Saturday Spotlight - Page Turners

Today I have another fun blogger who loves to read and is from Australia. Learn more about her below!

Name: Becky
Nickname and/or blog name: Page Turners
Blog URL: http://pageturnersbooks.blogspot.com

Tell me a bit about yourself.

Outside of friends, family and work, reading is my other interest. I work as a solicitor for a government organization that assists socially and economically disadvantaged people. It
is a tough job but I love it. I live my boyfriend of 4 years - no kids yet but we do have 2 gorgeous rabbits. In any spare time that I get, which is limited I admit, I read. I love reading, I probably get through 5 books a month just reading on the train on the way to and from work.

When and why did you start your blog?

I started my blog in June 2009 because I wanted to keep a track of the books that I read. I wasn't thinking about the books when I finished them, I just finished them and moved on. The blog gave me a chance to think more deeply about what I was reading. As I did it more and more though, I saw a lot of other wonderful blogs, that made me want to take blogging more seriously, which I did a couple of months ago. Now it's not about doing it for me (although that's still a big part), but also so that I can share my enthusiasm for books with others.

What is your blog all about? Any cool features you want to share?

The blog is largely book reviews at this point in time, although 2010 is the year of new features for me. I have weekly and fortnightly memes about recommending books to others, author reviews, literary discussions and a feature similar yo 'Spotlight' every Friday. I try to ensure that my book reviews provide information about the books, a bit about the plot, why I chose it and then what I thought of it. At the end of each review I ask 4 questions about the book that I hope will help others decide if it is something they are interested in reading.

One individual feature about Page Turners is that I do try to read Australian literature and review a lot of Australian books. Not all of them are Australian of course, I like variety. But I do want to read literature coming from own country and support our industry as much as possible.


Basically, my blog is all about books and sharing my love of them. I want others to enjoy reading as much as I do and I hope that people enjoy my recommendations.

What are some of your favorite genres and/or books currently?

I read a lot of general fiction and classics. I like books that focus on the daily lives of people, I like characters that I can get involved with, sweeping drams, that sort of thing. I am currently still reading The Railway Children (on ebook) and am starting Capricornia by Xavier Herbert, a famous Australian novel.

How do you find out about the books you read?

That's a really tricky question to answer. Some of them friends recommend to me, others I see from blogs and most I honestly couldn't say how I know about them. A lot of books that I buy I have to be honest and say that what attracts me is the cover, I'll then read the back of the book, and if O like that I'll flip to the middle of the book somewhere and read a paragraph. If it grabs me, I'll buy it!

Any tips or advice for those starting or thinking about starting a blog?

I'm pretty new to blogging, having only been doing it seriously for a couple of months. I just want to keep in mind that it should be something that's fun, and if other people read it and have fun with it to, then that's great.

Thanks again Becky for sharing more about her fantastic blog! One Australian author I really love is John Flanagan - author of the Ranger's Apprentice series. I wish I read more Illinois authors.

Are you a new blogger too? Or just getting back into the swing of blogging? Do you want to be featured on my blog? Shoot me an email at dragonzgoil (at) gmail (dot) com.