Book Blogger Love-A-Thon {interview swap}

A few weeks ago I signed up to participate in a Book Blogger Love-A-Thon. A day to spread the love of book blogging around - discover great new blogs, new books, and new people. Challenges will be going on throughout the day and it will be a general sense of awesomeness all day.

I'm a little late getting to the party today though, as the weather in New England is quite uncooperative and I only just got home to my computer! There will also be a little hiatus later in the day as I have to go take pictures of my best friend and her husband before their little baby arrives next month! I could not be more excited about his arrival and feel so blessed to be able to take these pictures for her! Needless to say, I'll be blog-love-a-thoning as much as possible today, but I've got other exciting things on my plate too.

The first thing that I am doing to participate in this love-a-thon today is a blogger interview swap!

I was paired with the lovely Jess from Gone With the Words. She's a lovely blogger with an immense love for books. You really ought to go check out her site. Especially to check out her answers to the questions I sent her.

So, here are the answers to the questions she sent me:

1. What inspired you to start blogging?

I started blogging when I realized I was moving to Budapest, Hungary for grad school. A little cliche, but I started this place both to keep people in my life informed about what I was doing overseas and to give myself something to look back on and relive my adventures. It's become so much more than that over the years, but I love that I can still go back and read about my time overseas!

2. What do you like to blog about most: books, travel, or randomness and why?

Books and travel. They tend to go hand-in-hand very well. Sadly, my travel days have become few and far between lately, but hopefully that won't be for long! So, for now it's books or whatever may strike my fancy. But those two are my top favorite things to write about. They're both packed full of adventure and new experiences. And really, what's life without a little of both?

3. As an avid traveller, where do you wish to visit next?

My next dream destination is somewhere tropical and absolutely relaxing. Ideally? The Maldives. But I'll need someone to volunteer to foot the bill on that one. Any takers?

4. What's one place you'd like more books to be set in? (ex. London, Paris, New York, etc)

Selfishly, Budapest. I miss my city so much! And it's so beautiful and steeped in mystery and beauty that it's just begging for someone to capture it between the covers of a book. 

5. What's your favorite thing about the book blogging community?

The discussions! I love that someone can post a review of loving or hating a book and that someone with the exact opposite opinion can come in and say "I get where you're coming from, but I loved this book because of X, Y, and Z!" And a beautiful discussion is born. 

I also love coming across new titles that I wouldn't have looked twice at if I walked by it in a store. I've discovered some cool books through this community.

6. What's your ideal reading environment? (ex. Outside, at the beach, in bed, fave reading chair, in perfect silence, some music in the background, etc.)

I can read anywhere. 

But my favorite place is in a cozy chair in front of a huge, roaring fire. Second favorite is lounging on the beach in the sun with the waves rolling in to shore. 

I don't need perfect silence, but if music/tv/etc is in the background too loud I will get distracted. 

7. Who are your top three favorite authors?

This is a next-to-impossible feat for me. So I'll give you my three favorite authors at present:

- J.K. Rowling 

- Jasper Fforde

- Jane Austen

8. What's your "One Day I Will Read This! I SWEAR IT!"book?

Anna Karenina 

It's on my to-read-finally this year list.

It will happen. 

9. I'm known to get all swoony over fictional guys fairly often. Who is your ultimate book boyfriend? Tell us a little about him and why you love him so.

Fitzwilliam Darcy

If you haven't read Pride & Prejudice (or seen one of the film adaptations) then I can't tell you anything about Mr. Darcy other than he is perfection. He's so real of a character and so charming. But he loves Lizzy with everything that he is and thinks of nothing without her happiness in mind. He's just a perfect, perfect gentelman. And I love him. 

or

Matthew Clairmont

From Deborah Harkness's All Souls Trilogy. Matthew is a vampire (which is not why I love him, in fact, I totally didn't realize this was a vampire-ish series until I got into it!) and he's old. But he's a perfect gentleman. He's also a scientist and a scholar, a yogi, wine enthusiast, traveller, and so much more. And he loves Diana with a fierce passion. He's the paranormal Mr. Darcy. 

10. Since this is a Book Blogger love-a-thon, recommend three of your favorite blogs to us and tell us what you like about them.

1. Ladybug Blessings - the blog of one of my oldest friends (since 2nd grade!). She's only recently started writing reviews of books, but she's also super crafty and the sweetest person you will ever meet. And she has an adorable dog, Pancake, too. 

2. Sarah Reads Too Much - this is one of the first book blogs I started following and her reviews are amazing. Sarah also hosts the Back to the Classics challenge I'm participating in this year!

3. The Oddness of Moving Things - Geoff and I met at UNC back in the day because of the fencing team and have stayed connected through all forms of media, blogging included. But he is a voracious reader and I love his reviews.