I started this feature here at ASR in order to know your fellow bloggers a little better! If you are interested in being featured please fill out the form.
Laura @ Booksmartie!
Hello everyone!
My name is Laura and I’m a seventeen-year-old girl, doing my best to stay that way forever. Seventeen, I mean. A teenager, I mean. Peter-Pan-like, you get what I mean? :)
Should that plan not work out and I do end up being an adult I’d like to leave my home country Germany and move to the US because pretty much everything about those states fascinates me! Apart from reading books set in my dream country and tweeting, raving and ranting about them on my blog I also like to indulge in pretty much every geeky activity you can imagine…
My name is Laura and I’m a seventeen-year-old girl, doing my best to stay that way forever. Seventeen, I mean. A teenager, I mean. Peter-Pan-like, you get what I mean? :)
Should that plan not work out and I do end up being an adult I’d like to leave my home country Germany and move to the US because pretty much everything about those states fascinates me! Apart from reading books set in my dream country and tweeting, raving and ranting about them on my blog I also like to indulge in pretty much every geeky activity you can imagine…
How long have you been blogging? What made you want to start a book blog?
I started blogging almost exactly six months ago (as I am writing this) and it all kind of started with makeup videos. No, excuse me. It started with my passion for the United States that resulted in my reading the TeenVogue and Seventeen Magazine websites which brought me to watching Beauty Gurus on Youtube which led me to randomly clicking on a Book Haul video.
And I was thrilled! Not only that it seemed like in the US there were books for teens while I felt like German authors just skipped that phase from fifteen to eighteen, but also because there were people talking about them exactly the way I wanted to and never could because no one would listen. I asked my mom if I could film myself raving about my new bookish crush and post the video on Youtube once or twice a week and I got a big fat NO. So I set up a blog, struggled writing my first review, decided that I was not by any means talented enough and set it aside for three months. Then I finished writing it, posted it and never stopped ever since. My mom still has no idea.
And I was thrilled! Not only that it seemed like in the US there were books for teens while I felt like German authors just skipped that phase from fifteen to eighteen, but also because there were people talking about them exactly the way I wanted to and never could because no one would listen. I asked my mom if I could film myself raving about my new bookish crush and post the video on Youtube once or twice a week and I got a big fat NO. So I set up a blog, struggled writing my first review, decided that I was not by any means talented enough and set it aside for three months. Then I finished writing it, posted it and never stopped ever since. My mom still has no idea.
What do you do when you’re not blogging or reading?
Oh, that’s easy, I don’t really have a life because of school. I do love to be active, though, so I run or swim for at least an hour every day. And if I don’t do that I love to be a geek, make time to build huge houses on The Sims 2, dream of having every new tech item available or spend hours reading historical magazines.
What is your favorite part about blogging? Least favorite?
Favorite? It adds a whole new perspective to reading. I don’t just read a book and keep quiet about it, but I can exchange my views with other people who are never annoyed by my obsession :) Least favorite?…I can’t even think of anything…
Where did you come up with the name for your blog?
Easy! At some point on my teenage journey to self-discovery I stumbled upon the word “booksmart” which ironically doesn’t exist in German, but that describes me perfectly!
Do you have any specific book bloggers that inspire you?
This is a hard one! I constantly look for new blogs to follow, but I’m really inspired by all the girls from TotallyBooksessed. In the unlikely case you don’t know it, that’s a collab booktubing channel and each of the girls participating has an amazing blog, as well. Lately I’ve been spending a LOT of time on Pure Imagination and In the Best Worlds, too – I’ve never come across a book they liked that I didn’t :)
What do you look for in a blog when following? What are your pet peeves?
To be honest: The design. And that’s really bad, because my own design is so not creative – I don’t have any webdesigning skills. But I love fantastic, magically looking designs. After following for a while, though, it’s important for me that the reviews are to the point and not just summaries and I also love when blogs have more unique features than memes and when bloggers have a snarky tone instead of taking themselves too seriously.
What’s your favorite book(s)?
As if I could answer that question. Oh my… Out of all the books I read THIS year, it’d probably be Delirium by Lauren Oliver and Partials by Dan Wells. But honestly, there’s probably a ton more…
[Jessi] I loved Partials, too!
Favorite author?
J.K Rowling. Nothing more to say.
What is the biggest turn off for you when you’re reading a book?
To name a few: When the author tells what happens instead of showing it. When the author analyzes every step a character makes. Whiny heroines. Morals shoved in your face. When the plot picks up during the last 20 pages after you’ve worked your way through 400 other pages…
What first draws you to a book to make you want to read it?
In the store? The cover! I can’t help it. On my shelf? The weather. Seriously, what type of book I read depends on nothing but the season and the weather…
Describe yourself in 3 words.
Geeky. Girly. Weird.
Name a random fact about yourself.
I sometimes wake up at five in the morning on a Sunday, make myself coffee (which I actually abandoned from my diet until I…didn’t anymore), spend three hours watching The Real Housewives of New York City and then pretend to the rest of my family that it never happened and I just woke up. I’m a weirdo.
Do you have a job? If so, what do you do?
Hard to describe…I help out at my uncle’s store…I like…vacuum the warehouse or print price tags and…do everything everyone else doesn’t have the time to do (or doesn’t want to do)…
That’s my after-school job.
Apart from that I tutor a few kids in my neighbourhood and I babysit :)
That’s my after-school job.
Apart from that I tutor a few kids in my neighbourhood and I babysit :)
What did you want to be when you were little? Has that changed?
I wanted to be a ton of things! A writer, of course, a rock star, a movie star, a lawyer, a witch. I still don’t know what I want to be but right now I’m thinking maybe I’d like to teach at university. As a professor, you know? Something like History or Sociology…
Randomness
Cats or dogs?
Don’t like cats (although my family owns two). I’m afraid of dogs but if I wasn’t I’d like to have a real small, cute doggy for my handbag :)
White, dark, or milk chocolate?
Can I pick Strawberry Yogurt???
Coke or Pepsi?
Pepsi!
Favorite TV show?
Pretty Little Liars
Movie?
High School Musical (Don’t. Judge. Me.)
Color?
Pink!
Thanks for being here today, Laura! It was fantastic getting to know you :)
Find Laura:
I love this blog!! Delirium is one of my favorite books too! And favorite movie, I kind of laughed there a bit, but It’s okay. Everyone has different tastes :DD
great interview