Sunday Special: Interview with Raimy of Readaraptor!

Yes, it's another blogger interview! Today is the turn of the fabulous Raimy from Readaraptor!, which is an awesome site with perhaps the coolest banner around - as well as some wonderful content, of course.  

1. Tell us a bit about yourself - what do you do aside from reading and blogging?

 

Hi - Thanks for having me! 

 

I'm Raimy, i was born Rachel Amy but when I was 16 I decided that name wasn't cool enough for me so I adapted it, haha! Raimy stuck and I'm hoping to legally change it sometime soon! 

 

I work in journalism and when I want to sound important I say I'm a magazine journalist... I kinda am but at the lowest possibly rung on the ladder so we'll keep it at that! I'm big into music as well as books and blogging and I go to every gig I possibly can (wallet and location seriously affect this though so there's not been many gigs lately!) 

 

2. I absolutely love your blog title, and the fabulous banner of two dinosaurs hugging. (Or whatever the equivalent of hugging is for dinosaurs.) What inspired the 'Readaraptor' name, and where did you get such an awesome banner?

 

I love dinosaurs, that love started out a few years ago and stuck. I thought about every possible blog name to do with reading then decided that I could interpret my love of dinos and play with a dinos name for the blog name. I actually found the picture of the dines online and adapted it and made the banner myself, so thank you for saying its awesome! *beams proudly* 

 

I'm seriously impressed to find out you made it yourself - it looks stunning!

 

3. Speaking of dinosaurs, if dinosaurs were YA characters, who would the following be?

Oooo this is hard!! I've never thought of YA characters as dinosaurs but maybe I should! 

Brontosaurus - I'd like to think these dinos were like the hippies in dinoland... so I have to say that I think Asher from Guitar Highway Rose or the woman from the family that Asher and Rose meet in Guitar Highway Rose would be Brontosauruses.

Velociraptor - These dinosaurs are small but vicious, with that in mind I would have to say Peter from Divergent is pretty Velociraptor-ish! 

Tyrannosaurus Rex - this is the scariest and meanest dinosaur at all... so obviously it has to be Voldemort! haha

 

Haven't read Guitar Highway Rose or Divergent, but Voldy is a great call for the T-Rex!

4. You have a ton of blog tour dates coming up, including Shelley Coriell, Paige Harbison, and Keris Stainton! How did you get involved in blog tours and what was your first one?

 

Oh thats a good question!! I don't think I can remember what my first one was! I think it was Kay Woodward's for her book Wuthering Hearts. Most of them come from requests from publicists or authors themselves. Im lucky for knowing Keris really well so I grabbed a place on her blog tour straight away! 

 

I do remember getting the email through from Kay Woodwards publicist offering me a place on the tour and I think I squealed, it was kind of a "Wow, I must have made it as a book blogger now, people want me for blog tours!" 

5. If you were throwing a literary dinner party, which six YA characters or authors would you invite?

This is another hard question! I can only pick six? Right then... Georgia Nicholson from the Louise Rennison series would have to be there to feed my teen obsession with those books! Then I think I'd want someone from Harry Potter would be there but I'd like to think it would be Luna. Oscar from Emma <3's LA by Keris Stainton would have to be there just cos I'm in a war with a fellow blogger over him! Then I'd have Manchee from The Knife of Never Letting go by Patrick Ness curled up under the table, Hannah from Scatterheart by Lili Wilkinson and Suzume from Shadows on the Moon by Zoe Marriott. 

Thats only if I had to keep it at six though... I've got a few more that I'd be inviting if I could! haha 

 

I have to be honest, I can't stand the Louise Rennison books, OR The Knife of Never Letting Go! Luna and Oscar are fab picks though, and I really want to read Shadows on the Moon because Zoe Marriott's blog is so great that I'm sure her fiction must be amazing too.

 

6. Are there any books you've reviewed which haven't been as successful as you would have expected?

 

There are a few that I thought would really hit it off around the blogosphere but haven't which shocked me. Pink my Lili Wilkinson should be read by everyone but I don't actually know too many people who have heard of it. There are also books which have been really successful which have shocked me because I didn't enjoy them as much as everyone else seemed too, Matched by Ally Condie was definitely one of those for me, I thought it was going to be amazing but wasn't impressed at all with it!
 

Hadn't heard of Pink but I just Googled it and it sounds amazing! I keep meaning to read Matched but haven't got round to it yet, something else which looks better always seems to come up.

 

 

7. Which classic children's novel would you recommend to teens today?

 

Oh wow... Im not huge on my classics... but that depends on what you'd call a classic I guess. I would argue that the Noughts and Crosses series by Malorie Blackman is a classic and I'd recommend that to everyone! if we're talking proper classify-classics though Stig of the Dump was a favourite of mine years ago and no teenager should be without The Hobbit, even if they don't want to tackle Lord of the Rings!! 

Noughts and Crosses series is another one I've never read... shameful! Definitely agree on Stig, and much preferred The Hobbit to Lord of the Rings, personally!

8. I’m hoping some of my readers will rush over to Readaraptor! once they’ve finished this interview. Is there any particular post on the blog you’d recommend they check out? 

 

Oh, thats quite hard... I don't really like to big myself up! haha. I think there are a couple that I'd like to share... but they are a little old now... I was really happy with the response to my Swearing in YA and Why I think LGBT Characters are Important in YA posts (andl) and I would always direct new readers to these posts!! 

 

Both fab posts which people should definitely check out!

9. Do you like watching movie adaptations of YA books? If so, what's the one book or series which hasn't yet hit the screen which you'd love to see made into a film?

 

I do, but I almost always have to read the books first otherwise it ruins the book!! I would love Uglies by Scott Westerfeld to become a movie but there are a few dystopians which lend themselves to movies well so I would campaign more for thriller books like Looking for JJ by Anne Cassidy to become a movie. It was made into a stage show a few years ago that I went to see but I think it, or Anne's newest book Dead Time, would make amazing movies also Cat Clarke's Torn would lend itself well to a thriller/crime type movie too! 

 

Haven't read either of the Anne Cassidy's or the Scott Westerfeld series (by the way, if you're new to the blog, I may be giving you the wrong impression - there are a lot of books that I HAVE read, honestly!) - but definitely agree Torn would be an amazing movie!

10. Do you think you'll still be blogging in another 2 years time?

 

I really hope so! I started blogging as something to get my confidence up, improve my writing skills and talk about the books I love. I never thought it would turn out to be practically another full time job but I love every minute and wouldn't be without it! I really hope that I will be here for readers in two years but they will have to want me I guess!

I'm sure we will, Raimy! Thanks for that fabulous interview.