Love-A-Thon 2016: Kick-off Questionnaire

Let’s participate in a blogging event! 😀

This weekend, the Book Blogger Love-a-Thon takes place, and I decided to take part in it. What is it? Well, as the hosts, Alexa of Alexa Loves Books, Cee of The Novel Hermit, Hazel of Stay Bookish and Mel of The Daily Prophecy, put it, The Love-a-Thon is an event dedicated to spreading positivity and love. It’s time dedicated to visiting other bloggers/Instagrammers/BookTubers, leaving a comment or two, making new friends and fostering positivity among the members of our amazing community. You can get some more details on it here.

So, it takes place today and tomorrow, and it starts off with all the participants filling out a questionnaire to get to know each other better. Here are my responses.

1. What’s your name?

The little following I have already should now my name, but, to everyone new (and to everyone old so they don’t forget), my name is Dita.

2. Where in the world are you blogging from?

I’m Latvian. I live in Latvia, and that is where I blog from. A not too big country beside the Baltic Sea.

3. How did you get into blogging in the first place?

Books have been more or less prevalent in my life since childhood. I was read bedtime stories and then I discovered the library. Then I sort of fell out reading for a while (whre I didn’t read all that much), and then, during high school, I started to read in English. That is from where things started to go downhill (for my finances) and uphill (for authors and books). I’ve seen and read some book blogs on and off for a while, but at the beginning of 2015 I somehow got the idea, that I could maybe do this, too. I could share my thoughts on books, my flails and tears and all that reading madness. So at the end of February/beginning of March, I made a WordPress account. and here I am. Almost a year later.

4. How did you come up with your blog name?

At first, I had no idea what to call my blog. Then I thought that I want something of me in the name. So in a very original turn of events I came to the nickname my Boyfriend calls me – Squirrel. And then I thought some more – what else could I add there, what else could define me (fyi, when I created the blog, I had also signed up for WordPress’ Blogging U., so I partly followed their suggestions, that is, this personal approach isn’t totally a thing I came up with on my own, I had help). So lazyness came to me. It is a silly quality of me, that sometimes can define me. A lazy Squirrel, there you go. Then I thought about adding books and/or reading to the name, and somehow it all came together as A lazy Squirrel’s reading guide, where you read the bookish thoughts of a lazy Squirrel. 🙂

5. What genre do you read and review the most on your blog?

I don’t know? I’m not really someone who cares much about genres. If I like what I’m offered, I’ll read it. But I am more into fantasy and science fiction, I guess. I’m more intersted in “fake” worlds or our world re-imagined than in just our world, which I can already experience on my own.

6. What other types of posts do you do on your blog, apart from reviews?

Well, obviously, I haven’t been particuarly active with my blog – a bit trodden down with work and studies. The most blame should be put to studies, it has a tendency to kill the wish to do something. I had a feature called Squirrel Favourites, where I hilighted/reviewed my favourite books, but it’s now on hold until I come up with something to say there and how to say it. And then there’s the very non-book, much-cat feature-ish thing Winky Wednesday, where I just flood everyone with pics of my cats and stories about them. Yes, I am a cat person. Show me a bookworm who isn’t? Well, at least who isn’t an animal person, okay?

7. Best blogging experience so far?

Not too much has happened with me blog-wise. I have received some hilarious review offers, where they can’t even get my or the blog’s name correct. I’ve found so many new books to read. I’ve seen so many people passionate about books, it’s just really nice to see others loving what I love.

8. Favorite thing about the blogging community?

Book talk. Loving books. People’s passion for books and reading.

9. Name the 5 books you’re most excited for this 2016!

The Winner’s Kiss by Marie Rutkoski
A Court of Mist and Fury by S. J. Maas
Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
A Gathering of shadows by V. E. Schwab (this one’s right around the corner!)
Truthwitch by Susan Dennard (which is already out, I’m just impatiently waiting for my paperback to arrive)
And since I’ve already mentioned a book that’s out, let’s mention Stars Above by Marissa Meyer. It’s out, but I haven’t bought it yet. But I will. I need that wedding story!

