Liebster Award!

Hey there fellow readers! The awesome Mandy @ bookprincessreviews nominated me for this award. Mandy is a super cool blogger and she runs an amazing blog, you guys should definitely check it out!

Rules:

1. Thank the person who nominated you and answer the 11 questions they’ve written for you.
2. Nominate 11 people and give them 11 different questions to answer.

Let’s get to it!!

Mandy’s questions:

If you had your own personal library, how would you do it – color, author, another way?

It would probably be a massive copy of my bookshelves right now. I have a shelf dedicated to C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien (yes, I know, I might be a little obsessed). This includes books written by them, or academic works written about them. Then I have a shelf dedicated to my other favorites (currently occupied by S.J. Maas’ Throne of Glass series, Sabaa Tahir’s An Ember in the Ashes series, and Patrick Rothfuss’ Kingkiller Chronicles). Then I have my “un-read” or TBR shelf. After that, they’re organized by genre. I have a sci-fi shelf, a fantasy shelf, a poetry/”classics” shelf, and on and on. If two genres have to share a shelf, I try to make sure there are some similarities. I might have similar covers but different genres on the same shelf, or YA fantasy next to YA contemporary. Things like that. Well-organized shelves make me happy like very little else.

How important is a cover on a book for you?

Fairly important. I’m a huge advocate for actually judging books by their covers. A book’s cover is basically like an advertisement for a book, so if I feel like there wasn’t a lot of effort put into the cover, I wonder how much effort was put into the book itself. That being said, I won’t buy a book with an amazing cover if the synopsis sounds totally boring, or if there is an AMAZING synopsis, I might overlook a bad cover.

What made you choose blogging – not Youtube or etc., but blogging?

I had a professor in college who would make a shared class blog for most of her classes (they were poetry classes). I actually studied abroad with her in London, and on our class blog, we would write “travel letters” to the entire class, detailing how we felt about being in another country, how the travel experience was affecting our writing, and comments on the poetry we had to read for the class. And I loved it! So when I graduated and was trying to figure out how to stay engaged in a literary community, I decided to create a blog! That, and I don’t really have a good-quality camera with which to make videos.

What Disney princess, or Disney character, can you relate the most with?

BELLE!!! She’s always been the Disney Princess I relate to the most! (Well, she and Jasmine. I really relate to the ladies who call people out on their bologna.) Belle is well-read, caring without being a pushover, and confident in herself and her beliefs. If someone gave me a library, I, too, would swoon a little bit. I also grew up in a fairly small city that didn’t have a whole lot of prospects (or other avid readers, I didn’t find a real life reader friend until we were in high school), so I understand her desire to leave and see the rest of the world. And, as someone who has been buried deep in the fantasy genre since age 5, I understand having a sense of longing to experience the fantastic in an otherwise mundane life. Aside from the awesome singing voice, and the fact that I have blue eyes, I’m pretty much Belle.

If you could have one song as mood music to reading, what would you choose?

I don’t usually listen to music while reading because, as impossible as it sounds, I am really BAD at it. Every time I’ve tried to listen to music while reading, I’ll pick a song that totally goes against what I’m reading. Like, I’ll pick a nice, calm song, and five minutes later will be a super tense part in the book, or really intense music at a really sad part in a book. If I had to pick a song, I’d probably pick “Venus, the Bringer of Peace,” written by Gustav Holst because I would want a piece I can tune out if I have to. (or, if I could, all of The Planets Suite because just about every emotion is covered between the nine planets).

If you had to have your favorite meal- sans arugula, of course- what would it be?

FAJITAS!!! I LOVE fajitas!! We have a food place called Fajita Grill in my city; I swear, I’m there at least once a week. And my dad makes AMAZING FAJITAS! And he taught me to make AMAZING FAJITAS! I love the word fajita and I love the food fajita! Everything about fajitas.

Do you have a favorite time of the year? If so, when is it and why?

I usually find something to love about almost every time of the year (except March/April time, ironically, around here, everything is just barely covered with a grimy layer of snow). Prepare for some pics!

I love Spring because:

I love Summer because most of my hobbies are summer hobbies (water skiing, hiking, camping, gardening, archery, etc). And because:

Winter because:

I love clean snow!

I am a Christmas Fiend!

But, if I had to pick one, I would probably pick early to mid October (early fall), because the whole state looks like this:

(Also, you’re welcome for the tour of my photographer phase.)

What was your last binge watch/read?

I have been binge (re)watching Parks and Rec. Leslie Knope for President 2k20! And my last binge read was And I Darken, I finished the whole book in, like, three days.

What was your favorite story (folktale or fairytale maybe?) as a kid?

When I was really young, it was Where the Wild Things Are, and then a little later, the Narnia books (I know, try to contain your surprise). I don’t know if I could choose a favorite fairytale, though. I’ve loved all the older, darker stories for as long as I can remember.

Do you discuss books with anyone in real-life?

I do indeed. Tricia is my real-life book friend, so we talk to each other about books and give each other recommendations. And my dad and I are both HUGE fantasy nerds (thank God), so we talk about books all the time, and then get super nerdy and talk about how magic works in different series and how we would expect magic and such things to work in real life.

… It’s possible that I get my nerdiness from him.

If you could meet your favorite author, who would it be and what one question would you ask them?

If I had to pick a living writer, I would choose either Sarah Kay or Adam Falkner (I know, I’m cheating a little, I can’t help it). These are two of my favorite poets, both of them performance poets. Sarah Kay founded Project VOICE, and travels the world teaching poetry to students in different countries. After she taught me her ways, I would ask her what it’s like to teach poetry in countries which may look down writers, women, and/or people of color, and do the kids she teaches show promise in changing those biases?

And then there’s Adam Falkner. He actually came to my college and gave a talk on writing and teaching writing and I got to ask him a question, and I swear I was smiling like an idiot for a week. (Whaaat? Who me? Have a poet crush? Noooooooo- maybe… yes.) Adam Falkner founded the Dialogue Arts Project, an organization that teaches people the necessity of writing, performing, and sharing stories as a way to open critical conversations about race, gender, sexuality, and privilege. I would have so many questions, but if I had to pick just one, I would ask how he ensures the lessons people learn in classes or workshops stick with them outside of that safe space. For example, it’s all well and good for people to say they support women’s equality when most of the people in the room agree, but what do they do to prove it when there’s opposition? How does he make sure the people he teaches take the stories and lessons with them to places that may not be as open to differences and ideas?

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Those were awesome questions, it was a lot of fun! But I feel like my answers were longer than they needed to be. Welcome to the crazy whirlwind that is my brain! On to the nominations!

My Nominations:

Lee @ The Scottish Librarian / Lia @ Lost in a Story / Jasmine @ How Useful It Is / Katlyn @ Everything Under the Sun / Princess @ Royal Reader

If you’re not interested in doing this for whatever reason, don’t feel like you have to! I know life can get pretty crazy sometimes!

My Questions:

1. If you were to go on any gameshow, which one would it be?
2. Pick a favorite character; if you could magically gain any one of their skills, which would it be? (ex: Legolas’ sight, Cinderella’s singing, etc)
3. Of the books you own, which one has your favorite cover?
4. If you could give yourself an award, what would it be for?
5. Tell me your favorite thing about your best friend!
6. If you could play any instrument, which one would you choose and why?
7. What’s your favorite comfort food?
8. Describe your dream house!
9. If you were to write a book, what genre would you write in?
10. What are your favorite pizza toppings?
11. If you could set any world record, what would you want it to be?

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Thanks for reading! How would you answer some of these questions? Do you agree or disagree with any of my answers? Are there any other questions you would ask? Let me know in the comments below!