Miscellaneous is the tagline to store random posts that don’t really belong elsewhere. They may involve tags, awards, challenges, and other book blogging nonsense.

What’s Miscellaneous Today?
The Sisterhood Brotherhood
of the World Bloggers Award

First off, I’d like to thank everyone who read my recent think aloud piece on “Love Triangles Are Not Actually Triangles”. The responses have been extremely forward-thinking and I’m really digging the dialogues being started.

I was nominated for this award like…a year ago?…by Rachel @ Confessions of a Book Geek and Genesis @ Sparkling Books. I’m sure you already know that it’s my mission to complete all these tag/awards. Thank you, Rx., my favourite medical prescription and Genesis, which is a wicked name!

I thought about leaving this as the “Sisterhood” of the World Bloggers Award but then I figured hey…I can think of enough dudebros to start some shenanigans with. Alas, this was born. No, but seriously, this brotherhood will only last after this current round of nominations LOL. Which is why I also tagged the ladies as well.

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Award Details:

Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award is an award that recognises the unique voices of women (and men?!) across the world and I feel quite overwhelmed at having been nominated for it.

These are the five rules to follow:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you, linking back to their site.
2. Put the Award logo on your blog.
3. Answer the ten questions sent to you.
4. Make up ten new questions for your nominees to answer.
5. Nominate ten blogs.

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Nominations

I have no idea who has done this or not as it’s been forever since I’ve seen this particular award in my feeds. I have separated this award for the short lived brotherhood and for the sisterhood that will continue this going…

I nominate the following people to answer either set of questions as I will do below. (Mainly because my brain is exhausted to think of quirky things to ask. Sorry.)

Nominations a la Brotherhood:

Cristian @ The Bookish God

Joey @ A Book Bore In Timbuktu (…why is this name so popular?)

Joey Reyes @ Strange and Unorthodox (ahhh stahp it)

Josh Hart @ Been There, Read That

Justin @ Just Harping On Libros

Levi Isaac @ Levi Isaacs Blog

Liam @ Liam’s Library

Mark @ Bongbong Books

Miguel @ The Quirky Reader

Shelumiel @ Bookish and Awesome

#success

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Nominations a la Sisterhood:

Anjie @ Love Thy Bookshelf

Blaise @ The Book Boulevard

Cristina @ Girl in the Pages

Erika @ Erika’s Book Ramblings

Jade @ Book Muffin

Josephine @ Josie’s Book Corner

Mari @ Story and Somnomancy

Precious @ Clockwork Desires

Savindi @ The Streetlight Reader

Summer @ XingSings

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Rachel’s Questions:

1. Did you have a book that meant a lot to you as a child?

Not really. I didn’t read that much as a child (and by child, I mean like elementary school pre-age 14). The only book resilient enough to mean something is S.E. Hinton’s “The Outsiders”. It’s wonderful and although I read it as a unit study in class, it didn’t feel like one. A+ Canadian education…A+.

2. Is there any author or book that you collect and will always welcome multiple editions of the same title?

I understand the latter portion of this question but isn’t every book you buy or add to your physical/digital shelving “collecting”. Derp. Patrick Ness. But I’m glad I started reading his works when reprints were already published so I have all of the newest ones (except for Knife of Never Letting Go—I need to get the reissue copy).

3. Say that you find yourself judging a book by its cover (not that we ever do that!); what sort of covers do you go for? Are there any that are an absolute turn off?

This one needs a bit of explaining. Am I critical of book covers? Definitely—I think we have to be. But am I one to put more emphasis on the book blurb? You bet.

It’s quite the balancing act for a cover to be successful. The right typography, colour palette, visual conception relating to the story, it all matters. “Cover turn-offs” can be summed up as books that I wouldn’t even pick up to begin with (so it’s technically unfair to claim them as ‘bad covers’)

4. If you could pick any imaginary animal to bring home to Mom with an earnest, “Can we keep him??”, what animal would it be?

I don’t need an imaginary animal (unless Manchee from Chaos Walking). But let me just step away from typical household pets (I do fancy Corgi’s…)

Otherwise a Quokka is fine.–  I mean…look at this little shit. THEY. JUST. LOOK. SO. DAMN. HAPPY.

… or an otter. Wtf are these feels, right?

…or a red panda. #ughimdead

5. Is there any book to movie adaptation that you simply refuse to watch? No way, no how, you’re not even giving them the opportunity to mess it up?

Nah. I appreciate film adaptations for what they are (with or without having read the source text) considering it’s guaranteed that sometimes I’ll end up watching the adaptation before even reading the book.

