Being A Book Blogger | Interview with Kate aka Parchment Girl
Welcome to another edition of Being A Book blogger! Today I'm chatting to the lovely Kate who blogs over at Parchment Girl! Here's what she had to say about book blogging, personality typing & Harry Potter meets Lord Of The Rings...
BB: For those who aren't already followers of Parchment Girl could you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Thanks inviting me over, Erin! I’ve been blogging about books at Parchment Girl for six years now. I’m also a Book Riot contributor. I’ve been doing that for about 3½ years. I have a particular interest in medical and environmental science, and I devote a lot of time to reading books on those two topics.
BB: What made you decide to start a book blog? And what has been your favourite part of blogging so far?
I love reading (duh) and before I started blogging I didn’t really have an outlet to discuss that. I was drawn to the idea of having a community of book lovers with which to share my literary passion and I was also interested in the technical side of blogging, which didn’t hurt. It’s hard to pick just one thing I love about blogging because I love [almost] all of it! The community is definitely at the core of why I love blogging, but I also get a rush when I see a post go viral or I receive a comment that one of my posts influenced someone’s reading choices in some way. That’s always exciting. I love seeing my blog grow and evolve over time and I love that the Internet is a constantly changing landscape that continues to challenge me!
BB: We love a good recommendation, if you had to pick your top reads of the year so far which books would make the cut?
I really love The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (out in September), which is a reimagining of the Underground Railroad as a literal railroad running through tunnels all over the country. I just finished Missing, Presumed by Susie Steiner, which was a Book of the Month July selection. It’s a mystery set in Oxford (holding me over until the new season of Inspector Lewis airs!). Another recent favorite is Women in Science by Rachel Ignotofsky, a gorgeous illustrated compendium of short biographies of brilliant women in the STEM field. Along those same lines, Lab Girl by Hope Jahren was amazing. Last one (promise!): If you’re into hard-hitting nonfiction, Frackopoly by environmental activist Wenonah Hauter is probably the single most important book I’ve read this year. If you’re not already spitting mad about the oil and gas industry’s destructive extraction practices, you will be after reading this book.
BB: As well as books, you're a fan of personality typing. Who are your favourite fictional characters that share your personality type?
Oh, great question! Now, I know the typing of a couple of these characters is controversial, but I would have to say my top three are Gandalf, Sherlock (the BBC incarnation), and Severus Snape. I type these guys as INTJs (from the Myers-Briggs system). Gandalf is definitely my #1.
BB: For our next group post we're discussing which books we wish had a sequel or prequel. Are there any favourite worlds you wish you could delve further into? Or any characters you'd love to follow into the future (or past!)?
It’s funny because I was just thinking about this very topic a couple of weeks ago. Middle-earth and Hogwarts are my two favorite fictional worlds, but I’ve never been the sort of person to delve too deeply into fanfiction or even J.K. Rowling’s recent additions to the world of Harry Potter. I tend to go all in for the core canon and then jump ship. If I’m not completely crazy about a series, I might even abandon it before reading all of the core books. So, if I were the type of person that really enjoyed prequels and sequels, I would definitely want more Rowling and Tolkien, but as it is, I’m pretty satisfied with the canon we have.
BB: Just for fun, which two fictional characters from different books/series would you like to see appear together in a new story and why?
Definitely Harry Potter and LOTR! There's a hilarious video called “Lord of the Potter” which highlights all of the parallels between the two stories (maybe that’s why I love them so much!). I think it would be amazing if Gandalf met Dumbledore and Harry met Frodo. I can just picture Gimli at Hogwarts swatting away ghosts. Priceless.
BB: Finally, which booktubers/bloggers (other than yourself of course!) would you recommend our readers go and subscribe to?
I will try to keep this list contained…here we go:
- River City Reading
- Fourth Street Review
- Bookwi.se
- The Book Satchel - Her photography is gorgeous!
- Modern Mrs. Darcy - Her Summer Reading Guide is amazing!
- Jen Campbell - She regularly features indie press and poetry books that I probably wouldn’t hear about any other way. She’s also the author of The Bookshop Book.
- Books and Quills
Where To Find Kate Online: Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram | Goodreads
I'd like to say a huge thank you from all of us here at BB to Kate for taking part in this interview. If you are a booktuber or book blogger and would like to be featured in a similar post we'd love to hear from you - just email us at bloggersbookshelf@gmail.com for information!
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