Meet Reading Buddy #1, Zahida!

A couple of weeks ago, I put out a call for reading buddies for 2012! I thought it would be a lot of fun and a great motivation to be in friendly competition with some fellow book lovers and bloggers. We are tracking the number of books we read as well as the number of pages, and sending weekly updates via e-mail. We are having two little contests (for most pages and for most books). The winner of each will get a book of their choice from the "loser" at the end of the year. While this is a cool bonus, I'm mostly looking forward to getting to know my buddies and helping motivate each other. I have two competition buddies, Zahida from Musings of a YA Reader, and Cindy from Oodles of Books. I also have a non-competitive buddy, Laura from Book Snob. I will introduce you to all of them. We all have a goal of around 100 books.

Today, meet Zahida from Musings of a YA Reader! You can see my interview over at her blog as well.

What is your work/school situation?

I’m in my fourth year of university – only four more months until I graduate! – and am doing a double major in neuroscience and psychology in order to get a BSc. I’ll be taking a year off after to figure out what I want to do next, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be coming back to school for either a BEd or a Master’s degree in something. Unless of course I get a fabulous job!

  

What do you like to do outside of reading? 

When I’m not reading, I’m usually watching either movies, hockey games or TV shows like The Vampire Diaries and Pretty Little Liars. I like shopping for jewellery, makeup and books too but that’s a little harder to do if you’re a broke university student. So these days, I’m either looking for good deals or window shopping. Oh, and I love playing board games … except it’s hard finding people to play with. They either don’t have the time or just aren’t competitive enough.

How long have you been book blogging?

I started in late August 2010. So, it’s been almost a year and half.

What's been your most exciting or rewarding blogging moment or experience?

My most exciting blogging moment would probably have to be getting my first comment. When you’re just starting out, those comments are so motivating because they show that at least somebody has read what you have to say.

My most rewarding blogging moment would be the first time I got contacted by a publisher to review a book because it acknowledged the amount of work I’d put into my blog.

How would your friends describe you? How would you describe yourself?

My friends would probably say that I’m opinionated, responsible, an excellent secret keeper and kind of a perfectionist. My family would say I’m clumsy and usually off in my own world. I say I am perfect :P Seriously though, it depends on who I’m with – with my friends I’m definitely one of the louder ones, but put me among strangers and I suddenly become one of the quieter ones because I feel awkward in big groups or with people I don’t know.   

What genre of books do you normally read?

I try to read a mixture of paranormal and contemporary. I’m a big fantasy fan as well but I’m pickier within that genre so I don’t read as many fantasy books.

What one book are you most looking forward to in 2012?

Insurgent, of course! I loved Divergent and hope I love Insurgent just as much.

Who is your favourite author? What is your favourite book?

Two of my favourite authors are Elizabeth Scott and Sarah Dessen. As for my favourite book, I don’t have one because there are so many books that I’ll always love – Harry Potter, Anne of Green Gables and Ella Enchanted are just some of the few that come to mind.

If you got to pick one fictional guy to be your boyfriend, who would it be?

Realistically speaking, this would eliminate all these hot guys from paranormal or fantasy novels like Dimitri from Vampire Academy (because there are no such things like dhampirs) or Lord Greco from Cascade/Torrent (time travel won’t be possible any time soon). I’m tempted to say somebody like Ryan from Raw Blue (but he loves surfing and wouldn’t be happy not living near the ocean) or Adam from If I Stay/Where She Went (but I barely know much about music). So, I’d probably want (the older version of) Jason from Wherever You Go or a guy like Jared from I Now Pronounce You Someone Else. Lol, you can see I’ve put a lot of thought into this question.

If you got to pick one fictional girl to be your best friend, who would it be?

I’m going to approach this question like the one above. So someone like Hermione would be out of the equation because witches don’t exist. I’d say maybe Anne from Anne of Green Gables.