BBAW: Day 2 – Interview Swaps

Today is the second day of Book Blogger Appreciation Week! The annual celebration of the book blogging community.

If you’ve been around for previous BBAWs you’ll know that each day there is a “Daily Blogging Topic” for every one to post about. Today’s is one of the highlights, it’s interview swap day!

Today I’d like to welcome Simcha from SFF Chat to Bart’s Bookshelf!

How did you get into book blogging?

I had started an online scifi and fantasy bookstore and then to help bring traffic to the website I started a blog. The problem was that I got so into blogging that I completely neglected the website, so now I’m trying to get that started back up again.

How long have you been doing it?

I have been blogging for a little over three years.

What has been your favourite blogging moment?

There have been many great moments but the most recent one was finding out that one of my reviews was quoted in a book. That was really exciting. It made me feel like a real reviewer.

What is your favourite book shop in your area? What do you like about it?

These days I buy most of my books from online retailers since books in Israel are really expensive the ones I want are often not even available. But if I were to choose a favourite bookshop it would be the small shop in the Old City of Jerusalem, located in one of the winding alleys, by the Roman pillars. It’s run by a little old woman who prices all of the books very cheaply just because she likes books and wants people to read. And although the selection is limited I always manage to find something there.

What is your favourite guilty read? (The one you normally like to keep quiet about) – Quit cringing and ‘fess up!!!

Well, I don’t keep anything private from my blog readers (at least, not book related) but what my real-life friends don’t know is that I do occasionally indulge in some historical romance.

What upcoming release would you recommend that we look out for?

Unfortunately I can’t really answer this one since I rarely get ARCs or early copies of books to review. Very few publishers send books to Israel (except for Tor & Tachyon Publications, who are awesome!) and many won’t even let their ebooks be read outside of the US. So most of the books that I read and review are ones that have already been published.

What’s the last book you read, that you found out about purely through book blogging?

That would probably be Seraphina, by Rachel Hartman. I had taken a break from blogging and when I came back everyone was talking about this book and I just had to find out what all the fuss was about.

Other than Science Fiction, which are you genres of choice?

I actually read much more fantasy than science fiction and when I’m not reading fantasy I like to read non-fiction, particularly memoirs and travelogues.

Characters or Plot? Which is most important?

Hm, I’d probably go with characters.

What’s your favourite book quote?

This is a hard one, since I love collecting quotes, but I happen to have been thinking of a particular quote today, when my son presented me a picture he drew with a dramatic “Ta-Da!”, so I’ll share it with you here:

From the Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Children get to say ta-da!, and I guess magicians, but other than that, it’s an underutilized expression. I’m trying to think- an adult might say it as she waltzes in with the turkey, or a homemade cake. But a self-congratulatory ta-da! Would certainly be warranted for any number of daily accomplishments. I cleaned out the trunk of my car. Ta-da! I finished filling out the insurance applications. Ta-da! I made the bed. Ta-da!

http://blog.42scifi-fantasy.com/