New BFF: Reading Under A Blankie

Happy humpday everyone! Today on the blog I’d like to welcome a fabulous blogger who most of you must know by now and if you don’t then you definitely have to go and say hi because I’m talking about Norrie of Reading Under The Blankie!

She’s a big cat lover AND she loves thrillers just as much as I do so it’s no surprise I liked her right away ;-). She doesn’t touch romance with a stick though and she posted a very special and original Valentine’s post where she recommends books catalogued under The Dark Side of Love :-). She’s not afraid to get into some sci-fi too btw, and she likes realistic characters with issues and flaws, and she says it makes reading all the more interesting.

Anyway, you’ll have to hop over to her blog to find out more but here’s a little bit more about my new BFF in today’s

Name: Norrie

Age: 33… for another month anyway…

Birthday: 30^th May

What did you study or do you study now / what is your current job?

In high school I studied etiquette and espionage international protocol. I’d love to say it was a great school where one learns how to be a spy, but alas, it was a business focused high school where I studied the usual school stuff like maths, languages, and history, but had to specialize in all sorts of boring things. At least I didn’t end up in the finance class…

In uni I studied information and library science, so basically we could say I’m a librarian. Although never ended up working in an actual library, which is just as well, because I don’t take daily interactions with multiple strangers too well.

For the past eight years I’ve been working as a project manager. Considering that I’m pretty messy and unfocused, it’s a miracle I lasted this long, and what’s more, everyone seems to be under the impression that I’m one of the most organised people in the team. Maybe the skills from spy school weren’t so useless after all…

Do you have any other hobbies?

Apart from reading and yapping about books, I enjoy weight training in the gym, colouring, hiking, travelling, and binge watching TV series. I have a weird obsession of taking pictures of my food, and cats around the world

Your favourite color?

Black. I mean, black is a colour. Right?

Do you collect anything (besides books)?

* crickets *

…

No, I actually don’t. I do have a huge collection of random mugs though, and keep buying new ones regularly, so I guess that’s almost like collecting something…

I also somehow managed to end up with an enormous amount of cat themed things, thanks to my friends who always gift me with something that represents my feline obsession.

What’s the name of the book that you’ve had the longest? Have you read it?

When I moved countries I took a couple of books with me, but I no longer have them. So the first book I bought here in London was Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King.

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?

#noregrets

I usually don’t spend a lot of money on books, because I get most of my physical copies in charity shops, second hand book stores, or on Amazon once their price dropped. Half of my book collection is on my Kindle and they cost a lot less than their printed versions.

Do you listen to audio books?

I tried once, but failed miserably. I just simply can’t pay attention. I actually walked out the room while the book was on, and upon return was utterly puzzled and had no idea who’s talking.

Do you have a favorite genre?

I don’t have an ultimate favourite, but I do enjoy mysteries, thrillers, nordic noir and horror a lot more than other genres.

What is the book highest on your wishlist right now?

Six Stories by Matt Wesolowski.

I actually put it in my basket on Amazon about three times, just this week, but I already bought quite a few new books this month, so I try to behave…

How is your library organized?

Badly.

I have a Stephen King section, a shelf with black books, another one with mostly red stuff and sci-fi, one for crime and one for fantasy.

Those books that simply couldn’t be squeezed onto the bookcase are arranged by colour in the bedroom.

I’m a savage. Every time I look at my shelf, I die on the inside a little bit.

My Kindle home screen is beautiful though…

Do you read more ebooks or physical books?

In the grand scheme of things I’ve read more physical books, but simply because I had no other choice. I got my Kindle in 2012, and from then on I bought almost exclusively digital copies.

Do you have a favorite book?

Nope. But if you really twist my arm, I’d say, anything written by Stephen King.

What’s the cover in your collection that you’re most proud of?

The Marvel Omnibus edition of The Dark Tower is quite pretty, I guess…

Do you have any idea how many books you own? 100, >200, >300 …?

437… For now…

What’s the title of the last book you purchased?

The Dark Lake by Sarah Bailey

A hot summer. A shocking murder. A town of secrets, waiting to explode…

A beautiful young teacher has been murdered, her body found in the lake, strewn with red roses. Local policewoman Detective Sergeant Gemma Woodstock pushes to be assigned to the case, concealing the fact that she knew the murdered woman in high school years before.

But that’s not all Gemma’s trying to hide. As the investigation digs deeper into the victim’s past, other secrets threaten to come to light, secrets that were supposed to remain buried. The lake holds the key to solving the murder, but it also has the power to drag Gemma down into its dark depths…

What was your favorite author when you were a child?

When I was 10-12 years old, I was totally obsessed with Lucy Maud Montgomery’s books. I’ve read the whole Anne of Green Gables and Road to Avonlea series and was pretty much binge watched the TV series as well.

At age 13-14 I loved reading the Adrian Mole series by Sue Townsend.

Once I started high school though, I mostly read adult books.

From which author do you have most books?

Stephen King

I feel like I say Stephen King a lot…

Are there books you’ve read 2 or 3 times?

Most Stephen King books (there we go again…), The Collector by John Fowles, some Poirot books by Agatha Christie, and the Adrian Mole series by Sue Townsend are just a few I remember.

How many books are there on your Goodreads challenge this year and how many have you read already?

I’ve read 26 out of 75. It’s going pretty well, so I might actually raise the bar a bit…

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

Well, this was hard… Actually had to use my e-books.

Need To Know by Karen Cleveland
Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
Red Clocks by Leni Zumas
Ragdoll by Daniel Cole
In The Woods by Tana French
End of Watch by Stephen King

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
Savanah – Off-Color Lit
Delphine – Delphine’s Babble on Some Good Reads
Lisa – Rambling Lisa’s Book Reviews
Alex – Coffeeloving Bookoholic
The Readers Bay
Kathy – Books and Munches
Diana – A Haven for Book Lovers

I don’t want my BFF club to be complete just yet! There’s still room for plenty more so give me a shout if you want to be added! It’d be very appreciated!