Tag: Sunshine Blogger Award (Take 9)

Can you tell that I’m trying to work my way through my backlog of tags? I love doing them, but between the holidays and work and traveling, I got pretty far behind. Today I’m doing another round of the Sunshine Blogger Award. I was nominated by Raya and Nikki (thank you!!) and if you’re not already following them, you should definitely go check out their blogs! 🙂

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If you’re interested, you can see the previous versions of this award here:
one | two | three | four | five | six | seven | eight

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The Rules

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you by linking their blog.
2. Answer the questions.
3. Nominate 11 blogs with 11 questions.
4. List the rules as well as display the Sunshine Award Logo on your post.

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11 questions from Raya

[1] What’s a book you read that you would’ve been proud to have written?

Definitely The Hating Game! I love it so much, recommend it incessantly, and can only hope to someday be as talented at anything as Sally Thorne is at writing an enemies-to-lovers romance.

[2] What’s one movie or TV show you think you’d have liked to have read as a book?

Fun fact about me: I hardly ever watch anything. (This is how I have so much time to read.) It’s really rare for me to watch a movie by myself, but I’m happy to watch one with somebody if they ask. I used to watch a few TV shows, but over the last few months, I’ve really lost interest in most of those too. I guess one TV show that I think would make a good book is Misfits. I used to love that show when I was in college.

[3[ Is there a book that you personally liked a lot but wouldn’t recommend to others?

I tend to hesitate when recommending non-fiction. There are a number of non-fiction books that I’ve really enjoyed, but when it comes to recommendations, I usually go with fiction. It’s not that I wouldn’t recommend these books, just that I usually don’t.

[4] If you could read books by only one writer for the rest of your life, who would it be?

Jenn Bennett, because she’s never disappointed me.

[5] Which book character would you like to travel the world with?

Imagine traveling the world with Simon Spier. I feel like he’d be the best travel partner.

[6] What’s a book family you wouldn’t mind being a member of?

Marko, Alana, and Hazel are definitely an unconventional family, but they have so many adventures and clearly love each other so much.

[7] Who’s your favorite book couple?

I have a real soft spot for Josh and Lucy from The Hating Game. Yes, I can find a way to work The Hating Game into just about any conversation.

[8] What’s the most recent book that you bought / wanted-to-buy solely based on its cover?

Since it didn’t work out so well the last time I bought a book based solely on its cover, I don’t really do that anymore. But the cover plus the really mixed reviews I’ve seen of The Wicker King definitely didn’t hurt my chances of reading it. (Then I had a coupon for B&N, so I bought it.)

[9] What’s the funniest book that you have read?

It’s a tie between My Lady’s Choosing and The Secrets of the Starbucks Lovers. (Coincidentally by the same author duo.)

[10] What’s a generally hated character that you like?

I couldn’t even think of any generally hated characters, so I Googled it. The first result was Holden Caulfield and it really just hurts my heart that people hate him. He goes through so much in his life and he’s also so relatable.

[11] What’s the one place where you could never read a book?

I can read just about anywhere, but not in a moving car. Planes are fine, trains are a little iffy but sometimes okay, but cars? Nope. Instant migraine. It makes me so sad, but I guess that audiobooks make up for it.

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11 questions from Nikki

[1] Who is your favorite superhero and why?

I don’t really keep up with superheroes very much, but if I had to choose one, I might go with Thor. I don’t really have a good reason. I just saw that first Thor movie several times with my best friend and he was the first superhero I thought of.

[2] What is your most anticipated release for 2019?

Currently, Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett!

[3] Who would you choose as your one and only book boyfriend?

I’ve said before that I prefer real people over fictional characters, but if I had to go with a book boyfriend, I’d probably choose Michael Phan from The Kiss Quotient. He’s just so perfect.

[4] If you could live in any book “world”, which would it be?

I think it would be awesome to live in Henrietta, VA and hang out with Blue Sargent and all the Raven boys.

[5] What was your favorite novel of 2018?

Nevernight!

[6] Pumpkin Spice or Chai?

Hmm, that’s a tough one. Probably pumpkin spice, although a chai latte used to be my go-to drink when I was in college.

[7] If you could choose one setting from any novel to live in, which would it be?

I think I’m going to stick with my answer to the fourth question: Henrietta, VA.

[8] If you could only read one novel for the rest of your life, which would it be?

