The Mystery Blogger Award #2

Hello everyone,

It is time for my first tag post of 2021! I was so grateful to be tagged by Florence for this award, and I am excited to answer her questions. Florence is a wonderful friend and blogger who writes such interesting posts on an array of diverse bookish topics, so do check out her site. 🥰

The award was created by Okoto @ OkotoEnigmasBlog. Other than that, it is a mystery…

The Rules

• Put the award logo/image on your blog.
• List the rules.
• Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
• Mention the creator of the award and provide a link as well.
• Tell your readers 3 things about yourself.
• Nominate some other bloggers
• Notify your nominees by commenting on their blog.
• Ask your nominees any 5 questions of your choice; with one weird or funny question (specify).
• Share a link to your best post(s).

---

Three Things About Me

1. In the last nine months I have successfully completed online courses in Forensics Archaeology and Anthropology, Modern Art, and Web Development. A very eclectic mix, I know!
   Archaeology and Anthropology is one of the subject areas I work on in my job as a university administrator, so it was fun to learn more about them. I have also wanted to improve my knowledge of HTML and CSS, hence taking the web development course. They have been a good way of learning new things, and staying busy during lockdown!
2. Among my resolutions for 2021 are to use my time more efficiently, have a more consistent sleeping pattern, start writing a new WIP and stick with it, read more classics, and improve my cookery skills.
3. Due to my overflowing bookshelves and fairly considerable unread pile, I have been known to keep books in my office at work. There are currently eight books on or around my desk, some of which have been there for ages and I have not got around to reading them yet!

Link to my favourite post

It is always hard to choose just one, but out of my more recent posts I shall choose the one about the best settings I read in 2020. I looked back and provided descriptions on all the countries I ‘travelled’ to in the books I read last year.

Questions from Florence

1. Share an under-rated book that you absolutely love.
   
   According to Goodreads, the book with the lowest average rating that I awarded five stars is Everything But The Truth by Gillian McAllister. I read that in October 2017 and so I might have been a little more generous with ratings back then, but it was such a compulsive page-turner that I flew through it in just a matter of days!
2. What are your top three recommendations for diverse reads?
   
   The first book that comes to mind here is definitely These Violent Delights. Along with being one of my favourite books, it’s incredibly diverse. As for my other choices, The Hate U Give is a book I recommend to everyone, and With The Fire On High is a wonderful contemporary with very good representation.
3. If you could have dinner with 2 authors, one living and one dead, who would be on your guest list?
   I’m very indecisive with this question! I would say Agatha Christie as there has probably never been a better mystery author and there would be so many interesting things to discuss. As for a living author, it would be between Jessie Burton – because her books are both brilliant and fascinating – and Chloe Gong, as I am simply in awe of her after reading These Violent Delights.
4. Who is your bookish buddy?
   Oh this is a lovely question but also an evil one, because how do I choose just one?! I would probably say Gem as she was the first really good friend I made after I started book blogging. We have done seven buddy reads since and still message each other regularly. But I have made a lot of amazing friends in that time and they are all book buddies as far as I’m concerned!
   In terms of my family, the only other person who enjoys reading as much as I do is my cousin, who is known to have very strong feelings towards fictional characters!
5. What is your favourite animal – pictures very welcome!
   Like Florence I also find monkeys quite adorable, along with penguins and ring-tailed lemurs. However, my favourite animals of all have to be cats! It is a perhaps a cliché, but I just love cats. Here is a picture of my family’s cat Freddie, which I have shared on here once or twice before. He sometimes sits on me while I read or watch television, and I am sure you will agree he is very cute and fluffy!
   

---

My Questions

1. Is there a particular genre that you are aiming to read more in 2021?
2. What is your favourite pastime besides reading?
3. Which book has been on your TBR for the longest amount of time?
4. Are there any books you have bought simply because you loved the cover?
5. If you could have one superpower, which one would you choose and why?

I Tag:

Ash
Abby
Kira
Mary
Rosie

There is no pressure at all to do the tag!

Happy reading 🙂