Monday, June 20, 2011

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!

42 comments:

  1. Round the World trip sounds like a fabulous idea. I do hope that one day you will be able to fulfill that dream.

    It was fun getting to know you.

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  2. Congrats to all at The Broke and the Bookish on their one year blogoversery. :)

    Jamie thanks for sharing with us a lil more about you. :)

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  3. Fun post Jamie :) Congrats on a year of blogging!

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  4. Happy Blogoversary!!

    I remember when TB&TB first started & you were trying to come up with a name on the CS Goodreads group! :) I've been following you from Day 1 and I'm so thrilled to see how much the blog has grown and thrived. Here's to another Broke and Bookish year!!

    xo

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  5. I have the travel bug, too!! If I don't go somewhere in a short period of time, I start twitching!!

    Congrats on one year!!

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  6. Congrats on the 1yr Blogoversary!

    Great giveaway too!

    Jamie - I really hope this doesn't sound creepy or stalkerish, but I noticed you said Athens, PA... are you near Sayre?

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  7. I love getting to learn more about you Jamie :-) Happy 1 year TB&TB blogoversary!!!!

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  8. Congrats on the blogoversary! Love your Scott Westerfeld story, very memorable and he sounds really nice :D And I think it's a great idea to spotlight each of the TB&TB bloggers so we get to know them better. Looking forward to the rest of the posts!

    Thanks very much for the giveaway :)

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  9. Miss Athens - fancy fancy - I bet you could still rock the royalty wave. Congrats on the blogoversary!

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  10. Happy Blogoversary and thanks so much for your giveaway!

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  11. Congrats and thank you for this nice giveaway!

    I'm also an omnivorous reader but I also don't really enjoy trashy romance. :-)

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  12. Happy Blogiversary! Awesomw giveaway!

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  13. Congrats on your blogoversary! Mine is still a good 7 months away.

    Just so you know, I filled out the form with my real name so I don't want you to get confused. I'm the one with the llevinso.bookreader[at]gmail[dot]com email address. I didn't know if we were supposed to put our actual name down or our profile name :)

    Congrats again! And thanks for the giveaway!

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  14. Loved the Scott Westerfield story and it's great to learn more about Jamie (I love The Perpetual Page-Turner too!!)

    Thanks for hosting the giveaways and congratulations on the first blogiversary! Here's to many many more!

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  15. I'm definitely not into Sparks or Picoult either... I don't quite get why they're so popular, but I guess everyone has their own taste (obviously, haha).

    Congrats on the blogoversary and thanks for the giveaway! =)

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  16. Peggy-- Athens is literally right next to Sayre! I don't live there anymore..I'm outside of Philadelphia but my family still lives there! Are you familiar with the area?

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  17. Jamie - Haha, that is funny. I actually live in Sayre. I knew they were basically the same town, I just wanted to make sure I was reading it right! :) I'm originally from Corning and moved here a year ago for my husband to be closer to his work. Small world!

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  18. Peggy-- That is TOO funny! I was just there for Easter! I go up a few times a year to visit my dad, sister and stepmom! SUCH a small world! I lived there until I was in 7th grade.

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  19. Happy blogoversary!

    It's a real pleasure to learn more about you :)

    Thank you for the amazing giveaway ;)

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  20. Happy blogoversary! It's great to know more about you.

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  21. I am a fairly new reader of your site, so I look forward to learning a little more about everyone. Happy one-year!

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  22. I really admire your taste, and I'm off to put the books you recommend here on my TBR list at the library. EL&IC is one of my all-time favorites too, and I read it at the same time as The History of Love: And I didn't even know that they were married at the time!
    Thanks for reminding me of that, and congratulations (with gratitude!) on your blogoversary!

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  23. How adorable is this interview? And how awesome is that SW story??? I probably would've done the same thing!! I also can't really get into Nicholas Sparks or Jodi Picoult, so I know what you mean - tried them both, and eh, not for me. Love the Jackie O. thing - you have lovely dark hair just like she did! Great interview and thanks for the awesome giveaway!


    -Linds

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  24. This was a really fun post! And it takes a min. of 5 alarms to get me up too :p

    Happy Blogiversary :)

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  25. Congratulations! 1 year and you have certainly made a mark on the book blogging world - congrats on maintaining a great blog with quality content!

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  26. Congrats 2 all at The Broke and the Bookish on one year blogoversery. :)

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  27. Fun post! Amazingly, I converted my husband into a reader. He mostly reads political thrillers (think Vince Flynn) but I got him into Holly Black and Cassandra Clare's books.

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  28. Congratulations on the 1 yr. blogoversary! I just wanted to say that I think a RTW trip sounds like pretty much the ideal thing.

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  29. Love the Scott Westerfeld story! It had me laughing so hard! I would love to go on a RTW trip too, though I don't see it happening too soon.

    Congratulations on your 1 year blogoversary and thanks for the giveaway! :)

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  30. Happy Blogoversary! That's an awesome accomplishment and I love reading this blog!
    I've also tried to convert my boyfriend, and I have failed as well :[ But he can play his video games and I can read and we're in the same room, so its not THAT bad :]

    Thank you for the giveaway!

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  31. Haha! Jamie, it takes at least 5 alarms to wake me up too! I hate mornings. NOT a morning person.

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  32. Congrats! I've been following since August- I love this blog!

    Also, I totally understand about the non-reader boyfriend thing. I gave my boyfriend City of Bones to read and he has been on page 13 for about a month. :( Oh well LOL.

    Thanks for this awesome blog!

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  33. This is such a great post, seriously! I also am a traveler. I can't seem to get enough of it :)
    -Katelyn

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  34. I can never decide how to organize my books! I always seem to change things around! :)

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  35. I wish I had room for a tall bookcase like that! It would take some serious rearranging to fit one in my room. The heater vents or outlets are always in the way! haha

    I set four alarms to wake me up this morning. They didn't work though. My cat woke me up, I think she was tired of hearing my alarm go off.

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  36. Happy Blogversary! Nice story about Scott W. HA!

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  37. Thanks for organizing this, that was cool getting to know you a bit. Happy Blogoversary! Emma @ Words And Peace
    http://wordsandpeace.wordpress.com

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  38. i too have like NO one in my life who reads books and rely on the amazing bookish community for bookish chatter about bookish things. :)

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  39. Happy Blogoversary!
    I don't like Nicholas Sparks either. I've read The Notebook because the movie is so amazing but I was so disappointed with the book..
    Thanks a lot for this great giveaway!

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  40. +JMJ+

    Your black bookshelves look very classy! I'd love some myself, to make my books pop more than they do on a fake pine finish--but that might mean redecorating my whole room. (Sigh!)

    As for your boyfriend, he sounds like a real keeper! =)

    Thanks for the giveaway!

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