Fictional Candy: Blogger On Blogger Interview: Zara @ The Bibliotaphe Closet

I interview a lot of authors, we all do. And it is really a lot of fun, right? But who is it behind those interviews? You!!! So now I want to interview you! This post will run every Thursday (give or take a day due to scheduling) as long as I have people who want to be interviewed! Check out the tab up there in my tab index for this feature. That's where you can check out past interviews, upcoming bloggers, and sign up for your own interview! :)

Welcome back to another Thursday, everyone! Today I have Zara at The Bibliotaphe Closet with us today, and of course, a swag giveaway :)

Here is a pic of the swag. Giveaway will run internationally, and I will pick a winner on Monday. Good luck!

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Hi Zara! Thanks for joining me today!

Your blog, The Bibliotaphe Closet, looks like quite an interesting site. Can you tell us a bit about it, and what kind of books you like to focus on?
Thanks, Liz. I’m glad to be featured on your blog today. It’s an honour.

The word, bibliotaphe, means book hoarder, which describes me as a book reader, buyer, and collector perfectly. I think it also describes the type of readers who also enjoy my blog. Book lovers and book bloggers are a passionate group. And what better way to describe my blog than the over-stuffed closet of books that bibliotaphes tend to read and collect over time?

I hope to convey that passion in my blog by providing honest, but professional reviews on books of every type, including a focus on: literary fiction, poetry, short stories, children’s books, and paranormal YA, which are books I thoroughly enjoy myself.

My main focus is to continually advocate literacy and a genuine love of reading for all.

How long have you been book blogging?
My first post was dated December 9, 2011, so I’ve been blogging for 11 months to-date and will be nearing my first year year bloggoversary, which I’m really excited about. Still working on what my book wish should be---and what kind of giveaway goodies I can come up with to celebrate!

Zara, what do you do when you aren’t blogging?
Mmm...thinking about blogging?---Actually, aside from taking care of my kids (I have an eight-year-old son and a three-year-old daughter), I enjoy stalking my local book store; penning letters to my global penpals from Finland, Japan, and Korea; collecting postcards through a great social postcard site called, The Postcrossing; designing henna/mehendi tattoos (the design you see below is mine); making jewellery; taking photographs (which I share on my weekly Saturday Snapshot post); hunting for vintage items from antique and/or thrift shops; and baking a killer cupcake (I love vanilla!). Did I also mention I love to drink loads of coffee and eat far too much? And that I do A LOT of laundry? (Though not necessarily at the same time...)

Your profile on your website lists an imaginary dog, Pirate. Is there a story there? Who’s imaginary dog is he?
An imagination is crucial to a creative life, which I fully support in my family.

While my family does love animals, I’m personally anaphylactic to cats and my children are allergic to dogs. We’ve had goldfish in the past (Jaws and Hisako) who of course, passed on too soon. And while we dog-sit my parents’ dog, Max, from time to time, we can’t actually have a dog of our own.

Thus, the birth of Pirate, our beloved, imaginary dog, who is perpetually hypoallergenic and a feisty surveyor of our books. As pirates are known to steal “gold and unknown treasure,” Pirate has stolen our imagination and our disappointment in not being able to own a pet.

My children own many stuffed toys and has given them names while playing with them. Pirate is my dog slipper that was conveniently dressed up as a pirate by my son--- and named after my father’s dog who died when he was only a child. His German Shepherd was originally named, Pirate.

If you could only read one book for the next 6 months, what book would it be?
Wow...um...that’s a tough one. I haven’t read 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami yet, but I’ve heard really good things bout it. Aside from that, it’s 952 pages long and apparently a complex story about time travel. I think it would probably take me a good six months to finish reading it---and then deciphering it! I have a beautiful signed copy that I won for a Haruki Murakami contest and would love to be given the time (like six months) to fully engage in it. If I ever finish my TBR pile, it’s a book I’d really enjoy reading just for pleasure.

Do you have any favorite book blogs that you could recommend to us?
David Abrams of The Quivering Pen provides great reviews on literary fiction that I enjoy as well as a weekly Friday Freebie giveaway.

Giselle of Book Nerd is active and thoughtful in her posts and provides a great insight into YA fiction and the YA community.

What sort of things are coming up on The Bibliotaphe Closet in the next year?
Closets tend to get full and in anticipation of that, I’m looking forward to revamping the design of my blog in its entirety after my one-year bloggosversary. I’d like to streamline its design and clean up my older posts. And while I look forward to providing more reviews of upcoming new releases through publishers like Random House of Canada, House of Anansi, and Goose Lane Editions, I’m hoping to expand on the publishers I review for, as well as expand on the genres I usually review to encompass more reviews on YA paranormal fiction.

What do you do when you have a book that you aren’t going to finish for review?
I actually do my best to finish all the books that I’ve committed to reading and reviewing and haven’t left one unread yet. As difficult as it may be to get through a book that I may not necessarily enjoy or read easily, I feel it’s important to finish a book to be able to give a fuller and truer perspective than it would be to provide a review of one that’s not. I believe that the story, its author, and its publisher deserve at least that. Books, like people, need patience. And like people, a book can often surprise you and unravel your assumptions---but the reader won’t know that until he or she has given a book a full reading, which is something I always try to do.

Favorites:

Movie: The Pianist

Music Artist: Bjork, Florence and the Machine, Portishead, Gotye, Feist, Paulo Nutini

Food: Sushi, Korean food such as kimchi, katugi, bulgogi

Vacation: I’d love to be able to visit Paris, France and Kyoto, Japan one day.

Place to Read: bed

Thanks for taking the time Zara, it’s been nice getting to know you!

It’s been a pleasure, Liz. Thanks so much for the interview and best wishes for the continual success of your blog, Fictional Candy!