Sunday, January 26, 2014

The Book Blogger TMI Tag

Well, pathetically, I wasn't tagged on this, but want to do it anyway. I love these. Plus, I think my lovely, talented, bookish daughter will have fun with this and I do intend to tag her, so . . .

I found this the same way I find most awesome things online - through twists and turns that start on The Magic Violinist's blog. For example, I was reading her blog and saw that she'd been tagged. I went to the blog of the person who tagged her and did some exploring (they have a terrific blog - super cute and very fun). While there, I read their original post - the one in which they tagged/awarded TMV. In those comments, I saw them squeal with delight that someone so awesome had commented on their blog. I then went to her blog and that's where I found this fun tag.

So I stole it. It's a compliment. Also? YA bloggers are the best.

How old are you?I'm turning 40 this year.

What book are you reading?
I'm reading Someday, Someday Maybe by Lauren Graham (love her). I'm also reading Everyone Sees the Ants by A.S. King, Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan, The Storm in the Barn by Matt Phelan, The Giver by Lois Lowry, and The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg.

What are you wearing?
After a week of wearing jammies and sweats from being laid up with severe neck pain, today I am dressed. Jeans, black cami, gray v-neck, long-sleeved shirt, hooded black cardigan sweater, and gray/black socks. Oh, and a hot yellow rice sock around my neck.

OTP?
I had to look up what this means. According to the Urban Dictionary, it stands for "One True Pairing," meaning "it is your favorite relationship in a fandom."

Okay, then I'd have to say based on recent reads, Eleanor & Park (from the eponymous book) as well as Augustus & Hazel (The Fault in our Stars). The girl from whom I stole this meme mentioned one from a TV show, so I'll go with Luke and Laurelai from "Gilmore Girls."

Blogger or Wordpress?Blogger, hands down. I hate that Wordpress makes me go through a trillion steps just to subscribe to comments and if you don't do it right away, you miss follow-up comments. Also? Unlike Blogger, they don't send you your own comment via email. Yes, I've thought about this at length. Hmph.

Going outside being active or staying in and reading a book?While I love being outside in the sun and my preferred place to read is in our backyard or on the beach, I'm going to go with staying in and reading a book.

What is the last book you read?
Attachments by my current favorite author (the author I wish I were), Rainbow Rowell. And The Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein with the kids. We've met Mr. Grabenstein. We dream of meeting Ms. Rowell.

What is the book you're going to read next?
My TBR (to be read) pile is starting to tower and splinter into several piles and doorstops. I am constantly hearing of new, great books (thank you, blogging world!), I'm in a book club, my entire family reads a ton, I find authors I like, I find covers that intrigue me . . . I very rarely find myself thinking, "I don't know what to read!" Up next after my current reads are Looking for Alaska by John Green and Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (this one was left on my nightstand with a note from my daughter letting me know that she had read it and thought I'd like it - how great is my life?).

eBooks - yes or no?
I think I've read one, mostly because I was antsy to start it and our library didn't have it. I like the immediacy of it and I like that it has a "find in page" feature. But other than than, I prefer a real book all the way. I love covers and I love how a real book feels in my hands. Magical.

Where do you prefer to read?Wherever. I guess the couch. When I'm wrapped up in a book, it hardly matters where I am. Somewhere quiet is fine.

Who is the last person you tweeted?
I do not tweet, but I do follow my daughter on Twitter.

Whose blog did you look at last?
Technically, the ones I linked above, obviously, since I immediately got distracted from clearing out my inbox to do this meme. But aside from those, I read my kids' blogs.

Who is your favourite blogger?
Love the extra "u" in British words. The Magic Violinist and Thing 2 are my favorite bloggers.

Who is your favourite booktuber?I don't know what this is. And now I'm feeling my age . . .

What do you do when someone tells you reading is boring?
If I'm being honest, I probably start by quietly judging them in my mind ("How can they not like reading?!?") and feeling dismissive ("I'm not sure this is someone I would enjoy talking to much."). But being me, it would immediately be followed by reminding myself not to be critical ("Everyone has different likes and dislikes, and that's okay.") and that would be very quickly followed by wondering if that person had a sad childhood ("Poor thing - maybe no one ever read to them or taught them the magic of books."). But the reality is that, all judgment aside, I do enjoy talking to readers more than those who dislike reading.

Who is the last author you spoke to?
A.S. King. - we've now spoken to her several times and always enjoy our conversations with her. Seriously trying to get our families together to have dinner.

Who is the last person you texted?Sherri.

Who is your all-time favourite book character?
How can I choose just one? I love Scout and Atticus from To Kill a Mockingbird. I love Neville and Luna from Harry Potter. I love the never-named main character who tells the story in Rebecca. I love Francie in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I have recent favorites - August, Hazel, and Isaac in The Fault in our Stars, Eleanor and Park in the book of the same name. And then there are characters that have special meaning from beloved childhood books - Louis from Trumpet of the Swan, Ralph from the Beverly Cleary books, Jo from Little Women . . .

UKYA or USYA?
What an interesting question! There are gems from both - I mean, who can compete with Harry Potter? No one.

What is your preferred drink whilst reading?
I love the word "whilst." Um, chai tea or hot cooca.

If you hated reading, what would you be doing instead?I can't imagine that, but I guess I'd be watching television shows. I think the writing for many shows is to be appreciated and revered the same way books and movies are. It's a different art form. I'm not talking about stupid or cliche shows. I'm talking about EXCELLENT writing. Some shows that come to mind are Gilmore Girls (everything about it - setting, characters, character development, character flaws, character strengths, dialogue, etc.), Friends (humor and delivery and character development), Parenthood (family dynamics, the use of music and lyrics, relationships, tough issues - they have me annoyed with someone and then with ONE line, I learn something new and switch from annoyance to empathy - sure, I feel sort of manipulated, but how do they do that?!?), etc.


