Maw Books

Maw Books – book reviews, book recommendations, book lists, author interviews and more!

Welcome to the fourth edition of the Maw Books Reader Spotlights!  Today I’m spotlighting Jen, whom is better known as Ladytink_534 and has two blogs The Movieholic & Bibliophile’s Blog and Up Close and Personal With LadyTink.  Jen first commented on my blog during my huge Stephenie Meyer giveaway and I’m excited that she stuck around after that.  Because isn’t that what we all want?  A regular reader from the result of a giveaway?  And Jen has truly been a pleasure to get to know.  But before we get to the interview, first some of my favorite comments:

In response to Sara Zarr’s Sweethearts:

Our family moved around a few times when I was in elementary school and I would reinvent myself every time (I used to be painfully shy). Once I finally reached middle school, we stayed put but I continued to be someone new or at the very least, hang out with a different clique every few years. I was still a librarian’s/ teacher’s pet and a bookworm but I had acquired an outgoing personality and was generally well liked. No more bullies and teasing though! I think I even made a few non-readers pick up a book

In response to As If Being 12 3/4 Isn’t Bad Enough My Mother Is Running for President by Donna Gephart:

Ugh, can you imagine trying to grow up and just be normal while you’re being put under a microscope like that because of something your mother is doing? Sounds like a great story though… looking forward to the lemon square recipe. Wonder how it compares to mine…..

I mention that one because I’ve made the lemon squares and hope to post them sometime this month!

On her and her husband watching the Twilight movie together:

I loved Twilight! There was some differences from the book but none of it bothered me too much. It even converted my mostly non-reading husband! He picked up the first book (the only one I have) when we came home. We went fairly early and there were equal guy to girl ratios too… of course as we were leaving there was a HUGE line of mostly teenaged girls so go early! I’m seriously thinking about seeing it again.

So, let’s learn more about Jen!

Maw Books:  Take a moment and introduce yourself.

Jen: Hello! My name is Jen aka Ladytink_534. I’m 22, married with an adorable black fur-baby. Originally from Georgia, Darren and I moved to Mississippi the day after I graduated high school (nearly four years ago now) to live near his family where he grew up. Since his mother and my family still live in Georgia, we do go up to visit a couple of times every year though! Well as you could guess from my blogs  Up Close and Personal With LadyTink , The Movieholic & Bibliophile, and Ladytink’s Neverland) I love to read and I love to watch movies- especially older movies that so many people have forgotten and animated or family friendly ones. I do have a bit of an obsessive personality where I have to do things in order such as read book series, write reviews, etc.

Maw Books: What is your earliest reading memory?  And what were you like as a young reader?

Jen: My earliest reading memory was probably having my Meme (great-grandmother) read me a collection of Disney stories that had belonged to my mother (which I still have). I’ve been reading for about as long as I can remember and I’ve been told that I learned when I was about 3 years old. I’ve also been told I used to ask anyone who would sit still long enough to read to me! When I was younger I would read anything and since my Meme was the only person who was a reader in my family, I didn’t have a whole lot to pick and choose from! Unless a teacher or a librarian recommended me something, I usually just stuck to whatever I could find -which is how I got addicted to R.L. Stein’s Fear Street books. It’s also why I read many “classics” (Gone With the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Robin Hood, Alice in Wonderland, Heidi, Big Red, The Call of the Wild, Where the Red Fern Grows, etc.) before I had even entered high school (some before middle school too)!

Maw Books: I’m impressed you have read Gone With the Wind!  That’s a chunkster that intimidates me!  And what a wonderful Meme! What type of books/genre do you enjoy reading?

Jen: There are just so many genres out there that I’ve never been able to narrow it down to just one in particular. I adore fantasy, paranormals, YA and children’s fiction, the classics, mysteries, romance, and just about anything else… except sci-fi. That’s a genre I’ve never been able to enjoy.

Maw Books: Do you mostly buy books, check them out from the library, or a mixture of both?

