Interview with Blogger & Reviewer Stella Ex Libris, part 2

And here we are, with part two of my interview with Blogger and Reviewer Stella, from Ex Libris. This is part of Armchair BEA's weeklong events. If you haven't read part one, you can see it here. The first part focused on Stella, the blogger; this part looks at Stella, the person.

Bea: Can you tell me a little bit about what your home life is like? Significant Other? Kids? House? Apartment? Urban? Rural? Cat? Dog? Klingon? Wookie?

STELLA: Lol, sure. I am a 26 years old Hungarian girl working by day as a junior lawyer, and moonlighting at night as a bookaholic blogger. I’ve always lived in big cities, born and (almost exclusively) raised in Budapest, capital of Hungary, then due to my dad’s work lived 2 years in Brussels (Belgium), 3 years in Bucarest (Romania), and then I’ve done part of my university studies abroad too: lived 1 year in Lille, a nice atmospheric little city in Northern France, and another year in Brussels again. Now I’m back in Budapest, working full time and preparing to pass my bar exam, so even less free time than before *sighs* I have two younger sisters, but since they study abroad and my parents didn’t want to remain alone in such a big house all alone, I postponed my plans of moving to my own apartment and live at home with them. I live in a nice house with a garden and terrace in a green suburb of Budapest, takes me 30 minutes to get to work, which is on the bank of the Danube, so a beautiful setting and panoramic view at least if I have to spend so much hours there ;-)

Bea: What do you do when you aren’t blogging?

STELLA: Besides work which takes up quite a lot of time? Besides reading my biggest passion is travelling! I love discovering the world and meeting new people, learn about their culture, traditions and eat foreign cuisine. I also love to cook and bake and of course love watching my fav TV series too. I love meeting up with my friends and go out to dine and wine or simply meet in a café and talk the night/weekend afternoon away.

Bea: On your blog, you mention that you can’t live without sunshine, clouds, laughter, water, reading and talking. What is so special or important about those things to you? How do you go about making sure that you have those in your life? 

STELLA: Sunshine is one of the most important things to me, coming right after my family and friends. I need the light, the warmth, the play of the light and shadows. I love having the sun in my eyes blinding me, and even sleeping with the sun shining on my closed lids. As you can see I’m passionate about sunshine :-D lol

Clouds: lol, no contradiction here with the sun: I love white, fluffy clouds, to wonder about their texture, shape, I love gazing up at the azure sky and look at them. If I were to become a professional photograph I could happily spend my time taking pictures of clouds all the time. Love how different they can be depending on the weather, the lights, the colours of the sky. Again a passion of mine. (as you can see I am quite passionate about a lot of things).

Laughter: I love to laugh and smile. I know it goes against netiquette to use lots of smilies, but I can’t help it (believe me I try real hard, these are already the lucky ones who were left to remain). Someone asked me whether I smile as much in real life as I use smilies in e-mails, and I told him even more. I’m a very smiling and positive person.

Water: I love looking out at the sea and ocean, but when I wrote this I was simply thinking of drinking still, mineral water. My favourite drink, I love the cleanness of it and how it quenches thirst. (I don’t like swimming in pools, so if I have to swim, I much prefer the sea or ocean.)

Reading: I think this is self explanatory for any book blogger. I’ve always read a lot, as soon as I learned how, and even before that I made my parents read to me tons of stories. I could never go without all the wonderful stories that exist!

Talking: Friends have often said that my family is like a loud, chatty, vivacious Italian family: we constantly talk and cut in on each other’s sentences. I’m a little miss chatterbox (if you haven’t noticed it by now seeing how much I wrote) {Well, I did ask a lot of quesitons, lol- Bea}. I love talking with friends, exchanging ideas, having passionate debates.

And regarding your last question, well I don’t know, somehow they are in my life because I consider them important and because they are a part of me. 

Bea: I noticed that you enjoy traveling. Is there a place that is your dream destination? What’s your favorite way to travel – alone, in a group, a tour, camping, backpacking, etc.?

