Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Charleen from Cheap Thrills

Today please welcome Charleen, who blogs at Cheap Thrills.  Charleen is known for her reviews of thrillers, in a broad sense!

-------------------------

What's the meaning behind the name of your book blog?

I decided I wanted my book blog to focus mainly on thrillers, as that's a genre that I particularly enjoy and one that seems to be underrepresented in the book blogosphere. And since I rarely purchase new books and get almost all of my reading from the library... Cheap Thrills seemed to fit.

How long have you been blogging?

I've been blogging in some form or another for years, but I started Cheap Thrills in March of this year, so I'll be coming up on my six-month blogiversary soon!

What genres do you write about most, and why?

I take "thriller" as a pretty liberal descriptor. You've got your action-movie-in-book-form kind of novels, which seems to be what most people think of when they think thriller... but really anything that has some suspense to it is fair game on my blog. I read other genres as well, but I wanted my blog to have a focus, and thriller is my go-to genre, the books I keep coming back to after I've spent some time branching out.

What's your earliest memory of reading?

Reading Are You My Mother? out loud to my little brother. I know I was reading before then -- he's five years younger than me so I was probably about seven or eight at this point -- but it's the first thing I remember. (He loved the SNORT!)

What's your favorite place to read?

A comfy chair in a quiet room.

Finish the sentence: My bookshelves are...

... woefully inadequate considering how few books I actually own.

My TBR pile is...

... an ever-evolving stack from the library.

One book you like that no one else seems to, or vice versa?

I'll give you one of each. One I like: Lost, by Gregory Maguire... it's his most unpopular book, but for me it's second only to Wicked. One I don't like: Dark Places, by Gillian Flynn... it's a well-written, well-crafted story, but it's just not for me (and I haven't even read Gone Girl because I suspect it will be more of the same).

To DNF or not to DNF?

I used to HAVE to finish every book I started, but gradually I got myself used to DNFing. I'm such a happier reader for it.

What's one book that intimidates you?

This may be cheating since it's not one book, but... the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. I really like King on the whole, even though I haven't read a ton of his work, but there've been some of his books I haven't cared for as much, and I'm scared of this series falling into that category.

If you could go to any literary destination, where would you go?

The Library of Alexandria. To visit one of the first and greatest centers of learning would be incredible, even if the original library was lost. (I don't suppose anyone has a spare time machine I could borrow...)

What are 3 of your must-read blogs?

Insatiable Booksluts
Snobbery
Words for Worms

What is your reading personality? (via quiz at http://www.bookbrowse.com/quiz/)

"Your responses show that you are both a serial reader and an eclectic reader, which indicates that you both read widely and frequently. As a serial reader you're loyal to your favorite authors, but as an eclectic reader you're also open to new ideas and new writers, and are not wedded to a particular genre."

Yup, that pretty much sums it up.


-------------------------

Thank you for joining us today, Charleen! Remember to check out Charleen's blog, Cheap Thrills, and leave a comment or question.

17 comments :

  1. Hey, there I am! Thanks, BBI team!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Three cheers for Charleen! Cheap Thrills is such a fun little corner of the internet, I'm happy to see her featured! (BTW, totally flattered I'm on your must read list!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The fun in my corner is NOTHING compared to yours!

      Delete
  3. Congratulations Charleen - I love thrillers so your corner is a great find for me

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I'll be sure to check out your blog as well.

      Delete
  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh I have Dark Places to read - I got it as a gift and haven't picked it up yet... might stay that way for a little while longer then. Congrats on the feature, I enjoyed reading your answers! And I haven't seen that reading personality quiz before so I'm going to go take it right now!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The quiz was really fun, and my answer was no surprise, it fits me perfectly. Dark Places wasn't a bad book, it just wasn't for me. When you do pick it up I hope you enjoy it more than I did... but I can't really urge you to push it to the top of your pile.

      Delete
  6. Thank you for stopping by Charleen! It is so good to see you here!! :)

    The Dark Tower series can be very daunting. Not only because it is a series, but each individual book tends to be pretty long. There were good things in the story and there were not so good things. I enjoyed it, but it is definitely not one of my faves. What books by King did you not care for?

    Oh, and I am a huge fan of the SNORT as well!!! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Let's see... Under the Dome, The Talisman, Cujo... I didn't think they were bad, but they just weren't great for me. Not like Misery, The Shining, The Dark Half (which is my favorite... except for The Green Mile, which really gets its own category). I wasn't really big on The Stand either but I do want to re-read that one. That was only my second King (after Under the Dome) and it was just so overwhelming. Now that I have more appreciation for him and the way he creates his characters, I think I'd get a lot more out of a re-read.

      I do plan to read The Dark Tower eventually, just probably not until I've read a bunch of his others that are on my list.

      Thanks again for having me here!

      Delete
    2. Charleen ... I have only read The Talisman out of that list, though I do plan to read the others eventually. The Stand was one of my personal faves and actually re-read it a couple of years ago. I think it got better the second time around. I tend to like his older stuff more than his newer stuff, but then again, I have read more of his older stuff!!

      Delete
  7. Congrats, Charleen, nice to see you featured! And I love your childhood reading memory -- SNORT was always a favorite page to act out in my house. :)

    Lisa

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Lisa. lol I'll never forget that book as long as I live. "You are not my mother! You are a SNORT!"

      Delete
  8. I'm always looking for more mystery/thriller bloggers to follow - thanks for the introduction!

    Shelleyrae @ Book'd Out

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for reading! I'll have to check out your blog as well.

      Delete
  9. Nice to see you here Charleen! I love your focus on thrillers, I agree they are neglected in the book blogosphere so it's great that you give them a platform. And I like your book personality description, sounds like me to a tee too :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Trish. Yeah, the book personality was right on. In fact, it's something I consciously work at, trying to keep my reading split between old and new-to-me authors... gets harder and harder the more authors I find whose backlists I want to read!

      Delete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.