Blogs To Talk About (7)

[[ For those of you who don't know what BTTA is, here's the lowdown: It's short for Blogs To Talk About. For whoever is interested can e-mail me at littleredreads@gmail.com and in the subject put BTTA or Blogs To Talk About, and in the message put your name and a link to your blog for me to check it out. Then I will contact you and send you a list of questions and when you respond I will set up a post. So, if you are interested in it, send me an e-mail! For past BTTAs go HERE]]

Name: Ambur

Age: 21

Blog Name: Burning.x.Impossibly.x.Bright

What’s the story behind the blog name? 

I'm not even really sure where I got the name for my blog completely. I actually used the name first for my Fanfiction.net username, and I got that idea from reading The Mortal Instruments. I'm not even sure if it was in a direct quote in one of the books, or if I kind of just merged the idea of it in my mind. Whenever I think of the name, I always think of the one section of City of Ashes where Jace is staring up at the sky and he makes some comment about paintings and stars, and that’s kind of where the whole name evolved from. I decided to use the name for my blog because I really liked the name. :)

Why did you start to book blog and how long have you been book blogging?

My blog didn’t originally start as a book blog. First, I just started blogging because I felt like making a blog and wanted to share a bit about myself. Then over the summer of 2010 when I finished my first year of University, I started finding lots of book blogs, and I started to share giveaways on my blogs. It just evolved from there when I decided to start writing my own reviews, and I haven’t looked back since.

Where is your favorite place to read?

I love to read in my bed, although since I’ve been working during my summer break, it’s been much harder to actually stay awake while I'm reading in bed, so I tend to read on the couch with a pillow and blanket now. :)

E-book or Hardcopy?

Oooh, that’s tough. I used to automatically just say hardcopy, but I actually really love my Kindle, and it’s so convenient to have so many books at the tips of my fingers. I also love that my Kindle fits so much more easily in my purse since I tend to take a book wherever I go…so I'm going to say both. :P It just depends on the situation. :)

Favorite book of all-time and why?

I'm gonna go with Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine. It’s a pretty short book, and you might have seen the movie. The movie and the book are so different, but I actually like them both. I love the book! It’s an interesting and incredibly unique retelling of Cinderella, and I love how strong Ella is and how her relationship with Charmant evolves. There are also bits of the book with different groups of peoples in it that I really enjoy, and Ella has this really awesome talent with different languages, which always fascinated me. :) I also love the movie. I know lots of people hate it, but for me, with book-to-movie adaptations, I love ones that follow along with the story perfectly, or completely change it, and Ella Enchanted totally did the latter. :P

What are your inspirations?

I'm not really sure! I’ve never been a person who’s had someone that they looked to for inspiration. I’ve always kind of walked my own path. I guess I used to look up to my older cousin. She did really well in school and loved to read, so I wanted to do well and I started to read more when I saw her doing it. Now, I'm not really sure if I have a specific inspiration. I guess I do look up to particular bloggers that I see and try to be like them in the ways that I admire them. For example, so many bloggers have these amazing features on their blogs, or they have these great discussion posts, and those kind of things are what inspire me. So, I guess I'm inspired by a lot of people for being their awesome selves. ;)

Do you have any blogs/bloggers that you look up to or that inspire you (feel free to name-drop)?

I do have a couple. Wendy at Cupcake and a Latte (link: http://mochalattereads.blogspot.ca), Zoë at In The Next Room (link: http://inthenextroom.blogspot.ca), and also Amber from Down the Rabbit Hole (link: http://amberinblunderland.blogspot.ca). I look up to Wendy because she just is honestly hard not to be inspired by. Her blog is amazing, and she does it all herself. She works full time and still manages to read so much! I also absolutely love how she designed her blog. She’s just such a talented person, and she’s so friendly. I'm always thrilled whenever she replies to me on Twitter or through her blog.

