The Liebster Award (x2)

I’m excited to say that I’ve been nominated for The Liebster Award by two very lovely bloggers: Stephanie from Stephanie’s Book Reviews and Lizzie from Bookmark Your Dreams! The word “liebster” means “dearest” in German, which is pretty adorable, so danke schön! 😀

The Liebster Award is an award for up and coming blogs, and the rules are as follows:

• Link back the blogger that tagged you
• Nominate ten others and answer the questions of the one who tagged you
• Ask ten questions for the bloggers you nominate
• Let your nominees know of their award

Stephanie asked…

1. I have a compulsive need to finish a series once I start it. What are your book compulsions?

I used to have that same compulsion! When I buy new books, I check the pages, the dust cover and the spine to make sure that there are no creases/bends/marks on it, since I like my books to be kept in perfect condition. My bookshelves are alphabetized by author’s last name, then chronologically by series within that. I hate when I own books within a series that aren’t the same height, the same type (paperback, hardcover, mass market paperback, etc.) or that don’t have the same cover; I like my books to match. I rearrange my books so much, it’s actually kind of ridiculous.

2. Does a lot of hype surrounding a book make you more or less likely to read it?

Generally, hype makes me more likely to read a book. If it’s a book that is well-loved by friends or fellow bloggers with similar reading tastes, I make sure to add it to my to-read list. If it’s a book that everyone seems to love, though, it scares me a bit – I’m always afraid that I’ll be that one person who doesn’t like it and everyone else will sit there, shaking their heads and wondering what’s wrong with me.

3. What book do you love that you’re embarrassed to admit?

I don’t actually have any books that I’m embarrassed to admit my love for. If I love a book, I tell everyone about it until they eventually get sick of hearing me mention its name or I read another book, love it, and start talking about it instead.

4. What book would you love to see as a movie – a movie that faithfully follows the book to a T?

The Night Circus. I would love to see what that world looks like, since the tents are so incredibly creative. I have this image in my head of what the ice garden and the cloud maze and the wishing tree look like, so it would be so neat to see how another person visualizes them all. And I’d be playing Celia, of course.

5. How many books have you read this year?

According to Goodreads, I’ve read 183 books this year. That’s a lot more than I had expected to read, and I probably won’t ever reach that amount again. I’m hoping to reach 200 by the end of the year, just because it’s a nice even number to remember.

6. Why did you start your blog? What do you to “promote” it?

A lot of my friends don’t read because they either don’t have the time or just don’t enjoy reading. I love to read so I wanted to find a community where my bookish rants and literary references would be wholeheartedly embraced and understood. And thus, The In-Between Place was born!

I don’t really do too much to promote my blog and, honestly, I’m still kind of surprised that people actually read my posts. I have tumblr and twitter accounts which I really need to use more frequently, and I participate in weekly book memes, but that’s about it.

7. If you could have any super power what would it be?

I’m always the worst at answering this question. Flying would be neat… but what if there’s a storm? That’d be kind of terrifying and really dangerous. Invisibility would be a cool party trick, but I don’t ever intend to become a criminal mastermind, so I doubt that I’d use it too much… X-ray vision is just… weird.

I’ll have to go with teleportation: it’s like flying, but a lot safer, a lot faster, and doesn’t require any real effort on my part. It would be so nice to be able to click my heels or touch a mark on my skin and suddenly be sitting in my bedroom, especially on those cold winter days when I don’t want to wait for the bus. And I’d be able to take vacations whenever I want to wherever I want, which would be so neat!

8. Who would play your favorite author in a movie?

I have so many favourite authors, but the answer for all of them is Benedict Cumberbatch. Actually, come to think of it, he’d make a pretty great Neil Gaiman… he kind of has the hair and already has the lovely voice, so it’d work perfectly.

9. If you read a book with terrific writing, but were unsatisfied with the story, do you still recommend it to others?

Storyline and characters are just as important as the writing, so even if the writing is fantastic, I likely wouldn’t enjoy the book. I’d feel bad recommending a book that I didn’t enjoy, but I’d note that it had excellent writing and list a few (or a lot) of the quotes that I liked so that others could judge for themselves and see if they wanted to give it a try.

