Liebster Award

Kara, from A BookLover's Heart, nominated my blog for the Liebster Award! 

The rules:
~Link back to the blogger that tagged you.
~Nominate ten others and answer the questions from the blogger that tagged you.
~Ask ten questions for the bloggers you nominate.
~Let your nominees know of their award.

My answers to Kara's questions:

Anne Elisabeth Stengl

1. Who is your favorite author (s) and why?

Such a hard question! Thank you for including the "(s)". Among current author's I definitely would put Anne Elisabeth Stengl at the top, Melanie Dickerson, Karen Witemeyer, Regina Jennings, and Julie Klassen just to name a few. They are also all on my must-read-their-newest-book-when-it-comes-out list. My older favorite authors are J.R.R. Tolkien, Karl May, C.S. Lewis, Louisa May Alcott, G.A. Henty, Martha Finley, and Jane Austen.

2. What do you enjoy most about blogging and would you recommend it to others?

To be perfectly honest, I like getting free books to review the best. ;-) And a close second is interacting with authors and other book lovers. I'm finding that I'm less thrilled about the writing side of writing a blog :P but I probably just need a good dose of motivation and an anti-laziness pill. 

I would recommend book blogging (in particular) to anyone who loves books, loves sharing books, wants to get to know authors better and someone who doesn't mind writing.

3. Is there a book you didn’t think you’d like, but you ended up loving it?

Hard question, I have a tendency to forget things I don’t like. … Well, one author I didn't think would be quite my cup of tea (I don't know why!) was Karen Kingsbury. Then last fall I read The Bridge and loved it, last spring I read The Chance and loved it. And then between May and July I read the entire Baxter Family saga series and loved those.

There were a few books that I had to read for school that I wasn't too sure I'd like but Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham and The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster were both pleasant surprises that have stuck in my memory.

Photo credit: El Monte RV Rentals

4. What would be your ideal vacation spot or your dream vacation?

Three weeks camping, no make that RVing (since this is a dream vacation) in a national park. It'd be really ideal if there were a number of other national parks within an easy day trip's drive and a good library within non-strenuous biking distance.

5. How many books are on your TBR shelf?

According to the incomplete Goodreads list, 232. Hmm, nope take that back, I added a few more since writing that.

6. What is your favorite spot to read?

My bed, the couch, at the dining table while eating.

7.  Do you have a favorite snack while reading?

Nope. I get too absorbed into the story to even think about eating. Except if I'm reading while eating a meal.

8. Which blogger has inspired you the most?

Kara (http://karathewriter.blogspot.com/) has been the most encouraging. 

Anne Elisabeth (http://anneelisabethstengl.blogspot.com/) is always interesting to read.

And I think I looked at Abbi's (http://writingchristiannovels.blogspot.com/) and Melanie's (http://christianbookshelfreviews.blogspot.com/) the most when figuring out the book blogging world.

9. What are your other hobbies (besides reading)?

I do like to cross stitch (but haven't done that much recently), I spend more time than I should on Facebook games (when I have internet), playing flute, and then computer games such as Civilization III, Age of Empires, Oregon Trail, and Roller Coaster Tycoon are some of my favorites if I'm in the mood for that. But in reality, reading is my main hobby.

10. What’s one of your biggest book pet peeves?

Seeing kids mistreat books. Since I'm a school librarian I cringe everytime a book gets dumped into the book return box and gets it's covers or pages bent up. Also if a book is returned wet. Especially by a high schooler! They should know how to keep their drink bottle cap tight. (This happened last week so it's a fresh and annoying memory.)

My Questions (some I came up with on my own, the rest were inspired (or copied) from other blogs):

1. Why did you decide to start a blog?
2. What is one thing on your bucket list that realistically you probably won't check off?
3. What is your favorite genre and why?
4. Which would you rather be, divinely beautiful, or dazzlingly clever, or angelically good?
5. If you could meet one person, living, dead, or fictional, who would it be and why?
6. If you were given 3 wishes, one for you, one for your community, and one for the world, what would they be?
7. List five books or series that you'd like to own.
8. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go (money doesn't matter)?
9. Gilbert Blythe, Mr. Darcy, Sir Percy, or Aragorn?
10. What's the last thing you ate?

I don't expect all these bloggers to participate, but since the purpose is to share blogs that you love (liebster means beloved after all) I nominate...

Abbi ~ Christian Novels

Amber ~ Seasons of Humility

Anne Elisabeth ~ Tales of Goldstone Wood

Casey ~ Writing for Christ, the Audience of One

Charity ~ Austenitis

Emily & Janie ~ Redeemed Reader

Megan ~ Hardcover Feedback

Mulitple Authors ~ Colonial Quills (they have some really fascinating tidbits on history)

(Ok, I know that's not ten, but two of them are by multiple people, so it does add up in the end...)