Hi friends! I am hosting Lili from Utopia State of Mind today for a bookish chat. I connected with Lili some years back when we are participating in a panel about book blogging at the WriteHive Conference. Since I have found renewed energy with reading and writing, I have been trying to connect more with fellow bloggers. I am thankful for Lili for being open to this interview. Let’s begin.
Hi Lili! Welcome to Armed with A Book. Thanks for taking out some time to chat with me today. Since blogging and reading is something we share, tell me a bit about your journey in book reviewing.
Thank you so much for having me! I love this idea and am always happy to chat about books! I started book blogging over six years ago. I was in school and basically used book blogging as a way to incentivize myself to read books for fun again. It used to be just SFF books, but has now expanded into anything I’m reading at the moment, which mostly is SFF books. Over the years, I’ve also begun accounts on social media like Tiktok, Instagram, Twitter, and recently Youtube.
You’re an avid reader of SFF. What makes this set of genres stand out for you?
For me, speculative fiction has always been about possibility. In the world of science fiction, I love examining what could be or what might be and the ways in which it can comment or connect with us now. All the ways we as humans might fundamentally change in our future, but what that also says about how and what we value now. For fantasy, I love the idea of tweaking our world or even creating a whole new one. One where we can explore issues and possibilities which we create. We’re only limited by our own creativity. And these speculative spaces are what I love so much about this genre.
What’s the first story you remember enjoying?
This is a hard one! I think I’ve always grown up reading whether it be picture books, mystery chapter books, and more. If I had to think about the very first one, I’m not sure I could. But I can name one that I remember from early on and it has to be Sabriel by Garth Nix. I haven’t done a re-read of this in AGES, but what I remember immediately standing out to me was a character who had this incredible power, and one that felt unexplored in YA fiction – necromancy basically – and to see a girl embrace it, use it, and figure out her relationship with it resonated with me as a young reader.
I’m curious about your reading habits. Do you read one book at a time or do you have many on the go?
In an ideal world, I’d read one book at a time. That’s my dream. But with deadlines and the amount of books I have to read, I read about 4-6 at a time – counting audiobooks too. It’s not ideal because I love just being able to read one, but this allows me to always vary the genre of what I’m reading and to read at different paces. I’ve been doing this for so long I wonder how I’ll ever get back to one at a time, but I think if I wasn’t a reviewer, it’d be one and since I am, now it’s just chaos!
Do you decide your next read in advance?
I do! I normally read by a schedule based on release dates, I’m trying to always keep on top of my Netgalley ratio. But I like to plan my reading about a week ahead with the breakdowns of percentages or chapters. I’m a HUGE list fan and so for me it gives me such a sense of satisfaction to check off the task. On the flip side, the sense of disappointment is extreme….BUT I portion out the reading so that I know roughly when I need to start a book to be done by a specific date.
I recently did the #MidnightsBookChallenge and noted books that kept me up. What’s a recent book that made you lose sleep?
I need my sleep. So I rarely stay up past my bedtime to read because it just leaves me feeling awful the next day. That being said, the last book that tempted me to had to have been The Neighbor Favor by Kristina Forest. I love emails and the idea of sending people letters so this was a romance read I truly enjoyed. Forest is an auto-buy author, but this premise combined with emailing your favorite author and a MC who works in publishing? I was utterly smitten.
How do you discover books? What are the latest books you have added to your TBR?
Normally Twitter and word of mouth. I’m all over the place on social media, so if someone I follow posts again and again about a book, I am 100% adding it to my TBR and if I love that rec, then I end up reading more from them. I get influenced all the time!
Apart from an amazing blog, you also maintain a booktube and bookstagram. I’m in awe. How do you manage all the platforms?
Well I do give up a lot of sleep…but in reality, I think having a good organization system is key. I use a Trello board to organize ARCs, an excel sheet for the panels I’ve been moderating and my reading statistics, and I bullet journal every day. It’s a lot and has been a bit of a challenge to set up, but now that I’ve found a system that works for me, it’s been to use these tools. That being said, this year I’ve been trying to find more balance with myself and my book life. I’ve introduced a segment on social media dn Youtube where I share more about me. The person behind the reader – as I’ve been calling it.
What advice would you give to someone just starting out in book reviewing?
Figure out what you would want to read as a reader. What I mean to say is that if you don’t love what you’re doing, you won’t be able to last. It’s just not sustainable. It’s tempting to always jump on trends and to feel like you need to change or adapt for people to see your hard work. But just know that doing this won’t be something you will want to do forever. It’s important to always remember why you review and to be flexible. To realize that our tastes, what we do or review, and how we review change.
Do you collaborate with fellow readers for readathons, features, etc., or would like to pursue in the future?
I’d love to collab more with fellow readers! I’ve done readathons in the past with a few people, like The Bone Witch readathon or The Reader trilogy readathon. It’s something that I always have to take on with others because I don’t have enough steam to maintain it on my own. But I’d love to collab in this way more often! Also I used to have a book club where we always read backlist books, so I’d love to pick that back up again! It’s just a matter of time promoting and what not which got to be too much.
What are your interests apart from reading and writing?
Well this year I’ve taken up crocheting and knitting. It’s been a mixed bag of success and you can see everything I’ve made in my monthly wrap ups. But I also want to get back into Yoga – mostly to help my tired wrists from typing and also knitting!
Thanks for hanging out with me and Lili! Check out Utopia State of Mind of the website, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Listen to our interview on Lili’s YouTube channel.
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