Blogger Fame Interview: Jamie from The Perpetual Page-Turner and The Broke and Bookish!

Blogger Fame is a meme that features a lovely blogger once a week. I currently have a lot of entries, once it clears up, I'll add the link to join again.

Today's celebrity is . . .

Jamie from The Perpetual Page-Turner and The Broke and Bookish!

Name: Jamie

Age: 25

Location: Suburbs of Philadelphia

Blogs: The Perpetual Page-Turner & The Broke and Bookish

Twitter: @brokeandbookish

1) Jaime, what inspired you to start your blogs, The Broke and Bookish and The Perpetual Page-Turner?

J: I created and moderate the College Students group on Goodreads in 2008 and it was so incredible to "meet" other bookish people and I really enjoyed the discussions we'd have about books that we read or were excited to read. I'd kept other blogs and saw a few other book bloggers on Goodreads and in June of 2010 I thought, "Hey! I like blogging. I like talking about books. I totally can do this." I decided to ask a few of the other college students in the group if they wanted to join in and make it a collaborative blog and that is just what we did! After a few weeks I decided to start my own so I could blog every day.

2) Is there a meaning behind both your blog titles?

J: For The Broke and the Bookish, we wanted to come up with a name that reflected us as college students/recent grads. We had two things in common--we were very bookish & very broke as college kids! The Perpetual Page-Turner came from my boyfriend joking with me about how if nobody would interrupt me I would just sit there all day just turning the pages of my book and never look up. From that, I just came up with the name.

3) What is the best and worst part about blogging?

J: The best part of blogging is meeting other bookish people because most people look at me like I've grown a third eyeball or something when I talk about books. I love the conversations I've had and the friendships I've made through blogging. The worst part about blogging is how utterly addicted I've gotten to the whole thing. My boyfriend keeps joking that I better attention to him unless I plan on marrying my blog. It's kind of taken over my life :P

4) Which is your favorite genre to review?

J: This might sound like a cop-out but I don't have a favorite genre to review. I read and review just about everything because I can't just stick to one genre. I need a little bit of everything in my life--YA and adult contemporary fiction, quirky memoirs, travelogues that just make my inner travelogue even worse, paranormal/fantasy that transports me to a world, etc. I get a lot more out of reading when I'm reading different things all the time!

5) What are your top five favorite books of all time?

J: This is soo hard because I have my favorite YA & adult books. I'm going to cheat and give you 3 adult and 3 YA.

1) Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close -- Jonathan Safran Foer

2) The Bell Jar -- Sylvia Plath

3) On the Road -- Jack Kerouac

4) The Hunger Games trilogy -- Suzanne Collins

5) The Book Thief -- Markus Zusak

6) Speak -- Laurie Halse Anderson

6) Who is your favorite author? If you had the chance to meet them, what would you say?

J: I'm very lucky and have met my two favorite authors--Jonathan Safran Foer & Laurie Halse Anderson. With Jonathan I was such a freaking fan girl and I just get babbling about how much I love him and how I recommend his books to everyone I know. It was pretty embarassing. With Laurie, it was so fun and relaxed! She remembered me from Twitter and it ended up resulting in a HILARIOUS video which you can check out on my blog-- http://perpetualpageturner.blogspot.com/2010/11/in-which-i-get-to-see-laurie-halse.html

7) Do you have any quirks while you write your reviews?

J: I'm always listening to music when I write my reviews. I've actually contemplated making a little playlist, to go along with each review, of all the music listened to while I was reviewing. This could be a very ridiculously long or short depending on how difficult it is for me to make my review. Another thing is that I'm a nerd and I totally write out a few bullet points of things I want to talk about and go from there. I'm probably always eating when I write my reviews because I'm just always munching on something :P

8) If you could make a fictional story come alive, which would you pick and why?

J: Alice in Wonderland for sure. When I was a child I watched that movie probably every day and wished that I were Alice--minus the Queen trying to hunt me down. This feeling has never went away and as I got older I've enjoyed reading the books and watching the new movie!

9) Currently, which book cover(s) are you lusting over?

J: I love the cover for Wither--there just is such a dream-like quality to it and I love the dress she's wearing. I'm a fashion junkie so I always look at those kind of things.

10) Which type five blogs do you continually visit?

J: I have a huge list that I visit daily so you should check out my blog roll but the five that I've been reading for the longest amount of time-Steph Su Reads, Presenting Lenore, The Story Siren, The Zen Leaf and Good Books and Good Wine.

11) If you had to give advice to a newcomer, what would you tell them about blogging?

J: It's hard work and you shouldn't expect things to happen right away. You aren't going to suddenly get a bajillion followers or publishers falling all over themselves for you to review their books. Put the time into reading and writing quality reviews. Put the time into meeting other bloggers and being involved on other blogs. Most importantly--be genuine and be yourself. Bloggers and publishers will see right through it if you are just in it for the ARCs. Blog because you love to read and talk about bookish things. If it becomes about something else then you just shouldn't do it.

Random Questions:

• To be or not to be, that is the question? To be. As the wonderful Katherine Hepburn said, " I never lose sight of the fact that just being is fun."
• Book you'd love to see on film? I think Songs for A Teenage Nomad could be a really interesting book to be on film. For the longest time I would have said The Hunger Games but since apparently that is going to happen I don't have to wish for it!
• Judge book by cover or summary? Well..I won't lie. I have passed over books before because they had hideous covers and picked others because the cover was stunning but in general it's a good summary. I mean, it's like guys, eventually you realize that solely picking the ones whose looks make you drool and lust hardcore is a bad idea because you realize they have the intellectual capacity and personality of a cockroach. Obviously sometimes a good book has a good cover but the summary gets at the heart of the book. I've met many a book with a stunner of a cover and utter crap inside.
• How long have you stayed up to read a book? Well, if you don't count the Readathon, I stayed up until 4:30 am during finals a few years ago to finish The Book Thief. I stayed up sobbing and almost went through a roll of toilet paper..we didn't have any tissues. I woke up with a hangover-esque headache and a nose so red that Rudolph would be envious.
• Favorite song at the moment? Oh this is not fair. You are killing me, Eleni! The one thing I love just as much as books is music. I've actually been listening to my "If I Were On a Desert Island" playlist which is comprised of all my favorite songs that I'd want with me on a desert island. The song that is currently on is "Boat and Birds" by Gregory and the Hawk. Talk to me on Twitter and I'll happily tell you all my other favorite musical interests..which are just as eclectic as my reading preferences.
• Describe yourself in three words? Genuine, Passionate, Clumsy
• Favorite character you would have babies with? Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice

Thank you doll for this great interview!

Make sure you visit her two blogs:

The Perpetual Page-Turner & The Broke and Bookish!