Danielle at Books, Vertigo & Tea recently nominated me for the Liebster Award! Danielle is a fantastic person who always has great reviews and thought provoking discussions about books and other bookish topics, so stop by her site and check it out!

Thanks, Danielle!

The Rules:

• Thank the blogger who nominated you, provide a link to their blog and display the award.
• Answer 11 questions they asked you.
• Come up with your own 11 questions
• Tag 11 bloggers and don’t forget to tell them.

Danielle’s Questions:

If you had to choose one fictional world to spend the remainder of your days in, where would you go?

Middle-Earth, no question. There are so many places I would love to visit: Lothlorien, Rivendell, Minas Tirith, Edoras, and The Shire, of course. I’d love to stop by The Golden Perch for a pint and at least see the the horses of Rohan, if not beg for a short ride. And who wouldn’t want to spend a night listening to tales of the Second Age in the Hall of Fire? And I definitely would not mind watching a sunrise over the Misty Mountains, even if I had to get up early.

What was the last book/film that moved you to tears?

I didn’t see Coco in the theater, but it recently started streaming on Netflix. I did not expect the true meaning of the song, ‘Remember Me’ to affect me like it did. I don’t often cry because of books/movies, but I was bawling during that scene with Miguel and Coco and the guitar. If you haven’t managed to see Coco yet, definitely check it out.

Name one book that you truly disliked that was incredibly hyped or well received within the book community.

Just one? Throne of Glass and Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas. City of Bones or Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare. Here are four. Occasionally, I go above and beyond.

In all these books, the writing was sub-par, the protagonists were billed as badass but were really ‘meh’, and the villains read like they were pulled from the stage of a children’s melodrama.

Who are three of your favorite female protagonists and why?

Iselle dy Chalion- One of the main characters of The Curse of Chalion, Iselle is an intelligent young woman at the center of the court of her step-brother, the Roya of the kingdom of Chalion. Iselle begins the book as a clever but somewhat naive teenager, but is smart enough to learn from the people around her. She is decisive, learns how to navigate the political currents of the Chalionese court, and takes action when disaster strikes. YA Heroines everywhere could learn a lot from Iselle. (Note, Iselle is not a POV character, but she does drive the story).

Eowyn- The Lord of the Rings was one of the first fantasy books I ever read, and Eowyn was the very first swordswoman I ever read about. She was loyal, brave, and willing to give her life to defend the people she loved. Of all the fantasy heroines to admire, you could do a lot worse than Eowyn, with her famous declaration to the Witch-King of Angmar as she raises her sword to strike, “I am no man!”

Chani- Like The Lord of the Rings, Frank Herbert’s Dune was a classic that I read early. I think I was about twelve the first time I read it, and I was immediately captivated by the young Fremen warrrior girl. Like the rest of her people, Chani was a fierce and disciplined warrior who was also a religious leader, and later a mother. Despite her disparate roles, she is believable in all of them. Her strength was inspiring to a twelve-year old me.

Name a habit or vice that you currently have that you would like to give up or do away with.

I need to stop hitting the snooze button every morning. I would get so much more done if I’d just get up the first time the alarm went off.

If you could only read one genre for the rest of your life, which would you choose?

Fantasy. If I could only read one book for the rest of my life, I would choose The Lord of the Rings. Though I’ve read it more than twenty times, I find something new every single time.

If you were the main character in your current read, what would be your current situation (without spoilers of course)?

I would be a young Italian immigrant, recently widowed, and stranded in Buenos Aires. I would soon be falling in love with the tango, a scandalous new dance, and disguising myself as a man in order to indulge my love for this new dance and the violin (The Gods of Tango by Carolina de Robertis).

What is one book that you recommend to everyone?

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold. It’s a standalone (mostly) novel, and though it is nearly 500 pages long, it is so rich and engaging that it flies by. There is action, adventure, political intrigue, philosophy, and romance. The characters are wonderfully deep, the prose is lyrical without wandering into the purple, and I have said more than once that The Curse of Chalion provides a masterclass in world-building. While this book is technically part of a series, The Curse of Chalion works as a standalone. I list other books as my ‘favorites’, but Lois McMaster Bujold doesn’t get nearly enough attention from the world of book blogs, so I try to promote her work whenever I can.

What is something that most people do not know about you?

Umm…. I dunno. I like grapefruit juice? I have no interest in visiting tourist resorts like those in Cozumel? While I have a pretty good direction sense while in North America, for some reason I lose all sense of north and south when I’m in Europe?

Aside from reading and blogging, how do you like to spend most of your time?

Photography. I’ve had a camera in hand since I was fifteen. I work in the photography industry, and I can safely say that I’ve spent more on photographic equipment than I have on books. My background in art and photography help me to see beautiful and interesting things everywhere I go.

Name your favorite book villain or “bad guy” of all time.

There’s Sauron, of course, but he’s not really in The Lord of the Rings except as this looming, horrific threat. Petyr Baelish from Geroge R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series is such a twisty character- sometimes he seems good, sometimes he is straight up bad- and it’s so interesting to see how he manipulates the people around him and gets them to play straight into his hands without their knowing it.

There’s also Gerald Tarrant from C.S. Friedman’s Coldfire Trilogy. He does something truly horrific at the story’s opening and he justifies those actions later on (in his own mind, at least. The final judgment is, I think, up to the reader). He is one of the main characters, and while you know he is a horrible person, you start to root for him.

My Questions:

1. Who is your favorite hero/heroine?
2. What is your favorite book-to-movie/television adaptation?
3. What is a genre you don’t read, and why don’t you read it?
4. If you could rewrite the ending of one book, which one would it be?
5. What is your favorite opening line?
6. If you could trade places with a single character (and keep all their abilities) who would it be?
7. If you could make a mash-up of two very different books, what would they be (for example, a mash-up of The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle and Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman)?
8. What is your favorite cover art of all time?
9. Which book or book series would you love to see adapted into a TV show/movie (that has not already been turned into a TV show/movie)?
10. Name an author you love who doesn’t get enough attention?
11. What genre would you like to read more of?

I’m terrible at nominating people, so if you think these questions are at all interesting, then consider yourself nominated!