Guess What – I’ve joined The Sisterhood Of The World Bloggers

Thank you so much to Alicia at Caffeine and Books for kindly nominating me for The Sisterhood Of The World Bloggers Award.

Do check out her blog: https://caffeineandbooks42.wordpress.com/2015/06/08/sisterhood-of-the-world-bloggers-award/

These are the five rules to follow:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you, linking back to their site.

2. Put the Award logo on your blog.

3. Answer the ten questions sent to you.

4. Make up ten new questions for your nominees to answer.

5. Nominate ten blogs.

 

Did you have a book that meant a lot to you as a child?

I loved C.S. Lewis’s  Chronicles of Narnia, and read them all. If you haven’t read them then please do but in this order, (The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe; Prince Caspian; The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; The Silver Chair; The Horse and His Boy;  The Magician’s Nephew; and the The Last Battle,) so that you get a full idea of the magic of this series. Some publishers are printing them in a different chronological order:

Is there any author or book that you collect and will always welcome multiple editions of the same title?

When I was a youngster I used to collect The Chronicles of Narnia, Tintin, and Asterix the Gaul. I had a pretend library in my bedroom! When I was older detective novels captured my interest – Agatha Christie, and Raymond Chandler. Nowadays I’d love multiple editions of fantasy titles as fantasy is my favourite genre. As well as this I still enjoy detective novels, Asian literature, Fantasy and Science Fiction.

Say that you find yourself judging a book by its cover (not that we ever do that!); what sort of covers do you go for? Are there any that are an absolute turn off?

I love pretty covers, the more elaborate and vibrant the better, here are some of my favourites:

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/2014/12/08/my-kyrosmagica-review-of-the-bone-clocks-by-david-mitchell/

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton……https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/2015/01/12/my-kyrosmagica-review-of-the-miniaturist-by-jessie-burton/

Sometimes a simple cover can be very effective too, a perfect example of this is The Art of Being Normal.

The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson. https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/2015/04/26/my-kyrosmagica-review-of-the-art-of-being-normal-by-lisa-Williamson/

I don’t like bland or unimaginative covers, that’s the only criteria I go by, but ultimately it is the writing that matters most.

If you could pick any imaginary animal to bring home to Mom with an earnest, “Can we keep him?”, what animal would it be?

I think it would have to be Aslan from the Chronicles of Narnia, as I love cats, and he’s one big cool lion.

Is there any book to movie adaptation that you simply refuse to watch? No way, no how, you’re not even giving them the opportunity to mess it up?

I don’t think so.  I love going to the cinema, but unfortunately I don’t go as often as I would like. I like to see how stories are handled cinematically, but of course sometimes the cinema version just doesn’t quite live up to the book.

http://flavorwire.com/172372/the-10-most-badly-bungled-classic-book-to-film-adaptations/9

http://flavorwire.com/342090/authors-funniest-responses-to-the-film-adaptations-of-their-work/4

What is the most unusual book you’ve ever read? (Plot, writing style, chapter layout, etc?)

The most unusual book I’ve ever read is A Girl is A Half Formed Thing, which I’ve reviewed on my blog, here’s the link to read my review: https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/2014/11/24/my-kyrosmagica-review-of-a-girl-is-a-half-formed-thing-by-eimear-mcbride/

 Is there any book or series that you’ve read that is so totally outside of your normal genre, but you loved it and would recommend it to others as a “take a risk!” type of book?

I don’t normally read horror, but I read The Exiled by William Meikle and would recommend to readers of thriller, dark fantasy and horror. Here’s the link to my review: https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/2014/06/12/review-of-the-exiled-by-william-meikle/

Do you have any bookish collections, or anything you covet and hope to someday collect? Candles, artwork, bookcases?

I love candles, so I’ve got quite a lot of those scattered about the house, as well as candle holders too. I’m a bit of a jewellery collector, I have so many pieces of jewellery. Our house is overflowing with books too. A lot of them belong to my daughter as she’s a bookworm too. She’s a great source of information on what’s current in terms of YA titles and she kindly lends me all her books if I ask nicely, so I’m lucky that way! Her bookish blog is http://definebookish.tumblr.com/

There aren’t enough bookcases in our house for all of our books, it’s such a shame. If I had loads of money I’d remedy that and probably splash out on some art too.

What book has been on your TBR pile the longest, but you just can’t convince yourself to pick it up?

Probably one of the longest, is Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernières. I did pick it up eventually, I read the first chapter and then started the second but somehow I couldn’t quite connect with it. That might have been the frame of mind I was in, sometimes it’s good to go back and try again. I don’t like starting books and not finishing them – this rarely happens! Also another one was Liar’s Poker, I really didn’t fancy this much, but my reading group had chosen it for this month, and I ended up reading about half of this and then I gave up. It wasn’t because it was badly written, it just wasn’t my cup of tea, there’s too much financial information in it, and the obsession with money just drove me mad!

You get a $500 gift card for all things bookish – do you run to your nearest bookstore and spend like a fiend? Or do you create pro/con lists (a la Rory Gilmore) to make sure you get just the right & perfect & wonderful bookish things? Or are you eyeing a particularly expensive bookcase somewhere?

I’m not one for lists, or being organised, so I’d just go out and choose something. I’d like one of those fancy chairs to sit on, to relax while reading a book, or a hammock on a tropical island, but I don’t suppose the gift card would extend to that!

 

I could get a pretend one I suppose!

Some bookcases would be good too. I’d like to buy lots of gorgeous books, yes pretty ones from authors I especially enjoy.

My questions:

1. What is your most memorable holiday destination?

2. Tell me about your favourite drink, or food? Or both!

3. What kind of books/stories do you write? Or creative activities do you engage in?

4. What’s your favourite author/genre? What is it about their writing style that inspires you?

5. How do you spend your spare time when you aren’t writing or creating?

6. Have you ever done anything that was really embarrassing/funny?

7. If you could come back as a fictional character, (human, alien, animal!) which character would you choose?

8. Are you superstitious? Would you dare to travel on Friday the 13th?

9. What’s your zodiac sign? Do you believe in zodiacs, numerology, etc?

10. What’s the most scary, or challenging thing you’ve ever done?

 

If you’d like to accept the award – It’s not compulsory! –  but I hope you might like to, please could you answer my questions above. Thanks.

My Nominees:

My Nominees for this award are all the ladies in the blogging world, you’re great, but I have to narrow it down to ten for the purposes of this award, so here goes:

 Writer of Fiction, adventurer, lover of animals, nature and chocolate covered strawberries: https://vashtiqvega.wordpress.com/

Elsie Elmore: http://elsieelmore.com/

Author, Blogger, Poet and Freelance Writer: https://rebirthoflisa.wordpress.com/

Bookin’ It So Many Books. So Little Time. Let’s Review!   https://marciameara.wordpress.com/

Ramona Wray. #YA novelist. I read and write books. http://www.mybookishlife.com/

Susanne Leist author of the Dead Game – A paranormal fantasy, a Vampire Suspense. https://susanneleist.wordpress.com

Just Olga. Olga’s things: writing, reading, translating, stories, life. The first book in Olga Núñez‘ AngelicBusiness trilogy is available now for pre-order on Amazon. https://olganm.wordpress.com/

You can’t change the world but you can change the world of one person: https://serinssphere.wordpress.com/

Sacha Black. Mother, Wife, Writer….. Almost An Author.  Full Time Worker Bee, Part Time Nail Artist: http://sachablack.co.uk/

DorneWhale. My life in pictures and craft work. https://dornewhale.wordpress.com/

And Write Dorne! : https://dorneawhale.wordpress.com/