Get To Know The Broke And The Bookish: Interview with Jamie + Giveaway

This week for our blogoversary I'm really excited about the fact that you all are going to get to know everyone that writes here at TB&TB a little bit more. One of our biggest struggles in our first year here is making TB&TB still feel like that personal experience you might feel if you were visiting other blogs. It's hard to create a sense of voice when you have sooo many reviewers who like a variety of genres. So into our second year of blogging we are going to work on that and what better way than to get to know the rest of the members...aside from me! I typically tend to be the person that everyone knows from the blog because I tweet on behalf of us and I get to a lot of events and am the one who you'll get an email response from...but there are some REALLY fabulous people here at TB&TB...like really fabulous and without them this blog wouldn't be what it is!


So now it's time to get to know me....

I'm Jamie. I'm 25. And I think I'm a blogoholic. I blog both here and at my own personal book blog--The Perpetual Page-Turner. Some might call me insane but apparently I just can't get enough of blogging.

1. What has been your most memorable experience since blogging? I've had so many awesome times meeting bloggers and authors but I'd say the most memorable story would have to be the time I met Scott Westerfeld at BEA....it's how it happened that is memorable. So Lindsi from Books Sweets And Other Treats and I were wandering around trying to look for a room that a panel was going to be held in. She was going around asking everyone which was probably the best strategy since she has the cutest accent because she's from Texas! The next thing I see is Lindsi practically jump this guy who was stepping off the escalator. He looked kind of taken aback but the next thing I know this guy was walking with Lindsi and she's telling me to follow. This guy is tall and he commands attention really...and so finally I ask..."Who is he?" because I couldn't understand what made her run up to him like that and ask for directions. So then she tells me, "It's Scott Westerfeld" and I FREAK OUT. Like kind of embarrassing and he just laughs. So there we are...walking and talking with SCOTT FREAKING WESTERFELD who is trying to help us find this room because HE needs to be there as well. And then I decide that I need to try and take a picture of this...because nobody is going to believe me! lol. And so I am walking and sneak trying to take a picture with my phone...and he catches ME and laughs!!! It was hilarious and he was so nice. And then I fangirled a little more later on that night because I thanked him via Twitter for helping us....and he tweeted me back! Authors are so awesome. 

2. What do your bookshelves look like and how do you organize them? Wellll, I recently got new bookshelves...two of them actually. And then I have some built-ins that I've hijacked in our basement and right now all my BEA books are piled up on my pool table because I have no room for them. I have my books on my upstairs bookshelves divided into YA fiction, Adult Fiction, memoirs, travelogues and general non-fiction. And then I have all my ARCS on the built-ins in the basement. I love my new bookshelves in my room..they are black and sleek and awesome....oh and cheap! This picture is just of one of the shelves...so picture two!


3. What is one book that you push on everybody to read? Oh gosh...this is hard! If the reader likes adult fiction, I always push either Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close or The History of Love....funny since they are married to each other! If they read YA fiction I always push Anna and the French Kiss, If I Stay/Where She Went or Wither. Lately I've really been pushing for YA -- 10 Things We Did And Probably Shouldn't Have and for Adult Fiction -- The Bird Sisters or The Lover's Dictionary!

4. Do you have any family members/friends/significant others that read? Not really! My bookish friends have become my lifeline since blogging! My sister reads some YA chick-lit stuff on occasion and my bff reads some too but we have WAY different tastes. However, I have tried to convert my boyfriend of 4 1/2 years into a reader...and well my attempts have failed miserably. I have to say though...I am SO SO SO lucky that he is so supportive of how much time I spend blogging and reading and he even went to The National Book Festival in DC with me (and stood by himself for an hour in the hot sun to save a spot in line for me so I could meet Jonathan Safran Foer) and also recently came to his first ever book signing with me!

5. Are there any genres you won't read? I read mostly everything honestly...but I find myself not enjoying trashy romance novels or anything like Nicholas Sparks or Jodi Picoult. My best friend reads lots of Sparks and Picoult and I just cannot get into it. This isn't to say I don't try...but I just find myself wanting to get back to the other types of books I want to read.


5 Random Things About Me:

1. I have been bitten by the eternal travel bug. I swear that one day I'm going to quit my job and do an RTW trip for a year and see everything I possibly can.

2. When I was little I won the first ever Little Miss Athens contest in my small town in PA....and I got a crown and got to be in a parade and sit in a Corvette and wave like I was royalty. BOO YAH.

3. I have been involved in a high speed chase before. Seriously...it's a long story but these guys chased us because they wondered why we were outside their house (I think they thought we were dudes who wanted to fight). Embarrassing for my sister since she was the one wanting to see what her ex-boyfriend was up to....and then they found out who we were and he called and asked if she had been sitting outside the kid's house.

4. I'm related to Jackie O.....true story. On the Bouvier side.

5. It takes 5 alarms to wake me up in the morning and most of the time I still wake up late.



GIVEAWAY TIME!!!

We decided that we would each pick out some books that we've LOVED over this past year of blogging. Since I read both YA and Adult, I'm going to have two prize packs!


YA Fiction Prize Pack:


* Signed copy of Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have)
* And your choice of one of the following: Wither, If I Stay, Where She Went or Anna and the French Kiss.


Adult Fiction Prize Pack:

* One finished copy of The Bird Sisters (Rebecca Rasmussen)
* One finished copy of The Lover's Dictionary (David Levithan)
* One finished copy of Ape House  (Sara Gruen)


+ You don't have to be a follower but since it IS our blogoversary and we are celebrating our time in the blogosphere...we'd LOVE for you to check out the blog!
+ Open to International folks
+ Giveaway ends July 4

Fill out this form. You are able to enter for both prize packs!