Get to Know The Broke and the Bookish: Interview with Jana + Giveaway

Wooohooo! We made it a whole year! My, how time flies. I have loved blogging with TB&TB for the past year, and mostly because of our awesome followers and my amazing fellow TB&TB contributors. When I first started out, I thought reviewing a book for a public blog was an extremely daunting task. I'd never done anything like it before. I've learned so much, though, and can't seem to shut up about books anymore!

Anyway... I'm Jana, aka @SweetestJana on Twitter. I just barely turned 24 (on the 22nd!).  I'm a nighttime blogger, and a daytime graphic designer. I love to have fun and I love meeting new people. I spend ALL my money on traveling. I'm very spontaneous and I love to participate in the most random activities. I have many, MANY shoes... all of which are completely necessary and I can't part with. I love music, books, movies, shopping, food, and wonderful people. Oh, and I sing. A lot. Today I'm going to tell you about some of my bookish ways and a few random secrets about myself that you most likely didn't know. 

1. Do you have any bookish quirks? 

I organize my books by height, author, and series. If I have one book in a series in hardback, they ALL have to be hardback. Same with paperback. All books in one series have to be in the same format, even if I have to pay extra. 

If a book has been published several times and has 10-30 different covers, I will buy the best cover even if it costs me $15 more than the cheapest one. Take Pride and Prejudice, for example. There are seriously a thousand different covers, but I bought the Barnes & Noble leatherbound classic because it was my favorite. I could have paid $3 for the little paperback, but no. I spent $17 for the same book. I haven't even read Pride and Prejudice before, so I don't know if I even like the book enough to have spent that much money... But isn't it pretty!?  My goal is to read it this summer. :)

 I get extremely attached to my books. If I love a book, I can't part with it. I can't give it away or sell it. It must stay on my shelf, or in my collection forever.

And finally... If there are grammatical mistakes in the book I'm reading, I get out a pen and correct them. 

 2. What were some of your favorite books as a child?

I loved books when I was little, and I love this question! 

There was this series of books called Sherlock Chick about a little chick who loved to solve mysteries. The one in the picture is about the case of the mysterious loud noises that are awakening the farm animals every night. There were 4 books total, and I just spent $28 on Amazon Marketplace to buy used copies for my own collection. They are no longer in print.

I also loved the 4-book series about Henry the Duck. In Henry's Awful Mistake, Henry wants so badly to get rid of an ant that's loose in his house. He goes so far as to actually flood his entire house in the process, and has to move out. Luckily these are still in print, and I just bought those as well. I must say, this question was not good for my bank account!

As I got older, I also loved Amelia Bedelia, The Babysitters Club, Full House Michelle, Full House Stephanie, and Nancy Drew.

3. Favorite place to shop for books?

I don't really have any fun bookstores where I live. I just have the normal chains. I wish I had some cute, quaint bookstore to visit, but I guess Border's will have to do! I really enjoy Border's, plus I get an educator's discount for teaching in an Elementary school.

4. Favorite book quote?

Ok, I love this book. The dialogue is hilarious, and the heroine's inner thoughts are to die for. She and I are so alike! I love this part, right at the beginning of the book:

"I know the formula--he wants her, she refuses him, he charms her, she holds her ground, he does something dramatic like saves her from a fire or reinstates her family's lost fortune or dies, she realizes she loved him all along, wedding bells ring or pirate flags unfurl or she joins a convent, happily ever after--but I don't expect to live that way. I've learned that life is not like novels. Especially not like novels with rippling muscles on paperback covers.

After reading a couple hundred of those books--you know, hypothetically speaking--you start to see that there's not that much difference between a romance and an epic fantasy. You've got your quest, sometimes it involves a ring, and a hero who will stop at nothing to do what he has to. The difference is usually the girl. And I'm not that girl.

I'm not the girl who inspires men to commit acts of heroism. In real life, those girls speak much more quietly and breathe a lot louder than I do. I'm not the girl who strikes men speechless with her beauty. Really, really not. I don't even know how to flutter my eyelashes. But that's life. Not romance-novel life, just real life."

