Sunshine Blogger Award

If you haven’t yet found the Middle-earth Reflections blog, you are missing out. It’s run by the wonderful Olga Polomoshnova, a couple of whose essays I’ve been proud to reprint in my Tolkien magazine The Ivy Bush. Olga has nominated me for the Sunshine Blogger Award! Thank you very much; I’m honoured!

The rules:

– Thank the person who nominated you in a blog post and link back to their blog.
– Answer the 11 questions sent by the person who nominated 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 and/or on your blog.

Olga asked me these questions:

1. What is your favourite book ever?

Why, The Silmarillion, of course. It’s deep, it’s profound, and it’s simply beautiful. More here. 🙂

2. How did you get into reading?

My dad owns a used-and-rare bookshop, so I grew up with a home library of literally several thousand books. What else was I supposed to do but start reading? And of course Mum and Dad read nonstop to me when I was little, so once I learned to read it seemed a natural thing to continue on my own.

3. What was the first book you read?

The first books I remember reading were the Bobbsey Twins, but I’m sure I read picture books before I started on chapter books.

4. What is your favourite quote?

I have many, so I’ll pick one  from Tolkien and one from a different source. The Tolkien one is:

Good and evil have not changed since yesteryear, nor are they one thing among Elves and another among men. It is a man’s part to discern them…

It’s perfectly worded: a one-sentence refutation of relativism, plus a little reminder that we discern good and evil, not decide for ourselves what is good and evil.

One of my favourite general quotes is from Captain America: Civil War (which I have not watched, but whatevs).

Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right… even if the whole world is telling you to move, it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye and say, “No, YOU move.”

Same general principle as the Tolkien quote. I adore when quotes like this pop up in blockbuster movies. It’s like Hollywood refuting Hollywood. >:)

5. What is your favourite atmosphere for reading?

A quiet house, curled up under polar fleece and a heavy quilt. Although I tend to fall asleep in that situation… so…

6. How do you prefer discovering new books to read?

I usually find new books just browsing at a bookstore/booksale/library. It’s better than finding them online because I can flip through the entire thing to see what type of content it is. Also I find so many fantastic older books that I would never come across online.

7. Do you prefer physical books or ebooks?

Physical books as a general principle, but when buying online I would go with ebooks because a) they’re cheaper, b) no shipping (which is basically point a), and c) I don’t have to wait for them to arrive.

8. What inspired you to start your blog?

I created my website several months before I published Starscape, but I didn’t start blogging until a couple months later when I wanted to share a poem I’d written a few years earlier.

9. What’s the story behind your blog’s name?

Try and guess. 😛

10. What are the things that inspire you?

My Catholic Faith. Stories of people who have stood firm against opposition. People who have succeeded in what they wanted to do – not necessarily receiving fame or money, but making even the smallest of differences.

11. When you write something, do you prefer to do it by hand or type straight away into your blog?

If it’s a blog post, I always write right in WordPress. If it’s a story or novel, it depends on my mood (or if I have access to a computer at all). If it’s a poem, almost always by hand.

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I’ll nominate:

You Write Fiction

Kait’s Bookshelf

Curious Wren

Paper Fury

Luke Hartman

Miguel Olmedo Morell

K.T. Ivanrest

My Lady Bibliophile

The Jumping Bean

A Heart Redeemed

Marian Elizabeth

…to answer these questions:

1. Who is your favourite actor/actress and why?
2. How many languages do you speak well enough to hold a conversation?
3. What is the last book you read that you couldn’t put down?
4. What is one genre you would never read?
5. Do you have any unique quirks?
6. What’s the best book-to-movie adaptation you’ve ever seen?
7. Do you like maps?
8. How often do you write by hand compared to typing?
9. Which author’s books can you never resist picking up?
10. What is your favourite letter of the alphabet?
11. How much chocolate do you consume on a weekly basis?