Tuesday, September 11, 2012

BBAW Interview Swap with...Alison McCarty!

 Happy BBAW everyone!  I am just returning from my SIBA trip so this is my first dip into the week...the Interview Swap.  I was assigned to correspond with a new-to-me-blogger, Alison McCarty.



Alison is actually a neighbor of mine (sort of)...she lives in Jacksonville.  I was also pleasantly surprised to find that she and I have many bookish tastes in common.  I'll definitely be adding her to my reader!  So do you want to get to know a little more about Alison?  Wait until you read her answers to my questions.  You are going to love her!

  
1.  I noticed that you have a very bookish career as a librarian and a copy cataloger. (Can you hear the universal sigh of envy from all the other bloggers out there?) Does your work influence your reading choices? 

Goodness, I love being a librarian. All the books, all the time! I only wish I could sit at the desk and read all day long. And working at two libraries definitely means I have piles and piles of books at home that my husband just shakes his head at. :) With cataloging, especially, I am constantly holding books in my hands and adding them to my long list of holds at the library. But even for all that, I don't end up reading all of the books I bring home — sometimes I forget why I even wanted to read a particular book in the first place! So it's good that I have other bloggers around to remind me to go read all the excellent books. 

 2. How and why did you get started blogging, and how long have you been blogging? 

Way back in undergrad (okay, it wasn't that long ago), I realized I wasn't reading any books for fun and dedicated the summer after my sophomore year to my "Summer Reading Project," for which I made a super-dorky and basic HTML page to remind myself of what I'd read. I did it again after junior and senior years, and at the end of that last summer I was like, "Wait, I'm a real person now and I can do my summer reading project all year 'round!" So I put together a blog like all the cool kids were doing and here I am! I've been "actual" blogging since late August or early September of 2008, so BBAW is like my own blog-iversary celebration! (Sandy side note:  Congratulations! We started almost at the same time.) 

3. What do you do for entertainment outside of blogging? 

As I type this, I am six hours away from my house, recovering from three hours of swing dance workshops and preparing to go dancing again! So I think it's safe to say I find swing dancing (primarily lindy hop and East Coast) to be highly entertaining. I also play French horn in a community orchestra and like to wander lost through the woods in an obscure "sport" called geocaching. I am clearly a giant nerd.  (Sandy side note:  Alison, my kids and I are totally obsessed with geocaching.  So much fun, but a crazy sucker-of-time!)

4. I always tell people that I love Tana French so much, I would bear her children. Are there any authors out there that you feel passionately about?

Tana French, omg, I love her. Not sure about the children part, but love love love! I also have a thing for Jasper Fforde, or maybe just the inside of Jasper Fforde's brain, which must be a very surreal landscape. These are definitely two authors who could write a phone book and I would read it. 

5. What has been your favorite read in 2012 so far? 

Oh, man. Off the top of my head, I'd have to say The Fault in Our Stars, which is an amazing and wonderful and terribly sad novel. Add John Green to that phone-book-writer list!  (Sandy side note:  I would agree with you on this one 100%.  One of the best books this year!  And at SIBA, I got a TFIOS poster!  OMG!)

6. Tell us something about yourself that would surprise us. 

Well, based on question 1, it's probably surprising that I rarely really go to the library. I put all of the books I'm interested in on hold, and when they come in I swoop over to the library (which is separate from where I work in cataloging), check them out, and go home! When I do go to the library properly, though, it's always a fun time. :)


Alison, thank you so much for taking the time to answer these questions.  I hope everyone enjoyed it, and take a peek at her blog!



15 comments:

Unknown said...

Your bookish tastes do sound very similar! It is wondeful that BBAW introduces so many bloggers to each other!

I'm becoming a bit like Alison that I don't spend much time in the library any more either. I also put loads on hold and then nip in to collect them. Shame really, but I have to find some way not to be tempted by the piles of shiny new books in the library.

bermudaonion said...

Oh yes, I can definitely relate to Alison and all those piles of books. It sounds like she stays plenty busy.

Beth F said...

I too tend to run in and out of the library because I put books on hold. Isn't it great that you live in the same state and share so many reading tastes.

Alison said...

Haha, yay geocaching! If I ever head down to Orlando to cache you'll have to tell me where all the good ones are. :) Also, I am so envious of your TFiOS poster. Lucky!

@Jackie, that is totally why I've been avoiding hanging out in the library! Too many books!

Meg @ write meg! said...

How nice to meet Alison! I can definitely relate to not reading anything for "fun" in college -- though I was an English major and read all the time, it's different when it's assigned. Realizing I was "a real person" who could read whatever she darn well pleased was so exciting! And that's partially what pushed me into blogging, too.

Zibilee said...

I can only imagine all the books I would come home with if I worked in a library! I loved this interview! Alison sounds like a really interesting person, and her hobbies aside from reading are also different and fun. Great job with this interview Alison and Sandy!

caite said...

Yes, I too started a blog to be one of the cool kids.
Still trying....

Blogger10 said...

Great interview! I've only read 1 Tana French book so far, but based on both of your raves, I think I need to find some more. :) Happy BBAW!

Judith / Leeswammes said...

A very entertaining interview. I loved especially that phone book bit.

I only reserve very few books at the library (as I get so many books through other sources) but when I do, I pick up that one (or two) book , check my "shopping list" with books (just one or two), and run out as fast as I can! :-) Such temptation!

rhapsodyinbooks said...

OMG I cannot believe we didn't talk about geocaching! Obviouly we need to spend another weekend together!!!

Literary Feline said...

It's so nice to meet Alison! She sounds like my kind of person too. Definitely adding her to my Google Reader.

Unknown said...

What a great interview. Alison sounds like such an intersting person and I'd love to discuss books withher since she' surrounded by them all day. She's got somegreat taste in books, to. And now I'm wondering what this geocaching is all about! It's not just a Florida thing is it?!

Heidenkind said...

How fun that you got to interview someone who lives close to you!

Pardon my ignorance, but what does a copy cataloger do?

Melody said...

Great interview! Now I have to move "The Fault in Our Stars" up from my TBR pile!!

Anonymous said...

Alison sounds like so much fun! I'm off to check out her blog. :)