- My Ridiculous, Romantic Obsessions by Becca Wilhite (pgs. 4-5)

5. Strangest encounter you've had while at a bookstore?

Ok, I swear I'm not kidding. I was at more of a media store than just a bookstore, but it still counts. Books were sold there. I was going through a bin of discount items, just minding my own business when this guy (let's call him Nate) comes up to me and says, "Jana?" I look up, utterly confused, and stare at this guy I had never, ever seen before, hoping to have some kind of epiphany and gain control of the situation. To be polite, I say something along the lines of, "...y-yes?" Then he smiles this huge smile and tells me how great it is to see me again after all these years. I still had no idea who he was, so I just stood there smiling as he told me all about how he hung out with me and a common friend (let's call him Peter) in high school. High school was only 4 years ago at this time, so I was really confused as to why I had never seen this guy before. He ended up asking me out, and I said yes because I still did not want to admit I had no idea who he was.

A few days later, I called Peter asking for a little bit of a brain refresher. He proceeded to tell me that Nate was a part-time janitor at our high school during my junior year, was now Peter's boss and mentor, was 5 years older than I was, and that I had never actually met him until that day in the store. I was floored. FLOORED. So I asked Peter how on earth Nate knew me. Peter said they were on Facebook one day and Nate saw my picture, thought I was cute, and wanted to know more about me. So Peter told him all about how we were best friends in high school and that he had an extremely high opinion of me. So... Nate recognized me, knew enough about me to convince me I knew him, and he asked me out. OH MAN! As soon as I found out, naturally, I went to Peter's and Nate's place of work to confront Nate about it. He turned red, laughed a little nervously, and proceeded to apologize profusely for lying to me. No, I did not accept his second invitation for a date, but was so flattered that he worked so hard to get a date with me that I did not block him on Facebook (haha). He's married now. Maybe he'll name his first child after me. Who knows?

And now for my 5 random facts...

1. I have a really weird weakness for chocolate-covered strawberries. I think I'm actually border-line obsessive when it comes to those little chocolate-covered pieces of Heaven.

2. My silly claim to fame/celebrity moment. Can you tell I live in Utah? I saw Donny Osmond get thrown into the pool in his backyard while wearing a tuxedo, complete with Blackberry in the pocket at his son's wedding.

3. I'm allergic to almost everything and I'm not exaggerating. My allergist said I'm allergic to every tree, grass, and weed in Utah. I'm the worst case he's ever seen.

4. When I was little, I was a model in a magazine ad for children's tepees. lol.

5. The smell of certain Bath and Body Works lotions make me want to throw up.

Giveaway time!!

And now for the fun part!! I'm hosting a giveaway of one of my favorite books that I've had the opportunity to read because I write for TB&TB. Many of you probably remember my review of Nocturne, by Syrie James.

Here are the rules:

+ One lucky winner will win a brand new, hardback, finished copy of Nocturne, by Syrie James.
+ 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 just USA readers.
+ Giveaway ends July 6th
+ Fill out this form right here if you want a chance to win! 

Thanks for taking the time to get to know me, and good luck to all those who hope to win! Happy blogoversary, TB&TB! Happy reading!

Get to Know The Broke and the Bookish: Interview with Natanya

Hey guys! I’m Natanya, a 19-year-old rising junior double majoring in Comparative Literature (with what I guess is a specialization in French lit) and Sociology. I’ve been reading and writing my whole life and blogging on and off for many years, so book blogging seemed like a pretty natural transition, and I’ve had a great time doing it this last year! (And thanks for bearing with my Margaret Atwood obsession!)

Anyway, here are some things about me…I’ll try not to ramble too much. :)

1. What were some of your favorite books as a child?
My absolute favorite book was The Two Princesses of Bamarre, by Gail Carson Levine, which I have probably read more times than any other book in my life, and I read every other one of her books too. I also loved the Shadow Children series (Among the Hidden, Among the Impostors, etc.) by Margaret Peterson Haddix, though sadly by the time the last couple came out I had outgrown them too much to fully enjoy them. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin was also one of my favorites. I used to read a lot of mystery novels (I was a bit of a Nancy Drew nerd), and The Westing Game was my favorite.

2. How do you balance reading and school/work?
Oy. Well, since I’m a comparative literature major, I actually read a TON of books for school, which makes it even more difficult to read books for fun. While many of the books I read for class are really good, having to read a full novel in 2 days kind of dulls the wonderfulness of what I’m reading, as well as my desire to read anything else. So, in short, I really don’t balance them. I try to read as many books as possible over breaks because I know that I won’t have the energy to read any more than required during the semester. It really sucks.