Oh dear. I don’t really re-read books… like ever… but I suppose I should go with a favorite. I’m going to say Emergency Contact. It just put me in such a great mood. Hopefully it would keep having that same effect on me regardless of how many times I read it.

[9] Would you rather have a bent page in a book or a bent book jacket?

Give me one bent page any day.

[10] Fiction or non-fiction?

I will almost always choose fiction over non-fiction, although I am making an effort to read more non-fiction than I used to.

[11] Mystery or sci-fi?

It really depends on the book! I guess, in general, though, I’d go with sci-fi.

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I’m not tagging anyone, but please feel free to answer either set of questions (or both!) if you’d like! If you do, please link back to this post so I can check out your answers. 🙂

Best Nonfiction of 2018!

Earlier this week, I talked about the best fiction books I read in 2018. Next week, I’ll be talking about the worst. But today I wanted to talk about the best nonfiction that I read last year! I read 27 nonfiction books in 2018, and here are my top five.

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5. We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates

“We were eight years in power” was the lament of Reconstruction-era black politicians as the American experiment in multiracial democracy ended with the return of white supremacist rule in the South. Now Ta-Nehisi Coates explores the tragic echoes of that history in our own time: the unprecedented election of a black president followed by a vicious backlash that fueled the election of the man Coates argues is America’s “first white president.”

But the story of these present-day eight years is not just about presidential politics. This book also examines the new voices, ideas, and movements for justice that emerged over this period–and the effects of the persistent, haunting shadow of our nation’s old and unreconciled history. Coates powerfully examines the events of the Obama era from his intimate and revealing perspective–the point of view of a young writer who begins the journey in an unemployment office in Harlem and ends it in the Oval Office, interviewing a president.

We Were Eight Years in Power features Coates’s iconic essays first published in The Atlantic, including Fear of a Black President, The Case for Reparations and The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration, along with eight fresh essays that revisit each year of the Obama administration through Coates’s own experiences, observations, and intellectual development, capped by a bracingly original assessment of the election that fully illuminated the tragedy of the Obama era. We Were Eight Years in Power is a vital account of modern America, from one of the definitive voices of this historic moment.

my review

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4. Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

From the best-selling author of Americanah and We Should All Be Feminists comes a powerful new statement about feminism today–written as a letter to a friend. 

A few years ago, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie received a letter from a dear friend from childhood, asking her how to raise her baby girl as a feminist. Dear Ijeawele is Adichie’s letter of response.

Here are fifteen invaluable suggestions–compelling, direct, wryly funny, and perceptive–for how to empower a daughter to become a strong, independent woman. From encouraging her to choose a helicopter, and not only a doll, as a toy if she so desires; having open conversations with her about clothes, makeup, and sexuality; debunking the myth that women are somehow biologically arranged to be in the kitchen making dinner, and that men can “allow” women to have full careers, Dear Ijeawele goes right to the heart of sexual politics in the twenty-first century. It will start a new and urgently needed conversation about what it really means to be a woman today.

my review

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3. On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder

A historian of fascism offers a guide for surviving and resisting America’s turn towards authoritarianism.

On November 9th, millions of Americans woke up to the impossible: the election of Donald Trump as president. Against all predictions, one of the most-disliked presidential candidates in history had swept the electoral college, elevating a man with open contempt for democratic norms and institutions to the height of power.

Timothy Snyder is one of the most celebrated historians of the Holocaust. In his books Bloodlands and Black Earth, he has carefully dissected the events and values that enabled the rise of Hitler and Stalin and the execution of their catastrophic policies. With Twenty Lessons, Snyder draws from the darkest hours of the twentieth century to provide hope for the twenty-first. As he writes, “Americans are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism and communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience.”

Twenty Lessons is a call to arms and a guide to resistance, with invaluable ideas for how we can preserve our freedoms in the uncertain years to come.

my review

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2. Becoming by Michelle Obama

An intimate, powerful, and inspiring memoir by the former First Lady of the United States.

In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America—the first African-American to serve in that role—she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare. 

In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms. 

Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same.

my review

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1. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden?

Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’s attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son—and readers—the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences, from Howard University to Civil War battlefields, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his childhood home to the living rooms of mothers whose children’s lives were taken as American plunder. Beautifully woven from personal narrative, reimagined history, and fresh, emotionally charged reportage, Between the World and Me clearly illuminates the past, bracingly confronts our present, and offers a transcendent vision for a way forward. 

my review

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Have you read any of these books? What’s the best nonfiction book you read in 2018? Let’s talk in the comments!