The Real Neat Blog Award!

Happy Wednesday, awesome people! And for those of you in the US, happy early Thanksgiving! I hope you guys get to eat some amazing food!

I was nominated for the Real Neat Blog Award by the incredible Darque Dreamer Reads. If you guys aren’t following her already, you should definitely go check out her blog! She is so awesome, and does everything from book and makeup reviews to buddy reads and more!

AND she was kind enough to nominate me for this award! So, without any further ado, the Real Neat Blog Award!

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The Rules:

• Display the award logo on your blog
• Thank the folks who nominated you and provide links to their blogs
• Answer the 7 questions asked by your nominator(s)
• Nominate any number of other bloggers to share the award and give them some linky love
• Notify the nominated folk
• Ask the nominees 7 questions of your own

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Darque’s Questions:

What do you love most about blogging?

I know everyone says this, but it’s all about the community! Book blogging folks are a group of smart, well-read obvs, super amazing people, and I love having the opportunity to talk about books with such incredible people.

Why did you start blogging in the first place?

In college, I studied English and Creative Writing, so I was used to being around bookish people all day, every day.  When I graduated, I knew I’d still want that sense of bookish community. I’d had to create several blogs for different classes throughout college, so I knew that was a platform I could connect with and really enjoy. And Ryann the Reader was born.

Do you have a favorite genre?

Absolutely! If you’ve been following my blog for any length of time, it should come as no surprise that my favorite genre is Fantasy!

What is your favorite book you’ve read so far this year, and what did you love about it?

I have such a hard time choosing between the Six of Crows duology and The Bear and the Nightingale. Six of Crows has some incredible characters that I absolutely fell in love with, and I thought the story was exciting and well-paced, so I just couldn’t get enough! The Bear and the Nightingale had an amazing setting, and I absolutely adored the protagonist, Vasya. I can’t wait to get to Book 2!

Favorite and least favorite slang word of the 2010s. (Hint, “neat” is not from the 2010s.)

Oh gosh, I’m not big on slang in general. If I had to choose a favorite, I would go with “lit” because every time someone uses it, my brain does this:

Was YOLO in the 2010’s? I don’t even know. If it was, then that would be my least favorite.

Which kind of apocalypse do you most enjoy reading/watching/thinking about?

All the apocalypses I’ve read about in books have been man-made ones, like a nuclear fallout or a massive EMP strike. I think I like those ones the most because it puts humanity into an interesting perspective. I mean, there’s no imminent threat of having your brains eaten by zombies or dying just by interacting with someone who could be sick, but people still do crazy things. And I like thinking about the struggle of how do we rebuild a society when the only one we know brought us to the point of complete collapse? There’s no virus or natural disaster to blame, we are 100% responsible, so how do we build a society that won’t let it happen again? I didn’t know I had a preference one way or the other till this very moment.

What about a blog makes you follow?

Oh boy. Confession time.

I’m suuuuper picky about which blogs I follow. I’ve been blogging for almost a year, and I only follow 108 blogs. I’m just a really busy person, so I want to make sure that the blogs I follow are ones I absolutely love, that I’ll be able to regularly have meaningful interaction with.

The blogs I follow post regularly (a few times a month at least), and they post more than just book reviews. Don’t get me wrong, I love hearing other people’s opinions about a book, but I could just as easily get that from Goodreads. I want all the stuff I can’t get from Goodreads. I want to talk about books and book covers and writers and problematic faves and pretty much anything book-related. The blogs I follow also have great graphics. I know that looks aren’t everything, but having good graphics, even if they aren’t my personal tastes, lets me know that a blogger is serious about their blog. And lastly, I want to see that they interact with their followers. I don’t want to take time to visit their blog, read their content, and leave a comment, only to have it go unnoticed.

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I’m gonna nominate the three blogs I most recently started following, now that you all know how ridiculously picky I am

Ioana @ Dragon Waffles / Kate @ Reading Through Infinity / Emily @ The Little Book Affair

My Questions:

1. What makes you follow a blog?  
2. If you remember, what was your “gateway” book? The book that launched your love of reading?
3. What’s your favorite and/or least favorite book-to-movie adaptation?
4. Do you have a “comfort book?” A book you reread when you need a pick-me-up?
5. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever given or received?
6. If everyone you met from now on could instantly know one thing about you, what would you want them to know and why?
7. Is there any sort of random subject/fact/phenomenon that fascinates you? (I stole this one from Steph @ Lost: Purple Quill)

As always, there’s no pressure to do a post if you don’t want to!

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Thanks for reading!

What do you think of my answers? What book has been your favorite read so far this year? Which kind of apocalypse is your favorite? Do you think I’m too picky with who I follow? Let me know in the comment below!