The Liebster Award!

Greetings fellow readers!

I was nominated by Naty from Naty’s Bookshelf  to participate on this tag. Thank you very much! Check out her answers to this tag in this post in her blog!

What is the Liebster Award?

“The Liebster Award 2017 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.” (source from the Liebster Award Blog)

Find the link to it by clicking on the image below.

THE RULES (Taken from the official blog):

• Thank the person who nominated you, and post a link to their blog on your blog.
• Display the award on your blog.
• Write a 150-300 word post about your favourite blog that is not your own. Explain why you like the blog, provide links.
• Provide 10 random facts about yourself. (This year it’s optional. If you wish to engage with your readers it’s a great idea to include random facts about you.)
• Nominate 5 – 11 blogs that you feel deserve the award, who have a less than 200 followers.
• List these rules in your post.
• Inform the people/blogs that you nominated that they have been nominated for the Liebster award and provide a link for them to your post or mine if you don’t have all the information so that they can learn about it.
• Answer the 11 questions the person has asked you.
• Don’t forget to create 11 questions for the people you nominated to answer.

(*MY 11 QUESTIONS ARE AT THE VERY BOTTOM)

Here goes!

First, a blog that really interests me. 

Well, I’m going to talk about a blog that got me started. It’s actually not really a blog that I read too often, but it caught my attention and gave me the idea to start my own. It’s called Libros de Pastel (Pastel Books). The author is called Andrea and she’s from Peru. I love her blog because it’s really colorful, and the photos she takes of her books are beautiful. I’m trying to take photos like hers but I have no clue how. The blog is in Spanish, but sometimes she’ll post in English. I also think her reviews are really good, on point and motivate readers to grab that book.

Second, a bit about me:

1. I get nervous when people ask me where I’m from. Here’s why: I was born in Santiago-Chile. There I was adopted by a lovely couple. My mom’s Argentinean and my dad’s Peruvian. Due to his job I’ve lived in Venezuela, Singapore and Peru, all before I was twelve. So the question: Where are you from? I don’t… I just don’t know what to answer. I relate a lot to my mom’s country, so I just say I’m Argentinean. Even though technically I’m from Chile… SEE!?
2. I have three cats and two dogs. (Cats: Nico, Chloe and Nova. Dogs: Nami and Artemis)
3. I’m an English teacher (and just got changed from part-time to full-time! YEY!-this means I’ll have less time to write and record though…)
4. I have Fibromyalgia, which means I get frequent muscle and bone pains. Nothing fatal, but really painful and annoying. Symptoms include exhaustion (even if I sleep nine hours), which is why I think I take so long to write or record. I’m just too tired half the time.  
5. I’m Argentinean, so I drink something called Mate. This is a tea-like drink that can be compared to Green Tea. But still not quite. Mate contains B and C vitamins, polyphenol antioxidants, and has a slightly higher antioxidant capacity than green tea. It’s very bitter, but I sweeten it with sugar. I can’t start my day unless I have some mate.
6. Book-wise I love to have my bookshelves perfectly organized, by size and genre, but I fail half the time because now books come in all shapes and sizes (and it’s driving me insane).
7. I want to be a writer. I have so many ideas that I have no clue where to start.
8. I get compared to Dory, because I forget things so easily. I also suck at math. BIG TIME.
9. My dream is to travel the world, see all the cultures I’ve fallen in love with. Starting with Japan.
10. Here are some of my favorite series, lets see if there are any fellow fans out there.

 

Third, the questions asked by Naty:

1. What is your favorite genre?

Well, I love many genres. But my favorite is Fantasy. And Sci-Fi. I really can’t choose between the two. I love the magical aspect of fantasy worlds, the really cool and fascinating worlds writers create and such. As for Sci-fi, it’s really interesting to see all the different types of technologies authors come up with.

2. Which book of this genre would you recommend to someone who is trying to start reading it?

Alright, so if this is a person who generally doesn’t read a lot I would recommend they start with Percy Jackson and the Olympians. The books by Rick Riordan are an easy and quick read. They’re great books with tons of characters that you can fall in love with. Also, Rick’s humor is less jokes and more sass, which makes conversation hilarious to read.

If the person has experience reading but never really delved into the fantasy genre-I would still recommend Percy Jackson-but I would also recommend The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Nothing screams fantasy like this book. You’ve got a circus, a bet by two ringmasters, and a sort of star-crossed love story. It’s a lovely book.

As for Sci-fi, again if the person is a beginner reader, I would suggest reading Starflight by Melissa Landers. It’s about a girl who is indentured to a jackass, and through a twist of fate their roles are reversed and they find themselves on a spaceship crewed by people with not the best reputation. It’s funny, intriguing and the characters are lovable.

