Getting To Know...Kate Moloney

Today we are Getting To Know Kate Moloney of Bibliophile Book Club, Reviewer and buyer of ALL THE BOOKS (seriously check out her monthly book hauls!) 

Have you always been a big reader or has that come about as you've got older?

I used to read a lot when I was younger. I remember having a shelf above my bed and it was lined

the whole way across with Enid Blyton books. I would go to bed at night and secretly turn the light

back on (Sorry mom and dad!!!) to keep reading for longer! My reading definitely waned as I got

older, especially with school and college as the required reading was enough at the time! The only

books I remember reading during school were the Harry Potter series! Since having my kids I've

found reading to be my saviour. After my first was born, I devoured the Twilight series (and I'm not

afraid to admit that!) and then progressed to crime books. When my daughter was born in 2014 I

read loads because her big brother was in school and I had loads of time to myself early on with

her napping etc!

Your wonderful blog, Bibliophile Book Club, is dedicated to all things books. What was it that inspired you to start it up?

Wonderful?! Thanks Helen! I'm pretty sure that I had been boring my family and friends senseless

on social media talking about books so my cousin suggested that I try blogging as a way to talk

about books. I'm not the best at expressing myself so to be able to do it on a platform where I

could essentially be anonymous was brilliant! I'm pretty sure most people would only recognise my eyebrow and kindle as that has been my profile picture on social media!  I've only been blogging

for 2 years but it has been the best fun. I love being able to rave about books I love, sharing them

with readers and finding hidden gems! Book blogging is such a friendly community as well and I'm

so lucky to have made some friends for life through our shared love of books!

Obviously you love reading, but what other hobbies do you have?

Oh gosh! Does shopping for books count? Or reading marathons?!  I'm not going to say I don't

have time for other hobbies, as that would be a lie. Reading and blogging is just my thing! I'm not a

sporty person, so you won't find me chasing a football or anything like that.

Have you ever considered being an author yourself?

I was asked this recently! I've often thought about it, and I have a few ideas written down that I

have yet to come across in books. Clearly they would be crime/thriller related because that is all I

read! However, English has never been my strong point. I was useless with creative writing when I

was at school so I don't think I'd ever be able to translate what's in my head on to paper if I'm honest.

On average how many books do you read in a year? Do you set yourself an annual goal?

I use Goodreads and they give you the option of setting a yearly target so I try to set mine to an

attainable goal. In 2014, I managed to read 75 books, which was easy to do as I had been on

maternity leave before I had my daughter. I figured with a newborn I'd set 2015's target to 80 just in

case I didn't have enough to do, but I managed to read them all as we have a great sleeper!

This year I set my target at 75 books because I didn't want to be under pressure, but at the time of

writing this I'm reading my 104th book of the year and it's only July!

Do you have a favourite place to curl up and read?

I love to read in bed! It's the only uninterrupted time that I get to read without anyone needing

something done! The kids are tucked up in bed, my husband is reading too, so it's just nice to read

a bit before sleep. Failing that, I like to curl up in a corner of the couch with tea/coffee depending

on the time of the day if I get a few minutes to myself, but let's be honest, with 2 kids that doesn't

happen often!

Do you know how many books that you own in total?

In total, I have no idea. But I did count up my TBR today, and there are seven hundred and

seventeen books on my TBR between physical books and Kindle books. 717! That's madness! The

majority of these books are my own personal buys, as opposed to read and reviews for the blog,

so it's not too bad, but it's still a lot. If you want total books, I'm pretty sure you could double 717

and it would be close enough to what I have here!

Do you have a specific way that your organise your bookshelves?

I do and I don't! I have a bookcase and a shelved dresser side by side! On the bookcase is ALL of

the crime/psychological thrillers etc that I can fit and the same again on the dresser shelves. On

top of the dresser is all of the non-crime books I have (plus my Harlan Coben and Jonathan

Kellerman collections) so biographies, sci-fi and so on! I know what goes where so I guess that's

all that matters!

The biggest question to ask a reader...paperbacks, hardbacks or e-books?

This can be such a loaded question depending on who you ask. For me personally, I don't

discriminate. A book is a book so however you choose to read it is personal preference. Reading is

reading, whether it's a book or a screen, it shouldn't matter.

Do you have a favourite author?

I have many, and therein lies the problem! It's really hard to just pick one! At the moment, I am

loving Ragnar Jónasson's Dark Iceland series (ANYONE that follows me on Twitter will know that

as I'm all fangirly emojis about his books!), I love Lee Child's Jack Reacher series and await every

instalment like an impatient child. Elizabeth Haynes because she wrote one of my all time

favourite books, Into The Darkest Corner. Chris Carter, James Carol, Jack Kerley for their pace

and gore factor! Linwood Barclay, Harlan Coben, Jonathan Kellerman and John Sandford all have

superb books! Robert Bryndza, Angela Marsons, and Tom Bale too! See, now I can't stop naming

favourites!

Thank you so much to Kate for answering my questions, it's been really fun reading all your answers! I really recommend people checking out Bibliophile Book Club and Kate's reviews on there.

You can connect with Kate on:

Bibliophile Book Club Website
Bibliophile Book Club Facebook Page
Twitter @BibliophileBC
Instagram - bibliophilebookclub