I live! Plus Liebster Award Nomination

After some technical difficulties and holiday business I am back! Committed to a steady blogging schedule. The good news is I got a lot of reading done this past week, including the Divergent Trilogy, so look for those reviews.

Also I was kindly nominated for the Liebster Award by Nikita of NjKinny's World of Books and Katelynn of Literary Chameleon. The Liebster Award was created as a way of recognizing and discovering new bloggers, particularly those with under 200 followers. It's a way of connecting with your fellow bloggers and I'm honored to be included.

Here are the rules for the Liebster Award:

Link back to the blog that nominated you.
Answer the questions they set for the blogs they nominated.
Nominate blogs of your own, and be sure to let them know, with a link to your post!
Ask 10 questions for the blogs you nominate to answer in their post.
Share some random facts about yourself.

My Liebster Nominations:

Elizabeth B. @ Afternoon Book Party

Lacie @ Rainy Dayz Reviewz

Questions:
1. Favorite genre of book.
2. 3 characters you would invite to a dinner party.
3. 3 authors you would invite to a dinner party.
4. Name a book you wanted to throw across the room.
5. What is your favorite series?
6. What was the best book you ever read in a genre outside of your comfort zone?
7. Who's your favorite female character?
8. In a book blurb, what will catch your attention?
9. What is your favorite thing about blogging?
10. What is the review you are most proud of writing?

Here are some questions from Nikita of NjKinny's World of Books:

1. When and Why did you start blogging?

I started blogging in August, I’ve enjoyed reading reviews on book blogs and finally I decided to join the community.

2. Who, what, and/or where does your blogging inspiration come from?

Too many blogs to mention have inspired me. I’ll say the ladies at The Broke and the Bookish inspire me to keep blogging, I love their Top Ten Tuesday meme. The BookSmugglers inspire me to improve my critical eye and my reviews.

3. What does you family think about your blogging?

They think it’s a bit strange actually, but we don’t really talk about it.

4. What time of day do you write the best content for your blog?

I usually write meme content in the early evenings during the week and try to write my reviews in the mornings or early afternoon on the weekend.

5. What is your favorite quote?

"There's only one rule that I know of, babies—God damn it, you've got to be kind." –Kurt Vonnegut, God Bless You Mr. Rosewater.

6. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?

I studied abroad in London in college and I really loved it there.

7. What makes you laugh out loud?

Some shows like Arrested Development and 30 Rock, some things my sister’s twins do, my friends' jokes, and sometimes really stupid things like this old meme.

8. If you were the main character in a movie, which actress/actor would you want to play your role?

It’s possible I’m saying this because I recently saw Catching Fire, but Jena Malone.

9. Who is your favorite Disney character?

Mulan. I like how she is a bit awkward at the start of the movie, but shows ingenuity. She also has a lot of courage and earns her place in the army by both training hard and being a strategic thinker. I like how she has a close relationship with her family, unlike most Disney movies where family members tend to be absent, dead, or evil. Love her, love her movie, love the music in the movie.

10. How did you come up with your blog's name?

It’s a paraphrased quote from one of my favorite books: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. “From that time on, the world was hers for the reading”.

Katelynn from Literary Chameleon asked me these questions:

1. Favorite Illustrator?

Edward Gorey, especially the covers for the John Bellairs novels that I loved asa kid, and Quentin Blake. No matter how many movies are made of Roald Dahl’s books, his are the images that stick in my mind.

2. Favorite movie librarian?

The ghost librarian in Ghostbusters. Or Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, though I guess he is a TV librarian.

3. What is the name of one world you wish you could visit?

A lot of the more interesting one have their downsides too. The obvious answer for me is JK Rowling’s, but only if I wasn’t a muggle. Otherwise I feel like I’d enjoy touring Discworld.

4. If you could be bring any fictional crush to life, who would it be?

An unexpectedly difficult one for me to answer. Maybe Hector from The Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy? How old is he supposed to be? Cricket from Lola and the Boy Next Door would be my crush when I was a teen.

5. Netgalley or Eidelweiss?

I’m registered with both but I use Eidelweiss more. To be honest I haven’t been making many requests due to a combination of my large TBR pile and I feel my blog is still relatively new and small. I guess it’s about that time I could request though. There are some winter/spring 2014 releases I'm excited about.

6. Physical or e-reader pre-pubs?

E-reader pre-pubs.

7. Who influence your love of reading the most?

My third grade teacher was an influence on me in an interesting way. The classes separated for reading and I had a different teacher for accelerated reading. My usual third grade teacher taught reluctant readers. When I was that age I was addicted to Goosebumps by R.L. Stine and had quite a collection. My parents mentioned this to my teacher at a conference and she asked if we would donate the Goosebumps because a popular series might entice more reluctant readers. We agreed, and she let me borrow some books she had picked out. They were a wide selection of books including Island of the Blue Dolphins, a novel about Austria during WWI, a story about a girl in the hospital, and a biography of Nellie Bly. I enjoyed and still remember many of those books and it really expanded my reading horizons.

8. Favorite food/recipe found in a book or that you wish was real?

The lemon cakes Sansa is always talking about in The Song of Ice and Fire series. I think there is a recipe at The Inn at the Crossroads, I need to try to make them.

9. If you could meet any author who would it be?

Terry Pratchett.

10. Favorite literary quote?

“Don't ask for guarantees. And don't look to be saved in any one thing, person, machine, or library. Do your own bit of saving, and if you drown, at least die knowing you were heading for shore.” - Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

Random Facts:

I try to attempt something that scares me every year. Some examples are swimming with sharks, white water rafting, and zip lining. Next year maybe I'll take an improv class.
I love British comedies like Miranda and Black Books.
I've recently started doing Blogilates after seeing it mentioned on twitter and I'm liking it a lot.
I get burned out reading too many books from the same category, which is why this blog isn't exclusively YA.
I have a hard time listening to literary fiction audiobooks. For example I tried to listen to Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie but felt like my mind was wandering too much and I was missing nuance. I have no problem with nonfiction though and I'm attempting YA.

Monday, December 2, 2013