Liebster Award #2

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these awards posts, but I was just tagged today by the wonderful Emily and this seemed like perfect timing.  I meant to finish like, three books this week so I’d have some more reviews for you all, but I seem to be unable to finish anything these days so here we are.  Hopefully I’ll catch up on my reading over the weekend.

Rules:

• Say thank you to the person who has nominated you for the Award.
• Answer the 11 questions the person has asked you
• Nominate 11 people
• Ask the people who you have nominated 11 questions

Emily’s Questions:

What’s a book you LOVED but have never reread?

I mean… most of my faves!  I’m not a big re-reader.  But I’ll choose a book that I do intend to reread at some point, and say Milkman by Anna Burns.  This is a truly extraordinary book that I have waxed eloquent about quite enough, I think.  But I think it could absolutely benefit from a reread.

Is there a genre (or subgenre) you tried recently and realized you’ve been missing out on and/or should read more often?

I read Human Chain by Seamus Heaney earlier this summer and it reminded me how much I love poetry when it’s done right, which obviously everything by Seamus Heaney is.  More broadly I need to read more poetry, but I do want to read more from Heaney specifically.

How often do you visit your local library?

Not as often as I should – especially given that my local librarian follows me on Twitter (hi, Marie, if you’re reading this).  I actually LOVE libraries, especially my local one which is very cute and cozy, but I’m just constantly overwhelmed by the amount of unread books I already own.  One of my 2020 reading goals is going to be to allow myself more room for mood reading, which will hopefully mean using the library more.  Oh, and I do use Overdrive quite a lot, especially for audiobooks.

What are your most and least favorite things (one each) about where you live?

Favorite – it’s a very safe community; i.e., I don’t even lock my house when I leave for the day.  (Also, I know that nowhere is truly safe from the mass shooting epidemic in this country, but I have to confess that the thought of moving to a big city has been giving me a lot more anxiety this year than it has in the past.)

Least favorite – there are so many contenders, lol, but I was just thinking about this last night as I was driving home from the grocery store unsure whether or not I had enough feta in my fridge to make the recipe I was making for dinner – I absolutely HATE how remote everything is.  The nearest grocery store is a 15 minute drive from my house (and there’s nothing closer – like, convenience stores are not a thing in my town), the nearest shopping mall is 1 hour away, the nearest Starbucks is on another planet, the nearest LUSH store is (literally) in a different country; I’m just sick of how inaccessible everything is.

Is there a book you want to read eventually, just to say you’ve read it?

Actually War and Peace was this book for me, and now I’ve read it!  So, I don’t know.  I’m sure there are plenty of others but nothing comes to mind immediately.  Oh I guess I do want to be able to say that I’ve read all of Jane Austen’s books?  As of now I’ve read one (1).  So.  I should get on that.  Also the Bronte novels.  Have read two (2).

What’s the best weather for an afternoon of reading?

Whether I’m reading inside or outside, SUN.  I am not a ‘curl up with a book and a cup of tea when it’s storming’ kind of person.  I mean, I am, in the sense that books and tea are what I do with my free time anyway, but that kind of weather isn’t ideal and romantic to me.  If it’s dreary outside, I just fall asleep.  I am like a plant that wilts without sunshine.

What book are you most anticipating with a far out publication date (or no date announced yet)?

I’m going to go with the new Dyachenko book – Daughter from the Dark by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko, translated from the Russian by Julia Meitov Hersey.  This is publishing on February 11, 2020 from Harper Voyager.  Vita Nostra was one of my favorite reads of 2018, and even though this one isn’t a continuation of the same story, it sounds absolutely brilliant.  Summary here.

Buddy reads or readathons, and why?

Buddy reads.  I’m really not a big readathon person (which is ironic, given that I just spent August doing WITmonth and am currently co-hosting a readathon).  I just find that the only readathons that really work for me are month-long themed readathons.  Ones where you try to cram in a bunch of reading in a smaller time frame just stress me out; believe it or not, I actually hate planning my life around reading; reading is something I do in my down time.

Anyway, that was all very anti-readathons, but I am also pro-buddy reads!  I prefer the kind of buddy read where you both loosely read the same book at the same time; I don’t love having to read a set number of pages per day.  But I love discussing a book with someone as we go along and comparing thoughts at the end.

If you had to write/blog under a pseudonym, what would you pick?

I have actually thought about this and decided that I would use my middle name and my grandmother’s maiden name for the most Irish pseudonym you have ever heard – Kathleen O’Connor.

Would you feel satisfied or disappointed to actually reach the end of your TBR?

Disappointed.  I don’t want a TBR of zero.  I always want to have more books to look forward to.

Pet pictures! Or a picture of your favorite real-life creature from anywhere in the world.

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These are my lil babes – Percy (grey, a menace) and Lily (black, an angel).  They are indoor cats who are only allowed outside while supervised.  They are very sweet and very spoiled.

I tend not to tag for awards that I’ve already done more than once (plus Emily tagged all of my friends already, lol!) but if you enjoy these questions and want to answer them either in a comment or in your own post, go for it!

Happy Friday, friends x

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