Amber at A Morose Bookshelf has tagged me for the Liebster Blog Award. Says Amber, "You're tagged if you have under 200 followers and do a good job blogging. Those who are tagged then share 11 random facts about themselves, answer 11 questions posted by the person that tagged them, and then create their own set of 11 questions for others to answer." Well, thanks, Amber! I'll do my best.
Eleven Random Facts About Me:
1. I live on the Gulf coast of Texas.
2. The only thing I enjoy cooking is soup.
3. I think Puget Sound is the most beautiful place in America.
4. I dislike driving.
5. I love walking.
6. In my teens, I was addicted to Agatha Christie. I read every one of her books multiple times and can virtually recite them now.
7. My current favorite poet is Anna Akhmatova.
8. I have never waterskied.
9. I try to eat, cook, and grow food as organically as possible.
10. My favorite city to visit is London.
11. I love tofu.
Amber's Questions:
1. You're going to be stranded on an island. You can only bring three books. Which three? They should be long, and they should be books I haven't read yet. Middlemarch, Anna Karenina, and Les Miserables.
2. One book you wish you had written. Why Houston Needs Bike Lanes and a Decent Public Transportation System.
3. Do you speak more than one language? Am I fluent in more than one language? Sadly, no. I'm working on getting fluent in German, but that may or may not ever happen. And I speak a little Urdu (my husband's language) but I'm nowhere near fluent.
4. Which one is the better actor: Matt Damon or Mark Wahlberg? Damon is good, but I haven't seen enough of Wahlberg to say whether he's better. I did like him in Three Kings, though.
5. What are you listening to? Bollywood songs mostly these days.
6. What is the worst book you've ever read? That's tough to answer because I don't get very far into a book if I think it's really bad. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon comes to mind--I read the whole thing because I had to; it was assigned in high school.
7. Do you have a doppelganger? I don't have a lookalike that I'm aware of, but I do have a distant cousin with the exact same name.
8. SVU or Criminal Intent? Don't watch either one.
9. Three authors that "get" you or that you really love? Tolstoy. Ursula LeGuin. Irene Nemirovsky.
10. Do you have any other hobbies? Reading and walking are my favorite pastimes. That makes me sound really boring, I know, but there it is!
11. Are you okay with reviews containing spoilers? No!
Questions I'm Asking:
1. How do you feel about the reading you were assigned in school? Dislike? Appreciate?
2. Is there a book you have read so many times you almost have it memorized?
3. What's your favorite non-fiction genre?
4. Do you listen to many audiobooks? Why or why not?
5. What's your favorite movie based on a novel?
6. Do you talk books with anyone in real life? Who? Or is your blog your only avenue?
7. Is there any book you associate strongly with a particular place or time in your life?
8. Where and when do you do most of your reading?
9. What period in history have you read the most about (either fiction or non-fiction)?
10. What kind of poetry (if any) do you read?
11. What is the funniest book you've ever read?
I am passing the Liebster Blog Award on to the following bloggers, who may answer the above questions if they wish to participate:
Jean@Howling Frog Books
James@The Frugal Chariot
Nancy@ipsofactodotme
Monika@Library Mistress
Brona@Brona's Books
SmellinCoffee@This Week At the Library
Jo@Mixed Book Bag
o@Delaisse
Yvonne@fiction books
Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI quite liked The Crying of Lot 49 in college. :)
Maybe I would have appreciated it more in college...
DeleteLeGuin--yes! Love her.
ReplyDeleteWalking is so relaxing. Last summer I made it a habit to walk at least 20 miles a week. I'm easing into 8k runs (jogs) now.
Thanks for participating!
Oh, yeah I forgot. The Mars Volta is one of my favorite bands...alternative, progressive, experimental. They're sort of all over the place, and I admit that not everyone is going to love them. But I do.
DeleteHi Amy,
ReplyDeleteLike yourself, I was completely addicted to Agatha Christie books in my younger days. However I do make it a point not to re-read books (there are just too many books to read and never enough time), or I am sure that I should be enjoying them all over again. I always make a point to watch any of the televised adaptations though.
If I was stranded on an island, Les Miserables sounds like a great choice of book to take with me. I have seen the London stage show at least 10 times, so I really should read the book to compare, although perhaps I would only then be a bit disappointed with either one version, or the other!!
Great answers from you and very interesting as a post,
Yvonne
I rarely reread now--as you say, there are so many books out there, and so little time. And so much rereading in those days really limited what else I could read. Something about AC, though, really pushed my buttons back then.
DeleteThanks for thinking of me. :) That book on public transportation in Houston sounds interesting: do you do much reading in the field of sustainable urbanism?
ReplyDeleteNo, not really. But I am frustrated every day that we in Houston are slaves to our cars. The city is designed for cars. There is no way to walk or bike to work or shopping. It's mainly residential areas (subdivisions) linked by highways. Public transportation consists of a bus system that only serves some of the suburbs. It's a pet peeve of mine. The book is a fantasy.
ReplyDeleteOh, what a pleasure it is to hear another American who dislikes our dependence on cars! I never thought about it until I moved to university, in a town where I could walk or bike everywhere I needed to go. I never had to drive, and found I LOVED the freedom. Have you ever heard of Asphalt Nation or Suburban Nation? They sound right up your alley. :)
ReplyDeleteNo, but I'm off to google right now!
DeleteHave just ordered Asphalt Nation. Thanks for the tip!
DeleteAnswered the 11 random and your list of questions! It was fun to do on a Saturday night. Had other things to do the past 14 days and haven't been reading or blogging consistantly. Tomorrow I start anew. Wonderful poetry by Anna Akhmatova...thanks for sharing this writer!
ReplyDelete