bbaw interview exchange – meet little red reviewer

Tuesday, September 14, 2010 |
And now, a break from our usual programming…it’s the second day of BBAW, or Book Blogger Appreciation Week. For one week each September, book bloggers celebrate what is awesome about the book blogging community. In case you are wondering, those awesome things include giveaways. So you should totally check it out.


Today is the day dedicated to (you guessed it!) interviews. Please welcome Andrea, the Little Red Reviewer, to my blog! Andrea is a fellow foodie with a great attitude and REALLY great taste in fantasy novels. Her blog is mostly dedicated to sci-fi, fantasy, graphic novels and manga. She used to run read.eat.rinse.repeat, but has since switched directions. Go check out Little Red Reviewer for more of Andrea!


Who are some of your favorite authors?

Scott Lynch, China Meiville, Neal Gaiman, Cory Doctorow, Robin Hobb, Sheri S Tepper, Steven Brust, Stephen Lawhead, Patrick Rothfuss. I like weird, I like off kilter, I like melancholy.


Are there any genres that you refuse to read?

Refuse, no. Avoid? Yes. I tend to avoid self-help books and paranormal romance…but that doesn't mean I haven't read any enjoyed a few of them.


Do you have any hidden (or not-so-hidden) superpowers?

I always know the right thing to say. And the right moment to say it… to make you snort beer out your nose.


I don’t collect cookbooks the way I do fiction, but I do have a couple of go-to picks. Do you have a favorite cookbook?

My favorite cookbook is Claudia Roden's The Book of Jewish Food. It's split up into parts of the world where Jews ended up and adopted many of the local food customs. The chapters on India and North Africa are my favorites, and the photos of Jewish families from around the world are wonderful. I plan to take to the Sunday School class I teach just to show the kids the photos. It's gotten to the point where if I see Claudia Roden's name on a cookbook (ethnic or not), I buy it.


What’s the best book you've read in the last month?

As much as I loved Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb, I think "book of the month" needs to go to For the Win by Cory Doctorow.


If you could invite literary characters to a dinner party, who would be at the table, and what would you serve?

Oooh, I like this question! It's like planning my fantasy party! Food would be a middle eastern feast - stuffed grape leaves, kibbeh, grilled lamb, rice salads, stuffed dates, baklava, warm pita, pickles, lots of hummus. My dinner guests would include Locke Lamora, Kvothe, George Koizumi and Caroline, Ed and Alphonse Elric, Vlad Taltos, Howl (cheat: I want the movie version!) Jon Snow, FitzChivalry, and Uther Doul. Yikes, that's quite the group of melancholies! We better have a case or two of good wine! And poor Caroline, she'd just be totally freaked out the whole time, but somehow I think George and Doul would get along famously.


Also…Locke Lamora and I need to have a private dinner. Involving sushi.


If you were trapped on a desert island, which books would you not take with you?

Who Moved My Cheese would totally be staying home, along with Shardik by Richard Adams. Richard Adams, I love you, but did you really have to torture me with Shardik? Yes, I know that was the point, but really?? The Chronicles of Thomas Covenent would probably stay home too.


What does your TBR pile look like right now?

It looks much like an exploding volcano. But with less boiling magma and more books.


One of the things I love about blogging is that I can recommend books to total strangers and not feel awkward or shy about it. Have you ever recommended a book to a stranger in real life?

I like going to garage sales and estate sales, and one moment you're digging through boxes and boxes of old books with a complete stranger, then next thing you're talking books and making recommendations…she said she liked Stephen King but was looking for something a little weirder, so I recommended Neil Gaiman, and then she asked if I'd read any Catholic Lesbian fiction (nothing against that genre, it just caught me completely off guard), and I quickly said umm no I'm Jewish. I still talk to complete strangers at estate sales while we're digging through the book boxes.


If you had to own a cow, what color would you choose?

Chocolate milk comes from brown cows, right? So yeah, brown.


