Liebster Award

I was surprised and honoured when I found out that Fariba from Exploring Classics had nominated me for the Liebster Award.  From what I can tell, this award is to keep bloggers connected and to help us find new bloggers as well.  What fun!

The rules associated with it are:

The Rules:

1.  Thank the blogger that nominated you and link back to their blog.

2.  Display the award somewhere on your blog.

3.  List 11 facts about yourself.

4.  Answer 11 questions chosen by the blogger who nominated you.

5.  Come up with 11 new questions to ask your nominees.

6.  Nominate 5 - 11 blogs that you think deserve the award and who have

     less than 1,000 followers.  (You many nominate blogs that have already

     received the award, but you cannot renominate the blog that nominated

     you.)

7.  Go to their blog and inform them that they've been nominated.

11 Facts About Me:

  1.  I live near the city but would rather live in the woods.

  2.  I love most things European.

  3.  I can speak very basic French, Spanish and German and have a

       smattering of Latin and ancient Greek.

  4.  I have a childish child-like, mischievous streak that is hard to shake.

  5.  I don't think that I'm your typical Canadian.

  6.  Things I like to do, but don't have talent for:  art, photography, singing

  7.  Goals for 2014:  to improve my French and to improve my photography
       skills

  8.  I have trouble saying "no" when it comes to books (shocking to
       everyone, I know! ;-)  )

  9.  I have trouble thinking up facts about myself.

10.  I like snakes and bats, but not spiders (shudder!).

11.  I like to help people.  

A Woman Reading
Claude Monet (1872)
source Wikipaintings

11 Questions from Exploring Classics:

  1.  What are your favourite and least favourite literary genres?

     
I, of course, love reading the classics.  I also like reading history, good biographies, poetry, drama and children's literature.

  2.  What are you currently reading?

     
The list?   War and Peace (just finishing)

                  The Horse and His Boy

                  Frankenstein

                  The Odyssey

                  Candide

                  Le Morte d'Arthur
                  The Idiot

  3.  What month-long book classic challenges would you be interested in

       doing this year?

Now that is a loaded question considering whom you are asking.  I have a number of challenges already for the year and I am trying not to add anymore.  But anyone who is following my blog knows that I have a problem with using the word "no".  So anything that came up, I would consider.  Right now I'm doing a Candide and The Odyssey read-along challenge and coming up is a Madame Bovary read-along, a Barsetshire Chronicles read-along, a read through The Well-Educated Mind biographies with some reading buddies, a Decameron read and discussion and a Gilgamesh read and discussion.  So my plate is overflowing with treats for the year!

  4.  What do you do when you're not reading?

     
I like to hike, cook, take courses, bike ride, hang out with friends, and think.

  5.  If you were stranded on a desert island, what five books would you
       need.

                 
1.  The Bible

2.  Paradise Lost

3.  The Iliad

4.  Les Miserables

5.  Pride and Prejudice/Jane Eyre/The Lord of the Rings ……???

  6.  What sort of music do you listen to?
     
Some of my favourite artists are Edwin McCain, Daughtry, Jude Cole, Laura Pausini (in Italian), and Alex Ubago (Spanish)

       

  

  7.  City or country, beach or mountains?

     
Country, and either beach or mountains.

  8.  Name five people (dead or alive) with whom you would like to have a
       round-table discussion.

     
Oooo, this is hard.  Let's see …….. C.S. Lewis, absolutely ……… Oscar Wilde, Aristides, Socrates, Cicero, Saint Augustine, Winston Churchill, Omar Khayyam, Dorothy Sayers ……. see, I couldn't stop at five.  

  9.  What is your favourite book that has been published in the last 10 - 20
        years?
     
Yikes, another hard one!  Okay, I would have to say, John Adams by David McCullough.  Oh, also The Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto.

10.  If you could learn another language, what language would you choose to
       learn?

     
Well, at this point I would choose to perfect my French, but if I had to choose another language entirely, I would choose Italian.  Russian would be my second choice.

11.  You are on a vacation to a different country.  What do you make sure to
        fit into your itinerary?

     
If I'm outside North America, art and food discovery would top my list.  Within North America, I would be more likely to choose nature.

Woman Reading
Childe Hassam (1885)
source Wikipaitings

11 Questions for Nominees:

  1.  What book(s) are you currently reading and what do you think of it
       (them) so far?

  2.  If you could only read books from one country, which country would you
       choose?

  3.  Can you name a book that you've read and expected to enjoy, but
       ended up hating it?  

  4.  Can you name a book that you thought you'd hate and ended up liking?

  5.  Where is your favourite reading place?  

  6.  Do you have any "bad" habits when reading, such as dog-earring,
       writing in books, talking to the book, etc.?  (although I'm not sure
        if any of those are "bad" habits! :-)  )

  7.  If you had to live as a character from a book, who would you choose
       and why?

  8.  Would you/have you challenged yourself to read in a genre or era
        that you wouldn't usually choose?  Which one?

  9.  Can you think of a popular writer (or two) with whom you were
       unimpressed?

10.  If you could live somewhere other than where you live now, where
       would that be?

11.  Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

Portrait of an Old Woman Reading
Gerritt Dou
source Wikipaintings