I had the pleasure of interviewing Michelle from The True Book Addict for this week’s Interview Swap.

1. Tell us a little about yourself.

The most important thing I can tell you about myself is how much I love being a mom.  My sons are elementary age and they come first in my life.  Coming in a close second are books.  I’ve been an avid reader ever since I can remember.  Perhaps my love of books is best showcased by my home library, which numbers in the 3000s, with fiction at 2000+.  Writing about books seemed a natural next step and so I began my book blogging journey two years ago.

2. Your blog is devoted primarily to historical fiction. What is something you love about the genre?

What I love about historical fiction is that it takes a historical subject and tells an interesting story about it which in turn spurs the reader to further investigate that time, place, or person.  Even if the book is somewhat historically inaccurate, if it gets just one person interested in history, then it has done its job.

3. Conversely, is there anything about historical fiction you can’t stand, or any time periods you’d like to see more?

There really isn’t any time period I’m not interested in.  Now, if it’s heavy on battle scenes, especially in WWI and WWII, I might be less inclined to read it.  Generally though, if it tells an interesting and character driven story about a period in history, I will probably like it.  I think the historical fiction that’s already out there covers a wide range of time periods so I’m not missing out on anything yet…and more great books are being written every day.

4. What’s one book you haven’t read yet, but feel like you should?

There are so many actually! Being the historical fiction lover I am, it’s really quite scandalous that I have not read any of Sharon Kay Penman’s books yet! I do own most of them so they are on the must-read pile.  A couple of others that come to mind are Tolstoy’s War and Peace and Sigrid Undset’s Kristin Lavransdatter and The Master of Hestviken.

5. What are your interests outside reading and blogging?

I love history and, up until last year, I was a history major.  I intend to return to school in the near future.  I am also a writer and I’m currently working on my first novel.  I love cats, watching movies, and Christmas.  I even have a year-round Christmas blog!

6. Anything else you want to share?

In addition to my main book blog, The True Book Addict, I host two perpetual reading challenges:  101 Fantasy Reading Challenge and The Michener Challenge.  I also host four week-long (seasonal) read-a-thons a year and a Christmas reading challenge during the holidays.  Additionally, I’m the co-host of Historical Fiction Connection with Marie at Burton Book Review.  More recently, wishing to separate the horror genre (which I also love) from my main blog, I launched a horror review site, Castle Macabre.  This month I’m hosting a month long launch event as an official kick off and my spooky themed Fall read-a-thon is next month.  I stay pretty busy in the book blogging community because I love interacting with people of a like mind.

Thanks so much for chatting with me, Michelle! We have some really similar interests (and similar to-read lists, as well), so I will be following this new-to-me blog closely in the future.