Being A Book Blogger | Interview With Beth aka The Quiet People

Being A Book Blogger | Interview With Beth aka The Quiet People

• Tuesday, 26 May 2015

Welcome to another Being A Book Blogger post! Today I'm talking to the lovely Beth who runs The Quiet People. Here's what she had to say about becoming a blogger, switching lives with a popular Rainbow Rowell character and her love of classics...



BB: Hi Beth! For any of our readers who aren't yet subscribed to The Quiet People could you tell us a little bit more about the girl behind the blog?

I’m just your average, super-genius, pyjama wearing bookworm. Really, that’s it! (except for the super-genius part. I might have exaggerated a teeny-tiny bit there…) Oh, and I’m not really a big fan of people. That sounds terrible, doesn’t it? I mean, I like people fine, just as long as they don’t talk to me or interact with me or acknowledge my presence in any way! (With the exception of online. You can be my interwebz friend any time you like!!)

BB: Where does your passion for reading come from, and how did you get into reviewing?

I’ve always been passionate about reading. At age six I was reading classics (The Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett, if you must know!) and from then on there was barely a time when I didn’t have my nose in a book! Reviewing is much more recent for me though – when I started The Quiet People in January I had no idea what to write about, and I just sort of stumbled into book blogging. The rest is history!



BB: Which has been your favourite review to write so far?

Definitely Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas. It came at a time when I was actually really bored of writing reviews, and I was pretty stuck. I mean, the book itself was amazing, but I just could not formulate any words that would do justice to the intricacies of the plot. So essentially I gave up, and just wrote a list of my thought processes as I read the novel. Turns out, lists are fun write, and to read, so that was all kinds of lovely. Now list reviews are my favourite types to write!

BB: You've just started a clever series called 'Classics For Cheats', could you tell us a little bit more about how you came up with this idea and what we can expect from future instalments?

At the moment I read ALL the young adult books, but for years I read only classic literature. I’ve always liked classics – most people think they’re pretty dull, but most of them are jam-packed with things going on! For instance, did you know that there’s a buried alive scene in Les Miserables? Evidently that was too tricky to turn into a song! Weirdly though, despite people finding classics boring, for some reason they’re really rather prestigious. I’ve spoken to a lot of people who say that they’d like to read them, but just don’t have the time. From that, classics for cheats was born – a series where I paraphrase huge great long classics into just a few hundred words. I do the hard work for you!

BB: We're always looking for book recommendations, which 3 novels should our readers go out and pick up ASAP?

You’ve probably heard enough of me going on about classics now, but I believe EVERYONE should read the Count of Monte Cristo. Yes, it’s twelve hundred pages long, but it’s an incredible exploration of revenge, justice, love, hate and murder set in a background of post-revolution France. It’s beautiful and mesmerising and wonderful. For readers with more modern tastes, I’d definitely recommend Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor and Park, or Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone. I’ve actually just finished the latter and loved it so much more than I’d expected to, so I think everyone should try it.



BB: Just for fun, if you could swap lives for the day with any fictional character who would you choose and why?

Without a doubt, Cath from Fangirl. The thing about being a quiet person is that you’re never the main character. Cath shares my introversion, but she’s still interesting and adorable enough that people around the world can identify with her. Plus reading Fangirl really made me miss my university – I’d love to go back and study a creative writing degree this time!

BB: Finally, we would love some recommendations, which book blogs are your favourites to read?

Cait at Paperfury is incredible. Everything she writes is hilarious, and she’s so sweet too!

Where to find Beth online: Blog | Instagram | Twitter

I'd like to say a huge thank you from all of us here at BB to Beth 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!

Images c/o Beth