The Liebster Award

Hi everyone!

Emer over at A Little Haze Book Blog nominated me for the Liebster Award a while ago, so I thought it was high time I got around to answering her questions! Thank you so much, Emer! 😊 A piece of advice to everyone else: If you aren’t already following her, you’re missing out on some pretty amazing posts…

What is The Liebster Award?

“The Liebster Award is an award that exists only on the internet and is given to bloggers by other bloggers. The earliest case of the award goes as far back as 2011. Liebster in German means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.”

I copied this from The Global Aussie’s page, and the information seems pretty trustworthy 😉 – I can certainly confirm the bit about the meaning of liebster. I do want to add that this is the masculine form of this adjective, but since Blog is a masculine German noun, that should work universally, right?

Rules:

  • Say thank you to the person who has nominated you for the Award.
  • Answer the 11 questions the person has asked you
  • Nominate 11 people
  • Ask the people who you have nominated 11 questions

Questions from Emer:

1. What’s the silliest book you’ve ever read?

I could steal Emer’s answer here and go with The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, but since I didn’t particularly like that book, I’m also going to mention two different ones that I did!

The first is Allen Kurzweil’s Leon and the Spitting Image, a middle-grade novel that I adore. Leon lives in a shabby hotel that takes the guests no one else will, he collects taxi-driver-countries, has to sew lots of stuffed animals for school, and his greatest enemy is an ice-machine. Trust me, it’s great!

And second, I could go with anything by Sven Nordqvist, a Swedish children’s book author and illustrator whom I absolutely love. His silliest book has got to be The Hat Hunt, though. If you’re interested, the original Swedish title is Hattjakten, and I read the German translation called Die Verrückte Hutjagd – can you tell that these languages are all related? Anyway, this picture book follows an old man looking for his hat together with a giant rabbit. What’s not to like?

2. What’s your favorite smell in the whole world?

I absolutely love the smell of the beach! The salt, the tang of seaweed, the water, the sand, the wind… 😍 I spent a large part of my childhood in Florida, and apart from my friends, the beach is probably what I miss most.

3. If you could be any part of a book, what would it be and why? (E.g. the cover, the epigraph, the blurb, the paper of the pages, etc.!)

person calligraphy GIF

I think I would want to be the ink! Because that’s what makes up the actual story, and I want my life to be interesting and full of adventure!

4. Pair your favorite character with a snack/beverage!

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I have lots of favorite characters, but the one I’ve chosen to go with for this question is Skye from The Penderwicks! And, for obvious reasons, I’m going to pair her with gingerbread.

5. What song always reminds you of a character or book?

I don’t really connect songs to books, unless they are explicitly mentioned in the book or part of the movie score for an adaptation. I didn’t want to be that basic, though, so I decided to give this some thought – and I think I’ve come up with a pairing that works! In my opinion, Reinhard Mey’s Das Narrenschiff goes really well with Scythe by Neal Shusterman.

Das Narrenschiff is a German song about a ship steering towards destruction, but anyone with a few interpreting skills can tell that it is really about something else entirely. Due to the current political climate, I’ve been thinking about the song a lot recently, and I think the scythedom could probably have benefited from taking a few lessons from it, too (particularly with regard to Scythe Goddard).

Anyway, if you’d like to listen to the song, you can go do that here. (I was actually pretty excited when I found a video that included an English translation of the lyrics – until I read them. Let’s just say this clip is a prime example of why you shouldn’t blindly trust google translate… If you’d like a translation of the lyrics that you can actually understand, you can find a pretty decent one in the video’s comments or have a look at this one 😉 )

Oh, and read Scythe if you haven’t already! It is the start to an amazing dystopian series in which humanity has technically eradicated death, which is why so-called scythes have been tasked with killing people in order to keep the population in check.

