Ticket To Anywhere

Guest Post #3 is from Gail, whose blog-home Ticket to Anywhere I am visiting today. Here is a peek we rarely get – as writers – into what motivates the bloggers who review us. She decided to share twenty questions she had answered for Book Blogger Appreciation Week and I am posting a few of them here.

How’d you come up with the name for your blog?

I’ve always loved travelling (I caught my Nana’s bug at an early age) but it isn’t always easy to hop on a plane and go somewhere. So I started to visit those places I’ve always wanted to see through books. I’ve let the characters I’ve met show me what it is like to walk the Great Wall or even to travel through time and experience some of history’s greatest moments. Books are my way to travel…its corny but they are my Ticket to Anywhere.

How did you get into book blogging? How long have you been doing it?

I was just started to read some book blogs myself – having stumbled upon one through a search. I really like the idea of recording my thoughts on a book. Up until I started my blog I’d just been recording my rating and a brief description in Excel. So in June 2007 I took the plung and started my blog. Initially it was just a way for me to record my thoughts and I really didn’t start getting involved in the blogging community until about a year ago.

What has been the most challenging thing about blogging for you? What has been the most exciting?

The most challenging thing has been keeping up on my book reviews! I am so far behind its not funny….but the books and real life events have distracted me. For example, a good portion of this weekend was spent with Cassie Clare’s Mortal Instruments series books 2 and 3 – they are like crack I couldn’t put them down let alone try to focus on writing reviews!

The most exciting thing has been getting to know other bloggers. One of the best things I did last year was go to Book Expo America where I got to meet Alea (from Pop Culture Junkie) and my friend Tiffany S (from Letters, Words, Thoughts, Ideas, Stories…) Along with so many other great bloggers and author…did I even mention all the authors I stalked there?!? Total drool worthy event!

Where do you get most of your books?

I get most of my books from Barnes & Noble, Borders, and the Strand. My friend Beth (who blogs over at My Hobbies) and I are also constantly swapping books back and forth. Sometimes I am amazed that we can even remember what books belong to who. I also do get sent books from various publishers, publicists and authors…just one of the unexpected things that has been a result of blogging about books.

Are there any books have you been a book bully for? (ie one you’ve liked so much that you practically beat people over the head just to get them to read it)

So many! Of late I’ve been the bully for Hate List (OMG so amazing everyone must read it!!), The Book Thief, Jeanine Frost’s Night Huntress Series, Hunger Games, Catching Fire. I am now also berrating people to read Cassie Clare’s Mortal Instruments series. There really should be a support group for book bullies like me…I just don’t know when to stop.

Book you most want to read again for the first time?

Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery. Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings and Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen.

If you could visit with any characters….who would you chose?

I would love to go to school with Anne Shirley or walk the streets of Chicago with Harry Dresden. Go or to balls with Alex Stafford from The Season…etc etc etc…This is another one that I can go on and on and on about.

If you could give up the real world and move into a book, which one would it be and why?

All of them!! I just fall in love with all the words that I come across in books. I want to be like Thursday Next and be able to walk through the stories…so maybe that is the world….the one created by Jasper Fforde in his Eyre Affair, et al. The exception being Twilight because vampires shouldn’t sparkle!

What books have evoked strong feelings in you? Ones that really touched your heart, made you laugh out loud or made you cry?

God-Shaped Hole by Tiffanie DeBartolo, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Hart List by Jennifer Brown – they have all made me cry. Janet Evanovich and Stephanie Plum books always make me laugh out loud. As did Jaye Well’s Red-Headed Stepchild and Jeaniene Frost’s Night Huntress series. Twilight made me want to slit my wrists…but that isn’t exactly a good reaction from a book. lol

Can you be found anywhere else on the net? (LibraryThing, Goodreads, Twitter, etc?)

Yes to all 3 and more. My usual interwebs idenity is Irisheyz77….its not one that I’ve ever had trouble getting as a log in so 98% of the time if you see it anywhere its me. =)

What are 5 books that are on your wish list right now?

The Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson, Book One: A Most Improper Magick by Stephanie Burgis
The Line by Terri Hall
Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins
The Snowball Effect by Holly Nicole Hoxter and
The Orion Tattoo by Caragh O’Brien

And many many more!

Finally, what are some of your favorite blogs to visit?

I’ll give 3 because that’s my favorite number and they are:
From My Bookshelf
Bibliolatry (This is one of the very first blogs I started to read that made me think, hey I can do this)
The Narrative Causality