I was nominated by Rachael @ Beach Bookworm for the Liebster Award. Hooray! Thanks, Rachael! I’ve been nominated for this award before, but I’m perfectly happy to get it again.

The creator of this award is Jack @ The Global Aussie

What Is the Liebster Award?
The Liebster Award 2018 is an award that exists only on the internet and is given to bloggers by other bloggers. The earliest case of the award goes as far back as 2011. Liebster in German means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.

The Rules:

1. Thank the person who nominated you, and put a link to their blog on your blog.
2. Display the award on your blog – easiest way is including it in your post and/or displaying it using a “widget” or a “gadget”.
3. Write a small post about what makes you passionate about blog posting.
4. Provide 10 random facts about yourself. (optional)
5. Answer the 11 questions given to you and create 11 new questions for the bloggers that you nominate.
6. Nominate 5-11 bloggers that you feel would enjoy blogging about this award.
7. List these rules in your post.

Why I Blog:

I started my blog about five years ago to keep track of and keep myself accountable for a yearlong reading challenge. I successfully completed the challenge, but I didn’t keep up with blogging very much until a couple of years ago. I was reading more and more and wanted to share my thoughts about the books I loved and see what bookish things other people were talking about. Thanks to this blog, I’ve met new friends from all over, and have had many wonderful bookish conversations.

Ten Random Facts About Me:

1. My Dad taught me to read when I was four years old.
2. I have a terrible sense of smell.
3. Winter is my favorite season. I quickly acclimate to cold, but I don’t acclimate to hot weather.
4. I’ve had a camera in hand since I was fifteen. Once again, my Dad taught me how.
5. Aside from my photographs, books are the primary souvenirs I bring home from my travels.
6. I hate driving through cities.
7. I love bats. They’re adorable.
8. I know my library card number better than I know my phone number.
9. I own ten cameras. Nine are functional, eight use film, two are digital, and I actually use six of them.
10. I am a night owl.

Rachael’s Questions for Me:

1. Who is your fictional best friend?
I’m not sure. I’d probably get along with Frodo Baggins or Lizzie Bennet, but I think I could be good friends with Richard Mayhew from Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan from Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga, or Betriz from Lois McMaster Bujold’s The Curse of Chalion.

2. What is your favorite bookshop?
I loved browsing the shelves at Waterstones in London, Leakey’s Bookshop in Inverness, Scotland, and Mál og Menning in Reykjavik, Iceland, but my favorite bookstore is my beloved A Novel Idea which is a used bookstore right here in my hometown. I’ve been going there since I moved here for college. I know the staff, they know me, and I am guaranteed to find a good book or three and have a great conversation while I’m there.

3. When do you do most of your reading?
At night, after I get home from work. Or during my lunch hour, assuming I’m not interrupted a dozen times.

4. Where is your favorite place to read?
I like to read on my couch, but I can read just about anywhere including sprawled on the floor, when riding in a car, on airplanes, or even when walking around my apartment.

5. Why is reading important to you?
Reading gives me a way to escape when life is stressing me out. It allows me to experience lives other than my own, entertains me, teaches me, and gives me a window onto worlds I can only imagine.

6. How do you make time for reading in your daily life?
I make reading a priority over things like television. I don’t play video games, and I make an effort to stay off social media sites like Facebook. It’s better for my stress levels and teaches me more about the world than the latest thoughtless rant.

7. Who is your fictional crush?
I don’t have crushes, so no one.

8. What is your favorite place you have traveled to?
I have great memories of just about everywhere I’ve traveled to, but my highlights are Colorado, Minnesota, North Dakota, Chicago, London, Scotland, and Ireland, with Iceland edging all the others out by a little.

9. What are some of your favorite TV shows?
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Penny Dreadful, Game of Thrones, Star Trek: Discovery, Firefly, Shetland, The Great British Baking Show.

10. Where is the best place to get some waffles?
My friends’ house. She’s a fantastic cook, and she and her husband have been some of my best friends for years.

11. Paperbacks or hardbacks?
Hardbacks are great, but they’re big and expensive. I tend to prefer trade paperbacks, since they’re easy to hold (especially when they have hundreds and hundreds of pages), and they don’t fall apart after the first or second reading.

My Questions:

1. Why do you read your favorite genre?
2. When did you fall in love with reading?
3. New or used books?
4. What is your favorite book to movie/TV adaptation?
5. What is a genre you don’t like to read?
6. What time period would you most like to visit?
7. Planes, trains, or automobiles?
8. Where do you go to get away from it all?
9. Who is your favorite author?
10. What is the first book you can remember reading?
11. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?

I Tag:

• Sara @ The Bibliophagist
• Jackie @ Death by Tsundoku
• Renee @ The Global Bookworm
• Aurora Librialis
• Melanie @ Grab the Lapels