Tags

The Starlight Blogger Award

A huge thank you to Olivia Emily over at Bibliomad – please go and check out her blog before even thinking about reading the rest of this post!

The Rules

1. Thank the giver and link their blog to your post.

2. Answer the 3 original questions and then the 3 new questions from your nominator given to you.

3. Nominate your 6 favorite bloggers! In your nominees I would like for you to think at the light emanating from the stars the ones that truly touch your soul with their work, the ones that are the light for you a true STARLIGHT Blogger.

4. Please pass the award on to 6 or more other Bloggers of your choice and let them know that they have been nominated by you.

5. Include the logo of the award in a post or on your Blog, please never alter the logo, never change the 3 original questions answer that first then answer the 3 new questions from your nominator and never change the Award rules.

6. Please don’t delete this note:
The design for the STARLIGHT Bloggers Award has been created from YesterdayAfter. It is a Copyright image, you cannot alter or change it in any way just pass it to others that deserve this award.
Copyright 2015 © YesterdayAfter.com – Design by Carolina Russo”

The Original Questions

1. If you could meet anyone from throughout history, who and why?

They say ‘Don’t meet your heroes’ so probably not someone who it would be too disappointing to actually meet – think when Hazel meets the author of An Imperial Affliction and he turns out to be a knob in TFIOS. I would probably go for someone who could divulge information that isn’t common knowledge today – from the Dark Ages or the Biblical Age.

2. What is your favourite book and why?

Here’s a selection:

  • Anna and the French Kiss – Stephanie Perkins
  • 1984 – George Orwell
  • The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
  • The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
  • Obsidian – Jennifer L Armentrout
  • The Book Thief – Marcus Zusak
  • Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
  • The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger

3. Who is your favourite fiction character from any medium and why?

I have a feeling I’ll really like Celaena Sardothien when I start on the sequels to Throne of Glass… Big fan of Georgia Nicholson from Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging and Evie from Am I Normal Yet? by Holly Bourne.

Olivia’s Questions

  1. If you could visit any place in time or space, where would you go?

Egypt, during the discovery of the tombs (think The Mummy). Alternatively early USA, perhaps the Gold Rush in California?

2. What was the last movie you watched? Was it good? Better or worse than expected?

I think the last movie I watched was Lady Chatterley’s Lover (the 2015 BBC adaptation). It was pretty good, a little more boring than expected and not quite true to the book, but enjoyable all the same.

3. Which book are you absolutely dying to read?

I’ve seen some brilliant reviews of Illuminae by Amie Kaufman (which is released this October).

The Nominees

Nya @ Nyareads

Disha @ Franklenstein

Anna @ Annathebibliophile

Dani @ Danireviewsthings

Macy @ MacyAvenue

Mara @ AcrossTheBooks

My Questions

  1. Which book did you just not gel with?
  2. If you could choose one book to reread every month, which would it be?
  3. What’s your favourite food to accompany a book?

Thanks for reading!

Annalise x

Book Tag| The Reader Problems Tag

Thank you to Olivia Grace at bibliomad for tagging me, and make sure you check out her answers!

1. You have 20,000 books on your TBR. How in the world do you decide what to read next?

My TBR list is actually full of books I don’t want to read right now – a lot I selected long before they were released, and now they’ve been released and the reviews – not that great. I select what i’m going to read based on a range of factors. First, there’s price. So many new books are overly expensive, and I’d rather buy a cheaper book first. Then I look at GoodReads scores – I don’t tend to read anything under a score of 4, unless it’s been gifted to me. Then I look at the actual reviews. There are tons of books which have high GoodReads scores, but all the top reviews are 1-star, complaining about how terrible the book actually is. Another factor which plays into what I read next is the book’s current popularity – whether it’s being made into a film or TV show, whether it’s got a buzz in the reviewing community, whether my friends are reading it too. I think my TBR list would be narrowed down pretty quickly!

2. You’re halfway through a book and you’re just not loving it. Do you quit or are you committed?

If I really don’t like a book, I probably don’t make it halfway. I might leave it for a few months before picking it up again, but I really do like finishing every book I start.

3. The end of the year is coming and you’re so close but so far away on your Goodreads challenge. Do you try to catch up and how?

At the end of the day, it’s an arbitrary measure – if I have work to do, reading has to come second. I may choose to read some shorter books to catch up, but it’s really not that important.

