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bookgazing) wrote2009-09-15 12:50 am
bookgazing) wrote2009-09-15 12:50 am
BBAW - Interview with Necromancy Never Pays
As part of BBAW some of us signed up to interview other bloggers. We learn a little, the people who read our blogs meet a new person - it's all part of the celebration of book blogging. My interview partner was Jeanne from 'Necromancy Never Pays' and below she talks about poetry, libraries and the impact blogging has made on her life:
How long have you been blogging?
About a year and a half now. I started one winter while I was sitting around recovering from a knee replacement.
Can you explain how you came up with the name for your blog ‘Necromancy Never Pays’?
It’s an odd name, isn’t it? The name actually inspired me to start the blog; I keep a brief version of the story up on my sidebar, right underneath the title.
What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced while blogging and what’s the best way it’s affected your life?
The biggest challenge for me is finding the time to write at least 2-3 times each week, and to get around to visiting other book blogs at least once a month. I have a husband with a very full-time job, two part-time jobs of my own (one requiring a two-hour commute twice a week), two busy teenagers, and a house full of animals. But the best way blogging and visiting have affected my life is that I’ve become at least a peripheral part of some interesting conversations; part-time jobs can be very isolating, so the book blog world has become a part of my intellectual community. Also I got better classes this year because last fall I sent my department head a link to my post about what it’s like to leave a class of first-year students with no real prospects of ever seeing them again, and he took special pains to work out a year-long schedule for me with some upper-level courses!
How technological are you and what’s your favourite piece of technology/techy tool (apart from blogs but including domestic appliances)?
I have very little technical expertise, and don’t even like kitchen gadgets much. I like ipods; does that count?
Do you have a favourite community building event or group in the book blogging world?
No because I’ve been too cautious about committing my time and energy so far. I like reading responses to the Weekly Geeks question the best of anything. Do you have a suggestion—because that might help! I feel a bit like the character of Will Barrett in Walker Percy’s novel The Last Gentleman, who was paralyzed by too much possibility.
You seem like a pretty big poetry fan – what do you like best about poetry?
I like that moment when you read a line or two and think “I’ve felt that, but couldn’t articulate it until now…”
Who is your all time favourite author, the one you’d queue all night to talk to for five minutes?
Hmm, this question assumes a live author. I guess it would have to be Jasper Fforde, who wrote The Eyre Affair. I thought about Barbara Kingsolver, but she comes across as very earnest. I once met Ruth Ozeki and felt that she summarily dismissed me as an interesting person because of the way I make jokes when nervous. I can’t see Fforde doing that—or if he wasn’t as fascinating in person as he is in print, we could always have a game of croquet.
You read around quite a bit, just wondering if you have a favourite genre or if you don’t why you enjoy reading a little bit of everything.
My favorite genre is satire, especially 18th-century ironic personal panegyric (blame by praise of an individual). But I aspire to be a Renaissance woman. The only genre I really don’t care for is horror. I don’t like to be scared, especially not by made-up stories.
Can you speak a little bit about why you’re so passionate about public libraries in Ohio?
Because I’m an American, and free public libraries are one of the foundations of our system of democracy. As John Adams said: “LIBERTY CANNOT BE PRESERVED WITHOUT A GENERAL KNOWLEDGE AMONG THE PEOPLE.” This is carved above the door of my local library.
Finally what book/s do you wish more people were reading right now? If you were in charge of the world for an hour what piece of literature would you make it law to read because you think it would do the world good?
I’m willing to wish that more people would read Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale or The Year of the Flood (which is being published this month) because I think more of us should think about the dangers she exaggerates for effect. (Also I worry that some of the dangers we thought were exaggerated in The Handmaid’s Tale have come perilously close to true.) But I’d never be willing to make a law about reading. You can’t force someone to learn; most people just resist more stubbornly if you try.
My answers to Jeannes questions are now up at her blog and she goe sinto my bloglines list so we can keep in touch!
How long have you been blogging?
About a year and a half now. I started one winter while I was sitting around recovering from a knee replacement.
Can you explain how you came up with the name for your blog ‘Necromancy Never Pays’?
It’s an odd name, isn’t it? The name actually inspired me to start the blog; I keep a brief version of the story up on my sidebar, right underneath the title.
What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced while blogging and what’s the best way it’s affected your life?
The biggest challenge for me is finding the time to write at least 2-3 times each week, and to get around to visiting other book blogs at least once a month. I have a husband with a very full-time job, two part-time jobs of my own (one requiring a two-hour commute twice a week), two busy teenagers, and a house full of animals. But the best way blogging and visiting have affected my life is that I’ve become at least a peripheral part of some interesting conversations; part-time jobs can be very isolating, so the book blog world has become a part of my intellectual community. Also I got better classes this year because last fall I sent my department head a link to my post about what it’s like to leave a class of first-year students with no real prospects of ever seeing them again, and he took special pains to work out a year-long schedule for me with some upper-level courses!
How technological are you and what’s your favourite piece of technology/techy tool (apart from blogs but including domestic appliances)?
I have very little technical expertise, and don’t even like kitchen gadgets much. I like ipods; does that count?
Do you have a favourite community building event or group in the book blogging world?
No because I’ve been too cautious about committing my time and energy so far. I like reading responses to the Weekly Geeks question the best of anything. Do you have a suggestion—because that might help! I feel a bit like the character of Will Barrett in Walker Percy’s novel The Last Gentleman, who was paralyzed by too much possibility.
You seem like a pretty big poetry fan – what do you like best about poetry?
I like that moment when you read a line or two and think “I’ve felt that, but couldn’t articulate it until now…”
Who is your all time favourite author, the one you’d queue all night to talk to for five minutes?
Hmm, this question assumes a live author. I guess it would have to be Jasper Fforde, who wrote The Eyre Affair. I thought about Barbara Kingsolver, but she comes across as very earnest. I once met Ruth Ozeki and felt that she summarily dismissed me as an interesting person because of the way I make jokes when nervous. I can’t see Fforde doing that—or if he wasn’t as fascinating in person as he is in print, we could always have a game of croquet.
You read around quite a bit, just wondering if you have a favourite genre or if you don’t why you enjoy reading a little bit of everything.
My favorite genre is satire, especially 18th-century ironic personal panegyric (blame by praise of an individual). But I aspire to be a Renaissance woman. The only genre I really don’t care for is horror. I don’t like to be scared, especially not by made-up stories.
Can you speak a little bit about why you’re so passionate about public libraries in Ohio?
Because I’m an American, and free public libraries are one of the foundations of our system of democracy. As John Adams said: “LIBERTY CANNOT BE PRESERVED WITHOUT A GENERAL KNOWLEDGE AMONG THE PEOPLE.” This is carved above the door of my local library.
Finally what book/s do you wish more people were reading right now? If you were in charge of the world for an hour what piece of literature would you make it law to read because you think it would do the world good?
I’m willing to wish that more people would read Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale or The Year of the Flood (which is being published this month) because I think more of us should think about the dangers she exaggerates for effect. (Also I worry that some of the dangers we thought were exaggerated in The Handmaid’s Tale have come perilously close to true.) But I’d never be willing to make a law about reading. You can’t force someone to learn; most people just resist more stubbornly if you try.
My answers to Jeannes questions are now up at her blog and she goe sinto my bloglines list so we can keep in touch!