The Questioning: Andrea (Little Red Reviewer)

Andrea Johnson lives in Michigan with her husband and too many books. She runs the book review blog The Little Red Reviewer, and you can find her on twitter at @redhead5318.  She recently began interviewing authors at Nerds of a Feather.

Welcome to the Asylum! Take a seat by the fire, have a glass of beverage of your choice and tell me something about yourself!

Will someone else be driving me home? Yes? In that case I’ll have a whisky, neat.  

Let’s see, something about myself. I can’t believe it, but my blog is going to turn ten years old this year! What a wild ten years! If there is a stage-of-book-blogging, I’ve been through it, and in some cases been through it three times.

Bonus thing about myself is I love to cook. 

What blogging means to you?

Ooh, that is a really big question. I’ve always had trouble remembering what I’ve read, and remembering details about books I’ve read, so book blogging made me write things down and it helped me remember. Blogging started out as me shouting into the void, it became a circle of friends, and then became a found family. Blogging has let me connect with the book-o-sphere in ways I never imagined. Twitter allowed me connect with authors, editors, publishers, and other people I’ve met at events over the years.

My blog has turned into this diary of the last ten years of my life. I can’t remember the specific details of a book, but I can remember where I was and what I was going through when I read certain books. I can look through my blog archive and recognize exactly where and when I was burned out at a job, where and when I was burned out on the blog, when I got burned out on certain sub-genres, when I was on the cusp of depression, when I was happy, when I was unemployed and scared.

I guess blogging is sort of a map of where I’ve been, and what I was thinking about while I was there?

You are locked in an asylum. What did you do to end up there?

I took a vow of silence and didn’t tell anyone. I know that sounds very tame, and I know I am loud on the internets, but in real life I can be very quiet and self contained. I can see how it would freak people out if I suddenly went mute and I seemed totally fine with it.   Verbal is my crappiest mode of communication.

Which fictional world would you like to live in? 

I’d love to live in the world of Catherynne Valente’s Prester John books. The first book is called The Habitation of the Blessed, and everything about it is so beautiful, the world is so fantastical, the world is mostly peaceful, people are kind to one another.  It’s one of my favorite books to reread, because I so love spending time in that world.

If you were a character in a book, how would you be described? 

The baddest BAMF you never saw coming.

Your family allows you to keep one fantastical creature at home. What do you choose?

Does Murderbot count as a “fantastical creature”?  Pretty please? 

Sure, why not? I’m totally not judging!

You are on your way to rescue the princess from a castle defended by a dragon. You are by yourself. How do you deal with the dragon?

I’d start talking to the dragon about my day job. I find the work to be pretty fascinating, but most people find it boring. I’d talk about our spreadsheets and databases and reporting functions in such great detail that the dragon would either fall asleep out of boredom, or walk away. 

You are a magical creature living near a village. How do you get on with humans? 

Shhhh!!!  Don’t let my secret out! I am a magical creature living near humans! To help them feel more comfortable around me, I try to imitate them as best I can, although I still don’t quite understand how shoelaces and energy drinks work.  I make sure to use magic sparingly, and always blame it on something or something else.  

While you are locked in here for eternity, we will allow you one book – what would you choose?

Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun.  I could read that a thousand times, and still get something new out of it.

Well then, we hope you’ll enjoy your stay in the Asylum! Any last words? *locks door*

Go away!!  I’m reading!

You can find Andrea on social media, and make sure you follow her, because holy hell, 10 years of blogging?! She totally deserves a medal or something.

The Little Red Reviewer | Twitter | Nerds of a Feather

Check out The Questioning page for more similar content where you can follow both the Author Edition and Blogger Edition in one place!