6. What is the most unusual book you’ve ever read? (Plot, writing style, chapter layout, etc?)

Most recently: Andrew Smith’s “The Alex Crow” because the narrative felt pretty random until midway through (essentially a mix of anecdotes and journals). But it was a good random; a necessary random.

Otherwise, Lindsay Lane’s “The Evidence of Things Not Seen” was pretty weird. It was basically 20 short stories that fit under the umbrella of one character’s story. I can best describe it as the reader trying to find Waldo but you’re reading 20 different character stories about Waldo.

7. Is there any book or series that you’ve read that is so totally outside of your normal genre, but you loved it and would recommend it to others as a “take a risk!” type of book?

Gabrielle Zevin’s “The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry” – I won it from a Goodreads giveaway and took a chance with it. I was very surprised by all the feels. All the feels. It was a redemptive read with resilience that I can’t really describe. Yes, it’s a book about books but holy bananas was it enjoyable.

8. Do you have any bookish collections, or anything you covet and hope to someday collect? Candles, artwork, bookcases?

Not really. I just covet all of my hardcover books (which is  80%+ of them).

9. What book has been on your TBR pile the longest, but you just can’t convince yourself to pick it up?

lol. LOL? Is this really a question? There are so many…too many. Speaking of ARCs specifically that I won: yeah, I have some from early 2014. I’m really bad at this reading thing, you know?

10. You get a $500 gift card for all things bookish – do you run to your nearest bookstore and spend like a fiend? Or do you create pro/con lists (a la Rory Gilmore) to make sure you get just the right & perfect & wonderful bookish things? Or are you eyeing a particularly expensive bookcase somewhere?

Am I allowed to get cash back somehow? I’d reinvest in the hopes of solid returns. I don’t really care much for bookish things to be honest aside from the actual physical copy. I can be frugal with how I spend money on accessories and the like.

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Genesis’ Questions:

1. What book did you like that everyone hated?

Nothing really rings a bell to me. Veronica Roth’s Allegiant was one that I was “okay” with. Well, no, actually I was okay with the ending. It’s just everything from the first page to the ending was a just bananas. I can actually probably name more books that I hated that everyone else enjoyed…

2. You can only take 3 things from your burning house, what things would you take?

This question isn’t specific enough; therefore, my family and my laptop. That’s 3 “noun-ish” things right?

3. Last page: read it first or save it for the end?

…I don’t really understand people who read the end first to ensure that it’s a solid ending. I’m not sure that I fully agree with reaching the top of the mountain to fully justify the experience of it.

4. Urban Legend: Can you taste the difference between Coke and Pepsi?

Yeah, I can if you give me enough time. I’m a Coke kid but admittedly it does give you grittiness in your mouth afterwards.

5. If you could switch places with any fictional character, who would it be?

Probably someone from Harry Potter-verse who wasn’t part of the main cast or didn’t die as I only want some magical prowess.

6. Name of your pet? What kind of pet is it? If you don’t have one, answer anyways!

Jake–named after my brother’s then-favourite band Less Than Jake. This is him when he was still young and cute and less of a rascal he grew up to be haha. (He’s pretty old now though :(!)

7. What book were you “forced” to read in highschool but ended up loving?

Probably Margaret Atwoods “The Handmaid’s Tale” mainly for its intriguing plot for me at the time when I read it but also for the obscure ending. I like those kinds of endings, really.

8. What made you cry like a baby?

Books seldom make me cry. I’m more a visual kinda guy. I rewatched Interstellar the other day and I still had the tears when Cooper was watching a video of his family. It hurt. Not sure if I’d call it an ugly cry though. Oh, Toy Story 3 was really sad for me too…on multiple fronts. I won’t say when but it stung.

9. What book you keep telling yourself you’ll read but never do?

Either all of my ARCs or probably Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe – Benjamin Alire Saenz. Lol this book.

10. Biggest risk you want to take this year?

I’ll keep it blogging related. Perhaps find a co-blogger. Although I’m on the fence still about it haha. It’s not that I’ll micromanage or anything; it’s that once you see your blog-child grow…can you really let someone else into your blogging family just like that? Ahhh, I’m still thinking about it! I really wanted to start a concept with guy book bloggers at the forefront of the crew. But alas, it’s still a dream at the moment.

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Afterthoughts:

Haaaaah. Much excites; such fun. I decided to try putting nominations before the question answering just to see if it makes a difference to the turnout who actually do these tag/awards!

Also: take it easy with your Dewey’s Marathon reading or whatever shenanigans you’re all up to!

Cheers,
Joey