Book Blogger Hop – Wicked Witch's Blog

Book Blogger Hop March 24

The Book Blogger Hop was originally created by Jennifer @ Crazy-For-Books in March 2010 and ended on December 31, 2012. With Jennifer’s permission, it was relaunched on February 15, 2013 by Billy @ the Ramblings of a coffee addict. . Each week the hop will start on a Friday and end the following Thursday. There will be a weekly prompt featuring a book related question. The hop’s purpose is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.

This weeks question is: Are books a must-have in your home? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer)

Yes. I absolutely can’t imagine living in a house without books. Even as a child when we weren’t well off, we went to the local library every week so we still had books. Now I can afford to buy my own, they are an essential. My husband is just as bad so we have books everywhere.

I think the Covid pandemic and the resulting lock downs really made it apparent how much I need my own books. If I hadn’t had my book collection to reread, it would have been so much harder to get through that time of being confined to our homes.

I’m lucky enough to live in a house with quite a bit of space (empty nester!!!!) so we have room for book storage. Last year, we cleared out a tiny room and created a book room which I just love.

As well as the bookshelves in here, we also have 4 other bookcases dotted around the house.

I’ve passed this onto my own daughter too who moved to the US last year and spent a fortune shipping her books over to Kansas City.

What about you? Are books a must have in your home?

Book Blogger Hop March 17

This weeks question is: Do you post every day on your blog and/or social media? (submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver’s Reviews)

I definitely don’t post every day on my blog. Blog posts take quite a bit of time and it would be very time consuming to try and post every day. I have done it for short periods such as in October last year when I did Blogtober and posted every day for a month. I was quite glad to have a few days off at the end though.

On my blog, there are a couple of memes that I do every week such as WWW Wednesday and Stacking the Shelves and then I will usually do 2 or 3 other posts during the week. At the moment I’m doing my own poetry challenge so I’m posting that every week too.

I do use Twitter as well and although I don’t post that much in the Book Twitter group, I do read and comment on other people’s posts. I’m also part of a journaling group on Twitter where a few of us share our journal pages.

I do have a bookstagram account as well but although I mean to post pretty pictures, I often forget and go weeks without adding to it. I have a personal instagram account too but that is mainly for pretty nature pictures and my art work and it doesn’t really have much bookish stuff on it.

Altogether, I probably spend far more time than I should on social media of different types.

What about you?

Book Blogger Hop February 24

This weeks question is: What is the significance of your blog header? (submitted by Elizabeth @ Silver’s Reviews)

That’s a really interesting question and I’m really looking forward to reading what people have to say. I love looking at other people’s blog designs and the header images are a big part of that.

I’m not sure that my header has any real significance apart from the fact that they are all photos that I love or that remind me of places that I love. I change my header fairly frequently and it usually reflects the season. Many of my images are of the coast and beaches as that is one of my favourite places to be. The current image is a photo that I took when we had a short break to the South Coast last November and I took this on Bournemouth beach. I could just sit and watch and listen to the sea for hours.

Although I spend a while choosing a header photo that I love to look at, I’m not sure how many people ever actually get to see it. I think that most people read my blog through the wordpress reader and I don’t think that shows the blog pages as they actually are. I’m fairly sure that it just shows the blog post itself rather than the whole site page.

Is there any significance behind your blog header?

Book Blogger Hop February 17

This weeks question is: Do you use other sources for ARCs besides NetGalley? (submitted by Bonnie @ Bonnie Reads and Writes)

This is a really easy question to answer. No. 😃

I didn’t even know that there were such things as ARCs for the general public until a couple of years ago when I started reading book blogs and kept seeing references to people reading ARCs. A quick bit of googling took me to Net Galley and it didn’t take me long to set up my account and enter the sweet shop.

I don’t really need any more ARCs though. With my Net Galley shelf, my library books and the books that I buy, I have quite enough to read !!!!!!

Where do you get your ARCs from? Are there other sources than Net Galley in the UK?

Favourite Romance Tropes – Book Blogger Hop February 10

This weeks question is:Do you enjoy reading romance novels? If so, which romance trope is your favorite? (submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer)

Oooh, this is a really interesting question as I’ve really had to think about what my favourite tropes are in romance novels. Thanks Billy.

