The lovely Nicoline @ Bookish Stuff nominated me for the sunshine blogger award a couple months ago which I’d somehow forgotten about until I was going through my post drafts but really really do appreciate, thank you! 💕

(I originally had another post planned for today, but during the writing process it spiraled into a monstrosity that is not yet fit for public consumption. So back into the drafts it goes, and here’s this instead.)

Rules

• Thank the blogger who nominated you and link back to their blog.
• Answer the 11 questions they asked you.
• Nominate 11 new blogs to receive the award and write them 11 new questions.
• List the rules and display The Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post.

What are your top three books of all time?

This is a completely unfair question. It tends to change with my mood, but The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell are almost always on there; I’ll add This Is How You Survive by Lana Rafaela Cindric because the author is a lovely person, her poems are magical, and I don’t think I’ve talked about them in a while.

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What book or series made you fall in love with reading?

Another difficult one! My parents started reading to / with me earlier than I can remember, so I don’t know that any one specific book or series is responsible so much as the bookwyrm genes. 

That said, I have particularly fond memories of a colorful little picture book called 媽媽，我要一顆星星 (translation: Mommy, I Want A Star). It alternates longer passages with one-liners, making it easy for a smol Isabelle to trade off reading it out loud with my mom.

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Who is your best fictional friend and why?

Depends on whether you’re asking which character I’d like to have as a best friend IRL, or which one has been there for me through the years.

The answer to the former is probably Blue Sargent, because I too am “just shy of five feet [tall]” but not because I didn’t eat my greens, and I aspire to be a “fanciful but sensible thing, like a platypus, or one of those sandwiches that had been cut into circles for a fancy tea party”.

The answer to the latter: either Meggie Folchart or Matilda Wormwood. Growing up, I reread the Inkworld trilogy and Matilda on bad days or good; I know their stories backwards and forwards, and their protagonists inspired and empowered me.

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What book would you recommend that everybody read?

Maybe this is a cop-out, but I don’t think there’s an objectively good answer to this one. Everyone has different needs and preferences when it comes to reading; there can’t possibly be a book that would positively impact every single reader. Still, I do have a Recommended Reads series for anyone interested.

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Paperbacks or hardbacks? And why?

Hardcovers look nicer stacked on the shelf and, in my experience, are more durable; however, I just prefer the feeling of a paperback in my hands. And they tend to be cheaper, so you can buy more of them!

(To be clear, my favorite book format is digital. My answer is C, ebooks.)

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What is your favorite reading spot?

Let’s be real, any place or position becomes uncomfortable when you sit for too long. And as someone who reads whenever and wherever I can, again I don’t really have an answer for this one. I certainly wouldn’t say no to a cozy sunny windowsill to curl up in, but I don’t have one of those.

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Do people judge that you read and do you judge people who don’t read?

No to both. Pretty much all my friends know I’m an avid reader and either also are/were avid readers themselves or wish they were, and I don’t care what random passersby think at least as far as my choice to read in public, or at all.

And who am I to tell anyone how to live their life? As Carla from Bon Appétit says, “You don’t have to love yourself.” (In all seriousness, though, I acknowledge and respect that reading isn’t for everyone.)

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what are your bookish goals for this year?

I feel like I’ve answered this question before, but the short version is that — despite my completionist tendencies, love of data, and competitive streak — I’m not actually all that hung up on the numbers. Mainly I’m here to broaden my horizons and hopefully find some stories that resonate with me.

But also, I’ve aimed to read 150 books total, including 100 backlist titles and all my ARCs, and to finish the Popsugar Reading Challenge and Backlist Bingo. (You can see more details and my progress in my Reading Challenges post.)

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What is your go-to place for buying books?

Generally I’m not much of a book buyer, but when I do it’s usually the Kindle Store for ebooks or Barnes & Noble for print books.

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What book have you read the most times?

Honestly, I have no idea; particularly in my middle and high school years, I had a tendency to reread my current favorite over and over. So it might be Harry Potter or Percy Jackson or The Mortal Instruments or Little House or The Night Circus or any of about twenty other titles.

Though if we’re just going off the dates recorded on Goodreads, the winner is Fangirl (with 3 recorded, though in reality it’s more than that).

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Who would you like to meet (living, dead, fictional, real)? Why?

I’m not sure whether this question was asking for one from each category or clarifying that we could pick from any of the above, so I’m going to interpret it as the former because that’s more fun 😜

Living: I’ve gotten to hear Maggie Stiefvater and Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket) speak in person, which is probably as close to meeting my author-heroes as I’m comfortable with? But I’d love to meet fellow Asian-American content creators Anna Akana, Arden Cho, Jaiden Animations, or Eugene Lee Yang from The Try Guys. I’m also a really big fan of Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton), Bob Morley (Bellamy Blake from The 100), and David Tennant (Crowley, DI Alec Hardy, Kilgrave, The 10th Doctor, etc, etc, etc), plus I hear they’re all absolutely lovely people IRL.

Um. If I could only meet one, I’d probably go with Jaiden just because I think we have the most in common, which makes her the least intimidating. We can be awkward together.

Dead: Shakespeare seems pretty cool.

Fictional: I’ve already mentioned Blue Sargent, and in past posts I’ve talked about how much I relate to Cath Avery and Magnus Bane. Take your pick; I’d honestly be delighted to meet pretty much any YA protagonist or major supporting character.

[for Real, see Living/Dead]

my nominees

(I know way more than 11 lovely bloggers deserving of this award, so these are people I didn’t nominate in my last award post.)

Clo • Sam • Kal • Soph • Lauren • Aimee • Rain • Olivia • Charvi • Alys • Jeimy

My Questions

1. Would you rather experience a favorite series as if it were the first time, or receive early access to your most anticipated upcoming release with no review obligations?
2. Do you seek out spoilers or avoid them at all costs?
3. If you could arrange a meeting between any two characters from different books (or series), who would you pick and why?
4. Name a book that exceeded your initial expectations.
5. Take any of your favorite books and explain the plot badly.
6. You get to compile a short story anthology with up to eight authors. Who do you invite, and what is the shared theme/motif?
7. What makes you feel better on a bad day?
8. Do you have any reading quirks / interesting habits?
9. If you could be pen pals with any fictional character, who would you pick and why?
10. What’s the hardest thing about blogging?
11. Pick one of your favorite books (or series) and create a fitting ice cream flavor. What is it called, what does it look like, and how does it taste?

If you want to answer any of my questions in the comments below, I’d love to hear from you regardless of whether you were on the somewhat arbitrary list above!