6. What book did you first discover through a screen/stage adaptation, that is now one of your favorite reads?

The Martian! I adore this book; it’s so nerdy and absolutely hilarious! I first saw this movie with my brother and a friend (and almost fainted when Mark operated on himself), and immediately afterwards I got the book because I loved the movie so much. I don’t know why it hadn’t been on my radar before then…

7. Translate the title of your favorite book into emojis! Or even a gifset!

Serious Star Wars GIF
satisfying pot potter clay pottery GIFLess than Symbol (Sign) - Examples | Math Signs

I hope you were able to decipher that as Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

And just to make things clear – I do not, in any way, support the statements J.K. Rowling has recently been making regarding the trans community. I think she has done a great deal of harm (if you’re unsure as to why and think that her essay actually sounds kind of convincing, I highly encourage you to watch this video), and I am incredibly disappointed that a person I used to aspire to be like is using her extremely influential voice to hurt people already facing a lot of discrimination.

However, I can never cut Harry Potter out of my life – it’s part of who I am, and no other book has even come close to impacting me as much as this series has. No matter what J.K. Rowling does, Harry Potter will probably always remain my favorite thing in the world.

8. If you were to create your own bookish box, what book/merch/fandoms would you include?

fairy tale animation GIF

You know what would be really cool? A fairy-tale-box inspired by stories from all around the world! Let’s make this international!

Obviously, the most important thing in a bookish box is an actual book, so I would like to include an anthology of traditional stories from across the globe. If you live in a different country, let me know which ones you would pick to represent it! For Germany, I think I’ll go with Allerleirauh and Godfather Death. I get the feeling that these Grimm’s fairy tales are not that well-known outside of Germany (probably because Disney couldn’t find a way to make them undisturbing enough 😁), but they’re among my personal favorites.

And because I’m a strong believer in merch actually being useful, I would also include the following things:

A deck of playing cards with illustrations from the different stories on them. I love card games!

One of those painted enamel mugs – I have always wanted one! I will leave it up to the artist which fairy tale(s) they want to depict 😉

A box of gingerbread from Nuremberg. Food is definitely an essential; I love eating while reading! And in Nuremberg, they have these gingerbread-house-inspired boxes that I never buy when I’m at the Christmas market, because they are way more expensive than broken leftovers (which taste just as good)… But if I had a successful book box company, maybe the gingerbread-people would be willing to strike a deal with me?

This is what I’m talking about…
Picture from https://www.lebkuchen-schmidt.com/de/maerchenhaeuschen-p616/

9. Do you prefer to read totally offline or do you like to have Goodreads etc. open so you can post updates while you read?

Offline all the way! Seriously, how would I be able to concentrate on reading otherwise? I actually only use Goodreads to keep track of what I read and when I read it, I don’t even post my reviews there. I do want to get better at that, though – it’s one of my post-exam resolutions 😁

10. Have you ever dressed up as a book character, and if so, which was your favorite to do?

Of course I have! Pretty much half of my childhood costumes were based on books 😉 Although, to be more precise, I didn’t usually dress up as specific characters, but as a random someone who would fit within the world of a book I loved… I just wanted to be part of these worlds myself!

Here are a few highlights:

Left: 5-year-old me dressed as a squirrel for Fasching (German carnival) – this costume was inspired by Huschkusch from Jakob Streit’s Tatatuck. Most people did not recognize what I was supposed to be, which is just RUDE if you ask me.

Middle: I guess 9-year-old me was still a little young to be attending Hogwarts, but that didn’t stop me! And I was definitely very opinionated. It absolutely infuriated me that the movies had changed the school robes to show what house students belonged in – that added a bunch of plot holes, especially in Chamber of Secrets, which was my favorite book back then. However, even I couldn’t deny that the house crests looked kind of cool, so I decided it might not be completely blasphemous to add a Hogwarts crest instead… I spent hours working on that, and to this day, this costume remains my favorite. I’ve lost track of how many times I actually wore it.

