Today on Getting To Know... I'm very happy to welcome book blogger Becca Burnton who has a wonderfully book filled blog called If Only I Could Read Faster.
Your blog, If Only I Could Read Faster, is for all things bookish. What inspired you to set this up?
I'd come to appreciate how much authors rely on reviews and I was reading some amazing books that I wanted to shout about and get people to read. So I decided to start a blog. I also had friends regularly asking me what they should read so thought if I had a blog I could just point them in that direction. I have to admit that I had no idea how much work would be involved in having a book blog!
Do you have a favourite author?
Yes I do. I've had a few favourite authors over time including Karen Rose, Jodi Picoult and Harlen Coben. My current favourite author is Angela Marsons, author of the fabulous Detective Kim Stone books. They're amazing books and I just love the series. Angela has also written two other books that aren't in the Kim Stone series and the one I've read was really good so I'll definitely be reading the other.
When you're not reading what would we find you doing?
I have five year old twins so they keep me pretty busy!!
How much has having dyslexia affected your reading? Can you tell me more about what it is like?
It has hugely affected my reading. As a teenager I would get so frustrated that I was so slow at reading. It made it feel quite painful and I hated having to read books for school on a deadline. Dyslexia affects everyone differently, for me it makes me very slow but I also insert random words. I think that's the worst bit for me. I'll be reading a line and put in a word from the line below so the sentence no longer made sense, so I'd have to re-read the sentence. That made things even slower and stops the story from flowing. This website shows you how it can feel to read as someone with dyslexia Dsxyliea. As you can see it can make reading really slow and frustrating.
I love my Kindle and it has really helped with my reading but Amazon do a special font for people with dyslexia called OpenDyslexic, which has made a huge difference for me. There's more space between lines and letters so I'm less likely to insert random things. I can't tell you how much it helps and it has made my reading quicker (for me, still slow compared to most people).
Will we ever see a book written by you?
I would absolutely love to write a book but very much doubt that I'll ever do it. I just don't have the confidence or the staying power I don't think. But you never know.
Can you remember the first book that you ever fell in love with?
The first books I really fell in love with would probably be the Harry Potter series. I just loved them and the world that was created and the way that so many people loved them. They were such escapism books. I remember buying the first few with adult covers so that people wouldn't know that I was reading a children's book, but then it didn't matter because so many people were reading them. I loved the excitement of a new book in the series and waiting for the midnight release. I cannot wait to read them with my children!
Do you have your bookshelves organised in any particular way?
Not really. They're normally organised by size although I have to admit that since having children my bookshelves are less organised. I've just bought myself a new bookshelf to put my favourite books and signed copies that I've been given. I'm stupidly excited to organise that one!
Do you have a favourite place to read?
Probably bed! Boring but there's something so nice about reading in bed, especially on a cold winter's night with the electric blanket on!
Bookmark, random piece of paper etc or dog ear?
I do read my kindle far more than real books these days but I use a random piece of paper for a bookmark. A dog ear would totally stress me out!
Do you have one book that you always recommend to people, one that you think everyone should read?
That's such a hard question! I'm not sure that I know of a book that everyone should read, as in a book that tells us something so important that everyone needs to read it. However, there are many books that I think people should read because they're really good. My most recommended books are Into The Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes and I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh. I think that both are amazing books. And of course Angela Marsons books.
Thank you so much to Becca for joining me on my blog today and answering my questions!
To check out more from Becca:
Website - https://ifonlyicouldreadfaster.com/
Twitter - @ifonlyread
This was very interesting to read, especially the part about how dyslexia affects your reading. That Kindle font sounds very handy!
ReplyDeleteDid you try the website that simulates dyslexia? I had a raging headache after reading just two lines of text!
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