Advance Booking

Write in 50 words or less…what do you like best about your blog right now and where would you like your blog to be a year from now?

What I like best about my blog is how it has changed me. I've become a better reader and a more structured critic, and more outgoing as well.
A year from now, I'd like my blog to have more reviews, more comments, a few author posts and giveaways. And I'd love to meet more people and generally have a lot of fun.

Today we encourage you to blog about a book you read only because you discovered it on another book blog. Preferably, this will be a book you loved! You might also write a bit about the blog you discovered it on!

One of the reasons I started blogging was to discover new books, to step outside the few authors I keep rereading and find new ones to love. While I've found a lot of new books on the blogosphere, I've managed to read only a few of them. One of these books is City of Bones, from Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments trilogy. I first read a review of this book on Becky's blog, Becky's Book Reviews. Becky reviews a lot of YA on her blog and she's been adding books to my TBR faster than the speed of sound. When I found the publisher offering a free copy of City of Bones, I picked it up. And I liked it a lot. It was fast-paced and action-packed, a book right up my alley. You can read my full review of City of Bones here.

Another book I picked up because of a fellow blogger was Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. Nymeth from things mean a lot recommended it to me. Nymeth is a very eclectic reader and her tastes are quite similar to mine, so I went over to read her review of the book, and I was hooked. I have had the book for a long time on my shelf, but I hadn't got around to reading it because I thought it would be heavy and boring. But Nymeth's review made me pick it up, and I'm reading it right now, and I must say, it's been a good read so far.

We encourage you to be creative with this! Please choose one or two questions to answer or try to answer all the questions in five words or less. Or choose a picture to answer a question! Brevity is the goal of today!

Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack?

Ans: Churmuri- a delicious Indian snack

Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of
writing in books horrify you?
Ans: No marking

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open?

Ans: Dog ears (I know I'm mutilating the book, but I don't have bookmarks. Sorry!)

Fiction, Non-fiction, or both?
Ans: Fiction

Hard copy or audiobooks?Ans: Hard copy

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point?
Ans: Put it down anywhere

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away?
Ans: No, but I'm trying to.

What are you currently reading?Ans: Atonement by Ian McEwan

What is the last book you bought?
Ans: .

Ans: The Day of the Jackal- Frederick Forsyth

Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can you read more than one at a time?
Ans: Usually one at a time, but sometimes 2 or 3

Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read?
Ans: I read anytime anywhere

Do you prefer series books or stand alone books?Ans: Series

Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over?

Ans: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author’s last name, etc.?)
Ans: Genre

One of the highlights of BBAW is having bloggers swap interviews and post during BBAW. This is such a fun way to get to know other bloggers and make new friends. This BBAW, my interview partner was Animegirl from Animegirl's Bookshelf. Her blog focuses primarily on Young Adult and Romance, and I enjoyed going through her site and her reviews. This interview was a superb way for me to get to know her, and I loved every bit of it. You can head over to her blog to read my answers to her questions.

1. Tell us something about yourself.

I’m a girl, absolutely insane and my actual real name is Alex but no one ever calls me that.


2. What made you first start blogging? How did you come up with the name of your blog?

Well, I first decided to blog because I was always ranting to my friends about the books I was reading and I think I started to get on their nerves because I was always wanting to discuss plots and characters with them even if they hadn’t read the book in question, so after a while I decided to just put it out there rather than keep torturing my friends.

As for the name, I actually started my blog calling it AnimeGirl’s Book Blogging, which is pretty self explanatory, but then I sort of messed up my layout completely and for some weird reason I couldn’t fix it, so it was easier to just start over and I realized I didn’t want to call it book blogging anymore, so my sister Boo suggested I called it Bookshelf, since I’m always begging my dad to put up new bookshelves for me.


3. Who are your favorite authors?

I have many so I’m going to break them up by groups:
In the Historical Romance front Lisa Kleypas and Elizabeth Hoyt are my current favorites.