Right: 11-year-old me was obsessed with westward expansion and the pioneers, largely due to Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House series. I absolutely devoured those and checked them out from the library so often that my parents eventually took pity on the other kids who wanted to read them and got me my own boxed set. So obviously, when we had to do a practical project on the pilgrims for history class, I convinced the friend I was doing it with that we needed to sew costumes for the presentation. After all, a pilgrim costume can easily serve as a pioneer costume, too… We were very determined, and although my mom helped us a little (I think she was scared we would destroy the sewing machine), we actually did a lot of the work ourselves. And after the project was done, I obviously wore this costume everywhere 😁

Also, don’t ask why I’m not smiling in any of these pictures. It was probably for the better, because I don’t even need a costume when I smile – the resulting pictures scream “deranged serial killer” all by themselves…

11. Have you ever named your pet/toys/children/spouse after a book character?

I have not. But I originally wanted to name my pet cat Soren, from Kathryn Lasky’s The Guardians of Ga’Hoole series. However, the rest of my family said it was a stupid name (IT IS NOT!!) and vetoed it, so now his name is Jaro. And it suits him perfectly, so that’s okay 🙂

Here is a picture of Jaro. I have no idea why he thinks this box is comfortable, but he absolutely loves sleeping there…

Anyway, that was it for this tag! Thanks again, Emer, for nominating me, and I hope you enjoyed my answers!

I nominate the following wonderful bloggers – Whom you should definitely check out! – to also receive this award:

If you don’t want to do this, though, that’s totally fine! I know tags aren’t everyone’s cup of tea 😉 Or if you do, but want to nominate less than eleven people, that’s fine, too. Bend the rules and go with whatever option works for you!

My eleven questions for those tagged:

  1. What is a trope you can’t help but love, even though it’s overused?
  2. Describe your perfect quarantine day!
  3. If you could have any fictional pet, what would you choose?
  4. What is your favorite and least favorite thing about blogging?
  5. If you were stranded on a deserted island all alone, which fictional character and which author would you choose to join you and why?
  6. Describe your favorite book using emojis or GIFs, but don’t tell us what it is. Let’s see if someone can guess it in the comments!
  7. If you could have any character from a book teach you one skill, what would you learn and who would be your mentor?
  8. Have you ever dressed up as a character from a book?
  9. What book are you proudest of forcing on other people? (For their own good, of course…)
  10. What is your favorite blog post that you’ve ever written and why?
  11. Which post that someone else wrote have you enjoyed recently?

I hope you had fun reading, and feel free to let me know some of your answers to these questions in the comments!

Also, I will probably be doing that 100-follower Q&A post I promised you sometime in September, so if you still have questions for that, feel free to leave them down below, too!

43 thoughts on “The Liebster Award”

    • abookowlscorner says:
      Reply

      I’m glad you think so! I’m usually a bit skeptical about book boxes – if I don’t get to pick the book myself, how will I know whether I don’t already have it or if I’ll even like it? 😅 But a completely new fairy tale anthology seemed like a good way to avoid those problems 😁 I always enjoy reading those! 😊

      Liked by 1 person

    • abookowlscorner says:
      Reply

      You’re welcome! I love your blog and can’t wait to see what answers you come up with 😊❤ And meanwhile, I’ll have fun answering the ones you gave me 🤗
      And to the side note: I’m very glad you think so – I agree 100% 😁😍

      Liked by 1 person

  4. Line says:
    Reply

    Thank you for the nomination! 😀
    I love fairy tales so that subscription box would be an instant-buy for me. It sounds wonderful. And food should really be included in all subscription boxes and don’t understand why it isn’t.

    I have The Martian on my TBR so glad to see it’s one of your favorites. I keep putting off reading it for some reason. I know I shouldn’t.

    Liked by 1 person

    • abookowlscorner says:
      Reply

      You’re welcome! I hope you have fun doing the tag! 😊

      And yes, they should really include food in those boxes! Especially unhealthy food 😍🍪🍬 I would be so much more tempted to buy them then 😁 I mean – I guess some of it might spoil if it took forever to mail the box, but surely things like chocolate could survive? Maybe?

      Oh, and I really hope you do decide to pick the Martian up and end up loving it as much as I did!! I really didn’t expect a survival story to be that funny! 😂 And I simply adored all the science-y and mathematical parts…

      Liked by 1 person

  6. dearbookshelves says:
    Reply

    I have some old library copies of a few of the Little House books. I remember that show when I was a kid – I thought it was for kids. But I saw an episode not long ago and the content did NOT seem child friendly lol I am interested in the books, for sure because I’m not sure what they’ll be like.