STELLA: I have done all kinds of travelling: we travelled a lot with my family when I was younger, even in quite uncomfortable ways (spent 16-18 hours in the car with my 2 sisters and me in the back), and I am extremely grateful to my parents for always taking us to wonderful places and giving us the world. Since university I travelled a lot with girlfriends, we flew off to a destination and spent some days, weeks sightseeing. And then for my graduation gift my parents gave me a trip to China. It was breathtaking! So beautiful and amazing! I went there all alone to join a group trip, but everything turned out wonderfully as there were 8 of us in our early 20s so we had a blast. I only travelled alone to one place I think: for my 20th birthday I asked my parents for a week in Paris. One of my best trips: spent the week soaking up the atmosphere of the city, sitting in parks, drinking café au lait and seeing so many beautiful places! Paris is my favourite city. My dream destination? There are so many places I would like to see and visit, but the one I am yearning for the most is a Latin-America tour, especially Peru! Would love to see the Machu Pichu and other Aztec and Mayan ruins and temples.

Stella in China

Bea: You speak 6 languages, was that so you could travel, was it for work, you love languages…? Do you have a favorite language to speak in? How about to read in?

STELLA: No, learning languages came to me naturally, without even making it such a conscious question at first: both my parents and all my grandparents speak a couple of languages, it is a way for us of being open to the world and being able to go out there and get a glimpse into other cultures. I learned French when I was little thanks to my dad’s work, then I quite autodidactly taught myself English (through magazines and films and in big part thanks to my high school best friend who was passionate for anything to do with America). I always enjoyed learning languages, because then you feel like you got closer to that culture and people. There is a saying in Hungarian that says that you are as many persons as many languages you speak. And I agree. My favourite language to speak in? hm.. I love the way French sounds, I love hearing myself speak in French lol but my favourite language to read in? English! It has been years since I last read in anything but English I think.

Bea: What is the one thing in the world you would never give up?

STELLA: Independence of thought. I love to think and love to ponder a decision and then take it. I would hate it if someone took it from me.

Ok, now for some quickie, fun questions

Beer or wine? Wine, though I prefer cocktails
Margarita or daiquiri? Both! Lol let’s say strawberry daiquiri, have been eating strawberry for the past couple of days, love their scent and taste (Bea - If you lived closer, I'd say let's go out for strawberry daiquiris. :( )
Beach or forest? Oh, love both, depending on my mood. Let’s say beach if there is not too much people, don’t like it when it’s crowded. I love walks in the forest to think or simply enjoy nature.
Star Wars or Star Trek? Oohh *blushes* haven’t seen Star Trek yet. I saw the new 3 Star Wars movies, but wasn’t that impressed (don’t throw stones at me please!) (Bea- you haven't seen Star Trek? Ever?!?! We need to remedy that, STAT!)
Lost or X-Files? Watched the first 2 episodes of Lost and when I heard the growling of a polar bear (don’t know what it was at the end) I gave up. Was too young to be interested in X-files when it was on, so neither really.
Emily Dickinson or Robert Frost? Ooh both, but let’s say Emily Dickinson, women should get more recognition ;-)
Print book or ebook? Both! However since I have had my Kindle, I have read about twice or 3 times more ebooks than print.
Author you’d most like to meet? Ooh, let me see: Kelley Armstrong! Sonya Bateman, Laura Bickle, Erin Nicholas, Gini Koch, Diana Gabaldon, and if I could Jane Austen definitely!
Monopoly or Scrabble? Scrabble. Love the creativity behind it, and in my family we have Sunday Scrabble parties and there are always these big debates because my dad makes up words and wants to convince us they exist :-D
Fave food? French fries and anything that is dessert! :-D
Fave drink? Fresh still water

Stella, thank you so much for taking the time to do this. I am delighted that I got to learn more about you. 


Now, go take a minute to check out Stella's blog, Ex Libris, and say "hi". And don't forget to check out Book Lovers Inc, where we both review.

Interview with Blogger & Reviewer Stella Ex Libris, part 1

As part of Armchair BEA's events this week, and to help participants become acquainted, we were offered the opportunity to interview a fellow participant. I had to laugh when I received the email telling me that I'd been paired with Stella - we work together on a group blog, Book Lovers Inc. Despite that, I didn't really know a lot about her. So, I visited her blog and spent some time poking around, getting a feel for her and coming up with questions. As those of you who come around often know, I tend to ask a LOT of questions. :D Stella patiently answered them all, even the ones I marked as optional. As a result, it's a long interview, so I've broken it up into two parts - this first part focuses on Stella the blogger, while part two focuses on Stella the person. Some of the questions fit into either category so I used my judgment. Stella reviews book at her blog, Ex Libris; you can also find her at Book Lovers Inc as The Latin Lover.

