Cleopatra Loves Books accepts an award!

 

I was honoured to be nominated for this Book Fangirling Award by A Chick Who Reads and I’m delighted to be able to share my love of books through answering the questions posed via this award that allows bloggers to appreciate and show support for other bloggers.

Here are the rules:

Rules For Accepting The Bookfangirling Award:

Create a post to accept your award

Add the blog award button into your post

Answer the questions we have below

Nominate between 5-10 book bloggers who you think deserve this award

Come up with your own 5 questions for your nominees

We all seem to have a great love for books. Where did your love for books begin?

I honestly can’t remember a time when I haven’t loved books and know anecdotally that I was read to from a young age. Some of those early books I remember clearly such as my copy of The Very Hungary Caterpillar and Topsy and Tim Go On Holiday. I also remember clearly the library where we went to chose books which had low boxes that held the picture books and little seats for eager young readers to sit on as they made their choices, it was my favourite place to be.

Do you usually enjoy the book?  Or the movie made from the book?

Always the book, I’m not big on sitting still for the length of a film so don’t watch many. If it is a film from a book, I have to read the book first! One book/film combination where I have watched the film more often than reading the book is Atonement by Ian McEwan

Who is your favourite author, and book that they’ve written?

This is really hard, I have lots of authors whose books I love and to narrow the selection down to one author and book is nigh on impossible. I read a lot of crime fiction and one book that I have re-read more than most is Asta’s Book by Barbara Vine (the name Ruth Rendell wrote under for her psychological books.) The books that Rendell wrote under the pseudonym Barbara Vine all centre on themes of family misunderstandings and the side effects of secrets kept and crimes done.

I think the reason I find this one so appealing is because as well as crime it is written about the past so there is a strong historical angle.  Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine had the ability to create characters that were ‘ordinary’ and uses her sharp insights into the human mind and spin a tale around that very ordinariness!

 

What book are you a total Fangirl of?

Urban Dictionary: fangirl

A rabid breed of human female who is obsessed with either a fictional character or an actor. Similar to the breed of fanboy. Fangirls congregate at anime conventions and livejournal. Have been known to glomp, grope, and tackle when encountering said obsessions.

Hugh Jackman: ‘ello.
Fangirl: SQUEEEEEE! *immediately attaches to Jackman’s leg*
Jackman: Security!

This is where the nomination appears to be less than justified – I am not a fangirl, I’m afraid as much as I love books, I don’t get obsessed by them, I probably don’t read the right kind of fiction that inspires this sort of behaviour. That said I must read the latest Peter James books featuring Roy Grace as soon as they are published (if I’m not lucky enough to get an ARC) and this pre-dates my blogging by many years – by my reckoning we should be due a new one in about five months time! Squeal….

Have you ever read a book that you thought you could write a better ending for?  And what was that book?

Now this is a tough question as I think the ending can ruin the whole experience of reading a book and yet when I review books for the blog I rarely mention it – I am committed to not giving spoilers and quite often it is impossible to mention an ending without breaking that rule.  So I’m going to reach back in time to say one reason why I didn’t read my copy of The Wizard of Oz more than once, despite it being a beautiful copy with colour-plates and a ribbon bookmark  was I felt really let down by the ‘then Dorothy woke up and it was all a dream’ scenario.’ I wasn’t allowed to write that in my storybook at school and I didn’t see why this author thought that any child would think that he should get away with it! It still rankles to this day! As for what the ending should be, anything but the one chosen!

from the film

Now, I’m also supposed to mention five to ten other bloggers, and send the award on to them. I love way more than five to ten blogs in many different ways so I’ve awarded this blog award to all of you. If you want to participates grab the award. You all deserve it and I’d love to read the answers to the questions below.

My Five Questions are as follows:

What things do you consider important when choosing a book? Is it the premise, reviews, cover or…?

What is your favourite thing about blogging?

Which book has left a lasting impression on you?

Who is the best person in your life to fangirl with?

What is the latest book you added to your bookshelf and why?