BBAW Q & A with Suey

It's All About Books - Q&A

1. Your blog is really amazing we like that it's thorough, informative and fun. How were you able to structure your blog the way it appears. During your early blogging years, did you come across and overcome any obstacles? What section of the blog is your favorite?

Blogger has changed so much over the years I've been blogging. At first, there were no choices for 3 column templates... so I went searching for the code on how to do that on my own and figured it out. Then they came out with the templates! Then, I wanted tabs across the top, so I went searching for code to figure out how to do THAT and just as soon as I added those to my blog, Blogger came out with "pages" which are basically tabs. So now I've added those and have both! Now I'm wanting threaded comments, which Blogger doesn't have yet, so I'm just hoping that will be another change they make soon and I'm just waiting this time! But basically, I have no idea how to structure a blog and all I've done is trial and error and not to be too afraid of pushing buttons to see what happens. 

As for which section is my favorite? Wow, I don't know! I really enjoy making lists, so I like having the lists of Top Tens, All Time Favorites, Books Read in (Current Year), Favorite Characters, etc. 

2. How do you decide which books to review? What happens when you come across a book that you feel receives less than a C grade average? Are you vocal about it? Do you still review it? 

I pretty much review everything I read. My reviews are simple and short, so this does not seem to stress me out overly much. But I do have a problem, and that is I seem to actually LIKE everything I read! I don't think I've ever given anything less than a B grade! But, that's not to say that some books have something that might bug me a little, and I will let you know it if they do, but even when that happens, I usually like the book overall and still rate it high. I know this is strange to some people, but that's how it is. 

3. Who are some of your favorite authors? Do you always read everything he or she writes? 

Some of my favorite authors are (and yes I've read everything they've written and plan to keep up with them hopefully):

Markus Zusak (new book coming out soon!)

John Green (new book coming out soon!)

Shannon Hale (new book coming out soon!)

Jane Austen (too bad she won't be writing more!)

Neal Shusterman (I have some catching up to do with him)

Brandon Sanderson (working on his line up still too)

4. It seems like more and more books are becoming movies. How do you feel about this? If you really enjoyed a book and it becomes a movie, how likely are you to watch it? Will you eventually review it on your blog and compare it to the book?

Yes, yes of course! I love to watch movies that came from books! Sometimes it doesn't work, but usually it's wonderful. Often I will review the movie and compare to the book. I love to do this with classics especially. In fact, recently we read and watched Middlemarch for book club. This next week we'll be discussing them both, and you can bet I'll be on my blog reporting what we thought. One thing I hate though, is watching a movie before the book, so I will need to be sure and read the book first. Usually anyway. Another thing is that it makes me sad when the actors replace the characters in my mind and I can't remember what they originally looked like in my imagination. That is sad. 

5. You definitely have a very busy schedule, how do you find time to balance everything and still maintain constant blog activity?  

My first response to this question is... I don't know! Yes, I have a lot going on, with teenager activity and college students and involvement in church and school and work, etc. But at the same time, I do have a lot of down time, so I fill that with blogging and reading. I have the mornings, the days off work, the late evenings, and then the weekends are often quiet. So it all seems to work out. Some of my other hobbies (quilting and scrapbooking) have taken a hit though, which is sad. Mostly, yes I'm busy, but my life is actually quite boring too, so I can blog!

Special Thanks to Book Blogger Appreciation Week for organizing this Q&A and matching us with Suey.