Julie’s blog A Little Book Problem is about more than just book reviews. She talks about life, writing, travel, and yes, she also talks about the books she’s read. Aesthetically her blog is beautiful and her voice is crystal clear. If you haven’t been to A Little Book Problem please click the link below, but come back and read the answers to the 10 questions Julie answered!

Julie @ A Little Book Problem

Let’s get to those 10 questions shall we?

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?

I live in the UK, in a tiny hamlet seven miles north of Doncaster in South Yorkshire. Our village has only 120 residents, a pub and a post box!

What is the view outside your front door? 

Mostly just fields and a few other houses. A bucolic fantasy for some, and others’ worst nightmare, I guess. 

Most blogs have a fun story of origin. Please share the story behind your blogs name and/or why you started blogging.

At the end of 2016, I started to panic about the size of my TBR and my fear that i’d die before I got to the bottom of it, so I made a resolution that I would buy no new books in 2017 and only read ones I already owned. I started my blog in January 2017 to keep track of my resolution. I chose the name to reflect my addiction. Once I discovered the book blogging community, my blog morphed from what it started out as to more of a review blog, and sadly my TBR is now bigger than when i started, due to all the fabulous recommendations from my fellow bloggers!

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

I usually write at my desk with a gorgeous view through the French windows over my back garden and the fields beyond. 

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?

I used to have a stack next to my bed. my daughter even christened it Mt Bookarus as it was so big. Eventually, it got so tall that it was higher than my mattress and I started banging my face on it in the night so i gave in and bought a bookcase for the bedroom to house it. it has now overflowed into an additional one downstairs in the office too. I really do have a serious book problem! 

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?

I pretty much read anything and what i choose will depend on my mood but I do like a good romantic fiction read to lift my mood. It is a much-maligned, but massively popular genre that I am nor ashamed to say I enjoy and there a lot of great romance writers out there. if it has an overseas setting to indulge my love of travel, even better.

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

I recently closed down my travel business to focus on a new career, so I am currently training for that. i am also working on my own novel (gulp!) as a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association New Writers’ Scheme, plus being a mum to two daughters, step-mum to another three part of the time, looking after three ponies and walking my cocker spaniel, Lola.

What is your favorite blog post you’ve ever written?

The ones I have most response to tend to be personal ones but the one i had most fun writing was this review of Battlestar Suburbia by Chris McCrudden. i think it is still my favourite post. https://alittlebookproblem.co.uk/2018/09/21/battlestar-suburbia-by-chris-mccrudden-bookreview-cmccrudden-farragobooks-netgalley-battlestarsuburbia-netgalley/ 

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?

Since I joined the RNA, I’ve been lucky enough to meet lots of my favourite authors including Jill Mansell, Milly johnson, Rowan Coleman, Julie Cohen, Cathy Bramley, Heidi Swain, Miranda Dickinson and Katie Fforde. I was also lucky enough to spend 4 days staying with Veronica Henry on a writing retreat, which was marvellous. They are all surprisingly normal and have given me great writing advice. When i met Katie Fforde I did say, ‘OMG, Katie Fforde!’ which was slightly idiotic, but she didn’t seem to mind!

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 really wish I could have met Maeve Binchy before she died. I’d have taken her to Betty’s in York for a cup of their Blue Ceylon tea and a Fat Rascal and asked her how she managed to capture the true nature of ordinary people so perfectly. In her absence, i’ll take Marian Keyes and ask her the same question. My in-laws live quite close to her in Dublin and I keep hoping I’ll ‘accidentally’ bump in to her one day in Dundrum shopping centre!

I’ll admit that I had to look up a Fat Rascal because that name was too precocious to not know what kind of dessert it represented. I do love a good scone and I think that’s what a Fat Rascal is? One of my favorite past times when visiting England is tea and scones. Yum! I can’t imagine a better treat while talking with a favorite author. Thanks Julie for taking part in my series, I loved the peek into your life and through your window!

Thanks to all of you for reading Blogger to Blogger and if you’d like to take part, please give me a shout and I’ll send you the questions.

thanks!

Deb