 

10. Which book boy or girl would be your book boyfriend/girlfriend?

NOT Edward Cullen, Robert Pattinson has ruined that for me (sorry, not sorry!).

I don’t know. Bones? Spade? Kell? Rhy? Nah, I’ll leave them all to their ladies, so I can enjoy them being together in their books.

11. Who would you recruit for your apocalypse squad (5 characters max)?

Definitely at least one Jeaniene Frost’s vampire. Preferably Bones or Spade, but Cat or Denise (who’s not a vampire, actually) would do as well. All of them – even better. 😀

An Antari on hand could be nice. So Kell it is.

AIDAN? Because he’s so weirdly protective of human life, so I might feel safe? This is quite questionablt, though. 😀 Except I’d need a ship or something for him to be usable. nope, AIDAN, sorry, you’re not on my team.

A wizard could be handy, so Harry Potter, or even better, Hermione Granger, because, you know, she knows a lot of spells and all… 🙂

Sis? So she can take her pick of 5 recruits and together we’d have a kickass team of book bad-asses. 😀

Someone from The Lunar Chronicles crew?  Skulduggery Pleasant (since he’s technically already dead and a skeleton, you know)? Celaena?

Okay. Sis (and her pick of 5), Kell, Bones (haha, which will actually get me Cat, too, ’cause they’re kind of a package deal), Hermione. And… Ahh, I can’t decide between Skulduggery and Celaena, lol. Oh, well, let’s take Celaena, but if she goes Crown of Midnight on me (poor Chaol), I’ll swap her out for Skulduggery.

12. Apart from reading, what are your other hobbies or interests?

Translation, which is sort of my job, but so-so, because it’s a freelance thing. And not what I ultimately hope to maybe do, which would be translating books.

On occassion, I knit and/or crochet. I play some PC games with my Boyfriend.

I lie around and do nothing think of things I could do, but don’t really go on and actually do?

13. Apart from book shopping, what else do you like shopping for?

I’m really not that much into shopping. Well, except for books. On occassion, when there’s something I’d really like to get, I’d browse for it online, as I did for e-readers, untill I finally bought a Kindle in January (a side note to e-reader owners: how do you not spend all your money on kindle books? So many of them and quite affordable prices!). Like, I’d find places, where to get it, compare prices, look and pictures and videos. But that doesn’t happen too often.

14. At a party, the DJ suddenly changes the song – and it’s your song. What song would be playing?

DJ wouldn’t really play the songs I like, I think. A DJ playing HIM? Nice try. But if you find the right party, maybe. Anything by HIM, preferably For You or Passion’s Killing Floor.

15. Pick out either a book you want turned into a film/TV show, or a film/TV show you want turned into a book.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. Supposedly, it’s in some state of production, but I haven’t heard too much about it.

A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab, which, you might already know, if you’ve read the book and don’t live under a rock,  is getting made into a TV show with Schwab writing the pilot. How cool is that?

16. What would your dream library look like?

With all the books in English on my TBR and all the ones I could possibly wish to read, with some Latvian books (probably mostly translations) interspersed in between the English ones. BIG, it would be BIG and really extensive, unlike what we have around here.

17. Author you want to meet and sit down to tea with?

I’m not sure I could sit down and drink tea with the authors whose books I really love, but I could try to sit down to tea with Laini Taylor, Jane Austen, S. J. Maas, V. E. Schwab, J. K. Rowling, Marissa Meyer, Jeaniene Frost… Uhhh… Okay, let’s stop here, that’s already quite a lot of tea drinking.

To find other participants and check out what they’re up to, visit any of the 4 hosts, they’ll have a master participant list, or check out the #LoveAThon hashtag on Twitter or Instagram.