    Liked by 1 person

    • abookowlscorner says:
      Reply

      I actually saw a few episodes of the TV show when I was a bit older (maybe around 14?) and I’d say it’s definitely a bit darker than the books… The books aren’t only lighthearted though, either 😉 But I have always loved stories with ambiguous and disturbing undertones, so all of that felt pretty harmless to me, even back then 😂 I’d actually be very interested to see how you’d feel reading them for the first time as an adult!

      Like

  7. R A I N says:
    Reply

    The ink! Oh my god that’s soo beautiful, so poetic!! 😍😍😍❤️❤️

    Okay hon – PLEASE MAKE A BOOK SUB BOX – I WANNA BUY THAT!! 😍😍 You have such great ideas for it!

    And oh my god those pics of yours are sooo cuteeee!!! WNIDHSIDOSSI 🥺😍😍😍😍

    AHHH!! Thank you sooo much for tagging me, Naemi! I am honored that you thought of including me as well!! 🥺🥺🦋☺️😇❤️❤️

    Liked by 1 person

    • abookowlscorner says:
      Reply

      I’m glad you thought that was poetic, when really, I just couldn’t think of any other good book parts to mention 😂😉

      And I kind of want that book box myself… Especially the book and the food 😁 But I have absolutely terrible business skills and I think the shipping logistics would probably be a nightmare, too, so I doubt it’ll happen anytime soon 😕 Maybe we can convince some company to pick it up, though – I’m open to outsourcing 😀

      I’m glad you liked the pictures – I definitely grew out of the cuteness, so it’s nice to look back on it 😅

      And of course! Actually, tagging you was a very selfish move on my part, because now I know I can expect some pretty incredible and creative answers to these questions 😉 I just know I’ll love anything you write 🤗💜💜

      Liked by 1 person

      • R A I N says:
        Reply

        AHHHH!! I AM WISHING TO ALLL THE BOOK GODS TO MAKE THIS BOOK BOX HAPPEN!!! 😍😍😍😍❤️❤️❤️❤️

        Awwww!! I am suree you did not!! 😘😘😘😘

        🤣🤣🤣 Oh damn!! I…okay…I have to put some serious thought in this on this one now!! 😉😘😘😘❤️❤️❤️

        Also, Naemi, I am so sorry for the late responses – been a bit down health wise these days..but I will make sure I get to alll of them sooon!! 🥰❤️❤️

        Liked by 1 person

        • abookowlscorner says:
          Reply

          Don’t you ever feel bad about prioritizing your health!! I will still read your replies even if you answer years from now, so take all the time you need! 😊💜💚💙 (And if you don’t respond – I think none of those comments contained life or death matters, so I should survive… 😂) I hope you feel better soon!! ❤❤❤

          And I’m sure you will write something wonderful even if you don’t put serious thought into it 😉😊 But you’ve certainly intrigued me now… So no pressure then, I guess 😂😂💜💚💙❤

          Like

  8. Strawberrys Corner says:
    Reply

    Thank you so much! Finally able to do a tag where I was actually tagged and not just bored haha I will be doing this 🙂
    I love, love, loved your answer for number three and your bookish box! I would totally get that. I also agree with the Goodreads one, I do update what book I’m reading and what page I ended on (in case my bookmark falls out I have somewhere to look that tells me where I am) but I don’t update and take notes on there as I read, that seems like too much work for me to take me out of the book haha

    Liked by 1 person

    • abookowlscorner says:
      Reply

      You’re very welcome – I can’t wait to see what answers you come up with! 🤗 Also, I’m glad the bookish box seems to be so popular 😁
      And wow, even updating the page I’m on on Goodreads seems like too much effort to my absolutely lazy self… I am always convinced I’ll be able to remember the page numbers, and then, when I don’t, I desperately try not to spoil myself while I try to find my spot again 😅

      Liked by 1 person

      • Strawberrys Corner says:
        Reply

        Now all you have to do is make that bookish box happen! haha
        I used to do that but I got so scared of spoiling things that were emotional so I decided I’d use goodreads for more than rating books, also doing a mini review before writing the big, main review on my blog is pretty helpful…Gets those “just finished reading emotions” out of the way haha