Bea:  Hi Stella, thanks for taking the time to do this. You participated in last year’s Armchair BEA also, right? What brought you back, why take time out of your busy schedule to do this?

STELLA:  As I live outside the US I can’t attend BEA. About this time last year I kept seeing all the posts buzzing with excitement of all those lucky bloggers who were attending BEA, all the preparations, joy at meeting each other face to face and of course all the great books they got, I was sad I had to miss out. So when I heard that some enthusiastic bloggers started a virtual version I wanted to participate to share the fun! 

Bea: What made you want to start blogging?

STELLA: My assistant  at work told me about cooking blogs and after a few days I wondered if there were blogs where people talked about books. Oh, I had no idea!  So I googled it and happened upon tons of book blogs! I debated for about 1 week whether to create one of my own, whether I would have the time and whether I could contribute anything besides so many great blogs, but I wanted so much to talk about books I have read, that I thought, what the hell, I’ll start and we’ll see. And it has been almost 1.5 years since then.

Bea: What is your favorite thing about being a book blogger?

STELLA: The community! The wonderful blogger friends I have made. That I met so many wonderful authors! I never would have thought they were so friendly and approachable! And of course NetGalley is also in my top 10 reasons ;-) lol (Bea here - I agree about NetGalley, so helpful and awesome)

Bea: What is the significance of your blog name, Ex Libris? Why did you choose it?

STELLA: I have always loved Latin. Learned it in high school and liked Latin aphorisms ever since. Choosing a name for my blog was one of the hardest things when I started. I pondered for days and days and then Ex Libris just popped into my head and it was perfect. It sounds classy, chic, smart and unique (at least I think so) ;-) It literally means “from the books”. It was used to say when something was quoted from a book, or to mean that a book was the possession of someone/was from the library of someone. But in respect of my blog I gave it another meaning: when I’m reading I’m completely immersed in the story, I’m in my own bubble where the characters and setting step out “from the books”.

Bea: Have you ever read a book that you just hated? What did you hate about it?

STELLA: Oh yep, had a few of those, especially this last year. I hate it when the author thinks the reader is stupid and breaks down everything and becomes didactic repeating things over and over and especially telling the reader how to feel and what to think. Great authors show us the way and readers decide whether to go along or not. I hate it when there are big inconsistencies in the story, and I’m not talking about a character first having brown then later blue eyes, though that can be jarring, what I hate are holes in characterizations: if a heroine is made out to be someway and then she says or does something completely out of character and in sharp contrast with everything she was before. 

Bea: You read a lot of genres, is there anything that you won’t read?

STELLA: Hm.. let me think, before I started blogging I even read a couple of memoirs (though interesting ones, of former Geisha for example), but no self-help books I would say. But reading and reviewing are different. I wouldn’t review memoirs, self-help books, political or religious books.

Bea: Do you have certain types of books that you only read before bed, or a book that is only for when you are out and about or anything like that? Or do you just sit down to read and pick a random book from your reading pile?

STELLA: No, I don’t have different books for different locations. I usually read the same book on the bus, in my lunch break (if I’m not meeting with friends or colleagues) and in bed until I have finished it. But I tend to read several books at the same time (about 3 books simultaneously). However there was one horror I had to review, and though I’m not one to easily scared as I was alone at that time, I didn’t read it at night in the dark, didn’t want any strange noise to give me a heart attack. (oh and of course I only read erotica novels at home, wouldn’t be able to get into the story on the bus or anywhere public *blushes*)

Bea: How many books do you read in a typical month?  

STELLA: About 13-16. When I started last year I read about 8.

Bea: What is your favorite bookstore (online or brick & mortar)?

STELLA: Online: Book Depository, love that they ship worldwide for free! In my city: love Libri (www.libri.hu) and Alexandra (www.alexandra.hu), especially their reading corners with armchairs and sofas. But lately I don’t go much there since I don’t buy books in Hungarian.


 Ok, that's it for Stella the blogger. Stay tuned for part two, where we learn about Stella the person. :)