3. Are there any types of books you WON’T read?
I don’t read trashy romance novels, and I’ve never been very interested in the majority of historical fiction, though it depends on the time period and type of novel. I’m also not a fan of long series. I used to read series when I was younger, but by the end, I’d just get bored with them. In particular, I really have no desire to read any of those really long series of sci fi or fantasy novels. Also, much to my best friend’s chagrin, I refuse to read manga. Maybe I’d like it, but seeing how caught up manga-readers get in that world, I don’t want to find myself never reading anything else, especially because there are SO many books I want to read. And finally, while through high school my reading was split about 50/50 YA and adult fiction, I now rarely read YA. I know there are some very good ones, but I’ve read enough not very good ones that I lost my desire to read them, except on rare occasion when I’m in a reading rut (ie. when I can’t find anything to hold my interest—YA novels tend to be especially good at grabbing my interest, even if they don’t leave me with much to think about afterward).

4. What is your dream bookish job?
I want to be a book editor at a small publishing company. That is both my dream bookish job and my actual dream job. I love reading and editing, so this just seems perfect. More specifically, I want to be at a small publisher in Vancouver, BC, because Vancouver is amazing (the picture to the right is at Stanley Park in Vancouver…so pretty!). I don’t really want to work for any of the publishing giants in NYC or San Francisco…that world really just doesn’t appeal to me, even though they publish plenty of fantastic books. It’s just too businessy. I’d prefer to not work for a corporation if I can help it.

5. Favorite place to shop for books?
I don’t buy very many books (life of a broke and bookish collegiate), but I love small used and independent bookstores. I love the cozy atmosphere, and I love getting lost between the bookcases. Also, there is a bookstore in Seattle that has cats, which is awesome because I love cats. And the first time I went there, the mama cat had just had kittens, which were the cutest little things ever.

Five random things about me:

1. I love reptiles and amphibians, but my mom never really let me own any, and now that I’m away at school, I don’t live in one place for long enough to have a real pet. I had a couple African Dwarf Frogs during high school (they’re aquatic and are only a little more difficult to care for than goldfish), but I can’t wait until I have my own permanent home so I can get frogs, a snake, a lizard, or something like that.
   
   
2. I was born in Virginia, then spent 2 years in North Carolina, and then moved to just outside of Seattle, Washington when I was 6. My parents are both from New York City, though, and all of my extended family is still in the NY/NJ area, so that is largely how I ended up in New York for college. I’m in upstate NY (Finger Lakes region), which is pretty disconnected from the world, but is absolutely gorgeous, especially right now during the summer.
   
   
3. I have a horrendous memory, which, when combined with my state as an organizational freak, means that I have post-it notes everywhere and set reminders on my phone for everything. My friends kind of like my bad memory, though, because it means that they can tell me the same story multiple times and I won’t remember the first time (and, of course, when I was younger, my friends told me all of their secrets because they knew I’d forget them, which I generally did).
   
   
4. Lately, I’ve been dreaming of working on a little organic farm for the rest of my life. Or at least for part of my life. I’d love to take a year off after I graduate, before starting my “career,” and working on a farm in California. Alternatively, it would be awesome to go live on a kibbutz in Israel for a year, especially because I’d love to re-learn all of the Hebrew I’ve lost after taking 6 years of French.
   
   
5. I decided to be a vegetarian my freshman year of college, and have kept up with it partly just because it seems weird to go back to eating meat, even though it’s been less than 2 years. While I do sometimes miss meat, I’ve eaten so many new types of vegetarian dishes, many of which I probably wouldn’t have tried if I wasn’t a vegetarian!

Well, if you've made it to the end of this massive post, thanks for reading!

Get To Know The Broke And The Bookish: Interview with Kelly & a Giveaway!

It took me 45 minutes to take this picture.

Hey guys! Kelly here, some of you may know me as @the_bookaholic on Twitter. Being a part of this blog has been a great experience, mainly thanks to Jamie's wise guidance! Anyways, I'm 20 years old and a senior in college. I'm a Creative Writing major and I like to read, but isn't that why we're all here?