Jen: Libraries are such wonderful places! For a couple of years I avoided the library but I always do seem to go back to it. I actually used to volunteer at my middle school library! Now I’m mostly a library user and I go at least once every week. I tend to only buy books when they’re either by my favorite authors and when I already have several (or all) in the series or when its something too new for my library to get in.

Maw Books: Do you read whatever you want or do you rely on recommendations from others?

Jen: Recommendations is one of the main reasons I visit so many different reader blogs! I discover so many new books that I probably wouldn’t have found on my own but I also tend to read whatever strikes my fancy too. I tend to browse my library’s online catalog occasionally!

Maw Books:  What inspired you to begin blogging, how long have you been blogging and would you share what your three blogs are about?

Jen: Last year I answered this question on my blog and I really can’t improve my answer any so:

I’ve been blogging on various sites for a few years now but I started blogging on Blogger for two reasons. 1) I couldn’t post photos on my Yahoo Movies reviews and 2) I wanted a sort of interactive experience where I could watch videos, listen to music, and visit links that have to do with the movies… and then I decided to add book reviews too. Now I had never done a book review before and had just started keeping up with what I read but I had been in a few online book groups for a couple of years by then so I at least knew how to talk about why I liked something. So my “reviews” (if you can call them that, I try to avoid it) are a little different from what you would normally find and they can be a pain to put together… but it’s still fun for me or I wouldn’t be doing it.

I have three blogs on Blogger that I post frequently on. I started off with my Ladytink’s Neverland Blog (originally titled Ladytink’s Happy Place lol) on June 17, 2007 and almost immediately started receiving comments. I had never had comments from strangers before on any of my previous blogs like on MySpace or Xanga. I went to school with or was related to all of those commenter’s but here was something completely new to me. So then, I started my main (and personal favorite blog) The Movieholic & Bibliophile’s Blog (originally entitled The Movieholic, Bibliophile, & Music Junkie’s Blog) on June 22, 2007. My third blog is Up Close and Personal With LadyTink and was created on November 21, 2007. I post everything that isn’t a book or movie review like meme’s, challenges, what I’m doing, photos of my bookshelves, etc.

Maw Books:  You do an amazing job with them!  Does blogging about books or movies change the way you read/watch them?  Are you more analytical?

Jen: The only good answer to that is sometimes. Sometimes I just sit back and enjoy the book or movie but there are other times when I’ll stop and start talking out loud to myself about the book/ movie and then I try to write down my “discussions” to look at when I write the review for it. The reviews I’m most proud of are done this way actually. It’s also a pain to have to do so I’ve been thinking of investing in one of those little handheld tape-recorders that reporters use!

Maw Books:  LOL.  Not a bad idea actually.  What is your favorite post/series/concept/etc about your blog(s)?

Jen: I guess my favorite thing about both of my review blogs is that I’m collecting just about everything I can find (interviews and videos) about that particular movie or book into one place. Also the pictures I use help me remember the books better long after I’ve read them. I plan on having these blogs for years to come and instead of having to re-read something to help me remember I can just go back to my review. The “interactive experience” can sometimes be a pain to collect together but I do love it when its done!

Maw Books:  Favorite book?

Jen: Nope, I don’t do favorites. Never have, never will. However, I have read Stephen King’s The Stand, Lewis Caroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, and Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women three times each.

Maw Books:  Favorite author?

Jen: Here are a few I love enough to collect almost all their books: Stephen King, Laurell K. Hamilton, Kim Harrison, Kelley Armstrong, Anne Rice, Charlaine Harris, Carrie Vaughn, Joanne Fluke, Brenda Joyce, Mary Kay Andrews, Jennifer Crusie and many, many more!

Maw Books:  This is what I love about reading!  Our tastes our so different (I’m putting myself out there and saying I’m not familiar with hardly any of those authors!) but the love of reading came bring any two readers together, regardless of their preferred genre.  Okay, favorite movie?

Jen: Um… Well, anything Disney before 2000, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Interview with the Vampire, My Fair Lady, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir… I could do this all day lol!

Maw Books:  Favorite actor/actress?