Alright, last question, so be sure to press all your favorite things on me. Give me one book I absolutely have to read, one book blog I have to visit, and one fashion trend I have to avoid at all costs.

China Mieville's The Scar, Elitist Book Reviews, and skinny jeans *shudder*.


[photo found here]


Thanks for having me, and thanks for the great questions…especially the dinner party one!


Thank YOU, Andrea! Did you see how cool she is? She likes Neil Gaiman! And China Mieville! And FOOD! So obviously we were meant to be friends. Yay! If you want to check out Andrea's interview of ME, go HERE. You know you want to...

15 comments:

Melissa (i swim for oceans) said...

Great interview questions! I participated in this feature, too, and it was so much fun to meet more bloggers! :)

Simcha said...

A fan of Locke Lamora and Howl! This is definitely a blogger I have to check out. Great interview!

Nely said...

Great interview! I had never been to Andrea's. Heading over there now :)

redhead said...

Hi Celi.a! Thank you so much for having me, I had a ton of fun!

and there will be Gruyere in my very near future. Oh yes, it will be mine.

BURIED IN BOOKS said...

Great interview! I just had to come see a fellow Gator! You're the first one I've met on a book blog though I know there are probably blogs for Gator alums. Those mysteries I'm reading by Mary Anna Evans are by an author from Gainesville. Her son is a Gator, alas, the University she speaks of is that other school. But she doesn't use it's name.

I loved White Cat! The next one is already set up to come out next year, but the cover is already out. I just couldn't believe the way it ended. Alright, I'll take the Zombie plunge and speaking of Zombies, have you read Tyger, Tyger by Kersten Hamilton. It actually doesn't come out until November but it's about zombies and the folklore of them, Irish folklore etc. I'm picking that as my best surprise book of the year.

We have much in common. I love Austen, prefer print but will read an ebook on my computer and I love Bobby Flay. Some of my greatest recipes come from a well worn copy of his first cookbook!

Oh, did I say I liked both the interviews? I knew I missed something important. I'm long winded or written, I suppose. Love the hat!

Heather

Charlotte said...

I shall definitly head of to visit Little Red Reviewer--thanks for the great interview!

Cecelia said...

Heather: HURRAY for Gators! And I absolutely MUST try Tyger, Tyger. I've heard good things, and I've been waiting on it (I actually have it available on NetGalley right now...shame on me!), but I should probably just go read it now, right? Right.

Simcha: You're right...liking Howl definitely makes someone cool. I should put that on my list of necessary qualities for a man. *sigh*

violet said...

Really good questions.

Andrea: Can I come to your dinner party too, pretty please? :) Love you menu, yum

Alyce said...

I was excited to see another Sheri Tepper fan! I don't run into fans of her writing very often. I just realized I said that I run into people. I must be really tired because that strikes me as very funny right now.

A Buckeye Girl Reads said...

Those really were great interview questions! I loved the dinner party one.

Ryan said...

Is it bad that while I love fantasy, I'm not familiar with that many of the dinner party guests? Great interview and her blog sounds fantastic.

redhead said...

Violet - of course you can! we need more girls at the table to keep the boys in line!

Alyce - I'm mostly a fan of her older stuff, Raising the Stones and Sideshow are two of my favorite books. Her newer stuff hasn't really grabbed me yet.

Ryan - It just means we read different stuff. That's something I've really learned running a SF/F blog, I can say "I love science fiction and fantasy!" and run into someone else who says the same exact thing, and then we list our favorite books and authors and the lists are entirely different.

brizmus said...

My thoughts exactly - she likes Neil Gaiman! And China Melleville. Totally going to check out her blog, like, um NOW!
fab interview!

brizmus said...

and by Melleville you know what I mean, I assume.

Valerie said...

I love cookbooks too, and that Claudia Roden one sounds fantastic, with the varying ethnic focus.

Your interviews with each other both were interesting!

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