This week in my Blogger to Blogger Series I am highlighting Kat from the blog Life and Other Disasters. Kat loves to talk about the TV shows she’s watching, the books she is reading and shares other tidbits about her life. Her blog is a lot of fun and when you check it out you will take a deep dive into Kats life and thoughts.

Check it out by clicking this link! Life and Other Disasters

Let’s get to the questions!

Blogging is universal and even though we inhabit the same community, we don’t always live in the same country. What country do you live in?

KAT: I was born and raised in Austria, where I still live to this day even if I do disappear for a couple months to go elsewhere every now and then. I could very much imagine moving away someday, maybe to an English-speaking country.

What is the view outside your front door? (Include a picture if you’d like!)

KAT: I live in an apartment complex, so the view really isn’t that great. I like that we are on the top floor, even though a lot of the surrounding area is now under construction with more apartments already there or coming soon, which has kind of ruined the view a little bit. I used to be able to see hills in the distance and that’s unfortunately not happening anymore.

Most blogs have a quirky name and a fun story of origin. Please share the story behind your blogs name?

KAT: I wish there was a good story to my blog name, but I think that the movie title “Love and Other Disasters” just always stuck with me and I adapted it into “Life and Other Disasters” for my own uses, especially because I didn’t want the blog name to just be about books.

Describe where you write your blog. Include a picture if you’d like!

KAT: Hmmm … there’s definitely not one place in particular I tend to write my blog at. I sometimes lounge on the couch, other times I am at the desk in my room, then I just make it work on my bed and if I am in the right mood, I even write at Starbucks. Although I prefer to work on my book when I am there and not on my blog.
(I’ve included a picture that shows the backside of my closet with character aesthetics for my book “Arcadia” as well as some of the pillows on my bed)

Most of us have a stack of books sitting next to our couch or bed waiting to be read. What books are in your stack? (Include a photo if you’d like!)

This is a mix of the books I am currently reading or about to read as well as my sketchbooks for drawing and painting.

Want to check out the books on her nightstand? Read the Synopsis’ below!

Synopsis: The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

If you knew the date of your death, how would you live your life?

It’s 1969 in New York City’s Lower East Side, and word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a traveling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone the day they will die. The Gold children—four adolescents on the cusp of self-awareness—sneak out to hear their fortunes.

The prophecies inform their next five decades. Golden-boy Simon escapes to the West Coast, searching for love in ’80s San Francisco; dreamy Klara becomes a Las Vegas magician, obsessed with blurring reality and fantasy; eldest son Daniel seeks security as an army doctor post-9/11; and bookish Varya throws herself into longevity research, where she tests the boundary between science and immortality.

A sweeping novel of remarkable ambition and depth, The Immortalists probes the line between destiny and choice, reality and illusion, this world and the next. It is a deeply moving testament to the power of story, the nature of belief, and the unrelenting pull of familial bonds.

Synopsis: Beastly Bones (Jackaby #2) by William Ritter

In 1892, New Fiddleham, New England, things are never quite what they seem, especially when Abigail Rook and her eccentric employer, R. F. Jackaby, are called upon to investigate the supernatural.

First vicious shape-shifters disguise themselves as a litter of kittens, and a day later, their owner is found murdered. Then in nearby Gad’s Valley, now home to the exiled New Fiddleham police detective Charlie Cane, dinosaur bones from a recent dig mysteriously go missing, and an unidentifiable beast starts attacking animals and people, leaving mangled bodies behind. Charlie calls on Abigail for help, and soon Abigail and Jackaby are on the hunt for a thief, a monster, and a murderer.

Synopsis: Only Human by Silvain Neuvel

Brilliant scientist Rose Franklin has devoted her adult life to solving the mystery she accidentally stumbled upon as a child: a huge metal hand buried beneath the ground outside Deadwood, South Dakota. The discovery set in motion a cataclysmic chain of events with geopolitical ramifications. Rose and the Earth Defense Corps raced to master the enigmatic technology, as giant robots suddenly descended on Earth’s most populous cities, killing one hundred million people in the process. Though Rose and her team were able to fend off the attack, their victory was short-lived. The mysterious invaders retreated, disappearing from the shattered planet . . . but they took the scientist and her crew with them.

Now, after nearly ten years on another world, Rose returns to find a devastating new war—this time between humans. America and Russia are locked in combat, fighting to fill the power vacuum left behind after the invasion. Families are torn apart, friends become bitter enemies, and countries collapse in the wake of the battling superpowers. It appears the aliens left behind their titanic death machines so humankind will obliterate itself. Rose is determined to find a solution, whatever it takes. But will she become a pawn in a doomsday game no one can win?

If you have had a bad day and want to spend an hour reading a book, what is your go to genre or favorite book that will lift your mood?

KAT: If I had a bad day, there are generally two options for me. One would be to indulge the bad mood and go into something very emotional like a family drama or some sort of tragic love story. However, the other option would be to really just dive into a light and fluffy YA contemporary. Something that wouldn’t require too much thinking but mainly entertainment.

When you aren’t blogging, how do you spend your time? Work, Play, School?

Admittedly, I do spend A LOT of time on my laptop. I am currently working on my own Fantasy book (it’s called Arcadia and if anyone is interested you can find more details on it here: https://lifeandotherdisasters.com/2018/02/05/lets-talk-about-arcadia/) and I am obsessed with TV shows, so I definitely have a screen with me at most times. I also really like to draw and have indulged in that hobby more and more lately.

What is your favorite blog post you’ve ever written? Please include the link!

Last year I went abroad and didn’t have as much time for blogging during that time as I used to have. My content changed a lot and I struggled to know my place in the community, which lead me to write a post about “blogger identity”. It was something that really weighed on me at the time, but it helped me so much to put my frustration into words. I feel like I have found my way since, but the support at the time was really helpful.

Discussion Time: Blogger Identity

(I think we can all identify with an identity crisis on our blogs! I certainly have!)

Have you ever met one of your favorite authors? If so, what did you say to them? Looking back, what do you wish you had said instead?
I haven’t really met any of my favourite authors yet, as they don’t really tend to visit my country a lot. However, I have had the opportunity to see Nicholas Sparks and Cecelia Ahern, who were both very nice. There wasn’t really time to say much, as the line was pretty long and we were ushered along quickly. I am pretty sure I thanked them and told them which book was my favourite, but I don’t wish I had said something more.

If you could sit down with an author for a slice of cake and a question, who is the author, what kind of cake would you serve, and what is the first question you’d ask?
I would give right about anything to meet Pierce Brown, so he would definitely be the author I’d want to meet. I am not sure which cake he likes the most, that would need some research I don’t have the resources for right now, but my go-to-cake would be the red-wine cake after my grandma’s recipe. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love that cake. And lastly the question, I think I’d go with something really stupid like “How do I get a part or job on set of the adaptation of your books?” and then I would immediately laugh it off and take it back, while in all honesty, I would love to be on that set.

I loved getting to know Kat a little bit better! I can see we share a love for YA and Fantasy novels. I have had both William Ritter’s Jackaby series and Pierce Brown’s Red Rising series on my TBR forever! It’s always nice to hear how much someone loves an author, it makes me want to just reach for that book next, doesn’t it? Oh, and Kat, I’m dying to try that red wine cake. Would you share the recipe?

Thanks Kat!!

Do you share Kat’s taste in novels? If not, I’d love to hear what books are on your own nightstand!

Deb