Please introduce yourself in six words... Quirky creative who loves to read!
What are you currently reading? I have just started reading Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson – I have made it a goal to tackle lots of children’s classics I missed out on when growing up.
How many books did you read in 2018 and how many are you planning for 2019? My final goodreads count was 107 for last year, though some of those books were very short! I have set myself a goal for 100 too!
When did your love for reading start and which book sparked this passion? I think there’s no set moment – my love of reading sort of came in waves, first with fairytales as a young child, then again with Harry potter and the Tales of Redwall books, and then again once I discovered how much I really loved certain texts at GCSE and A level.
Who's your favourite author and why? Virginia Woolf. Not only was she an incredibly talented individual, but her works have a way of really speaking to my heart. Her books have influenced me so much!
What motivated you to start your Bookstagram and what advice would you give to someone new to the gig? Interact with lots of other accounts, be honest in your reviews and don’t try to follow the crowd. By posting the books you really like and want to discuss you can get so much out of instagram – it’s really like a virtual book club! Originally I was posting the occasional book picture on my personal Instagram page – and then I realised I was really enjoying talking about reading and wanted an account with that as the primary focus!
What's your all-time favourite book quote? “What does the brain matter, compared with the heart?” – Mrs. Dalloway. I love it so much it’s tattooed on my arm!
Do you have any exciting projects planned for the future? Not currently – I am still trying to get back into the swing of writing my own fiction – I have three novels languishing on my laptop needing a jolly good edit!
Your bookstagram account is so ascetically pleasing would you judge a book by its cover? Both yes and no. In this day and age, from a marketing perspective, I think it’s foolish to say that someone isn’t initially drawn to a book by cover alone and I’m no different – I’m likely to choose a beautiful book over one that has a dull cover. Whether the content inside lives up to the cover is another story – I’ve read many a pretty book which has bored me to tears, and many an ugly book that has become a firm favourite (after which I hunted it down again, with a nicer cover!)
Finally, If you were stuck on a desert island and could only take one book, what book would that be? The straightforward answer to this would be my favourite book – Mrs. Dalloway. However, if I’m likely to be spending years on this island maybe I could finally tackle War and Peace?
