Spread The Love Sunday!

It's Sunday and that means another edition of Spread The Love Sunday! This is a weekly event here on My Overstuffed Bookshelf where I give back to my readers who have been great friends, followers, inspiration and all around great people! A place to showcase YOU!

If you would like to be featured on Spread the Love Sunday, just drop me an email and I will be happy to feature you!

Today I have Sasha and let's get to know about her and her blog!

Name : Sasha
Blog : Sasha & The Silverfish

http://silverfysh.wordpress.com

1. Tell us a little about your blog.

Sasha & The Silverfish is an online journal—okay, online journal is so 1999—fine, a blog—dedicated to reading. Well, mostly my reading. My books. My odd hours spent burning away with a book on my hands—all those dishes unwashed, all the work I should be doing withering away. It’s a blog dedicated to my book thoughts, my book ramblings, my unbelievably dorky-passionate love for the written word. All those mys might seem a little selfish—but really, I wanted a platform where I could express what I felt and thought about a book, where I could share my reading experience.

I strive for honest “reviews”, and according to the feedback, that’s what they are. :) When it’s Meh, it’s because I was Meh when I read it. When it’s OHYAY, it’s because it was. When it’s BAH-EWW, it’s because it really really was. They’re my thoughts, my feelings. And I know I can back them up.

2. Why did you start your blog and what is your favorite thing about having a blog?

A little background on me: I’m currently finishing my BFA in Creative Writing (a minor in Lit’s done, wahoo), so, well, I write—one would think that there’s lots and lots of reading and book-sharing. There is, but it’s academic, it’s graded. In more casual moments, it’s poetics that’s on the spotlight. I don’t remember us ever talking at length about books, no OMGBOOKS. So that’s one reason why I started my blog—I wanted to talk at length about OMGBOOKS. :)

The blog idea was sparked when I looked dismally at my growing TBRs. When would I ever get to read all those books? So the blog was supposed to help me keep track of my reading. I always made notes on my notebooks about books, but I wanted a public platform. And that’s one of the best things about having a blog—getting to communicate with people who have the same interests as you, and as dorky-passionate about them. I love discovering that people felt the way I felt, or were feeling completely different things.

3. If you could be any character from any book, who would you be and why?

Some days I want to be Jane Eyre—I always feel giddy when I read that “Reader, I married him,” at the final chapter. Darn it, does this mean I like women in the attic and brooding men? I grew up with Jane—my mother has had the book on her nightstand since forever, and as a little girl, we’d read about this plain, mousy woman who gets everything she wants [even an uncle from Madeira!]

Some days I want to be MacKayla from Moning’s Fever series—she’s kick-ass, and then there’s Barrons!

4. Who is your favorite author(s)?

Alice Munro, Carol Shields and Lorrie Moore, for their short fiction. Joan Silber. June Spence. Alice Hoffman. Lakambini Sitoy, Wilfrido Nolledo. Throw in Roland Barthes to mix things up. I’ve always been crazy about Raymond Carver, and now I’m feeling the same way about Richard Yates. Miranda July, Ann Beattie. And then there’s the countless romance novelists I have on my keeper shelf: Karen Marie Moning, Mary Balogh (her Bedwyns!), Sarah McCarty, Lorelei James, Laura Lee Guhrke. I just discovered Anna Campbell and Courtney Milan—they’re breathtaking. Oof, I have to stop.

5. What is your favorite genre to read?

I like literary fiction—novels, and short stories. I suppose, well, I’m a die-hard realism fan, haha. There are some poets I like—I’m very picky, haha: Mark Strand, Billy Collins, Richard Siken. And I love my romance novels, and I’ve never had reason to be guilty about them—I don’t think I can go a week without reading at least one.

6. What book are you reading right now?

As of writing this, I’m not reading anything—just schoolwork and doing some watercoloring for an upcoming show. There’s a Read-A-Thon on Dec. 5, so I figure I’d catch up there. But I’m sure I’ll pick up a book before then, haha. Maybe What the Duke Desires, by Jenna Petersen. Maybe Her Last Death, Susanna Sonnenberg’s memoir. :)

7. Name some of your favorite blogs.

It has to be "Aside from you," right? ;)

> BiblioAddict http://www.whosabiblioaddict.com/

> A Guy’s Moleskine Notebook http://mattviews.wordpress.com/

> Boston Bibliophile http://shelflove.wordpress.com/

> Savidge Reads http://savidgereads.wordpress.com/

> Dear Author http://dearauthor.com

> Recommended Reading http://readreadreadreadreadreadread.blogspot.com/

8. Any tips for new bloggers?

Dear New Bloggers: Just chill. See, I’ve only been blogging steadily for less than two months (I’m a new blogger too!)—and sometimes, the pressure to get things out there got to me. Sometimes, we just have to step back—it’s okay for a dip in your stats, or to miss a day or two or seventeen. And this is cliché—but, please, have fun. It can get nasty, you’ll obsess, even your reading could be tainted (“Would my readers want me to mention this?”)

Oh! And never, ever, ever, let your book blogging take precedence over your book reading. :)

Take a look around the blogosphere. Comment! Make friends. But yes—having fun is key, loving your books and reading should be a matter of fact. :)