#27 Follow Friday with book bloggers: Sorry kids, no feet

2018-02-02 16:10

Hello Friday! It's time for a book blogger interview. Meet an avid reader who doesn't kiss feet. Em, what? Read on and get to know more about her reading guilty pleasures.

Follow Sorry kids, no feet on BookLikes: http://nofeet.booklikes.com/

Your blog name is “Sorry kids, no feet”. Can you tell us more about your blog title.

For a time I had a dream of being one of those fabulous mom-life bloggers like you see on Pinterest. I was a stay at home mom with three girls. I started an outside blog page called I Don’t Kiss Feet. Since it was going to be a blog about being a mom, the title was a tribute to my own mother. The blog was going to be about me coming to terms with the fact that I am slowly turning into my mother. When we would get hurt as children, my mom would always say “Are you hurt? Where? You know I don’t kiss feet.”. I was trying to be witty and original when titling my blog.

When have you discovered you were a book lover?

I think I’ve always been a book lover. I’ve been told I started reading around the age of three and a half. I picked up a book one day and just started reading out loud. My mom figured it was a book I had memorized (like when Laura Ingalls tries to convince her dad she doesn’t need to go to school because she can read Pilgrim’s Progress). My mom realized I had picked up a book she had never read to me. I don’t think I’ve been without a book since.

You’ve read over 670 books! How much time do you spend reading daily?

Not nearly as much as I use to. Now that my girls are all in school full-time, I’ve gone back to working full-time. I now find I go in spurts. I will go a week without reading anything and then finish three books the following week. I think the 670 number is slightly misleading. I’m sure if you were to take a look at my list, you would see quite a few children’s picture and chapter books. My nine year old is a voracious reading (maybe more than her mother) and some of my reading list is tracking her reading.

Your bookshelf is full of historical books. Is history, next to reading, your big passion?

Maybe one of them. When I was pregnant with my oldest daughter, I had a job where I worked an early morning shift. My husband worked a 9-5. I had entire afternoons to spend by myself. I watched all of the Showtime show The Tudors while it was too hot for an overly pregnant woman to be outside in the summer. The show brought me to historical fiction, specifically the Tudors. Once I immersed myself in the Tudor-era, I found myself rapidly looking for new eras to discover.

What are your three favorite book covers?

- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: The Illustrated Edition - This is one of my all time favorite novels. I loved the fully illustrated versions. This has to be included on any list I make.

-The Hourglass Factory - While this book wasn’t exactly memorable or outstanding in terms of writing, I would have never picked this book up if not for the cover.

- Batman: The Killing Joke - ‘cuz Batman

Is Young Adult your guilty pleasure? Why is that?

That shelf title might need a new name. For a while, I was kind of embarrassed by my love of Young Adult novels.I didn’t really want people to know I was enjoying the Twilight novels. I didn’t want to admit I read the Harry Potter novels once a year. I would come up with excuses for my reading Young Adult/Middle Grade books. One of those excuses was my younger brother. He is 15. I’m slightly older. My mom is constantly asking me what books to get him. Until I discovered reading sites like Goodreads and Booklikes, I didn’t realize that other adults read Young Adult/Middle Grade books for entertainment. Now I find myself reading Young Adult/Middle Grade novels as a nosy parent who wants to know what her daughter might be reading. And because, I might secretly have a crush on Percy Jackson.

How do you decide what to read next? Do you have a list, a reading system, a next book jar?

Sometimes I make the decision process more complicated than it really needs to be. What era do I want to read? What author do I want? Should I read a different genre? How many pages are in this book compared to that book? Other times it is a matter of what is due back at the library soonest. I’m in a group specifically devoted to challenges. Where I am at in a reading challenge will sometimes impact what I read next. Right now I’m playing Historical Mystery Clue in one of my reading groups. Some of my recent books have due to where I’m at in my Clue game.

Read Shelf

How did your blogging adventure start? What did it change in your (reading) life?

I briefly described the start of my blogging adventure above. In terms of reading and reviewing books? That actually started with a friend and Goodreads. I bought a friend of mine a Kindle before she went to serve in Kuwait. Bringing hard copy books was out of the question. She was always asking me for recommendations but our ability to communicate was pretty limited. A fellow soldier introduced her to Goodreads. She in turn introduced me to Goodreads. It became a way for us to share what we were reading and make recommendations. Slowly I began to make my way to reading groups. Everything continued to evolve to the point where I started reviewing some of the books I had read. Blogging has certainly expanded my TBR and opened me up to books well beyond what I thought existed in my local libraries.

Can you name three titles you’d like to recommend to other readers?

Honestly, I can’t. I don’t really believe in books anyone “has” to read. I think you should read whatever makes you happy.

Do you read one or several books at a time?

Always at least one. Typically two. Not usually more than three.

Paper books or e-books?

Paper. However, I am finding myself reading more e-books since I can read those at night without having all my bedroom lights on.

If you could become the character in one of the books you’ve read - which book would it be?

Since I have not read any books featuring Wonder Woman, I would have to say Hermione Granger. I would love to have the ability to absorb knowledge the way she does.

What new releases are you impatiently waiting this year?

- The Throne of Caesar by Steven Saylor (Gordianus is one of my fictional boyfriends)

- For The Immortal by Emily Hauser - It is the final book a in trilogy re-telling some of the most popular Greek myths. I have immensely enjoyed the first two novels and look forward to the conclusion.

- It’s not a book but I’m on pins and needles waiting for the movie Black Panther to be released. I don’t necessarily track book releases like I track movie releases.