Zoë inspires me because I just love how driven she is. She also happens to be an amazing friend of mine, and I just think it’s awesome that she manages to find the blog within her busy schedule. Plus, we have really similar tastes in books, so I always look to her for recommendations or advice towards books she’s read that I'm unsure of, especially since she kind of knows what my book pet peeves are. She also redesigned her own blog, and that totally pushed me to do my own. Amber just inspires me all over. I love her posts, and a lot of the time I can really relate to them. We like very similar things, and I like how she runs her blog, so I'm totally inspired by that. I also like that she has a variety of posts, from reviews to her own features to posts about TV shows, and I would love to include more variety like that into my own blog. These ladies are just fantastic, and I'm pretty much just a super fan girl of all their blogs. :D

What do you like to do in your free time?

Well, I love to read, which I'm sure isn’t a surprise. :P I also love to listen to music, watch TV, and movies. I’m a bit obsessive about all of those things, books included, so I tend to have a lot of favourites, and I gush a lot about all of the things I love. Usually though, you can either find me on my computer, checking out blogs or doing some blogging of my own, or you can find me chilling out in bed with a book or a remote in my hand. :P As to what I'm likely reading, if it isn’t a book, you can bet it will be fanfiction. ;) I also absolutely love dogs! I have an apartment in the city about an hour and a half away from parents, and whenever I come home on my days off from work, I make sure to get my fill of time with my parents and my furry family members. They mean a lot to me, and our older dog recently passed away, so it makes me appreciate the two that we still have even more, and I also just like hanging out with my parents, even if that makes me weird. :P

Name a dessert, a color, a drink?

Dessert – Rice Crispy Squares! :D
Colour (I'm Canadian, that’s how we spell it ;D) – Orange

Drink – Coca-Cola Classic, I can’t stand diet pops, and I'm not a Pepsi fan either. :P

Favorite Coffee Shop?

I don’t drink much coffee, but I do love going to Starbucks after I’ve had a long day at work. I usually end up getting an Iced Passion Tea, or Green Tea Latte. :)

If you could be one character, who would you be and why?

Just one?! Hmmm, well I think I'm gonna have to go with Hermione. I would love to be a witch, and I just love her character! I love that she’s smart, and that even though people tease her for it, she still loves to learn and to give answers. She never pretends to be someone that she isn’t, and I think that’s fantastic! :D I don’t think she would have ended up with Ron if I were her though…just saying. :P Although, I'm not sure how my obsession with Dramione would fit into the actual storyline, but who knows maybe if I were Hermione it would’ve totally happened. Also, Dramione is Draco + Hermione in case anyone’s curious…and I totally blame fanfiction for my preference. :P

How many books (on average) do you read a month?

Well, it depends. If I'm having a good reading month probably around 20, but if I'm not, around 10.

What are some of your book blogging secrets?

I don’t know if I really have any secrets, but I can try to think of some. 

Take advantage of the features that your blog service offers. I don’t know which features Wordpress offers, but Blogger has scheduled posts and drafts, and I think that those are features everyone needs to take advantage of! They also have premade templates and a customize features that allow you to modify templates to fit designs that you like. This makes it easy for you change your blog on your own. The customization part came in handy when I redesigned my own blog. I also managed to do it without using expensive programs. I just used paint.net and downloaded additional packages from their forum with features that I wanted. I'm getting much better at it now. :) If you want to know more of the features you have available to you, Google is always there, and so are FAQs and blog tips on other blogs. :D

Google is your friend. I have found out so much through Google. It’s how I learned the basic HTML that I know, and how I found certain programs that I use, like paint.net and Photoscape, which I use for screen captures mostly. As I mentioned before, Google is also super helpful if you just want to find out tips and such. And if you don’t feel like using Google or want to know more, there’s always the option of emailing another blogger. Sure, if a blogger is busy, it might take them a while to respond, but it never hurts to ask. Just remember to be respectful. Being nice never hurts, and I'm definitely of the Thumper school of thought where “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”. :P

What are your favorite book-to-movie adaptations? Why?

Well, I just mentioned one a bit ago, Ella Enchanted, and I love that one because I like how they changed it from the book but still kept the main essence of the characters. :) I also love Flipped (by Wendelin Van Draanen). It’s such a sweet and adorable book, and they did a fantastic job with the movie version. I almost forgot one of my favourite ones! The Outsiders! That version was so well done! It follows so closely to the actual book, and I loved that! I also thought that the choices for the characters were perfect! I actually like quite a few book-to-movie adaptations, but those are probably my favourites. :)

Do you have any book boyfriends? If so, name them and explain why?