How many bookshelves/bookcases do you have?Oh gosh. Lots. And they're all full and overflowing to piles on the ground. We have four tall bookshelves and 2 smaller ones in our library/guest room. The kids both have one book shelf each, plus additional boxes, crates, and piles. We have a couple in our schoolroom (plus piles and crates). We have a crate in our living room specifically for library books. We have a couple in our clinic. We have books in all of our bathrooms. We have a shelf of cookbooks in our kitchen. Books, books, books! There are two things we don't mind having lots of - books and games.

If you had the choice to meet all of your favourite book bloggers or all of your favourite authors, which would you pick? You can only pick one.
I hate when questions like this add the caveat "you can only pick one." I'm not big on making decisions these days. Um, probably book bloggers. I say this for my daughter's benefit, because I would love for her to have all her blogger friends as in-person friends, too.

Insta-love: yes or no?
I'm a big fan of the best-friend-turning-into-a-relationship thing. "Some Kind of Wonderful."

Favourite author?J.K. Rowling, Harper Lee, and Rainbow Rowell all come to mind.

What is the number-one book on your wishlist?The upcoming Landline by Rainbow Rowell!

Do you prefer books with female or male protagonists?
I love that we're getting more strong female protagonists, but I hope we don't do that to the exclusion or male ones. Both are important. I'm a mother of a son and daughter and while I'm a feminist who is thrilled to see more girl power, I'm also a feminist who doesn't believe it should be to the exclusion of boy power. In advancing the cause of women, we must not trample on our men. That would be doing to them what history has done to us. Not cool.

Which is your favourite book-to-film adaption?"Chocolat" and "The Help."

What is the last song you listened to?"Home" by Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros. There are GREAT songs in the movie "Stuck in Love." Great, great flick. Also? I love the music in Parenthood. And there should be more dancing in the world. I didn't need the Bravermans to teach me that, but they certainly reinforce it.

Which do you enjoy reading more - negative reviews or positive reviews?I honestly enjoy reading both. When I'm looking up a book, I like to read a few of each to get an idea of whether or not it's a good fit for me based on what the reviewers say about it. You can learn from both. When I absolutely love a book, I sometimes go read reviews afterward and get excited when I see people with similar thoughts, and I get somewhat dismayed initially when someone doesn't love a book the way I do (though I do get that there are different tastes for everyone).

Who are you going to tag?
The Magic Violinist, Thing 2, Nevillegirl, and anyone else who would like to participate! If you don't blog and wish to be tagged, feel free to answer in the comments - it's fun!

13 comments:

LMW said...

I can almost understand people not getting into television or enjoying books (both of which I love), but I can't help judging people who don't like or care about music. That's just strange to me.

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but To Kill A Mockingbird is my very favorite book.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for tagging me, it looks fun!

Boquinha said...

LMW, we all love music around here, Mark especially (we think his true calling is in music).

TKAM is a beautiful book - one of the very best ever.

Nevillegirl, excited to see your answers!

Boquinha said...

P.S. Did you see the ALA announcements today? So many great books! "Eleanor & Park" got a Printz Honor!

Anonymous said...

You know, over the past few years I've been thinking quite a bit about people who say they don't like reading.

I'm not convinced that most people who say this actually don't like reading (don't you love all the negative constructions in that sentence! :)) I think the issue is that they don't love other peoples' definition of reading. Often we tend to define "reading" as reading traditional books. Yet, one can love reading magazines or newspapers, or blogs, or comic books. That's still reading.

Further, I think we may diminish people's attitude towards themselves as learners or intellectuals by accepting their statement that they don't like reading. Perhaps widening our definition would benefit us all.

Just some musings!

LMW said...

Some of the people that I personally know who say they don't like reading certainly fall into your definition of not liking to read, Seventytwofishes. The others seem to actually have difficulty with reading coming easily to them, which is why it's easier for me not to judge them for not liking to read even though I love to read.

Boquinha said...

I think you're both right. Reading opens us so many worlds and opportunities to everyone - I hate to see people miss out on it.

I'll add to the great list the two of you have started - audio books. I've heard people say, "I don't really like to read, except for audio books, and those don't really count."

I *highly* disagree! Some people are visual learners. Some do better listening. And listening to an audio book IS reading.

LMW said...

I agree with you to a point, but as an educator, unless somebody has a reading disability that prevents it, I want my students to read books, not just listen to them. I think a mix of both is good for kids, but I don't think it's enough for them to just listen to books. I only say this, because I work with children with visual impairments and it's easy for them to just fall back on listening to books rather than learn Braille or read large print books and I argue that they still need to be "reading" and not just depend on audio books. I do think that being able to listen to books is a valuable skill as well though.

LMW said...

I hope that makes sense?

Boquinha said...

Interesting, LMW! Do you feel the inherent value in learning more than listening skills is in the work involved to improve oneself, or do you feel that there is more to be gained from reading as opposed to listening?

LMW said...

I think they're intertwined in many ways, but also two separate skills. I feel like listening is part of literacy, but that being able to read is also an important part of it. So, I don't like the idea of reading being completely replaced by listening for kids in school at least.

LMW said...

Have you seen this? It's hilarious!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuRuwR2JSXI

Boquinha said...

I see. I agree - both are important skills. I just hate to hear people say that when they listen to audio books, it doesn't "count" as reading.

Okay, that video is hilarious! So showing that to the kids. They'll get a kick out of it! Thanks for sharing!