The Liebster Award!

Hello everyone, and welcome back! I’ve been nominated for the Liebster Award! Many, many thanks to Emily @ Frappes and Fiction for nominating me for this award! If by any chance I still haven’t convinced you to go give her some love (though that seems pretty much impossible with how much I rave over her content), I hereby give you permission to pause in your perusal of this post and go check out her blog.

… you’re back? Okay, let’s get started!

The Rules

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
2. Answer the 11 questions given to you.
3. Nominate 11 other bloggers.
4. Ask your nominees 11 questions.

The Questions

What is your favorite kind of post to write?

Book reviews! I’ve mentioned this in another tag I completed, but the excitement of sitting down to write a book review will never fade for me. Writing reviews was one of the reasons I wanted so badly to start a book blog, and there’s absolutely nothing that matches the happiness that comes with someone trying out a book you recommended and loving it.

Have you picked up any new hobbies over quarantine?

I’ve been able to focus more on my reading life, especially with it being summer break in the United States. (We don’t talk about how my carefully planned reading schedule is going to go to ruin in a couple of weeks. Thanks, school!)

What is your favorite month of the year?

My favorite season is fall, so I think it’s pretty much a four-way tie between the last four months of the year.

What genre of book do you want to read more of?

I like to think that I read pretty diversely in terms of genre, but there are a couple of genres that I have trouble reaching for on my own, including horror and mystery. I also need to read more non-fiction, especially about current events.

What is your favorite song?

*looks at the 588 tracks in my library* Uh……

For the sake of time, I’ll go with a recent favorite: “In the Bedroom Down the Hall (Demo)” from the Dear Evan Hansen deluxe album. I have no idea why I put off listening to this song until now, but I fell completely in love with the lyrics, Rachel Bay Jones and Jennifer Laura Thompson’s gorgeous voices, and of course all. the. emotions. It’s such a beautiful follow-up to “Anybody Have a Map?”:

I thought I knew some way that I’d get through to you / Remember? / In the bedroom down the hall / We fought a war where no one walked away a winner / ‘Cause every day you pulled a little more away / Remember? / Saw the counselors and the clinics / And the cures a mother tries / ‘Cause maybe they could take away that anger in your eyes…

No, my eyes are just sweating.

How do you organize your bookshelf?

I have this weird system that’s an amalgamation of organization by genre, author’s last name, size, and spine color. Things get even more complicated if you consider my double-layered bookshelves, and the fact that half of my books hide the other half so you can’t even see the majority of my library. A massive reorganization event is currently in the planning stage.

What’s your favorite color?

Yellow and any shade of blue! Yellow is always so cheerful and bright, while blue is a lot calmer while still managing to give personality to whatever it’s on.

If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be?

I would like to live more like Christ — my heart breaking for what breaks my Father’s and finding joy in what delights Him. The question implies that my answer should be something that I can’t realistically achieve, but I don’t think this is impossible. With the help of the Spirit, we can all become more righteous and spiritually upright children of God.

What is the worst part about blogging? (If you had to pick something)

Imposter syndrome — doubting the validity of my opinions and the feeling that I sometimes get that I’m some sort of fraud who’s faking at what I do here on my blog. It’s not often that I fall into this trap of self-doubt, but so many of the bloggers I follow also struggle with this. I don’t think it’s a problem caused by the community — the book blogging community is one of the most supportive online communities I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with. I think it’s an issue that comes naturally with posting something permanent on the Internet that people I don’t know are going to read and judge me for.

Pie or cake?

What is it with these distressing questions 😫 I’ll go with pie — the greater of two goods, you might say. (Is that a real phrase?)

What is your favorite book of all time?

You can’t do this to meeeee. How am I supposed to choose? The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater is the most recent book I added to my favorites shelf, so I guess we’re going with that. The plot, prose, and of course the characters that Stiefvater writes are practically flawless, and I can’t wait to continue with the series.

My Questions

1. What’s your favorite emoji?
2. If you had the chance to bring a fictional character to life, who would it be and why?
3. What was your favorite subject in school?
4. What would you choose to do if you knew you couldn’t fail at it?
5. Audiobooks, e-books, or physical copies: which is your favorite format?
6. What historical figure would you most like to meet?
7. What is your favorite genre? Your least favorite genre?
8. What book do you need in your life ASAP?
9. What is your favorite social media platform?
10. What makes you weird?
11. Are you more of a night owl or an early bird?

I Tag…

Olivia @ Purely Olivia
Naemi @ A Book Owl’s Corner
Chana & Malka @ Paper Procrastinators
Nicole @ Sorry, I’m Booked
Kerys @ The Everlasting Library
Vicky @ What Vicky Read
Cielo @ Bellerose Reads
Emer @ A Little Haze Book Blog
Noura @ The Perks of Being Noura
Haley @ Fangirl Fury
Xandra @ Starry Sky Books

That’s it for today! A big thank you to everyone who supports Beyond the Read by liking, following, and/or commenting. Love you all!

How about you? Do you struggle with imposter syndrome? How do you organize your bookshelf? What’s your favorite song? Chat with me in the comments!