Do I have any book boyfriends? Of course I do. ;) haha

Jace Wayland  from The Mortal Instruments (I'm going with that name to avoid spoilers ;P) – I love Jace because I love his sense of humor, and I just absolutely love his character. He’s hilarious, incredibly sweet when he wants to be, and I'm not gonna lie, the guy is gorgeous. ;)

Wesley Rush from The DUFF– I just recently reread The DUFF, so I seriously cannot leave Wesley off this list! He’s such a playboy, but I seriously love the guy. He has some of the best dialogue ever, and I love how he kind of surpasses expectations. You don’t expect Wesley to be the amazing character that he is, and because of that he totally takes my breath away!

Cassel Sharpe from The Curse Workers Trilogy– Oh, Cassel! I seriously can’t read any of the Curse Workers books without wanting to somehow reach into the books and smother Cassel in hugs and kisses! He’s had such a rough life, but he still tries to do what’s right. I also love his wit…can you tell that I'm a sucker for witty characters, yet? :P

Will Herondale from The Infernal Devices Trilogy – From the moment I met him in Clockwork Angel, I have loved Will! He’s such a tormented character, but I’ve always felt like he was more than he appeared. I also absolutely love his wit…*dreamy sigh*

Murtagh from The Inheritance Cycle – Awe, Murtagh. Seriously, this dude had me the moment he appeared in Eragon. Deep voice, dark eyes, dark hair…kind of tormented. Yup. I was a goner, and once Garrett Hedlund played him in the movie, I was sold even more. ;) My friend used to always make fun of me for my Murtagh crush, but I always swore that he wasn’t evil…at least not by choice! I love Murtagh because despite his past, I could tell that he was more than that, and I loved that he constantly tried to surpass the obstacles that always seemed to come up against him.

Okay, I'm gonna stop now before this list gets ridiculously long…trust me, it will. I mean, I haven’t even mentioned Ash from The Iron Fey series yet. :P

Name 5 books that everyone should at least read once:

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton – This is my favourite book that I ever read for school. If you haven’t read it yet, I really insist that you do. It’s amazing!

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee – I need to reread this one sometime soon since I don’t remember it as well as I wish I do, but it’s one of those books I think you NEED to read, especially since if you don’t read it, you’re missing out on a tonne of references. :P

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen – As a Jane Austen fan, I can’t leave one of her books off the list. :P This one’s probably my favourite Austen, too. I also really liked Emma and Northanger Abbey. :)

Divergent by Veronica Roth – Once the third book’s out, this can just encompass them all. :P This is one of my favourite series ever, and I just think that it’s one of those books almost everyone can enjoy. :)

The Giver by Lois Lowry – The first dystopian I ever read, and I still remember how enthralled I was by this book. I'm gonna have to reread it soon, and read the rest of the series!

What is your dream job?

My dream job is to get into publishing. I’d love to be an editor someday. I would even be open to other jobs within the industry, but I know that I definitely want to work with books! I’d love to be able to inspire other people to want to read, and to help share the joy I’ve felt through books with others. :D

What’s the best book you’ve read this year?

Ooh, I’ve read some great ones recently, but I'm gonna have to go with Insurgent by Veronica Roth, with City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare in a close second (and boy was it a relief that I loved that one, I was extremely torn after reading CoFA :P).

Ambur, It was such a pleasure interviewing you and getting to know you more! You and I are very alike. Pride & Prejudice (well, any Jane Austen book really), The Giver, and To Kill a Mockingbird are on my list too! Plus, I want to work in the publishing industry as well. Everyone needs to go check out Ambur's blog at: Burning.x.Impossibly.x.Bright !!
xo Stephanie

Books Mentioned In This Post:

• The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare
• City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
• Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
• Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen
• The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
• The Duff by Kody Keplinger
• The Curse Workers Trilogy by Holly Black
• The Infernal Devices Trilogy by Cassandra Clare
• The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini
• The Iron Fey Series by Julie Kagawa
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
• Divergent by Veronica Roth
• The Giver by Lois Lowry
• Insurgent by Veronica Roth
• City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare