Meet The Blogger - Thirst4Fiction

Welcome to my second Meet The Blogger blogpost! So glad you can join us. Last week, we had Laura from SisterSpooky. This week, Rhys from Thirst4Fiction is answering my questions! Please check out his blog - http://www.thirstforfiction.com/ and show him some love!

When did you start blogging?
[LONG ANECDOTE ALERT!] I only consider myself to have blogged in the last year or so, even though I've been doing book reviews and running ThirstforFiction in various incarnations before that. The reason is, that back in mid 2009, I had this wonderful idea to create a website where I could post reviews of all the books I'd read as a sort of catalogue or database. This website came to be, under the name of Teen-BookReviews (cruddy name, I know!) and I would update it every time I read a book with a short and badly written review. Then, in late 2009, I decided I wanted to re-brand Teen-BookReviews, make it more appealing and just devote more time to it. Which is what I did- I moved to a self-hosted Joomla site, and Teen-BookReviews came to be ThirstforFiction, which is far more appealing, at least in my opinion. But even then, I still didn't consider myself to be "blogging"- at that point, I didn't even realise that there was a huge YA Book Blogosphere! It was only in early 2010, when Headline Publishing Group contacted me and offered my my very first review copy (the wonderful Lex Trent Vs the Gods if you wanted to know!) that I tightened up and made T4F something regular. So, really, I only really think I've properly blogged for just over a year.

What made you start blogging?
The fact that I read so many books I thought I might as well unleash my opinions unto the world.

What was the first book you reviewed for your blog and what was your reaction to it?
Oooh. Now, this is hard. *checks archives* The reason this is difficult to say is because my very early reviews were so bad I didn't bother moving them in the move from Teen-BookReviews to ThirstforFiction, so they have been lost forever....
But, the what must have been one of my first reviews was of Artemis Fowl. The review you see now is a revamped version of the original two-paragraph review, though it isn't much better; it may be longer but it's still filled with writing constipation! It's a gushy review of a wonderful book, I'm pleased to say.

When was the first time you realised you were a Book Blogger?
Again - I'd say early 2010. Maybe March.

How much of your time a week do you spend blogging?
Too much (though really, there is never really too much time spent blogging!) I'd say about an hour a day, not including reading time.

Has your taste in book genres changed since starting the blog?
I wouldn't consider my tastes to have changed, just that I've discovered the range of my tastes. Back in the early days I was pretty narrow minded, but with publishers offering me books that I may not normally read, my taste of genre has increased quite exponentially. This is one of the biggest benefits of blogging: discovering new (fantastic) books you wouldn't normally come across, let alone read.

What book are you reading at the moment?
Pure, by Julianna Baggott. It's a post-apocalyptic novel based several years after somesort of destructive force (possibly a nuclear disaster), where a select group of people where chosen to be protected and live in the Dome and be "pure" while the rest were exposed to the blast, where their bodies fused with items and other people. The dome concept has been overused in sci-fi, but Pure is a fantastic novel, and the writing is really spectacular and really worth reading. It paints some great pictures.

What book has got you very excited or made you cry?
There are too many to list, but I'll be really cheeky and plug T4F; if you want to see all the books that I consider Must Reads, just click here.
Some of those made me cry (Looking For Alaska, Between Shades of Gray) while others are just pure awesome (Mortal Engines, I Am Not A Serial Killer, The Midnight Charter)

Have you read any book that you disliked so much you threw it across the room?
No; I would never treat a book that badly! xD I normally just wait it out and hope the book improves. I'm not really the angry/violent type...

What advice would you give to anyone who wants to take part or what to set up a book blog?
Just Do It.
But, most importantly, just be part of the community- I spent so long not knowing there was such a wonderful book blogging community, I don't know how I survived. Chatting to other bloggers and authors over Twitter, as well as just reading other people's reviews is awesome, and well worth doing.

Now, to ask five fun quick-fire questions. What song are you listening to right now?
The Edge of Glory by Lady GaGa...(don't confuse me for one of her "little monsters"- I just particularly like that song!)

MySpace, Facebook or Twitter?
Facebook and Twitter. Facebook for real life stuff, Twitter for blogging.

Hardback, paperbacks or eBooks?
Hardback and Paperback.

Letters, phone, texting or emailing?
All three, though phoning is my least favourite- it just feels weird having meaningful conversations with another person if you can't read their body language. Letters can be romantic, texting is good for sorting stuff out and emailing is just easy...

Zombies or unicorns?
Neither.