Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Much Loved Books, An Interview With a Book Blogger

Welcome, Michelle, the UK blogger of Much Loved Books. One of the things I love about the blogging, bookish, bibliophile community is meeting passionate readers from all over the world.

Please enjoy Michelle's interview. You're going to have to read it to figure out why this is the perfect picture for her!


1. Introduce Yourself (anything you’d like folks who visit your blog to know about you)
My name is Michelle and I am a UK book blogger.  I have a full time job looking after children in a nursery and I read whenever I get the time to.  I hate the sun and avoid it as often as I can, but give me snow and I will gladly spend the entire day outside.  I am a strange person who has lots of fears (spiders, wasps, bees, needles, bugs) but I have tattoos and ear piercings (although the gun to pierce my ears scares me).

2. Coffee or Tea or Water? Espresso, Drip, Instant, or French Press? Bag or Looseleaf? Bottled, Filtered, Tap or Rainwater? Coffee, always coffee,  I tend to use instant as its quicker and easier for me to drink it in work too.  Although I do like lattes and cappuccino when I am out in town.

3. Why do you blog about books?
I blog about books to share my thoughts and feelings about them, and to spread the word about books that wouldn't normally catch people attention.  I read almost anything and I have read so much before blogging that I decided to share my thoughts about what I liked about the book I had read.  I never expected to still be here nearly two years later.

4. What inspired the design of your site?
At the moment it is a free template I found online.  I picked it as I love the style and colour of it.  I wish I had a creative bone in my body so I could work on a template myself and put my ideas down but sadly I don't.

5. What is your favorite thing about book blogging?
Getting to meet others who share the same interests as me, getting the opportunity to meet authors at events or other bloggers.  Also getting to read some amazing books, sometimes before they are released to the public.

6. How do you decide which books to read?

For my review books I have to like the synopsis of a book before I request or accept it.  If it doesn't sound interesting I am not going to read it.  For my own books again it is what sounds good or if it is an author I already like, then they will automatically get purchased.

7. How much time do you invest reading and blogging?
Weekday I read during my dinner hour, then for a few hours at home.  Weekend it depends on what I am doing, shopping, movie day in brothers.  This weekend alone I have read and finished 3 books and started two.  So anywhere from 1 hour to 5 hours a day.

8. Care to comment on the Alice Hoffman quote: Books may well be the only magic?
I have never heard this quote before but I do agree with it.  Books have the ability to take the reader away from their own world and their own problems, and place them into whatever world is between the pages, all while you are sitting.  The ability of an author to do this is well and truly a magical experience and I hope I never get bored of it.

9. On a scale of 1-10, how eccentric are you? 10 being VERY...
I would say I am maybe 2, I do have some quirky moments, and some OCD moments, but I like to think I am not very eccentric

10.Is there anything else we need to know about you?
I am a lefty (leftys rock) :D

Michelle Smith
 Blogger
Much Loved Books