10. What’s the last book that really surprised you – good or bad?

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell. I expected to like it, since I had heard nothing but good things about her writing, but I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did. I still really want Rainbow to be my best friend (especially after reading Eleanor & Park), so if anyone knows of a way to make this happen, please let me know. : )

Lizzie asked…

1. What is your favourite food?

I love fish. When I’m home for the summer, my dad and I go fishing almost every morning, and we have a fish fry for dinner every Sunday. It’s definitely one of my favourite parts of being home.

2. Why did you start blogging and when?

I started blogging in May of this year, so I’m still fairly new to this whole thing. I started blogging because I love to read, and wanted to share my opinions with people who have similar interests. A lot of my friends either don’t read the same types of books as me or don’t read at all, so they don’t enjoy my bookish rants very much.

3. What is your favourite season?

Ooh, this is a tough one. I love the summer, since it’s nice and warm. I have no school during the summer, so I get to relax and read for fun which is always nice! I also really like the winter. I complain about how cold it is for almost the entire season, but I love having a white Christmas, being able to go tobogganing, building a snowman, and drinking a lot of hot chocolate. And my birthday’s in the winter, so that’s always a plus.

4. If you could travel anywhere (truth or fictional) for a week where would it be?

I’d really love to go to England at some point in life. I’m slightly obsessed with British television, so I’d love to have the opportunity to stalk see the cast of Sherlock while they’re filming. And I’d love to go to the castle where Merlin was filmed, see the London Eye, visit Buckingham Palace and Big Ben, and soak in all the lovely British accents.

I’d love to visit The Night Circus, but it usually isn’t open for weeks at a time. One week wouldn’t be nearly enough time to see all of Hogwarts or Narnia, and I have a feeling that I’d want to stay there forever. Visiting Ravka would be really neat, and wearing a kefta would almost make the potential danger that I’d be in due to the Darkling being all crazy and evil completely worth it. I’d love to have a tea party with the Mad Hatter in Wonderland, but I’d also love to visit the Shire. Can this be a year long fictional road trip instead?

5. What are your book buying methods? Online or in store and do you research a book before buying?

I don’t really research a book before buying it. I generally buy books that are on my to-read list and have received good reviews from my friends, but I’ll occasionally purchase a book on a whim just because the cover looked nice or the synopsis was intriguing. Or because it was on sale. I don’t do a lot of online book shopping, since I prefer to support my local bookstores, but I find myself on The Book Depository or the Chapters/Indigo website from time to time when there are sales. I also buy a lot of used books from library book sales or used book stores.

6. eBook or real book? Why?

I prefer real books, since I love being able to place sticky notes on all of my favourite quotes and I love the new book smell. I read a lot of eBooks from my library via the Overdrive app, and occasionally I’ll receive eBooks books for review. When I go away, I bring my iPad with me and just read eBooks since then I can bring as many books as I want.

7. Which book or series do you have a love-hate relationship with?

The Mortal Instruments series. I enjoyed the first three books, and I absolutely loved The Infernal Devices. I didn’t really like City of Fallen Angels or City of Lost Souls though, so it will be interesting to see how much I enjoy City of Heavenly Fire.

8. Chocolate or Vanilla?

Chocolate, for sure! I’m a bit of a chocoholic.

9. If you found a genie, what would be one of your wishes?

I really want to say something like “world peace” but, knowing me, I’d see the genie and wish for something much more selfish instead. I’d probably wish that I always had the right amount of money to buy whatever I wanted, since that way I’d have enough money to build a huge library in my house, fill all of the bookshelves, and add in secret doors, revolving ladders, and huge spiral staircases.

10. What was the last movie you saw?

The last movies I saw were Monsters University and Despicable Me 2, since there was a double feature. I went to see them with my mom opening night, and I was the oldest kid there! They were super adorable, though, so I was more than okay with that.

I’m not going to nominate anyone for this award, since I know that some blogs don’t like getting nominations, and I can’t remember which ones that applies to. I promise that it’s not because I’m a horrible/lazy person that doesn’t want to participate; I just don’t to bother the ones that don’t like nominations and I don’t want to offend anyone that I don’t nominate, since I think you’re all pretty fantastic.