Blogger Fame Interview: Julia from That Hapa Chick!

Blogger Fame is a meme that features a 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. . .

Julia from That Hapa Chick!

Name: Julia :) (I prefer to not give out my full name!)

Age: 18

Location: Arizona

Blog: That Hapa Chick

Twitter: That_Hapa_Chick

1) Julia, what inspired you to start your blog, That Hapa Chick?

J: Well I guess my Mom had gotten tired of having to hear about EVERY book I read so she suggested I write a blog about it. I liked the idea but I didn't really take it seriously until I became friends with another gal who used to do a lot of book blogging. She made me realize that it was something that people would actually want to read and that it might be fun! The only problem was that I didn't want to start my blog until I came up with a good name for it. Lame I know. I seriously spent 6 months procrastinating on it and trying to come up with a name! When I finally did I started up my blog in one night and here I am now!

2) What's the meaning behind your blog title?

J: Haha well as you can tell from the last question the blog title was super important to me. At first I tried to come up with something involving books and trying to make it clever but that just didn't work. Then I read Nothing But the Truth (and a Few White Lies) by Justina Chen Headley. In the book the main character is half Chinese and half European and she refers to herself as a Hapa. I happen to be half Chinese and half European as well and I had never heard of the term Hapa before. I really liked it and then came up with the name That Hapa Chick because I am Hapa. Hapa is actually the Hawaiian word for half and it just usually refers to a person of mixed Asian and European descent. I thought it was unique and cute and I like it even though it has absolutely nothing to do with what my blog is actually about!

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

J: The best part is the wonderful blogging community. Everyone is so nice and reading peoples comments or getting a nice email from someone or hearing that a review made someone decide to buy a book really makes my day. It also doesn't hurt that I never forget what books I read now! Haha. The worst part is that I always tend to compare myself with others. If I don't get as much blog traffic, or as many comments I feel like a failure or like my blog is bad. I think its the Asian in me. I'm such an overachiever. Its terrible and I really need to stop. :P

4) Which is your favorite genre to review?

J: Definitely Dystopian. I just love being able to get sucked into another world and examining the flaws in the society. They really make you think and that in my opinion, is the whole point of a book.

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

J: Oh wow hard.... Its actually 6 books but The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien and The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins are definitely my favorite books of all time. :)

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

J: Probably J.R.R. Tolkien. I would tell him that hobbits are the best thing known to man because they prove that short people can be totally badass. :)

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

J: Haha I wish maybe that would help me write them faster. I guess you could say I surf the interwebs while I write them. I get distracted really easily.....

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

J: Ohhh good question. Probably the Lord of the Rings so I could live in Hobbiton!

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

J: Unearthly by Cynthia Hand!!! ITS SO SHINY!!! I saw it at Borders with one of my friends and we seriously couldn't stop looking at it. I almost want to buy it just because the cover is SO GORGEOUS. I also really love the Across the Universe cover and how it has two different sides.

10) Which type five blogs do you continually visit?

J: Haha well I continually visit A LOT more than 5 blogs but my favorites are: Call Me Crazy, My Words Ate Me, holes In My brain, GReads, and iswimforoceans.

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

J: Do what makes you happy and don't compare yourself to others. As long as you're having a good time writing your blog THAT is what really matters.

Random Questions:

Approximately, how many books do you own? For serious? Haha. Let me go count.... 276 not counting ARC's. However a few of them are duplicates of each other. But not many. Maybe 20.
Favorite guilty pleasure? Katy Perry music (especially Teenage Dream. :P) and Hunger Games fanfiction. For the longest time I thought fanfiction was so lame and that I would never read it. Then I went into Mockingjay withdrawal and decided to read some HG fanfiction to soften the pain. I've been hooked ever since.
Where do you purchase your books? Mostly Half Price Books or Bookmans, but on occasion I will buy from Borders and Amazon. Oh and sometimes I get something from my Library's book sale.
Judge book by cover or summary? Both. I'm so bad!!! Haha. I also like to turn to the copyright page of a book and go down to the summary and subjects of the book printed there. Random, but I do it almost everytime I read a book!
Favorite movie? Definitely The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
What do you think about e-readers? They're cool, but I honestly couldn't live without the actual physical copies. If I owned a digital copy I would HAVE to own the physical copy too otherwise I would feel like I didn't really own it. I'm weird that way.
Describe yourself in three words? Short, Asian, Loud.
Which character would you like to marry? GALE HAWTHORNE! End of story. :)