New BFF: Off-Color Literature

Today on the blog I want to introduce you a wonderful girl who goes by the name Savanah. She blogs @Off-Color Literature and she’s an allround-reader, she reads every genre! She’s very passionnate about books, so much so in fact that she has dedicated a whole arm to her favorite poetry and novels. My kind of girl :-). She’s been blogging for two months now – even though you’d never guess if you look at her blog – so go show her some blogging community love, she really deserves it!

Now without further ado, here’s the

Name: Savanah Lowder

Age: 27

Birthday: December 31st. A New Year’s Eve baby!

What did you study or do you study now / what is your current job?
I did/do study Literature, in my ongoing collection of degrees I’ll likely never use. I also studied Graphic Design for a semester, which is helping me with my blog now, though I hated it.

Do you have any other hobbies?
I do! I paint portraits. I am hoping to start some bookish art – maybe an art journal that goes with what I read? I haven’t decided quite yet!

Your favourite color?
Blue. Any shade. I notice it in my book collecting, too. I always gravitate towards blue.

Do you collect anything (besides books)?
Coffee cups and Monster High dolls! Haha. So random. I’m a HUGE fan of thrift store shopping, it’s where I get a looooot of my books and the coffee cups there are always so cute and different. I love knowing my things have stories and lived before me. The Monster High dolls, I have no reasonable explanation for. I just really, really love them.

What’s the name of the book that you’ve had the longest? Have you read it?
It’s a copy of The Giver that I bought many years ago. I definitely have read it! About six years ago, I moved across the country and had to get rid of nearly all my books. It was devastating, though fun to rebuild the collection! Anyway, The Giver was one I made sure I kept through that move, and through subsequent moves as well.

Have you ever regretted a book you purchased? A book that sounded so promising but you wished you’d have spent your money on another book after reading it?
I can, but I’m really lucky because I bought the book for a dollar. The most recent book I was really disappointed in was called Hexed. One good thing about being so thrifty is that I don’t have to feel upset when a book is a regretful purchase. I’m more upset about the time lost than anything.

Do you listen to audio books?
I do! Though I’m REALLY picky about voices. I spend so much time in the car that it would be silly not to. I especially like this for classics or books that I’ve already read and want a refresher. I most recently listened to 1984 by Orwell, for instance.

Do you have a favorite genre?
I find that I gravitate toward fantasy and sci-fi most. But I will read things from any genre. Especially in YA, I’ll read YA anything.

 

What is the book highest on your wishlist right now?
It was One Of Us Is Lying, which I went and bought yesterday. Now I’m pretty happy! I have copies of all the books I was super excited about, it’s just sitting down and reading them.

 

 

How is your library organized?
So, funny story… I recently decided to re-organize and had a bit of a mental breakdown haha. So now things are mostly organized by color. I have this shelf in my kitchen, with my brown books. My entertainment stand has all these cubbies, so each cubby has a different color of the rainbow. Then I have one big shelf for colors that don’t fit with any others. Then I have about ten other places in my house with just a few books. And then this started happening almost on accident, but now it’s become habit to stack books above my fireplace.

Do you read more ebooks or physical books?
I read more physical books. I’m just now starting to read ebooks, because that’s the easiest way to get ARC’s. Until now, I had probably read only two or three ebooks ever.

Do you have a favorite book?

I have different favorites depending on how I’m feeling. My all-time favorite is probably Rant, by Chuck Palahniuk. He combines a story about the worst rabies outbreak of all time with time travel, and it’s weird and I love it.

What’s the cover in your collection that you’re most proud of?
Unicorn Executions. It has a special place on my black and white shelf.

Do you have any idea how many books you own? <100, >100, >200, >300 …?
I’d say somewhere between 300-400. My son and I have been collecting Goosebumps and Animorphs, and those alone make up for 100 or so!

What’s the title of the last book you purchased?
I purchased both One Of Us Is Lying and When Dimple Met Rishi together.

What was your favorite author when you were a child?
I was really, really into poetry by Shel Silverstein.

From which author do you have most books?
Other than the kid’s books I mentioned, Sarah Dessen.

Sarah Dessen was born in Evanston, Illinois, on June 6, 1970.

As a teenager, Dessen was very shy and quiet. She became involved with a 21-year-old when she was 15 but cut all contact with him shortly after. She has admitted in an interview that “for many years afterward, I took total blame for everything that happened between me and T. After all, I was a bad kid. I’d did drugs, I lied to my mom. You can’t just hang out with a guy and not expect him to get ideas, I told myself. You should have known better. But maybe he should have. When I turned 21, I remember making a point, regularly, to look at teens and ask myself whether I’d want to hang out with them, much less date one. The answer was always a flat, immediate no. They were kids. I was an adult. End of story.”

She worked at a children’s shoe store when she was in high school at Chapel Hill High School. She was fired during the annual summer sidewalk sale. Dessen dropped out of Greensboro College in Greensboro, North Carolina, and later took some classes at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, graduating with highest honors in Creative Writing.

Dessen waitressed at the restaurant Flying Burrito in Chapel Hill while launching her writing career. She would write during the day and waitress at night. Her first book, That Summer, was published in 1996.

Dessen’s Along for the Ride made the New York Times Best Sellers List.

Most of Sarah Dessen’s novels deal with the change in youth’s personality as they go through some sort of tragedy or loss. The general themes that run through her novels comprise isolation, emotional distance among family members, and a progressive change in people’s personality.

Source: Wikipedia

Are there books you’ve read 2 or 3 times?
Tons! I will forever re-read Just Listen by Sarah Dessen, Rant & Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk, Looking for Alaska by John Green.

How many books are there on your Goodreads challenge this year and how many have you read already?
I’m going for fifty and I’ve read eighteen. I’m a busy lady, but I’m really working to get there, and I’m hoping to surpass the goal.

Can you spell your name with the first letters of titles in your book case (name these titles+authors)?

Thank you so much Savanah for participating today, it was very nice getting to know you better!

In case you missed it, these are the BFF’s (Blog Friends Forever) I posted about before :

Martina – The Mystery Corner
Liis – Cover to Cover
Anne – Inked Brownies
Danielle – Books, Vertigo and Tea
Drew – TheTattooedBookGeek
Jillian – Rant and Rave About Books
Meg – Magic of Books
Betty – Bookish Regards
Anais – Zeezee with Books
Nicki – Secret Library
Donna – Chocolatenwaffles’ Blog
Chitra – Books & Strips
Annie – The Misstery
Dee – Novel Deelights
Stephanie – Teacher of YA
Tina – Reading Between the Pages

I don’t want my BFF club to be complete just yet! There’s still plenty of room for more friends so unless you want this to be my last BFF post, please consider signing up! Thank you!