In the Contemporary Romance front, I really like Rachel Gibson’s books and Meg Cabot’s, oh and Susan Elizabeth Phillips.

In the YA world, I’m currently obsessed with Kelley Armstrong’s Darkest Powers series, other than that, all time favorites include Mariah Fredericks, Lisa Ann Sandell, Sarah Dessen, Meg Cabot again, Melina Marchetta and Cara Lockwood.


4. What are the best books you've read in the past year?

On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta. Forever Princess by Meg Cabot. Cheryl St. John’s His Second Hand Wife. And, the Bard Academy Series by Cara Lockwood.


5. If you could organize a dinner with five of your favorite characters, who would they be?

If it’s any characters, only requirement is to be fictional then I’ll go with my favorite villain Zagato from the anime Magic Knight Rayearth, Han Solo from Star Wars, Elaine from the book Song of the Sparrow by Lisa Sandell, Belle from Beauty and the Beast and Wolverine – if impersonated by Hugh Jackman, all the better!
(Me: I'm rooting for Solo and Wolverine too)

6. Where do you get most of your books and recommendations from?

For recommendations I do rely almost entirely on friends who I know has a similar taste than mine, and I also read a lot of reviews trying to get a scope of what the book is about and see if it’s the type of book for me, though I try not to do this as much because there had been books lots of people have raved about that I have not been able to stomach – like Twilight – and others that I completely adore though lots of people think they are only OK.

Where do I get them from, I mostly shop online or when visiting relatives in the US, living outside the US my options are limited since books aren’t exactly a popular pastime in my country its hard to come by them, though from time to time I do find the occasional decent import at some big bookstores. (I hope this is what you meant)

7. I'm not much of a romance reader. What books would you recommend to me?

Romance is hard because everyone has different ideas about what it is but two of my favorite romance books are Lisa Kleypas’ Dreaming of You and Ain’t She Sweet? by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (both oldies but goodies). For a book with lots of tension between the characters ‘And then He Kissed Her’ by Laura Lee Guhrke is one of my favorite. For more lighthearted stories Meg Cabot’s She Went All the Way, and Lynsay Sands’ The Deed or The Key - both are very funny – are pretty good.


8. On the subject of romance, what are your favorite romantic movies?

I admit to being a sucker for A Walk to Remember, I’m also very fond of Laws of Attraction with Julianne Moor and Pierce Brosnan, Roman Holiday and Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and Ever After with Drew Barrymore. I really dislike Titanic, though.
(Me: I LOVE Roman Holiday)

9. Any parting words? About blogging, reading, anything in general?

Only my favorite quote about reading “Reading is like playing games, like falling in love: Is a challenge always, and a promise each time.” I don’t remember who said it but I believe it to be true.

I love the quote! Thanks a lot Alex! I'll be checking out your recommendations; you've given me quite a few to look out for.

UPDATE: Contest is closed. A big thank you to everyone who participated..

On the first day of my first BBAW, I'd like to announce my very first giveaway (lots of firsts there). It's a book that's been making waves across the blogosphere, Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran, which is releasing September 15, and I'm really looking forward to reading it. Michelle is the author of historical fiction bestsellers like Nefertiti and The Heretic Queen, and she's offering this fabulous giveaway to promote her new book.

For the contest, Michelle is giving away a copy of Cleopatra's Daughter, as well as an ancient coin complete with certificate of authenticity. That's so cool, isn't it?


All you need to do to enter is leave a comment on this post, with your email id for me to be able to contact you. And of course, there are additional entries.

+5 for following this blog
+3 for blogging or tweeting about this giveaway
+2 for commenting on any of my other reviews
+1 for telling me about your favorite historical fiction read

That's a lot of entries; since this is my first giveaway, I'd like to make it as easy for everyone as possible. This giveaway is open internationally, as Michelle has generously offered to ship the prizes anywhere in the world. Contest is open till Friday, September 25, 2009. All the best!