The bookblogger and reading community on twitter have been a source of multiple book recommendations as well as a way to meet fabulous people who love books as much as I do. I’m chatting with Beth Tabler who is a book blogger at Before We Go Blog.
Like all posts in the 2019 in books series, remember that Beth’s words are in italics and since this is a bookish discussion, all book links open in a new tab so that you can refer to them afterwards.
Welcome to Armed with A Book, Beth. 🙂 Tell me a little bit about your love for books.
There is one thing aside from my family and coffee that moves me, and that thing is books. Even as a child, instead of running outside like a maniac like most kids, you would find me inside with my nose buried in a book. Last year I was surfing book-twitter and came across all of these great posts and reviews from book bloggers. It made me think, “I could do that.” That spun into my blog beforewegoblog.com and over 200 reviews later; I am proud to say that blogging and bringing my love of the written word to readers is one my proudest accomplishment. I love sharing my passion and in turn helping create passion in others about books.
Tell me about the current books you are reading. I see you are reading The Farm, something I have been wanting to read myself. What do you think about the rise of this type of feministic dystopia novel? Have you read any other notable examples of that type of speculative fiction?
The Farm was fantastic. It is the second book I have read related to surrogacy and I am quote enjoying learning the ethics and nuances in motherland. I can’t say much about the rise of feminist dystopian novels – I haven’t read many and only recently started thinking of ‘dystopia’.
I have read tons of speculative fiction though recently. A Song for A New Day by Sarah Pinsker was about the music industry in the future, Loved Mars hated the food was a humorous take on how humans would explain Earth to martians, The Warehouse was about the rise of a singular corporation that controls selling of good using drones for deployments. I am putting together a list of dystopias I read this year and will share more.
Do you participate in the Goodreads Reading Challenge or set reading goals for yourself? If yes, how do you usually choose this goal and what was your goal for this year?
Yes! Bring on the challenge! I am all about lists and challenges. Each year for the last ten years I have set myself a personal challenge to learn something new, and a reading challenge. In the past my personal challenges have been things like: try 50 types of whiskeys, try 50 types of tea, learn to sew, try fifty types of fruit, etc. This year I set a challenge for myself to read 100 books. I surpassed that midyear and increased it to 175 books which I just passed. I try to set a goal that will be challenging but not stress me out.
That’s awesome! 🎉 How do you choose the books you are going to read?
I have a TBR list on Goodreads that has 4k books. Sometimes when I am trying to find a book to read, I will go to my list and randomly select something. That is always fun. Most of the time I have a detailed reading list month to month with a collection of short stories, graphic novels, and novels that give me variation. That way I don’t get overwhelmed or bored.
What is a book from your childhood that helped shape who you are?
Jane Eyre. I read it many times growing up and it is a cherished possession of mine. I loved Jane’s character and would love to read it again and see what I can take away from it. What about you?
There are two books that come to mind. The Boxcar Children and Choose Your Own Adventure books. Both stories have a freedom bend to them. They both want to let the kid make choices free of adult supervision. I was really excited about that as a kid. I wanted to go on adventures, so they helped me develop that spirit of adventure that I try to have now as an adult.
Tell me about a moment in a book that really affected you.
There have been many books that have affected me. The last book that I finished was The Last Romantics and I was listening to it as an audiobook. The end really affected me in terms of the secret that Fiona hid from her family and why. Moments like are are really important and pivotal to me as a book blogger because they bring a theme or message from the book to the forefront of my mind – something I cannot ignore because it has moved me. Jodi Picoult’s novels usually affect me too. Tell me about the books that have affected you.
Wow, there are so many. There was a moment in Shadow Saga, I can’t remember which book, where all the kids from the crew go back to their home lands and start making changes. They start taking over. I loved that idea. Those kids each employed their unique talents to take over their worlds. There is a moment from V for Vendetta that was exceptional in so many ways. It is when V introduces himself. He says this:
Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition! (carves V in sign with sword) The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous.(Laughs wheezily) Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it’s my very good honour to meet you and you may call me V.”