Five Bookish Facts About Me:

Do you have any weird bookish quirks? I'm not sure if this is too weird, as I've come across many book-lovers who are just the same, but I am very hesitant when loaning out my books. I'm always afraid they'll come back to me ruined, stained, ripped, or horror of horrors, not at all. I hate even donating my books as I'm afraid people won't take care of them properly. I recently loaned my friend my much-loved copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, very reluctantly. She texted me yesterday saying that she took it on vacation with her...to Seattle. I had a minor heart attack imagining all of the disasters that could fall upon my book while so far away!

Do any of your friends, family or significant others share your passion? My family is full of readers. My parents have always been willing to buy me books or take me to the library. My mom used to work at a publishing company in Los Angeles and would bring home boxes of books for me! My dad really got into reading when he was trying to learn English after he moved to the US. On the other hand...my friends, not so much. Other than the few that like Harry Potter and/or Twilight, I have maybe two friends that really enjoy reading, but not to the degree that I do. It's very frustrating to not be able to talk bookish-things with friends, which is why the blogging community is so important to me!

Favorite quote from a book? I think my all time favorite quote is from Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy: "If you look for perfection, you'll never be content." How true is that? Another quote that I like to throw around is from Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey,  "The person, be it gentlemen or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." Overall, I think Oscar Wilde is one of the most quotable human beings that ever lived.

What were some of your favorite books as a child? I'll admit it right off: I was OBSESSED with The Babysitter's Club. OBSESSED. I owned every single book in the series and have read each one at least seven times. And yes, I did try and start my own club, but since there was only one member (me), that failed quickly. I also loved books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Beverly Cleary, Judy Blume, and Louis Sachar.

What are you currently reading? I just started The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. It's over 1,000 pages, which scares me to death, but the historical and fantasy aspects are right up my alley and I think I'll really enjoy it.

Five Random Facts About Me:

1. I am the the biggest mutt you'll ever meet. I was raised in California and am part Spanish and Chinese thanks to my dad, but being raised by my mom's family, I speak with a hilarious mix of a Southern and English accent. It's apparently very amusing to hear me talk.

2. I've been to Disney World almost 200 times. Both my aunt and roommate work there (free tickets!), so I am there almost every weekend. I can find my way around each park blindfolded. You'd think I'd get sick of it, but that's yet to happen!

3. Throughout my entire life, I've spent an ungodly amount of time at the beach or by a pool, yet amazingly, even though I rarely wear sunscreen, I've never been sunburned once *knocks on wood.*

4. I'm obsessed with nail polish. I own over 45 bottles and simply cannot stop painting my nails weird colors. Currently, they are a vividly blinding baby blue.

5. I'm terrible with kids. I yell, get impatient, am grouchy, and get extremely peeved if they start crying. I can only imagine what kind of mother I'm going to be. In the meantime, the only child I can handle is my cat. He's adorable, isn't he?-->

GIVEAWAY!

Here's a nice little reward if you actually read through this entire post! Now, I'm a poor jobless college student, so my giveaway will be slightly less exciting than the others. I am giving away a copy of one of the best books I've read in 2011, Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen (my review will hopefully be posted in the near future). If you like historical fiction, the 1920s, flappers, drama, love, death, and betrayal, I'm sure you will love this one!

+ You are not required to be a follower, but we'd sure love it if you were!

+ This giveaway is open internationally.

+ Ends on July 6th.

(This giveaway is now closed)

Get To Know The Broke and the Bookish: Interview with Daisy

I can't believe it's been a year already! I felt like such a spaz writing my reviews at first, cause I didn't know what to say and now I almost can't stop talking. I'll try not to make this too long and make you guys snooze! Jamie, being the wonderful leader of our little group, gave us a nice set of questions to choose from, so without further ado, a little more about me.


So, hi, I'm Daisy, a 23-year-old medical intern. Oh, and I love books, did I mention that already? I contribute to the Broke and the Bookish and also have my own little blog called Between the Pages, which is where I can usually be found. I mean that both literally and figuratively speaking. I so wanted to show you guys my awesome bookcases, but sadly, my camera decided die on me.