4. The covers of a series you love do. not. match. How do you cope?

Ok, so this is a problem that has afflicted nearly all of my favourite series. There’s been series that started with the US editions, then changed to the UK ones. There’s series where they’ve scrapped the UK covers for the last book so they match the US editions. There’s books I’ve preordered in a matching cover, then the cover changes at the last minute, and there series doesn’t match anymore. It is so annoying to have a near full set of one style of cover, then the last book is completely different.

5. Everyone and their mother loves a book you really don’t like. Who do you bond with over shared feelings?

There are always negative reviews on GoodReads – and there’s always a review out there which I agree with. Sometimes a book has so much hype upon release,  but a few months later the reviews really are different.

6. You’re reading a book and you’re about to start crying in public. How do you deal?

Stop reading. Read something else for the time being.

7. A sequel of a book you loved just came out, but you’ve forgotten a lot from the prior novel. Will you reread the book? Skip the sequel? Try to find a synopsis on Goodreads?

If a sequel is well written, it’ll cleverly recap the events of a prior novel (J.K. Rowling does this expertly). I don’t tend to reread books, but I would read a good synopsis on the internet before diving in.

8. You do not want anyone, ANYONE, borrowing your books. How do you politely tell people no when they ask?

My friends don’t tend to read the same books that I do, so that’s not usually a problem. Saying they’re on kindle is also a great way of getting out of lending books.

9. You’ve picked up and put down 5 books in the last month. How do you get over your reading slump?

Easy – pick a short but sweet read, something that’s got brilliant reviews and is guaranteed to be good.

10. There are so many new books coming out that you’re dying to read. How many do you actually buy?

It really depends on the book. If it’s something I’m absolutely dying to read, I might buy it. Otherwise, I’d let the hype die down a bit, read some honest reviews and wait for the price to drop.

11. After you’ve bought the new books you can’t wait to get to, how long do they sit on your shelf before you get to them?

I might get stuck in if they’re something I really want to read, but I also have a huge backlog of books that I bought during finals, so it might take up to a year to actually get read. I also have a TBR shelf from a couple of years ago – books I started to read but just couldn’t get into, so it could literally be never (but that’s unlikely).

I tag…

Nichola (Always Rambling & Reading)

Mara (Across The Books)

Macy (Macy loves Stories)

and YOU! If you fancy participating, please do – just tag me in the post 🙂

Annalise x

The Inside Out Book Tag

inside-out

Thank you so much to Macy for tagging me in the Inside Out Book Tag!

A book that brings you joy

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

This is a sweet love story, but it’s also made me very optimistic for the future of YA – it’s not another rehash of Twilight, it has wonderfully written realistic characters, and its popularity is a testament that realistic books can do well in the market today.

A book that makes you angry

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

This one was difficult purely because I usually wouldn’t read a book that I knew I wouldn’t like. I read Hush, Hush years ago (probably about 2010). Everyone raved about. I didn’t think it was terrible. What I did think is that it was a complete Twilight rip-off. There were so many similar scenes and characters, and I was disappointed that a book would earn so much praise when it was so similar to other books on the market.

A book that makes you sad

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

So I must be one of the only people who didn’t cry during The Book Thief, but I think this book is pretty deserving of the sad book title – an absolutely beautiful original novel that should be the top of everyone’s TBR lists!

A book that disgusts you

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

Disclaimer: I haven’t read the book. I tried. I really tried. But I couldn’t get into it. I have seen the film though (yes, I’ve become one of those people) so I know the basic plot. It’s really cliché but I don’t read that many books which disgust me. Any book in which an unhealthy abusive relationship is idolized is undeserving of my reading time.

A book which brings you fear

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

I guess I don’t read that many scary books, but this is one that did scare me as a child (perhaps the film moreso) – it’s full of whispering murderous snakes and unpredictable deaths and paralysis. It’s also brilliant and deserving of another re-read sometimes soon – and the new covers are just beautiful.

So that’s it! Another thank you to Macy for tagging me, and although it’s been difficult, I think that just means I need to expand my book horizons and read more disgusting, scary literature!

Annalise x

Tags:

Nichola (Always Rambling & Reading)

Disha (Franklenstein)

Chanice (Inside The Mind of a Bibliophile)

Always Opinionated Girl

Olivia (bibliomad)

And whoever else wants to participate!