Portobello Book Blog

I’m pleased to welcome Neats as this week’s Blogger in the Spotlight. Neats blogs as the Haphazardous Hippo and you can find her blog here: 

http://thehaphazardoushippo.blogspot.co.uk/

Thanks for agreeing to be part of my Blogger in the Spotlight feature. First of all, would you tell me a little about yourself? 

Hello!  I’m Neats and I live with my husband and my little tiel Tufty in Hampshire. I work full time so I have limited time to feed my reading appetite. When I was younger I remember my dad reading me stories about the Magic Roundabout at bedtimes and both my dad and I collapsing into fits of the giggles when Brian the snail got a job as a postman and Dougal trapped him in the mailbag. I wish I had kept those books as I can’t seem to track them down now. When I’m not reading I enjoy baking although not to the level that I’d ever consider trying to get into the Bake Off tent! I’m also a lover and collector of pachyderms and I’ve been lucky enough to travel to South Africa and meet Jessica the house hippo and to walk with elephants at a sanctuary. My other passion is rugby (watching not playing) and I’m looking forward to supporting the England team in this year’s World Cup.

What books/authors did you enjoy as a child?

Roger Hargreaves’ Mr Men books were great and then as I got older I loved The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton as well as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume.

What made you want to start blogging?  

I read quite a lot of books and friends were always asking me to recommend books to them so I decided to start a blog and then tell all my friends about that. Also I wanted to improve my review writing so I thought it would be good practise for me and something fun to do.

What do you enjoy most about blogging?

I’ve only been blogging for a few months but I’m loving chatting to fellow bloggers and authors about all things bookish. The book blogosphere is huge but I’ve ‘met’ some wonderful people that I wouldn’t normally have crossed paths with in my everyday life. Hearing from authors once your review is up is always lovely as well.

Tell me about your blog – sell yourself!

The Haphazardous Hippo was born a few months ago so I’m still finding my feet. The name was inspired by my love of hippos just in case you were wondering and although it’s not instantly recognisable as a book blog name I thought it might be one that people remember. I’ve been told that I sometimes have an eclectic taste in books but I just see it that there are so many books out there so why not try something outside of your comfort zone every once in a while. I usually post at the weekends depending on how my reading schedule is going and from time to time I’ll post on Saturday and Sunday. I post more regularly on my blog’s Facebook page and there you’ll find book news, links to free/reduced price books and anything else book related.

What’s your favourite book you’ve reviewed so far this year? Or favourite three if you really can’t choose.

I’ve thought long and hard about this and I really can’t choose one so I’m going to have to pick three. In no particular order they are Chance by Peter Dudgeon, Every Breath You Take by Bianca Sloane and Life or Death by Michael Robotham. They are all psychological thrillers and they’re all well worth a read if like me you enjoy a gripping read.

What are you reading just now?

The Assiduous Quest of Tobias Hopkins: The Complete Novel by James Faro. I was contacted by the author via Goodreads and as I haven’t read any historical novels for a while I thought this sounded like an interesting read.

Tell me about your reading habits:  book or kindle, bed or bath, morning or evening?  

I vowed that I would never get a kindle but I soon realised that it’s a very practical way of carrying around my vast collection of books and a great way to hide them from my husband who thinks I have far too many books (and that coming from a fellow bookworm!) I like to read without distractions so I can’t have the TV or radio on and I always read for at least an hour, in bed, before I go to sleep and at weekends I read as often as I can. I still read the occasional tree book and I have a few special edition books that will always be on my bookshelf.

How can people follow your blog or connect with you on social media?

You can find my blog here and on the top right of my page you’ll find a link to my Facebook page as well as ways to follow me. I’ve yet to add a Twitter link but feel free to tweet to @lilac_hippo

And finally, if you could be a character in any book you have read, who would it be and why?

After a lot of thought I think I’d be Liesel Meminger from The Book Thief. The reason behind this would be because once she learns to read she becomes an obsessed reader, reading anything she can get her hands on. She also has a respect for books and I share that respect in that friends have admitted to being too scared to borrow my books as they always look brand new despite being read and they are frightened that they might accidentally damage them!