Jen: Rex Harrison, Cary Grant, Morgan Freeman, Robin Williams, Johnny Depp, Jason Dohring, Orlando Bloom, Julie Andrews, Julia Roberts, Audrey Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn, +more!

Maw Books:  Johnny Depp – my husbands favorite.  How many movies do you think you watched last year?

Jen: A little over 60 I think.

Maw Books:  So what is it with you and Walt Disney anyways?

Jen: Lol. I’m not entirely sure but I’ve always been fascinated by the movies, even more so when I could grasp the fact that for a number of years all the animation was hand-drawn. I have no reason really to love it all (I actually listen to the music soundtracks all the time by the way) but I do and I find almost all of it utterly charming. You wouldn’t guess that I’ve never been to any of the Disney theme parks would you? Still, when it comes to Disney movies I’m utterly addicted.

Maw Books:  What does your husband have to say about your obsessions.  Does he encourage it or does he roll his eyes (mine is the rolling eyes type!)?

Jen: Well a bit of both actually but he encourages it more than anything. I knew he was a keeper when he bought me a stuffed Tigger on our first date! After I discovered ebay for the first time he bought me a collection of children’s books that I never knew existed as a surprise (I had one from the set that my Meme had bought for me as a baby somewhere), oh and he always does something special on anniversary’s and birthday’s too. Last year he bought me the entire 7 seasons of Buffy and a couple of books I had been wanting too.

Maw Books:  He sounds like a keeper!  You say you are a Georgia girl at heart.  What brought you to Mississippi?  What do you love about both places?

Jen: Truly the only thing keeping me in Mississippi is that my husband has a really great job here and that 90% of his family lives down here too. It was a bit of a shock moving here for a girl who had never seen any body of water bigger than a lake until she was around 13! The best thing about Georgia is my family and the fact that I grew up there so I know the area but that’s also what’s great about Mississippi, my in-laws (whom I actually adore) and exploring all these new places. The casinos in Biloxi are interesting even though I don’t really enjoy gambling.

Maw Books:  What do you do outside the world of reading books or watching movies?

Jen: Nothing much. I’m a stay-at-home wife so I tend to have a bit of free time on my hands a lot.

Maw Books:  Where would you go on your dream vacation?  And what would you eat while you were there?

Jen: Disneyland because I’d like to go to something Walt Disney built even though I’m much closer to Disney World and I’ve heard that there are different kinds of food from all over the world served there. I also wouldn’t mind visiting Ireland and England for the history and the landscape. Although it might be a little strange, I’d also like to try the local traditional foods there too.

Maw Books:  Speaking of eating, do you have a favorite snack that you munch on while your reading books or watching movies?  Would you care to share the recipe?

Jen: I snack on whatever is available and I can’t cook to save my soul (good thing hubby is such a picky eater huh?) but I do enjoy baking every once in awhile but I tend to get my recipes out of books.

Here is my favorite cookie recipe. It’s from Joanne Fluke’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder and it’s called Chocolate Chip Crunch Cookies:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F, rack in the middle position

Ingredients
1 cup of butter (2 sticks, melted)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 beaten eggs (you can beat them up with a fork)
2 ½ cups flour (not sifted)
2 cups crushed corn flakes (just crush them with your hands)
1-2 cup chocolate chips

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then remove to a wire rack until they?re completely cool. (The rack is important – it makes them crisp.)

Maw Books:  What’s the one thing that you wish people knew about you but you don’t brag about?

Jen: Can’t really think of anything off the top of my head. Well, I’m seriously good at trivia… especially Disney trivia lol!

Maw Books:  I seriously wouldn’t want to go head to head with you on Disney Trivial Pursuit!  Thanks Jen for being in the spotlight today!

Jen: Thanks so much for the interview!  It was a ton of fun!

Pretty amazing, huh?!  I love learning about my commenters and different reading preferences, influences, styles, etc.  Don’t forget to visit Jen at Up Close and Personal With LadyTink , The Movieholic & Bibliophile Blog. Check out the past reader spotlights and make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss any future spotlights

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