For more serious readers I’d recommend The Martian by Andy Weir. I loved this book, I thought the plot was interesting and seriously well-researched. I do recommend to watch the film first. Why? Because since the book is very scientific, there are many experiments and things the character does that went completely over my head, but since I’d watched the film first, I understood it much better.

3. Is there a stereotypical plot from your favorite genre that you dislike?

Rather than plots, there are many tropes I dislike:

1. Instant-love. Like, seriously. That doesn’t happen in real life and makes everything that follows predictable. I want a slow-burn, a sort of I can see it happening but the characters aren’t really into each other. I want to be surprised.
2. Romance in situation there should’t be. Here’s the thing, I like romance. I like reading about people falling in love, but I don’t like seeing a book focus only in the romantic aspect of some characters when the world and situations they’re in go beyond romantic issues. I’ve read books where  everyone is dying, people are getting sick, they must fight to survive or simply there are just more important things going on. And it annoys me when authors are only focused in the romantic drama. Oh look my parents died-but seriously, does he love me or not? No. Just no.

4. Do you have a guilty pleasure book?

Mmmm, not really. I think any author or books that are purely romantic are my guilty pleasure. I have some Nicholas Sparks books that friends give me grief over. Tying to what I wrote above, I like romance, but only when that is the purpose of the book. Therefore, when I’m in the mood, I pick a Nicholas Sparks book. My favorite so far being Safe Haven. 

5. What is your favorite movie?

Difficult. Very difficult. I have my moments. Currently, I’d have to say anything Marvel is an instant fave. The Guardians of the Galaxy being at the top. I love films as much as I love books. I also really like the jewel that is Egyptian Gods.

6. What is your favorite color?

Lately I’m going to have to go with dark red and green. But not together. Like, combined with black or white, but never together. Not unless it’s December.

7. Do you have a system to organize your bookshelf?

I try. I like to separate my books by genres, and then by series or stand alones. But lately I’ve also separated them in hardcovers and paperbacks. Hmm… some of my books are pocket sized so I put them where they fit. I also must organize them by size. Take a look, here are my shelves, though they are pretty messy at the moment.

8. Which fictional character would you take to be your partner in adventures?

Nooo only one? Hmmm… well. I just finished reading Six of Crows and finishing Crooked Kingdom. I think I would have to go with taking Kaz Brekker with me. Although, I would always wonder if he’s not going to get me killed. Hmmm, better not.

Many Percy Jackson. He’s awesome, fun, smart, witty and a just a cool guy. Yeah. I think I’d have to choose him. He’d be great to have if we’re every in a tight spot.

9. What are you currently reading?

I’m reading two. One is Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo, the second and final book in the Six of Crows duology.

The second one is an ebook I found while on Amazon called What’s a soulmate? Which is a romantic trope where everyone sees in black and white until they meet their soulmate. The thing is that this girl suddenly sees color when she meets the eyes of a boy going into the juvenile delinquent rehabilitation centre. Fun. 

10. What is your bookish pet peeve?

Wow, I have a lot. The one currently driving me insane is having books in a series come in different sizes. Or books by the same author or even books relating to a series in different sizes. For example, Cruel Crown, collecting two novelas of the Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard is pocket size and can’t be put together! The same thing happened when I went to buy the second book for The 5th Wave series. Completely different sizes. Now they come the correct size, but I’m not going to buy them again just to satisfy my OCD (though I’m very tempted).

11. Do you have a favorite author?

I adore Tolkien for the depth he put into his work. He didn’t only create a story, he created a whole world. And while other authors may have done so as well, Tolkien was so thorough, that we have 12 volumes about the history of Middle Earth. We have the Silmarillion which is akin to the Genesis. How the world was created. He gave us a history of the battles going on throughout the entire world, languages, different traditions for every race, different calendars, and so forth. He has put so much detail into his world that it rivals the history and events in ours. For that, I love him and respect him. I hope that I’ll write like him one day.

My nominees!

All right, so here are the people I nominate:

Books of a Shy Girl

Chelle’s Book Ramblings

Liber Amoris

Forever Fictional

The Little Book Blogger Online

Twin Reads

GOOD LUCK! HERE ARE MY 11 QUESTIONS:

1. What author or book/series got you into reading?
2. What music do you like to listen to when you read?
3. If you could ask an author to write your book, who would you choose?
4. Pirates or ninjas?
5. If you could give all your books to someone or several people, who would they be?
6. Cats or dogs?
7. How has reading changed your view of the world?
8. What if I told you, that we where actually in a book?
9. Who’s your OTP?
10. Books or movies?
11. Who you gonna’ call? (I’m taking this last one from the original questions)

Have fun!