This was a huge scene for the story, but it was a huge scene for me. It showed the magic that can me found in comics and graphic novels.
Is there a book that was really popular, but did not resonate with you?
Yes. Sadly, Gideon the Ninth. I wanted to love it so badly, and I really tried to connect with it. But, I couldn’t connect with the protagonist and had to let it go. It just wasn’t for me.
Have you been surprised by a book?
Yes. Leaving Time was quite surprising to me. Very different from other works by Jodi Picoult. It was the first audio book I ever read and that’s partly why I remember it. It was about a girl trying to find her mom. I highly recommend it if you haven’t read it yet.
About the books this year
Did you read any books this year that got you thinking about your writing/blogging style? How did these books inspire you?
I read a book earlier this year called Vigilance by Robert Jackson Bennett. The book talks about a world wracked by gun shootings and violence. Reviewing that book gave me an opportunity to look at my own reviews and allow some of my personal history into the review. How it affected me as a person.
I was born and raised in Las Vegas Nevada. Las Vegas was visited by the greatest act of gun violence in US history recently. I remember frantically calling friends and family praying they were not at the concert. I checked facebook and facebook showed who was marked safe and who wasn’t. Thankfully none of my friends and family were hurt, but that shooting took place a mile from my parent’s house. They could have seen the shooting from their backyard. A year before I was living across the street from the Clackamas Town Center shooting. I was at the mall food court a week before the shooting happened. Violence has visited my life twice, even if it was in a secondary type of manner (thank god) it still happened. These experiences enriched the reading experience for me. It made the story resonate with me hard.
Thank you for sharing this, Beth. Sometimes some stories come to close to us that we never imagined that would be possible.
Were there any books this year that challenged your thinking or you learned a lot from?
There are often stories that I struggle with. Some end up falling flat and some stories explode inside of me. They take root and become part of who I am. Recently, I read Chuck Wendig’s story called Wanderers. That story was a struggle for me at first, but once I got going and started meandering through the world that he created, that story stabbed me. It took residence in my head and heart. I think about it often even now and compare other apocalyptic or speculative fantasy stories to it.
That one is on my list for next year! I will definitely let you know when I’ve read it and we can talk more about it. 🙂
Did you read any books that had practical strategies to apply to life?
I think any good book has something to teach. Sometimes it is practical and useful knowledge like how to start a fire. Other times it is immersing the reader in a psychological situation and allowing the reader’s mind to expand and learn a new perspective.
I know it is hard to give recommendations, especially when we read so many books in a year! If you had to choose, tell me about four books that I should check out and why.
Oh my gosh! This has been a good year for stories. But if I had to narrow it down to four it would be these.
- Vigilance by Robert Jackson Bennett – because it is such an important story right now. Gun violence affects many Americans and it seems like it is getting bigger every day. Bennett takes that thought and turns it up to 11.
- The Armoured Saint by Myke Cole – This is just an incredible series. It has everything, Amazing protagonist, incredible battles, and unforgettable side characters.
- Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel – Finding beauty in the smallest and inconsequential things and to find what sustains us as humans and take care of it. Most disaster stories always come at it from one angle, survive. But you must thrive as well as survive or we have lost everything.
That’s on my TBR for next year as well!
- Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach by Kelly Robson – It is hard to describe why this is so good, but damn is it an amazing story. Maybe because it is so different, and so well written. It involves monsters, gods, ecology, worldbuilding and time travel.
All very different, but equally amazing.
The Year Ahead
Would you change anything, whether it is your reading habits, review routine or reading goal, for 2020?
I am going to get more organized in my scheduled reading. I would love more interaction with other blogs (if you want to work together email me!) And, I would love a chance to write for more magazines. I also have some of my own short stories that I am trying to get published. Who knows what the next year will bring me! It is so exciting.
I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Beth! Please let us know what you think and share with your circles!
Ways to connect with Beth:
Next up on the 11th, I’ll have my instagram friend Patty over to learn about her year in books. She loves YA so if are a fan of that, that is a must-read conversation! 🙂
Thanks for reading! ❤️
Thank you so much for having me! This was a lot of fun.