Juneterviews #2: Kai and Sandie

Today's interviews are between

Kai of Fiction State of Mind

and

Sandie of Booksie's Blog

 

KAI

SANDIE

Sandie to Kai
What genres do you like to read best?  Favorite authors? I always have loved Fantasy, Horror, and epic size books like David Copperfield and Oliver Twist.

Kai to Sandie
Tell me a little about your life in North Carolina. Did you grow up there?
North Carolina is a great state.  Mountains to seashore, we’ve got it all.  All four seasons but winter is short enough that you don’t get tired of it; we may get one good snow each year.  We have great college basketball, Go Heels!  I didn’t grow up in North Carolina, but I only lived about fifty miles away right over the border in Virginia so pretty much everything is the same.  We have great barbecue and great seafood.

Sandie to Kai
Which format is your favorite?  Ebook or physical copy? So hard to pick but for the moment E-books are dominating my life. My favorite authors are Jonathan Maberry, Ann Aguirre, Scott Westerfeld, Jane Austen, and John Scalzi.

Kai to Sandie
What literary treasures are in your home town?  A great library? Festival? Indie book store?
One of my favorite book things in our area is a book festival in the early spring.  You meet and greet about fifteen different authors; the authors circulate from table to table and stay for ten minutes.  We have tons of great authors in North Carolina.  Some I like are Michael Parker, Clyde Edgerton, Orson Scott Card, Wiley Cash, Wilton Barnhardt, Sandra Brown, Jeffrey Deaver, Ellen Gilchrist, Michael Malone and Margaret Maron, just to name a few.  I did a North Carolina tribute month one year and found a ton of North Carolina authors!

Sandie to Kai
Do you feel overwhelmed if the books start piling up? Yes! I actually my resolution last January  was to get over 160 physical books read by the end of June 2015. I have 7 books left.

Kai to Sandie
List 3 ways book blogging has changed your life.
Book blogging has changed my life in several ways.  It has led to great friendships with other bloggers.  I’ve met so many authors and PR folks I’d never have met otherwise, and I get a ton of great books to read.  It also is one of my main hobbies now that I’m retired.

Sandie to Kai
Where do most of your books come from?  Review books?  Libraries?  Amazon purchases?  Indie book/secondhand shops? I get a lot of my books through my nook, Netgalley, and the library. I also recently subscribed to Scribd.

Kai to Sandie
What is your go to comfort book?
My comfort books are great big chunksters.  I love Salmon Rushdie and William Vollman among others.  I also read a lot of fantasy and mystery.

Sandie to Kai
What book do you still remember fondly at last five years after you read it? I'd have to say Graceland by Kristin Cashore. I didn't read much YA growing up. It was the book blogging community that introduced me to The Hunger Games , Cinder and many more.

Kai to Sandie
Do you read Comics or Graphic Novels?
I don’t read many comics or graphic novels although my daughter loves them so there’s always a pile sitting around here.

Sandie to Kai
What gives you the most pleasure about blogging?  How do you see it changing from the time you started to now? 
I love having a platform to gush about books. No one in my family our immediate  social  group reads as much as I do. Blogging allows me to have instant conversations about books I love and nothing makes me happier than hearing someone tried a book because  I suggested  it.Blogging has changed so much since I started. I'll confess to not knowing  how some bloggers make the connections  to publishers they have and it was a bit of  a downer to see those caught in plagiarism  continue to get review opportunities. But I now see that those who are consistent with their blogs and stay true to their blogging goals do better in the long run. I have the same love of blogging while writing my fifteen hundredth post as I did my first!

Kai to Sandie
What if any book advice would you give to a reader?  How about a book blogger?
My advice to a reader would be to read what touches you or makes you feel something.  There’s no right or wrong way to read; you like what you like and there’s always someone out there writing something you’d like.  Don’t let anyone ever make you feel less than for your reading choices.  That is probably my literary pet peeve.  My advice to other bloggers is the same; write as long as it gives you pleasure. 


Sandie to Kai
Tell me about where you live, career, family, hobbies, anything personal you'd like to share.

I've lived in California for the past 18 years. I'm a massage therapist with a passion for yoga and Star Wars.

Great interview!  I liked learning more about both of you!  

Do you have a comment or question for Kai or Sandie?  Leave it below!