I’ve been nominated 4 times for The Liebster Award, and I’m finally getting around to the tags. I’ve been debating on doing these one by one, but finally decided to just bite the bullet and do them all in one post, with a few changes to the official rules. It’s my blog, I do what I want. Ha! Here we go!!

I was nominated for this award by these four lovely bloggers:

• Jill @ Rant and Rave About Books
• Bex @ Bex Talks Books
• Lost In A Good Book
• Teal Baby

Thank you all for nominating me!!

 The Rules:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you and display the award.
2. Answer the 11 questions that the blogger asks you.
3. Give 11 random facts about yourself.
4. Nominate 5-11 other blogs that you think are deserving of the award and that have less than 200 followers.
5. Let the blogs know that you have nominated them.
6. Ask them 11 new questions.

 Questions For Me To Answer:

In the interest of not making this post a novel, I’ll answer 12 questions, 3 from each blogger who tagged me.

Jill’s Questions

• If chosen as a contestant in The Hunger Games, what would your strategy be? Would you head to the cornucopia, dodging attackers for supplies, or would you run and hide? I think I would run and hide. I’m not really into combat in any way, and I think my strategy would be to just outlast the others. But then there are those nasty surprises the game-makers bring to the table, so I’d be forced to fight and I’d fail completely.
• Which book couples do you like the most? Ron and Hermione from Harry Potter. Sandor and Sansa from A Song of Ice and Fire (YES. This is REAL. And I believe it whole-heartedly! You can’t convince me otherwise! Until GRRM finishes the series and potentially breaks my heart). Anne and Captain Wentworth from Jane Austen’s Persuasion. Marianne and Colonel Brandon from Sense and Sensibility. Can you tell I have an obsession with a guy loving a girl for years before anything happens??!! I just adore it. It is SO romantic.
• Fairy tale and classic novel re-tellings are popular now. Which fairy tale or classic novel would you like to see re-told that is NOT on the market? This is a tough one! I love fairy tales, but I don’t actually know a whole lot of different/unknown ones. I love the original Snow White tale, it is so dark and disturbing compared to the Disney version. But I downloaded this book, Fairy Tales Every Child Should Know by Hamilton Wright Mabie on Kindle (it’s free!), and it has a bunch of interesting fairy tales in it. I’m still working on the book (I just pick it up every once in a while when I’m in a fairy tale mood), and one I really liked was called The Enchanted Stag, which I believe is one of Grimm’s Fairy Tales. It is about a brother and a sister, and there is an evil stepmother, and the brother is turned into a stag. I remember reading it and thinking it was just so interesting. It could be a really beautiful story re-told.

Questions from Bex

• If you could have dinner with any 3 authors, who would they be? I would choose George R.R. Martin, Oscar Wilde, and Joyce Carol Oates. I’d love to be able to discuss ASOIAF with GRRM, Oscar Wilde just seems like he’d be an interesting guy to talk to, and Joyce Carol Oates would be fascinating to listen to her speak about writing. I went to a book signing where she spoke and she had a lot of informative things to say. I’d love to hear more!
• In your opinion, which is the absolute worst book-to-movie adaptation? Z for Zachariah. You can read my scathing review of it here.
• What do you believe is the worst thing an author can do in his or her book? Use repetitive phrasing. I find myself noticing authors favorite phrases or terms when reading multiple books by one author back-to-back. For instance, in the Harry Potter books, J.K. Rowling’s repeated use of ellipses gets annoying to read. If I space the books out, I don’t notice it as much. In George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, in the later books he repeatedly uses the phrase “heart skipped a beat”. As in, her heart skipped a beat. His heart skipped a beat. There were too many beat skipping hearts in that series! But again, only noticeable when reading a lot of one author all at once.

Questions from Lost In A Good Book

• What is your favorite genre(s) to read? Mysteries, Historical Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Literary Fiction, Young Adult, Non Fiction, Fantasy. I’ll pretty much read anything except for horror and erotica. I’m also not much into romance.
• Which 3 characters would you invite to a dinner party? Ron Weasley from Harry Potter because I love him and he would make me laugh. Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings because he would have so many interesting stories to tell. And Elizabeth Bennett from Pride and Prejudice because she would be witty and charming and bring some class to the party (plus, she’d probably arrive with Mr. Darcy, and while he might not be the best dinner conversationalist, he’d certainly be easy on the eyes).
• If your life was a movie, who would play you? Ha! Well Nicole Kidman or Kate Winslet or Jennifer Lawrence of course!

Teal Baby’s Questions

• What’s one book that you wished would be turned to a movie? The Night Circus. This would be a gorgeous movie.
• What could make you go into a reading slump or book hangover? And how do you get out of it? I was in a reading slump in June, and it was entirely because of heavy issues going on and lots of stress. I read to alleviate stress, but sometimes there is just too much going on, and I don’t have time to read. I get out of it by not reading when I don’t want to read, and reading when I do want to read. I’ll come back to reading when it feels right.
• Do you have a preferred snack and/or drink while reading? If so which? Coffee. And that is only because if I’m able to drink coffee while reading, that means I’ve got a relaxing morning ahead of me, which is rare.

And there you have it! My answers to some of the questions I was asked. Thanks again for tagging me for this award!

Facts About Me:

And I know you all are anxiously awaiting 44 random facts about me. There’s no way I’m listing 44 random facts about me, so I’ll stick with 11.

1. In the fall I’m going to start taking a web design class, because I’m enjoying blogging and I’d like to learn more. Little nervous about it because I haven’t been in school in over ten years. And I’m concerned about time and being able to do everything (blog, work, school, life). But I’m determined to fit it all in!
2. I collect vintage cookbooks and love reading them. Note I didn’t say that I enjoyed cooking the recipes. I’m the world’s slowest chef ever. And I hate touching raw meat. I’m weird.
3. I’m obsessed with Disneyland! I love it so much, and want to go at any chance I get.
4. I was named after the character Amy March in Little Women. I changed the spelling of my name to Ami when I was in high school to be different.
5. I have a terrible habit of watching television series up until their last season and then not finishing them. The OC, Gossip Girl, Downton Abbey, and Gilmore Girls are a few that I still need to finish watching. And now it’s been awhile, so I need to start all the way back at the beginning again!
6. I’m in Slytherin and Horned Serpent per Pottermore. I guess this is appropriate because I do love snakes? But I’m a little weirded out by being put in Slytherin. I know nothing about Horned Serpent.
7. I was on the Flag and Shields in high school. I primarily did the flags, and we’d march with the band and do routines to the music. It was a lot of fun! One of the highlights of being on the team was that we got the opportunity to dance (no flags or shields for this one) at the opening ceremony of a World Cup match that was played at Stanford back in 1994 (shows you how old I am!). The match was Russia v Brazil, and Carlos Santana performed the music we danced to. It was pretty awesome!!!
8. I just joined NetGalley and oh boy, that site is dangerous!
9. I love watching home improvement reality shows. I especially love Fixer Upper and adore Joanna’s style. I would love to start flipping houses with my husband, I think it would be fun. And since I’m married to the world’s handiest guy, I know we could do it.
10. I live in Sonoma County, California. Beautiful wine country. Even though I live so close to world-class wineries and love wine, I’ve only been wine tasting a couple of times. We also have excellent beer here, and I love a great IPA.
11. I can’t whistle.

And there are some facts about me!

And since it has taken me forever to do this post, I won’t be tagging anyone else to do it. And whew! 4 tags down, just 12 more to go!