This is my third year doing Armchair BEA and I still am unprepared. For those of you who don’t know what it is, it’s basically a way for everyone that is stuck at home while BEA is going on in New York to meet other bloggers. Armchair BEA crept up on me this year (like usual) and I’m half asleep while writing this, so I’m sorry in advance if things don’t make sense or if there are typos. I’m not normally like this. I swear. Ah, who am I kidding? School comes first…
Introduction
Tell us a bit about yourself: How long have you been blogging? Where are you from? How did you get into blogging?
Hi! I’m Emily, but you can also call me Emz. Fun fact, I don’t really mind my name, it’s just that there are so many other Emily’s in the blogosphere so… I’m currently a junior in high school and going a bit crazy because of it. This site has been up for around three years, I’ve been blogging seriously for a little less than that. Originally this blog started out as Icy Cold Reads, but I finally gave into my temptation to change the name last January so now it’s Paging Serenity – a name I’m much happier about. I’m from New Jersey in the United States. I got into blogging because I really wanted to interact with other readers, something I had trouble doing in real life. After snooping around the blogsphere for a while, I decided to try it myself during Hurricane Sandy when I had nothing better to do.
Why do you loving reading and blogging?
Well, I love reading because it provides an escape from everyday life. As a teenager, you could say I have my fair share of problems and its nice to know that someone else, even a fictional character, is going through the some of the same things I am. It’s also reassuring that some people have bigger problems than deciding which teachers to ask for recommendations from and whose main goal is to survive and not get into college. And like I sort of said before, I blog to interact with other readers, which is something I feel safer doing here, aka I won’t be judged for fangirling or ranting than in real life.
What does diversity mean to you?
As an Asian American, diversity means a lot to me. To me, it means including characters of other races, ethnicities, and cultures in books and having characters of other minorities besides race, such as LGBTQ characters too. It means a character that is part of minority group plays some kind of significant role in the story and in a way defies stereotypes normally placed on that group. A stereotypical character of a minority group that just blends into the background is not true diversity to me.
What is your favorite genre and why?
My favorite genre is fantasy. I’m an escapist. I read to escape the problems of real life and fantasy has the power to transport me to different worlds that are different from the one we live in.
What is the top book in your TBR pile?
The top book in my TBR pile right now is probably Daughter of Deep Silence by Carrie Ryan. It’s been compared to the TV show Revenge whose first two seasons I loved, and apparently includes calculated revenge and mystery, which I also love. I pre-ordered it from Barnes & Noble, so even though it came out yesterday, it’ll probably come tomorrow. Gah, why are pre-orders shipped the day the book is released? Why aren’t they shipped earlier so they arrive the day it’s released?
What book are you most looking forward to reading this summer?
I don’t know about summer. To be honest, the only reason why I do Waiting on Wednesday memes is that I wouldn’t keep up with new releases without it. I can’t wait to tackle my incredibly large TBR pile, though.
Are you doing Armchair BEA this year?
If you are, link me up to your intros. I love meeting new bloggers!
Fantasy is my favourite genre too, there’s just so many good fantasy out there! I’m excited to read Daughter of Deep Silence too, I have it on my library wishlist but they’re slow with new releases so it’ll be a while before I get it.
If you pre-order it should always be there the day of release or earlier, that sucks it’s going to be late! We had a shortage for ACOTAR in Canada when it came out, so even though I pre-ordered in February it came in a week late which sucked.
Have fun with Armchair BEA! I’m participating too 🙂
That’s my problem with preordering to! Argh!
You answered all your introduction questions so wonderfully, but I can concentrate on nothing but your penguin logo! I feel we are kindred spirits. PENGUINS AND BOOKS FOREVER!
I really need to come out of my Romance fog and read some more fantasy books. Great blog!
I can relate to being an escapist reader. 🙂
Happy ABEA!
I absolutely LOVE your header. The armchair looks so comfy. I’m not a big fantasy fan, but isn’t it wonderful we have so many genres to choose from. Ashley at Chronicles
A hurricane brought you to steady blogging ? How uncommon ! I love fantasy too and I agree with you, a minority portraiyed stereotypically is not diversity. Nice post, Emily 🙂
*waves* hi emily!! i didn’t do armchair bea this year, but it was nice to see everyone’s posts. i’m also a junior in high school & asian american (: it’s cool meeting other book bloggers with similarities besides our love for books!