Behind the Blogger Tag + Meet The Book Blogger Tag

Hey guys! Finally my crazy blogging schedule has settled down a wee bit, and I can get to my regularly scheduled end-of-month tag! 

I've been tagged by two people (or I guess technically three, because of a complicated memory lapse on my part) for two tags designed to help y'all get to know me better! So because my backlog of tags is getting a bit...long, shall we say...I thought it would be fun to do both at the same time! 

However, since trying to nominate up to 15 people between both tags is a little overwhelming, I'm just going to nominate five bloggers at the bottom of the post, and they can pick the questions they like best to answer!

Let's get to it...

Behind the Blogger Tag

Praecepta:
Thank the person who nominated you. (Thanks Nicole Dust!)
Answer the questions. 
Ping back to the creator: Ellyn of Allonsythornraxx 
Nominate 5+ bloggers to do the tag. 

Why did you start blogging, and why have you kept blogging?

I'm not sure I can pinpoint an exact reason why I started blogging...I had followed the book blogging community for a long time, and it was starting to drive me crazy not to comment. But at the same time, it was in the middle of COVID lockdown, and I was bored. But also, I didn't have a whole lot of friends around who I could talk about books with (see: COVID, and also, I'm not super great at making friends in real life) and I was driving my family a bit nuts. So it was an outlet for that, in some ways. 

I have kept blogging because of all of you! I've found such a fantastic community here, that values intellectual exchange and BOOKS and encouraging each other, and I love it (and y'all!) so very much. Fangirling and debating and discussing with you is always a highlight in my life!

What is your favorite type of blog post to write?

I enjoy writing all my blog posts (or else I wouldn't do it!) but I especially love the kind where I'm just sort of rambling about something. Like my Lewisian Musings. Or that one about Women and Action Movies that was total clickbait and generated a bunch of excellent debate. That was fun. XD

What are your top three favorite blog posts?

What about who are my top three favorite siblings? Seriously, you're asking me to choose three? Okay. Fine. Be that way.
Tolkien's True Myth & Tropes In Fiction 
I was ridiculously proud of this post. And I just went back and read it...and I'm still ridiculously proud of it.  

In Defense of Harry Potter
I like arguing, and In Defense of posts are basically an argument in post form. What can I say?

Jem Jones Linkup: Quirk #4 (this is a link too, it just won't change color. *facepalm*)

This is probably the best quirk I've every done, and I love it dearly...and so did everyone else, which made me very happy.

What are some of your favorite things to do to relax?

Read, read, read, and sleep. Oh, and also listen to music, take pictures, pray, play the piano, and hang out with our goats.

What are three of your favorite things?

Chemistry, the forest, and Jesus. Not in that order. (And these are not my three favorite things, either, just three of my favorite things.)

What are your proudest blogging moments?

Probably when someone new follows me, or when a blogger that I've been following for a while comments on my blog.
It's the little things. :)

What are your hobbies outside of blogging?

Reading, writing (sometimes), quilting, photography, embroidery, gluten-free baking, cooking (on occasion), gardening (when I have the time), goat husbandry.

Describe your personality in three words.
Tank-treads, people-loving-introvert, often-crusty-but-secretly-soft.
(Yes, those each count as one word, shhh. If you use '-', it counts as one word.) (Also, I don't know how accurate this is to my entire personality, but...I tried. I'm not great at self-knowledge. XD)

What are your top three pet peeves?
I don't know if I have three top pet peeves, but here are three of my big pet peeves:
1. "Baby On Board" stickers. Seriously, these serve no purpose--do you think someone is going to check for a BOB sticker before they hit your car? Um...newsflash, people don't usually get into accidents on purpose. And the kind of people who do are not the kind who will be deterred by a BOB sticker. Also, it kind of implies that babies are more valuable than adults?? Like, you should drive carefully because there's a baby in the car. What about driving carefully because there are humans in the car? 
2. When people cook carrots so long they get mushy. 

3. Getting anti-vaping ads in my Spotify. I mean, not only are you interrupting my music, but also you are insulting my intelligence by implying that I don't already know that vaping is both absolutely awful for you AND addictive. Plus, the ads themselves are either gross or...gross.

What's something your followers don't know about you?
Y'know, I share a lot on this blog, so I'm guessing y'all know most things about me? But one random fact that you probably don't know is that I HATE nail polish. It just...cracks, and chips, and looks horrible, and gets in the way ALL. THE. TIME.

