BBAW: New Treasure (Interview Swap with Amber Stults)

On today, this second day of BBAW excitement, it's all about new treasures, in which we get to interview each other. So please, let me introduce to you Amber and her blog Amber Stults: Book Reviewer and Writer. I asked her some of my favorite interview questions, and here are her answers:

1. First of all, I always like to know what got people started blogging, so tell me that story.

 Initially I thought it would be a good way to provide content for my blog in between my posts about writing. As it turns out, it’s a good way for me to better remember the books I read.

2. What are three of your favorite books so far this year?

One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson. It weaves several people's stories together in a very natural way which is really difficult to do. I know it will be a book I'll be re-reading in the future.

Little Bee: A Novel by Chris Cleave. It's truly extraordinary. I laughed and cried while reading it. It's a beautiful story about two women who seem so different on the surface but shows we all want to be happy in our lives. After reading this I had no desire to pick up anything else to read for a week.

Spellbent by Lucy A. Snyder. It's written by a local author and set in Columbus, Ohio. Lucy does a wonderful job of mixing real landmarks with the fake ones. And it's one of the few urban fantasy novels I've read where the heroine gets hurt and stays hurt.

3. And three of your favorite books of all time?

The first is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. It's one that's stayed with me over the years and I've re-read it several times. Each reading brings new insights into the characters. 

The second book is A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by David Eggers. It was one of the

first books I read by someone my own age and I felt like he was speaking directly to me. 

The third book would be Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl. My mother introduced me to Anne Frank by giving me the copy she read when she was in high school. I read several editions of it and it's probably time for me to revisit it. After I read Francine Prose's book about Anne Frank, of course.

4. What five authors (dead or alive of course) would you like to invite for a lunch date?

 This is such a wonderful question and a difficult one to answer. I think an interesting lunch date would include Francine Prose, Anne Frank, Margaret Atwood, Dave Eggers and Joss Whedon. They all have themes of human and women's issues in their writings.

5. I see you are a writer, so tell us about that... what do you write? What future plans do you have? If your writing dream is fulfilled, what would it be?

I think part of my problem in getting my fiction published is I write a lot of different things. My flash fiction (generally under 1000 words) is mainly literary in nature and my novels are either literary or fantasy. It can be difficult to get my writing muscles to stay on one track. I've been writing book reviews for a few years and am now getting into interviews. My dream would be to have others read my writing and think, "I know just how that character feels."

6. What other activities are you in to besides books, reading and writing?

I like watching movies, playing Texas Hold'Em, baking, and hanging out with my husband and Corgi.

7. Describe your perfect day.

 A perfect day would include sleeping in, eating some ricotta pancakes and bacon for breakfast, spending the day with my husband (we often spend time together just reading or talking), attending a book reading and having Michael Symon over to cook dinner for us. (That way we don't have to drive to Cleveland for his cooking!)

8. If you could read yourself into a story (as they do in Inkheart) what story would it be?

 I couldn't pick one. Everything I read is full of emotional conflict or has scary monsters.

9. What five book blogs do you visit the very most?

This year I finally started using Google Reader so I would remember to visit some of my favorite book bloggers with more regularity. I have about a dozen feeds in my reader. Five include Bermudaonion, Maw Books, Fyrefly's Book Blog, Damian Daily, and Savvy Verse and Wit.

10. What are some of your favorite book blogging events/challenges/memes/phenomenas/author encounters have you participated in this past year?

I haven't been to many author readings this year which I'll need to rectify. Those are always fun. Last October I met Francine Prose and felt like a schoolgirl meeting her hero. Bloggiesta is always a good time and this year I've been pretty good about participating in the Mailbox Monday meme.


Thanks so much Amber for all your fun answers! Be sure to drop by her blog to see what questions she asked me.