Yes, I do read romance novels. Probably more now than I used to because I see so many recommended on different book blogs. Previously I only used to read them occasionally when I saw one that appealed in the library.

What my favourite tropes has really made me think though.

Friends to enemies is often a trope that I enjoy. I like the sparky banter that you often get between the protagonists in books where this is a main theme. I’ve always loved this trope since I started reading ‘adult’ books in my early teens. Pride and Prejudice and The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer are two of the early books that I read early on and are great examples of this trope.

I also quite like love triangles. I don’t like my romances to be too predictable so I enjoy it when it isn’t certain how things are going to end up. I know that quite a lot of people don’t like this trope because they don’t enjoy the uncertainty so I might be in the minority with this one.

As I get older, although I still enjoy romances about cute 20 somethings, I find that I prefer older characters although that isn’t a trope as such. I also like my romances to have some fun and humour, usually in the dialogue. I don’t necessarily want comedies as such but I do love dialogue between two characters that makes me chuckle.

What tropes do you enjoy in romance novels?

Book Blogger Hop February 3

This weeks question is: What was your favorite genre to read as a child or teen? Do you still read that genre, or do you read something else now? (submitted by Mark @ Carstairs Considers)

What about you? Do you need a quiet place to read.

As a child, I used to love mystery stories. There was a series of books that I remember getting from the library featuring the Cherry family where the children and parents solved mysteries. After writing this, I decided to google the books to see if my memory was correct and discovered that it was. Here’s a blog post about the books if you’re interested

After reading those, I moved onto Enid Blyton (this was in the sixties) and devoured all of her mystery stories especially the Adventure books such as The Valley of Adventure.

When I was 8, my teacher read us The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and my love of fantasy and the thrill of travelling into imaginary worlds was kindled. I moved from Narnia, via The Hobbit to Lord of the Rings and loved all of them.

As an adult, fantasy is still my all-time favourite genre and fantasy books are the ones that I will choose to reread. I also read a lot of crime and mystery fiction too so I guess that my reading habits were definitely formed in childhood.

What were your favourite books to read as a child?

Book Blogger Hop January 27

This weeks question is: Do you prefer to read in a quiet or noisy setting? (Submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer))

I actually don’t like sitting in silence. It makes me feel uncomfortable so I generally have the radio or some music on whenever I am reading. I think it stems from childhood when my parents always had the radio tuned to a music station or had records playing. I don’t actually listen to the music if I’m reading and often couldn’t tell you what was playing but it’s nice to have it in the background.

I do find it really hard to read while the TV is on though. If my husband is watching something, then I will have to go into another room to read as I find the sports commentary or dialogue in a film really distracting.

What about you? Do you need a quiet place to read.

Are there any books you’re excited to read in 2023? #BookBloggerHop

So here we are celebrating the feast of the Epiphany and the first Book Blogger Hop of 2023. I just love this meme and the questions that come up. They generate so much discussion which is great.

This weeks question is: Are there any books you’re excited to read this year? (Submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer))

This is a very easy question to answer – Yes!!!!! In fact, there are so many brilliant books coming out this year that it would take ages to list them all.

These are some of the books that I am really looking forward to reading:

These are all books in series that I love so I’m definitely looking forward to reading all of them.

One of the books that I am most excited for in 2023 is the final part of M A Carrick’s Rook and Rose Trilogy, Labyrinth’s Heart. The expected publication date is August this year and I can’t wait to see how everything works out.

What about you? What are you looking forward to reading in 2023

Book Blogger Hop January 6

So here we are celebrating the feast of the Epiphany and the first Book Blogger Hop of 2023. I just love this meme and the questions that come up. They generate so much discussion which is great.

This weeks question is: What was the first book that you read this year? (Submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer))

For once, that’s a fairly simple question to answer. The book above was the first book I read this year. I started it on New Year’s Day and finished it a couple of days later.

One of my aims was to read less this year and I’m certainly not doing that as we’ve had a very quiet week and I’ve got through 5 books already. Things get a bit more back to normal next week and so I won’t be sitting at home as much hopefully.

What about you? What’s the first book that you have read or are reading this year?