I’m a Liebster!

“What the heck is a Liebster?” I hear you ask. Well, in the blogging community the Liebster Award is an award given by bloggers to bloggers with 200 followers or fewer. (Although, I bent the rules a little on that.) Find out more here. A big thanks to Maggie at The Caramel Files for nominating me! See seems pretty awesome, and has definitely made this whole blogging venture feel like maybe it’s not a complete waste of time, lol.

One of my favorite bookish blogs to follow since I’ve began this enterprise is Melanie at MNBernard Books. Once a week Melanie posts the most interesting discussion questions that always really get me thinking. Her book reviews are simple and direct, which is just the way I like them. I’m also interested in participating in The Calendar Girls, an online discussion group that she’s super involved in. If only Twitter didn’t scare me so much… Anyhow, if you haven’t already you should check out MNBernard Books.

Now I shall answer the questions Maggie gave me in her nomination post. Ahem.

1. What’s your most cherished book?
   I notice it doesn’t say “favorite book”… My most cherished book is probably the Harry Potter series. Harry Potter will always have a special place in my heart as an important part of my friendless middle school years, and something that brought my entire family together. I will never not re-read.
2. What is your all-time favorite movie?
   I don’t know how to choose between The Lord of the Rings and Pitch Perfect!
3. What would you consider to be your worst habit?
   I interrupt people. ALL. THE. TIME. The worst part is that I don’t even always notice when I do it, which makes it really hard to catch myself and stop.
4. When did you realize just how much you adore reading?
   When I was 2? My mom has this adorable video on some VHS somewhere of me reading Are You My Mother to her before I even knew how to read. I loved that book so much that I memorized it!
5. What made you decide to start blogging?
   So this is a really long story…The last couple of years I’ve been having trouble at work. I won’t get into the details, but at the end of the school year I was really starting to wonder if it wasn’t time for a career change. But I love teaching, and what else was I going to do? I started saying things to my husband like “I wish I could just find a job where they paid me to read.” I meant it jokingly enough, but I kept saying it.So near the end of May I decided to look into it. Could I be a professional book reviewer, like at Simon and Schuster or something? It turns out that they do exist, but the chances of that happening to me are pretty slim. But in the process of learning about that, I learned a lot about book blogs. I had already been reviewing my books on Goodreads for a couple of years, and so this seemed like the natural next step. I decided to give it a try.
6. Are you an introvert or extrovert?
   Both. The accepted term is centrovert. I am very extroverted in some ways, for example I think and process best out loud (or on “paper”), I get lonely if I’m alone for more than about 12 hours, and a few other things. But I’m very introverted in that I hate large crowds and social situations make me anxious, I need quiet time to unwind at the end of the day, and I prefer to stay home rather than going somewhere.
7. What are your favorite pizza toppings?
   Cheese, cheese, and more cheese.
8. Do you keep a journal? Why or why not?
   Technically, no. However, I do reflect in a journal about my Bible. I read a passage a night, and then I write about what it meant to me, or what there is to be learned, or the deeper symbolism, or whatever.
9. What’s your favorite childhood memory?
   Playing Beanie Babies with my little brother. We had this whole ongoing story going on with a king and a queen and a royal court and their horses, and all these side stories. We were adorable.
10. What’s some advice you’d like to give to other newish book bloggers?
    I’m not sure I’m the best person to be offering advice, but I would say to just be yourself. If you want to jump in with the memes do it, but if you want to do your own thing, do that. Also, find something that makes your blog unique.
11. What’s the longest book you’ve ever read in its entirety?
    I’m just going to assume it’s The Lord of the Rings. I  read a lot of long books though, so there’s a good chance it could be something else.

So I’m nominating a couple of blogs that I have really been enjoying reading. I think I’m supposed to nominate 5-11, but let’s be serious, that isn’t going to happen. But these 3 blogs are blogs that I have really really enjoyed reading, and especially getting to know the authors!

• Little Blind Book Finds
• Darcy’s Book Blog
• Naty’s Bookshelf

My questions for you all, should you choose to accept:

1. Favorite book?
2. Least favorite book?
3. Why did you start your book blog?
4. What are your book blogging goals?
5. Which social media site do you like the best? (Personally or for books… you pick!)
6. Any pets? If so, can we see a picture?
7. Coffee or tea?
8. Hogwarts house?
9. Who was (is) your favorite teacher?
10. All time favorite Halloween costume? OR Plans for this year’s Halloween costume?
11. Are there aliens out there? Why or why not?

Thanks again for the nomination Maggie! I’m really enjoying this blogging thing and the whole book blogging community. You guys are pretty great.