1. How Do You Balance Reading and School/Work? To be honest, I don't really. There's not much balance to go around, I either study really hard and sadly have no time for reading. Or I read and conveniently *forget* I should be studying instead. It's gotten somewhat easier now I have an ereader and can just pile books on there in case I go anywhere on weekends or for the commute to and from the hospital. Seriously, it fits in pretty much any purse I own, so I can take a book with me anywhere, I love it! I work about 50-60 hours a week and with my boyfriend sometimes needing cuddles and friends and parents who want my attention sometime, it can get tough to squeeze in reading time. I always try to read before going to sleep and Saturday is my designated reading day, you have to be really persuasive to convince me to do otherwise.

2. Do you have any authors whose books you'd put on an "auto-read" list...no matter what they wrote? So this one is easy: J.K. Rowling. There's no questioning it, if she ever decides to write another book/series/essay/ANYTHING, I'd buy it. I so loved Harry Potter, I can honestly say my life would be less -for lack of a better word- magical if I hadn't read them.
The same goes for Patrick Rothfuss and Suzanne Collins, their books go on auto-buy. And if Jane Austen were still alive and kicking, she'd be on the list too, cause I so love her books. And this is the mind that created Mr. Darcy, who knows what she would have come up with if she'd lived longer.

3. Favourite bookquote? So this one's pretty long, but it's beautiful:

"If you have never spent whole afternoons with burning ears and rumpled hair, forgetting the world around you over a book, forgetting cold and hunger--

If you have never read secretly under the bedclothes with a flashlight, because your father or mother or some other well-meaning person has switched off the lamp on the plausible ground that it was time to sleep because you had to get up so early--

If you have never wept bitter tears because a wonderful story has come to an end and you must take your leave of the characters with whom you have shared so many adventures, whom you have loved and admired, for whom you have hoped and feared, and without whose company life seems empty and meaningless--

If such things have not been part of your own experience, you probably won't understand what Bastian did next."
- Michael Ende - The Neverending Story

This describes my love of reading so absolutely perfectly, everyone should feel like this at some point in their lives I think. I can't imagine a life without books and this exact feeling.

4. Favorite place to shop for books? Hands down the booksales we have every once in a while around here. They are awesome. And they don't make me feel guilty for getting 20 books, cause they're all so cheap! We also have a beautiful bookstore in the town I live in, I can just get lost in there for hours
And I'm lucky enough to have been to London last year and OMG, the bookstores there are just amazing! There are so many more to choose from, it was heavenly, I swear my boyfriend thought I was going crazy :)

5. Do any of your friends, family or significant other share your passion? Well, I have friends who read. My mother reads. I've even convinced my boyfriend to pick up a book this year. But none of them share my passion. I mean, seriously, it's one of the best things about blogging: you guys say 'nice haul' when I'm telling about 15+ books I've gotten from a sale, while my friends and family ask me if I really need them. I do. I need all of them. Also, my friends probably read 15 books a year or something. I sometimes read that much in 2-3 weeks.

5 Random Things About Me:
1. I'm studying medicine, but I hate going to the doctor myself and I always self-diagnose before I got. Which is probably really annoying (sorry!).

2. I speak Dutch, English, French, German and a little Latin. I really wish I could speak Chinese or Spanish, that would be awesome!

3. I make a mean chocolate pie. It's so good even one of my friends who doesn't like chocolate pie (which is weird on a whole unique level altogether), loves it.

4. My to-read list on Goodreads has 824 books on it, 95 of which I physically own. 6 months ago, there were 591 on this list. I've read 79 books since and am beginning to fear I will never see the end of the list. It's exploding and it seems to grow overnight by itself.

5. I love watching Ugly Betty (so sad it ended), Grey's Anatomy, America's Next Top Model and Gossip Girl. I love relaxing with all the drama going on there.

You all still awake? Thanks for taking the time to get to know me a bit more and if I did make you snooze, at least you got a nice little nap out of it right?

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Reasons Why We Love Book Blogging!

As part of our 1 Year Blogoversary celebration we decided that this Top Ten Tuesday should be about the blogosphere and why we love doing what we do! Be sure to check out our other blogoversary posts and giveaways.