Meet The Book Blogger Tag

Praecepta:
Nominated bloggers can nominate ten other bloggers
Use the same questions from the tag
Tag the original creator (Bibliomavens) and the blogger who tagged you (Bernadette Benda and Maya Joelle)

Who is your all-time favourite book character?
Um. I have enough trouble picking my favorite character from a single book. How am I supposed to pick from every. single. book. I've. ever. read?

Oh, wait.

I'm pretty sure it's Attolia, from The Queen's Thief.

She's so crusty around the edges because she has to be, and she doesn't recognize her emotions, and she's so hard, but then also...and here's where I stop because #spoilers. But. She's fantastic, guys. And there's far too little of her in the books. 

(However, this favorite is liable to change at any time. Attolia might end up being eclipsed by El from A Deadly Education. But that has not happened yet.)

Runners up: Aragorn, Samwise, Sophie (HMC), Gen (TQT), Orual (Till We Have Faces), Queenie (Code Name Verity), Halt (Ranger's Apprentice), Mr. Darcy, El (A Deadly Education), Alyosha (The Brothers Karamazov), and probably several others I'm not thinking of off the top of my head. 

If you were stranded on a desert island, which book would you take with you? (Survival books do not count)

The Bible. Because, if I'm stranded on a desert island, I will probably have big spiritual issues, being cut off from the sacraments and all that. And I would probably have enough time and boredom to finally read through the whole thing. Even Numbers. (Yes, I'm terrible and have never read the whole Bible all the way through. I have read a lot of it, though.)

But if we're accepting the Bible as a given, then I would also take The Lord of the Rings. It's so lovely and long, but it's also Tolkien and I don't think I would ever get tired of reading it.

What’s your most unpopular book opinion?

I don't...actually know a lot about what's popular or unpopular?

But from what I've heard, I guess my most unpopular one is that To All The Boys I've Loved Before is straight-up awful. It gave me the WORST book hang over--I was depressed and grumpy all afternoon.

What’s your weirdest bookish habit?

Who am I to judge what's weird and not when it comes to bookish habits? Hmm? 

But one thing that I do with books that is considered kind of strange in the blogosphere (I think) is that I don't mind dog-earing books. There, I said it. I don't do it all the time (I do use bookmarks a lot of the time) but if I need to keep a place to look up a quote, or don't have a bookmark with me, I will dog-ear without compunction.

What character would you bring to a family event as your fake partner?

Ahhhhh...um...I'm pretty sure my family would catch on really, really quickly. Especially since they've read a bunch of the same books as me. XD 

But independent of that, I think I would borrow Solomon Hawke from Parvin briefly, and take him. He's such a gentleman that I would know he wouldn't take advantage of being my fake partner, but also I think he would be a good conversationalist and just fun to be around. Although there's always the danger I might decide I like him too much, and not give him back...
(Solomon Hawke is from the A Time to Die series, by Nadine Brandes.)

What made you decide to start a book blog?

I think I answered this one up above...

What about reading and books do you love the most?

There's so much I love about books and reading! Discovering new worlds, finding kindred spirits (both in books and outside of them, in other readers!), falling into a book and staying there all day, the feeling of rereading an old favorite, the smell of old books, the giddy feeling of walking into a bookstore...I could keep going.

What is your field of study/desired profession/current profession?

My current plan is to study Landscape Architecture and Animal Science at the University of Illinois, starting this fall.
After that, I have a variety of ideas, including buying a farm, joining a Landscape Architecture firm, becoming an extension agent, and/or going to the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology for a Masters in Philosophy and Theology. XD

What are some book recommendations that became your favourites/obsessions?

Pretty much all of my favorite books have been recommendations from one person or another, including:

-The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner (recommended by my aunt)
-Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (recommended by my dad)

-The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt (also recommended by my aunt)
-The Assassin's Apprentice series by Robin Hobb (also recommended by my dad)

-The I Am Margaret series by Corinna Turner (recommended by my friend Merry)
-The Ball and the Cross by G. K. Chesterton (recommended by Megan Chappie)

What is the book you shove down everyone’s throat?
There are many?? But especially The Queen's Thief series (yes, series, I am breaking the rules) by Megan Whalen Turner. Seriously, if you have not read this series yet, I am failing at my job. XD

And I tag:
Elizabeth @ Autumn Ink
Skye Hoffert
Hamlette
Lia @ The Singing Writer
MovieCritic

Reminder: the taggees can pick whichever set of questions appeals to them most!

Do you have a Favorite Character Ever? What's the book that you shove down everyone's throat? What do you think of Baby on Board stickers?