BBAW: Interview With Zee-Notes From The North

Hi everyone, welcome to day two of BBAW.  Today’s BBAW topic is New Treasure—Interview Swap.  You can visit the BBAW blog to see a full list of the weeks daily topics so you can participate too!

My interview partner for BBAW is Zee from Notes From The North.  She has a lovely blog and I enjoyed reading her reviews.  Do stop by and say hello!

Here is our chat:

FV: Why don’t we start off with you telling my readers a little about yourself and your blog.

Zee:  Well first off my name isn’t really Zee but that is the name I chose to use in the blogging world. It was a nickname a friend of mine gave me some time ago and I use it because I am studying to be at high school English and Swedish teacher and I don’t want my students to find my little space of the world. Now, Swedish teacher you ask. Well yes, you see I live in Sweden, thus Swedish teacher. However, I choose to read and write primarily in English as I have lived in the UK and the US for many years and this is the language I now think in.

My blog functions as my space to think about books. I find I get more out of the reading experience if I also think about the books I read so that is what I hope to achieve with the blog. My blog isn’t dedicated to a specific genre or type of book because I read far to widely for that. I tend to go off on rabbit trails with my reading, one book leads to another, I do have a bit of a schedule for myself since I take part in challenges, but I also sign up for lots of different challenges. I have a rather short attention span sometimes and so I need different types of books to read, I want my blog to reflect this.

The blog is named Notes from the North because I’m in northern Europe also I liked the alliteration

FV: This is my first time participating in BBAW. Have you participated before?

Zee:  I have participated in BBAW before. Well once before, last year, when I was a baby blogger who had just discovered the world of book blogging. It was fantastic to stumble on the community so early on because it gave me confidence in what I was doing.

FV: When did you first start blogging about books?

Zee:  I originally started my blog in early 2009 as a place to write about things I learned, primarily through reading and observing. Then I got super busy with, well life, and the blog fell to the wayside. Then in late August 2009 I decided to refocus on the blog as a creative outlet and I realized that I needed to have one focus not two gazillion focuses. Since I love to read sharing that love and the books I loved seemed natural.

About the same I also realized that I had gotten stuck in my reading. The only time I ventured outside my very limited comfort zone was when school required it. This is why I take part in several challenges, I want my reading material to challenge me.

FV: What is your favorite genre?

Zee:  Looking over my reading from the past few years I would say mystery, classics and non-fiction. Yes I know that’s three. If I had to pick one of the three, right now, as I write, I would probably say mystery, but that is mainly because of the escapism it provides and I am in quite a intensive part of my studies and we are covering some quite heavy topics and I need to let my brain work in a different way.

FV: Where do you like to read and are there any reading accessories that you cannot do without?

Zee:  I read anywhere and everywhere. I’m the kind of person you will see reading in the waiting room, in the lunchroom, on the train, waiting in line, I can even read while walking if I’m engrossed enough in the book (even walking in Edinburgh during the Festival). But my favourite places to read on my rocking chair, the sofa in my study or in bed. I don’t really have any reading accessories I need, just a decent light and a good book. Oh and a gigantic cup of tea!

FV: I know you’ve said your favorite book varies from day to day, but if you had to pick one book that really stayed with you for a long time after you finished reading what would it be?

Zee:  Even this is hard for me. I don’t like choosing But I will say that Brave New World by Aldous Huxley has stayed with me enough for me to write both my high school Extended Essay and my MEd English thesis on it. But there are a whole host of books that have stayed with me and merit a re-read often.

If you could be secondary character in any book, what book would it be and what character would choose to be and why?

Hmmmm…I would love to have been one of the characters in David Eddings Belgariad series. To go on an epic adventure. To explore the world, fight evil and have a laugh along the way.

FV: I love e-books and I do the majority of my reading on my Kindle. Do you read e-books or do you prefer to stick with printed books?

Zee:  I don’t have an e-reader because right now the up-front cost is prohibitive for me. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE one! I haven’t quite decided which one I want, I have so specific requirements: I want to be able to take notes since I (much to other readers horror) write in my books. I argue with them in pencil so I need to be able to highlight, mark the page and write in the margin. I need it to have wi-fi and/or 3G and it has to work here in Sweden.

Despite not having an e-reader I do read e-books. I have both Kindle for PC and Adobe Editions. I have about 50 e-books right now but access to a lot more since my dad also has Kindle for PC and we share an account.

FV: How often do you venture out and visit other book related blogs?

Zee:  Every single day, pretty much. I have about 150 book blogs in my Google Reader and I try to read most of them during the day, it works right now when I am home studying during the day, but when I work/do student teaching I end up being quite behind.

What are your top five favorite blogs to visit (if you could give me links I’ll include them)

Here are some of my favourites, I’ll also be featuring some of my other favourites on the blog during BBAW so I haven’t included them And this is by no means an exhaustive list!

• Beth Fish Reads
• The Betty and Boo Chronicles
• Things Mean a Lot
• A Striped Armchair
• The Zen Leaf
• BookLust

FV: Thank you so much for chatting today Zee, it was fun getting to know you!

Zee:  Thank you so much for having me!

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