BBAW Day 2: Interview with The True Book Addict

It's Day 2 of BBAW! Today, we're interviewing our fellow book blogger. I am excited to have Michelle of the True Book Addict here to A Bookish Affair for an interview. Welcome, Michelle!

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1. How would you describe your blog for someone who has never visited before?   

That's a hard one.  I'm terrible at describing myself or anything relating to myself.  I guess I would say my blog is the essence of my blog tagline, "An eclectic reader with an affinity for history and historical fiction."  I would probably tell them that it's a mash-up of a lot of historical fiction with some contemporary and classics thrown in with a dash of cats.

2. How did you decide to start book blogging?   

About three years ago, I was big into MySpace.  My page was book related and I had a little blog on there where I used to write about the books I read...and no one read it.  Then I found out about Twitter and started lurking around on there and I met some other book-minded people.  One of my new friends (Ryan, who blogs at Wordsmithonia) told me about book blogging and said I should start a blog.  And I did.  The rest is history!

3. What's your favorite part about book blogging? What about your least favorite?  

 Of course, it's talking about books, which I love, but it's also the interaction with others, the camaraderie with fellow book bloggers is wonderful.  Just knowing there are so many others out there with like minds is comforting.  And it does a heart good that reading is not dying out in our society.  My least favorite would have to be the obligation.  Now don't get me wrong.  I have loved being offered books for review and I love reading them and working with authors.  That being said, I went a bit overboard and I'm so severely backlogged that I don't know if I'll ever reach the end of the pile.  Consequently, I have stopped accepting review books (with the exception of a few tours) until I can dig myself out of this hole.  Plus, I have a home library of 3000+ books and I'm trying to work my way through them too.

4. Where do you usually read? When?  

 At home, I read in the living room in my comfy chair.  But I also always have a book with me so I read in the car while waiting in the kids' car rider lanes, etc.  I also listen to audio books whenever I'm driving.  I usually read all day long at different times.  I work from home so when I don't have a task to work on, I read (or blog).  I also read during commercials when I'm watching TV.

5. What's your favorite book that you've read this year and why? What about your favorite book that you've read since you started book blogging?   

For the first question, I'm going to mention two because they're such different genres.  In historical fiction, my favorite so far this year is easily The Queen's Vow by C.W. Gortner.  Gortner is a great voice in historical fiction.  This is the second book I've read by him and his novels are so accurate and I feel such a connection with the main characters.  The Queen's Vow is about Queen Isabella of Castile (yes, the Columbus Queen Isabella).  In horror, it was Ghost Story by Peter Straub (which I loved), but I'm afraid I'm going to have to replace that with Breed by Chase Novak.  I just finished reading it and it is...wow! I'll be reviewing it this week on my horror blog, Castle Macabre (http://castlemacabre.blogspot.com/)   Regarding the second question, my favorite since I started blogging...that's a tough one.  There have really been so many in the past three years.  I'll have to go with A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin.  I read it last year and it immediately took a place in my top ten reads of all time.

6. What book are you most excited for to come out this year?   

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

7. I'm also a fellow cat lover (I have two) and I can't get enough LOLcats. How did you come up with the idea for Cat Thursday?   

One Thursday, I was looking at some lolcats pics and I decided to post them in a blog post because they just made me smile.  I already posted about my cat, Alice, periodically.  I asked my readers what they thought about me making it a weekly meme/feature and the answers were in the affirmative so I've been doing it ever since.  It has become very popular since I started.  My cats (I also have two now) are like my kids too and they will probably be the only daughters I ever have (I have sons).  I'm sure you can relate to the cat love.  You should join us.  We would love to have you!

8. If you could bring any 3 historical people or fictional characters with you to a deserted island, who would you bring and why?  

 It would have to be Queen Elizabeth I, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and William Wallace (of Braveheart fame).  QEI and Eleanor because they were two strong women and I'm sure the conversation would be lively and enlightening.  William Wallace would be great for protecting our freedom from interlopers on our island.  Plus, I admire him so.  I admire all of them.

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Note from Meg: Check out Michelle interviewing me on her site!