        Liked by 1 person

        • abookowlscorner says:
          Reply

          I wish I had the business and marketing skills to actually do that! 😂😂😅

          And I can definitely see how that would be useful! However, short reviews just don’t seem to work for me… I’ll start writing, and before I know it, I’ll have written a ten-page essay lol

          Liked by 1 person

          • Strawberrys Corner says:
            Reply

            That would be awesome 😂

            Haha yeah, sometimes that can be a problem 😅 I’ve seen some people do that on Goodreads though so they choose which books to fully review there and which ones get a full review on the blog or youtube

            Liked by 1 person

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  10. E. @localbeehuntersnook says:
    Reply

    Thank you so much for nominating me, hon!! I would love some gingerbreads in my book box, could eat some now as well!! And I love your costumes!! I can barely mend my socks 😀 Can’t believe you managed to sew your costume at 11!! Seriously, I’m floored!! And the pics of little you are so cute! Even without a smile 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    • abookowlscorner says:
      Reply

      Aww, thank you – and you’re welcome! 😊 I hope you have fun with the tag!! ❤
      I’m really glad you liked the costumes – though honestly, I think you might be giving me too much credit 😁 We had a finished pattern for that dress (from a library book, I think), so literally all we had to do was copy the different pieces onto fabric, cut them out, and sew them together. My mom threaded the machine for us and did the beginning and end of the seams, and the rest is actually sooo much easier than mending socks 😉 You literally only have to press your foot down to keep the sewing machine going and turn the fabric at the right time so that the seams go in the right direction 😉😁 So it looks a lot more impressive than it is!

      Liked by 1 person

  11. Brennah says:
    Reply

    Ah sorry I’m late to replying! Thank you so much for nominating me, it means a lot! I am currently writing my post for this tag, and I can’t wait to check out the other bloggers 😊

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Nefeli says:
    Reply

    Thank you so much for the nomination! I’m excited to answer your questions!

    I’m actually reading this at the beach and yes, it’s the best smell!Your idea of the fairytale bookish box is amazing, especially since it’s meant to include tales from all over the world. I’m sceptical towards book boxes (what if I don’t like anything included in it?), but I’d totally get this one. In Greece I think our most traditional fairytales are Aesop’s fables, but we have more modern ones too like The Sweatest Bread and Poulia and Avgerinos (a story about how the Pleiades and the morning star became stars). We also have this poem we say before fairytales that roughly translates to “red thread tied to a spinning wheel, kick it to rotate and start a fairytale”, which I think would fit in this collection.

    And your cat is so fluffy!! 😍😍

    Liked by 1 person

    • abookowlscorner says:
      Reply

      You’re welcome! I’m excited to see what you come up with! 🤗

      Also, I am so jealous – I would love to be at the beach right now! 😍 I hope you are enjoying your vacation 😊
      And those newer Greek fairy tales sound really interesting, I’ve never heard of those! I do know quite a few of Aesop’s fables, though. They’re very popular in Latin classes here 😉 And I love that introductory poem! German fairy tales always start with “Es war einmal…,” which translates to ‘There once was…’ So nothing nearly as poetic 😅

      He definitely is! 😻 At first, I thought it was cute, too, but then he started discovering his love for crawling around in bushes and brambles… He gets so many tangles and burrs stuck in his fur and absolute hates when you try to remove them, so I’m no longer sure how positive I feel towards all the fluff 😂😂😉

      Liked by 1 person

  15. Jina Bazzar says:
    Reply

    I binge read the Scythe trilogy and loved it!
    Clever of you to choose to be the ink on the page – that’s the most important part, isn’t it?
    I didn’t know that about JK Rolins.
    Great post – enjoyed the questions, your answers, and the questions you asked.

    Liked by 1 person

    • abookowlscorner says:
      Reply

      I’m so glad you also loved Scythe! I actually read the first book pretty soon after it came out, and it was torture having to wait for the next one! I was so invested! So binge-reading the series sounds like a great choice 😂
      I’m glad you liked the post!

      Liked by 1 person

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