And now TB&TB team will tell you all the reasons why we LOVE being a part of this community:

1. Blogging has opened up a lot of doors for me, professionally. I've gotten to know a lot of people, including authors and other librarians, that I would never have gotten in touch with had it not been for my blogs. Plus it's great for me to get the practice for writing short synopses and gathering thoughts about my reading. --Tahleen

2. Blogging means I can share the love I feel for some of the books I read! Whenever I review a good book I always hope that someone out there will actually read it and enjoy it as much as I did! --Anna

3. Blogging has given me a chance to really reflect on the books I'm reading and it's a fun way to exercise my mind since graduating from college. I feel like I'm reading more quality books since I started doing this. Also being able to talk with other bookish people makes me feel so much better about my overflowing bookshelves and addiction to bookstores/the library! -- Heather


4. I love that I now have people who are just as obsessed with books as I am to talk to and having the chance to interact with authors, since they don't come to Holland all that often. And my exploding TBR-list, it's crazy! -- Daisy


5. Working with TBTB has broadened my book boundaries (say that three times fast) a ton! I am constantly exposed to books I honestly would never have thought to look for myself. Seeing what other people think is good or bad just keeps my ever expanding TBR shelf growing and growing. And it is not all made up of romance novels anymore. - Julia

6. It motivates me to really think about the books I'm reading. I'm used to analyzing literature for school, but when I read a book that I'm going to review, I have reason to write down all of the non-academic random thoughts that go through my head and then reflect on them later, which is fun and interesting. -- Natanya

7. I find such great recommendations. In the year since I started blogging, my TBR list and bookshelf have practically doubled in size! I love meeting fellow book lovers who share their favorite books with me. -- Kelly

8. I get to be as bookish as I want! I get to write about things I've read, or just do a post that combines my love for literature with my other passions. Like my post "Where bookishness and thespianism collide." :) -- Kimberly

9. Blogging helps keep me up-to-date on all the best new releases. I was always years behind, but now I look forward to new titles months and months before their release. Come to think of it, maybe that's not a good thing. :P Just kidding! The anticipation is a lot of fun (like Christmas!), and I always have something to look forward to! -- Jana

10. It makes something I always considered a "solitary" hobby into something very social...and I LOVE THAT. I've met amazing bloggers whom I've shared amazing bookish conversations with online and in person and I love love love talking to authors about their books.  -- Jamie






For future Top Ten Tuesdays (and I just added a HUGE amount of them!) please click here.

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!

It's Our ONE YEAR Blogoversary: Intro Post + Giveaway

Welcome to the One Year Blogoversary of The Broke and The Bookish!

We started this little blog here as a result of my (Jamie's) unemployment situation and the desire to talk books. I put out the call in the College Students group on Goodreads that I created and moderate and sure enough many of my favorite members were enthusiastic about starting a blog together! We've come a LONG way....we've figured out the bumps and issues that arise with having a collaborative blog and we've figured out what has worked for us as a team of bloggers and readers. I'm so happy with the relationships we've made with other readers and the conversations we've had. I'm so proud of the way our blog has grown organically and how we've found our little corner here in the blogosphere.

In this year we've read some amazing books, had some amazing discussions with you all, gone to amazing bookish events, interacted with great authors and, on occasion, been able to share books we've enjoyed with other readers with giveaways.

A glance at the past year:

Our first review was posted on Monday, June 21, 2010.  I reviewed 360 Degrees of Longitude.  Our first Top Ten Tuesday was Top Ten Childhood Favorites.  Top Ten Tuesday has grown so much since then!

We currently have thirteen contributors to The Broke and the Bookish.  You'll get to know each of them individually this week as we will be having a "Get To Know You" interview with everyone and some giveaways of books that we've LOVED in this past year!

-As of this past Friday (June 17, 2011), The Broke and the Bookish have posted a total of 350 posts. We've had 251 reviews and 52 Top Ten Tuesday posts along with many other featured posts -- Bookish Jobs For Bookish People, Student Of The Month and LOTS of rousing literary discussions. We've read pretty much every genre in Adult and YA fiction and we've reviewed a slew of non-fiction! It's really been a great reading year...


And now for the first giveaway:

+ One lucky winner will win a $25 gift card to Amazon or (for international readers)  $25 to spend at The Book Depository.
+ 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 right hereeee. It's easy peasy.


Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check back all week as there will be great giveaways and chances to get to know all of the bloggers here at TB&TB!