Fortnight of Guests: Planet Print

Q&A With Liz @ Planet Print

Hi Liz!  It’s great to have you here!  Could you tell us a little about yourself and your blog?

It’s great to be here, thanks for having me! :) I’m Liz and I’m a student. Except I’m a terrible procrastinator, so I rarely get any work done! :P Planet Print is my blog and I mainly review YA books, though sometimes middle-grade too.

Why did you decide to be a blogger?

I think one of the main reasons I became a blogger is because I needed an outlet – some place I could discuss books and give my opinions on them. I’m a pretty opinionated person – people always tell me I have an opinion about everything, and I always reply saying I don’t understand how you can’t have an opinion on something! It’s the same with books. When I finish a book I love, I’m always bursting to talk about it, but my family aren’t big readers, and neither are most of my friends. I’d been following a few blogs before I started blogging myself, and after a while, I realised blogging would be the perfect way to get my opinion across and discuss books with other people who want to talk about them too! And so far, it’s worked, and I’ve met a lot of great people who are just as book mad as I am. And this way, I don’t annoy my family by yapping on about things they’ve never heard of :P.

What's the best bit about blogging for you?

There are so many great things about blogging; I love finding about new releases, getting to know authors and being the first to see new covers and new titles! But the best thing has to be the people. I’ve met so many amazing people through blogging who share my interests and who appreciate books in the same way I do. I spend half my time talking to them about books or TV programs or films – and these are people I would never have met otherwise, due to the fact that some of them live halfway across the world! So I’m really thankful to blogging for enabling me to get to know all these other cool bloggers!

And the downsides?

The main downside of blogging for me is that it’s very time consuming, and can feel like a chore sometimes. I’m a student, so I have a pretty heavy workload and it can be really hard to juggle schoolwork and blogging, and it’s easy to get stressed. But I just try to remember that I read because I love to, not because I have to, and also that it’s okay to take a break sometimes, and put other things first if you have to.

Have you always been a book lover; growing up with your nose in a book?

Definitely! I’ve always loved reading. I remember when my bedroom used to be filled with The Famous Five and The Secret Seven, and practically all the Jacqueline Wilson books! Even when I was really young, I was always reading the Magic Key books (does anyone else remember those?). I honestly can’t remember a time when I wasn’t reading. It’s definitely shaped the person I am!

What's your favourite genre?

Ooh this is a hard question, because I like so many! I really love dystopian fiction though, so I’ll go with that. I think it’s because dystopian books show the gritty, harsh truths of reality – they don’t sugarcoat the darker side of the world, and I appreciate that because I don’t really believe in hiding the truth from people just because it’s not very nice. I also like the fact that the characters usually have to overcome hardship – I’m a huge fan of strong, determined characters, and most characters in dystopian books fit that description – they have to be tough, in order to deal with all the horrible things they’re faced with! There’s something that fascinates me about those who prosper in the face of adversity – I don’t know what it is, but I just find myself rooting for people who try hard, no matter what comes their way :).

What’s the best book you’ve ever read?

I am a Harry Potter fan. A HUGE Harry Potter fan. It’s my favourite series; always has been, always will be! As for which is my favourite...I’m torn between Prisoner of Azkaban and Half-Blood Prince! But I love all of them really. Wonderful characters, amazing plot, great message – I grew up with Harry Potter, and I don’t think I’d be the same person without those books :P.

I know that lots of bloggers also love writing: do you like writing fiction?

Haha, oh, I am a terrible writer. When I was a lot younger, I used to write short stories, but looking back...God, they were awful. If I’m honest, I don’t really know how to write. I can come up with an idea, but putting it down on paper is near impossible for me. I’m definitely more of a reader than a writer!

What’s the best book-to-film-adaptation in your eyes?

The Hunger Games, hands down. I honestly thought I’d walk out of the cinema really disappointed (like with most other book-to-film adaptations), but I was so, so impressed! I liked almost everything about it and I really thought all the actors and writers and basically everyone involved did a fantastic job.

Ok, enough serious questions!  Onto the silly ones!  If you could live in any fantasy world where would you go?

Does Hogwarts count? :P. I’d love to go to Hogwarts and learn magic. I’m still waiting for my acceptance letter, even if it is seven years too late...

Hogwarts counts!  It always counts!  If a book fairy appeared and said you could magic any character out of any book who would you pick?

Ooooh! This is very difficult. Veeery difficult. Probably Nick Ryves from Sarah Rees Brennan’s The Demon Lexicon series. He is my all time favourite book boyfriend. I would magic him up and take him on a date. It would probably involve sword-fighting and running away from bad guys, but I’m not completely opposed to that! :P

If you could have any super power, what would you have?

Hmmm. I feel like I should say something superawesome like invincibility, but really, I think I’d pick teleportation. Mostly for practical reasons; I can’t drive (the thought terrifies me!), and I hatehatehate getting buses and trains. I hate it so much! And there is nothing more frustrating than missing your bus by one minute and having to wait ages for the next one to come along. So, teleportation. Because then all these problems would be fixed! And I could go anywhere I wanted and I wouldn’t have to wake up so early to get to college – I could wake up fifteen minutes before my first class and just teleport in!

Or if you could be any paranormal being, what would you be?

A witch, definitely. How cool would it be to have actual magic powers? And to make potions and to transfigure things and fly on a broom and – well, I’ll stop there. Harry Potter obsession catching up with me again :P.




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Thank you so much for taking part Liz!  And I remember Magic Key!  :D  
How could you not wanna go to Hogwarts!  Surely EVERYONE wants to go to Hogwarts!! :D
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