Sophia Rose's Blog - Posts Tagged "hobbies"

I was tickled pink when this guest agreed to stop in for a chat. I’ve been following Braine’s blog for probably four years now. I’ve enjoyed watching her reading tastes evolve from all PNR/UF to include a wider variety of genres and taste. The spine-tingling thrillers and steampunks she finds are filling up my reading wish list right now. Braine (and yes that is a screen name) is witty and insightful and she can write a concise review that leaves me envious for her power with words.

It has been a mild though humid day so far and I’ve been keeping busy with a closet organizing effort so I’m ready to cut out and welcome my guest. I’ve worked up an appetite so I hope she’s in the mood for some of my crock pot white chicken chili and sweet cornbread with Iced Tea. Might have some triple chocolate brownies setting out on the counter for later, too.

Howdy, Braine! I’m so glad you could take the time away from life on the blog and the real world to chat with me. How’s your summer going there in Tennessee? Hitting the festivals or doing any other fun stuff? Any local sites or activities you can recommend?

Hi Sophia! First of all, I know I’ve told you this already, but you are one of my favorite Supies! Thank you for being a loyal follower of my little blog for all this time!

And it’s frickin’ hot here in TN! We get weird rain now and again, but it’s blazing here right now. I just hit the park in the afternoon, get some me time on a swing and read a few pages before I go home. As for activities, we have a lot of pretty lakes here in Tennessee. Jessica Lemmon is in town as I write this and she seems to be enjoying the lake life. Ohhh, that reminds me, I need to snag her latest. That contemporary marriage of convenience plot she has going has me intrigued.

I’ve got a pot of chicken chili going and some corn bread. Can I interest you in some lunch while we chat?
Girl’s gotta eat. Bring me a plate and I’m sure I’ll have seconds! I’ll bring some pie and whipped cream for dessert. Oh and some old Southern Sweet Tea while we’re at it. Now you're talking. :)

I know folks are dying to know and that includes me. Where did your screen name ‘Braine’ come from? I had thoughts of the older cartoon ‘Pinky and the Braine’ as my guess.

Lol, I have to look that up, Pinky and Braine.
Okay so I just dated myself.
So remember when Yahoo had like this super cool chat rooms about 15 or so years ago? Well I rode that wave and my name then was “Brainfreeze”. I met a lot of awesome people there, some I’m still friends to now and because I’ve had such great luck with the name, I thought I’d keep it, add a little spin, and thus Braine came to be. Aha, well that works.


How did Talk Supe blog come about?

I have friends who read and some family but our types of books vary. It’s a cousin, who now has her own blog, who teamed up with me for this. Our book tastes are very similar plus we wanted to just be dorky so that’s how Talk Supe was born. I do wish her well on her own blog. I was following you about a year when you gals blogged together.

I’ve seen your blog evolve a bit over the years since I’ve been following including such unique posts as Steampunk Sundays and BB&B. What has changed for you from first starting out until now as far as your blogging philosophy or practices?

So much, it’s really a lot of experiments and trials and errors. Steampunk Sundays is truly my own and BB&B is my version of a book haul which was created after that thing with Story Siren’s IMM blew up.

Like most bloggers, I went through an eager beaver stage where I feel like I could read everything and blog everything. That slowly changed, my real life changed and so the blog changed with it.
My fifth year blogiversary came and gone, I didn’t celebrate it this year. I thought this time it’ll be MINE in that I want to treat me and read the books I want and love versus following deadlines and beating release dates. I know it’s not ideal, we book bloggers have to be ahead of the curve or even help set trends, but I gotta stay back for a bit and enjoy what I’m doing so my reviews can be meaningful and fun again. Agreed. Burn out is a real issue for book bloggers if they can't figure out how to pace themselves and keep the joy for reading and talking books going.

Now let’s talk books. You enjoy a goodly variety of books. What draws you in to choosing your next read?

I do have a calendar where I keep track of the release dates of the books I have. I try to keep up with it, sometimes I can, most of the time I fail. I’m every bit of a mood reader. Like currently, I haven’t read a full-on romance for over a month. All I’ve been enjoying to read are either, crime thrillers, dark fantasy, or the ocassional romantic suspense. I’m also rediscovering YA. Now that the Twilight romance look-alikes are done, the new YA fantasies that are coming out are more to my speed than the old romance centric ones. I’m 38, I don’t enjoy reading teens fall in love even if it’s cute. LOL

What would make you take a pass on a book or at least make you hesitate to read it?

I stick to my genres. I remember when erotica had a come back, I read almost everything. Now I stay away from BDSM (I’m tired of it), copy cats, and there’s a few authors whose style just doesn’t work for me.

What’s a book/s that pushed you out of your comfort zone or didn’t seem your thing at first glance, but you are ever so glad you read it?

Top of my head, it would be One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid. It’s more literary fiction than the intense, sexified contemporary romance. I thought I was going to dislike it based on my mood, but I signed up for the two months ago before my dark preference started so I was half prepared to email the publisher that I didn’t like it. I ended up giving it 5 stars, super awesome! It’s my favorite Summer read so far.

Do you have a preferred format for your books? Or any shelf idiosyncrasies like the whole series has to be the same edition and format?

Not really. I’m after the story unless the formatting is really messed up like in some egalleys, then I could care less about the format. Then again, I think there are books, like Illuminae by Jay Kristoff, that I think would be best enjoyed in print than in digital format. Oh yeppers, that is a good example of a book that is best read in print format. There is no way I could have read those spirals of words in that dark space scene on an e-reader.


Now I know you are an avid movie and TV show fan. What’s the latest to have caught your eye? Any summer blockbusters grab you?
I’m behind on the Marvel movies and those are the ones I’m dying to see. TV shows I am loving the ones at AMC: The Night Manager, The Preacher and Turn: Washington’s Spies. It is easy to get behind on the superhero movies. There is a plethora of them. Not that I'm complaining (go Cap and Thor!).

Recently you launched a new craft business called November 12. I’m amazed at your talent because crafting is an all thumbs endeavor for moi. Would you share a bit about November 12? Any special projects you’re working on right now?
November12 is another hobby, I make bows and fabric bookmarks. Nothing special atm, this is on a semi-hiatus but I plan to come up with some other thing later this year. I guess I am a professional hobbyist!

Sofa Starters
R&B or Country? R&B
Batman or Superman? Batman!
Soup or Salad? Both?
Green or Purple? Green, it’s the color of money after all. lol
Dystopian or Sci-Fi? Neither, but gun to my head it would by Dystopia.
Tahiti or Tanzania? Tahiti

I’ve enjoyed having you stop in for a chat, Braine. Thanks so much for the visit. Got any fun plans for the rest of the summer?
Stay out of the sun! lol Oh, I hear ya, I'm not a heat lover. Thank you so much, Sophia! This is so much fun! Muah!


If Braine’s not hanging around on GoodReads, here’s where you can connect with her:
Blog: www.talksupeblog.com
Twitter: @talksupeblog
FB: Facebook.com/talksupe