, I generally avoid. I like creepy and ghostly but gory I can’t take. I didn’t realize until now that I do make an effort to keep reading intellectually challenging work partly because I don’t want to be pigeonholed as reading only ‘women’s fiction’, with all the sexism that carries with it. Don't know if that is buying in to the whole stereotype, though!


4. How do you feel about covers of books? Do you judge books by their covers? Is there something that could appear on a cover that would make you not want to read the book or be seen in public with it?

I like good design that reflects the story. And if there’s a nice cover it might suck me into to checking out a book I might not have otherwise – at least to read the summary and a page or two. And an ugly cover can put me off even if I do want to read the book! As for appearing in public… well, when I was younger I would never have appeared in public with a romance novel, even though I do read them relatively often. Now, I don’t care, if I feel like reading a Regency romance I will. The only things I’d be hesitant to appear with in public these days would probably be erotica with sexy covers (just embarrassing to have strangers ask you about it!) or books about any specific health concern, for the same reason. Otherwise I don’t have any real concerns about what the books I read look like.


5. What's the biggest change in your reading habits since you started blogging, if any? Reading choices or ways of reading?

I’d say the biggest change I’ve noticed is that I read more carefully; I will take notes sometimes, and think about the story as I’m reading, trying to figure out what I want to say about it. And I find I can recall the books I’ve reviewed quite clearly also. It’s nice.

The other big change is in the range of my reading. Since I began blogging in 2006, I’ve found most of my reading through other blogs. I read the newspapers / online reviews also, but most of the titles that are new to me come from bloggers. And I feel like I know a lot more about the genres that I don’t read as regularly – graphic novels and science fiction in particular. It’s been enriching to my own reading life as well as my professional knowledge. Blogging has been a wonderful experience!