I Got the Liebster Award!

Ruth at A Great Book Study has nominated me for the Liebster Award!  Thank you, Ruth :-)

The Rules:

*Thank the blogger that nominated you and link back to their blog.
*Display the award somewhere on your blog.
*List 11 facts about yourself.
*Answer 11 questions chosen by the blogger who nominated you.
*Come up with 11 new questions to ask your nominees.
*Nominate 5-11 blogs that you think deserve the award and who have less than 1,000 followers. You may nominate blogs that have already received the award, but you cannot re-nominate the blog that nominated you. Go to their blog and inform them that they've been nominated.

Here are my 11 random facts:

1.  My favorite pizza topping is pepperoni.
2.  I've never read a book by Leo Tolstoy.
3.  I really don't like the color orange.
4.  I love to swim.
5.  I've never turned a cartwheel.
6.  My two favorite TV shows lasted 5 seasons each and both have one-word titles (Combat! and Angel).
7.  I love thrift stores.  I tend to buy more books than clothes there.
8.  I like refilling the dishwasher, but I don't care for emptying it.
9.  I don't like fake vanilla scent, like candles and body sprays.  Blech.
10.  I love to wear t-shirts that relate to movies or books I love.
11.  I've done enough awards like this that I'm having a hard time figuring out new random facts about myself.

Here are Ruth's 11 questions for me:

1. Share a favorite quote from a book or author.

"I went out to the kitchen to make coffee.  Yards of coffee.  Rich, bitter, boiling hot, ruthless, depraved.  The life-blood of tired men."  from The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler.

2. Is there a book you have disliked immensely? Which one, and why?

I really can't stand Lord of the Flies.  I found it too weird and depressing and creepy.

3. Why did you start blogging? Has your purpose changed? How did you come up with the name for your blog?

I started my first blog (Hamlette's Soliloquy) as a way to share my thoughts about random things with whoever wanted to read them.  I started this blog here as a way to organize and collect my book reviews.  I now blog mostly so I can discuss movies and books with other people.  I named my first blog after my favorite Shakespeare play and the idea that a soliloquy is a speech a character makes to the audience, but not to anyone else in the play, which is a lot like a blog.  And I got this blog's name from an F. Scott Fitzgerald quote that I have on a bookmark -- I loved the quote even before I started reading Fitzgerald's work and enjoying his writing.

4. Have you ever counted how many books you own? If not, estimate.

I haven't counted them for a long time.  If you don't count picture books, but do count junior fiction and YA as well as novels, history, poetry... I'd guess around 900 by now.

5. Which author have you read the most?

Hmm.  Most individual books by would probably be Patrick O'Brian or Rex Stout.

6. Which book have you reread the most?

Probably The Black Stallion by Walter Farley.  For years, it was my absolute favorite book, though I recently realized I love Jane Eyre and The Count of Monte Cristo more.

7. Do you have a memorable childhood book?

I adore The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins by Dr. Seuss.

8. Have you ever imagined an actor/actress to play a character in a book you were reading? (For example, I always thought Sharon Stone would make a great Dominique Francon in the Fountainhead by Ayn Rand.)

Not counting books that have been made into movies, I assume.  I kept seeing James Drury as Lassiter in Riders of the Purple Sage -- that's the most recent instance I can think of.  But I'm always seeing actors/actresses in different roles, it's kind of second nature to me.

9. Is there a book you would like to see in film version, permitting they kept it true to the book.

That's never had a movie version?  I'd LOVE it if they made The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society into a movie.  Especially if they cast Chris Hemsworth as Dawsey Adams.

10. Name a character from classic lit that you would love to be neighbors with.

I'd love to live next door to Lucy and George Emerson.  I think they'd be lovely to be friends with, and we could take turns having each other over for supper.

11. What book are you avoiding, and why?

I'm avoiding a lot of books.  I'm going to take this to mean a book I feel like I ought to read, but can't get myself to start, and for that I'll go with War and Peace.

And now, I hereby nominate the following bloggers for the Liebster Award:

Brona Joy at Brona's Books
Elizabeth at The Borrowed Book
Kiri Liz at A Hundred and One Titles
Lily at Authoress in the Making
Livia Rachelle at Rose Petals and Faerie Dust

Here are my 11 questions for you to answer:

1.  Who is your favorite poet, and why?
2.  What movie character would you recast if you could?
3.  Do you think mice are nice?
4.  What "universally beloved" fictional character do you not care much for?
5.  Do you prefer sci-fi or fantasy?
6.  Have you ever been in a police car?
7.  Are there any movies or books you thought you'd hate, and discovered you liked instead?
8.  What's the oldest book you've ever read?
9.  What's the oldest movie you've ever seen?
10.  If you could live in any fictional house/mansion/dwelling, where would you like to live?
11.  How many books have you read so far in 2014?

Okay, that's it.  If you want to play, go for it!  If you don't, I won't be crushed :-)