Liebster Award! (Complete With Some True Facts About the Real Me)

Andrea at Tasseled Book Blog nominated me for this award more than a week ago, and although you can imagine how flattered I was, I've had zero time to participate until today... I hope the award doesn't have an expiration date :)


The Rules:

1. Thank the blogger that nominated you and link back to their blog.
2. Display the award somewhere on your blog.
3. List 11 facts about yourself.
4. Answer 11 questions chosen by the blogger who nominated you.
5. Come up with 11 new questions to ask your nominees.
6. Nominate 5 – 11 blogs that you think deserve the award and who have less than 1,000 followers. (You many nominate blogs that have already received the award, but you cannot renominate the blog that nominated you.)
7. Go to their blog and inform them that they’ve been nominated.

11 Facts About Me:

I don't usually share something about my real life here, I don't even have an about page... So I'll start with a photo of me as an introduction. Hi! Let's have a drink together and I'll tell you something about me :)

1. I'm in the last year of Master studies in informational technology. And most of the time I have no idea why I learn the stuff I learn...
2. That's because I have a bachelor in applied linguistics. I got there from physical-mathematical school. And there from an English school. I love switching from the humanities to the technics! It's dull to study the same stuff all the time, isn't it? :)
3. I'm from Russia, from St. Petersburg, but now I live in Czech Republic and love it here!
4. I work on automatic speech recognition, but what I like most about it is flying to conferences for free. OK, and telling people I'm a scientist is cool too.
5. Another cool thing is that I'm a natural blonde and people totally DON'T expect me to be a scientist. I hope I make them feel ashamed for their stereotypes :)
6. I love travelling. I've been all around Europe and I dream to explore the Americas now :)
7. I love languages too. I speak Russian, English, Czech, Spanish and German, although I'm forgetting the last two because of the lack of practice. I'd love to learn something eastern sometime, but right now Czech is taking all my time.
8. I sailed a replica of a rigged 18 century frigate when at school. We went around the Baltic, and it was one of the most awesome things that has ever happened to me. Here's a proofpic:

   

   Whenever my ass was not up on the yard working with sails, I was reading. A bookworm detected!

9. And now some bookish confessions, as this is a bookish blog :) I've read The Lord of the Rings about 17 times, half of them in English. I've also read all the other Tolkien books and I was studying Quenya for a while. It was not enough to talk in it, but enough to translate. *standing up* Hi, my name is Kate and I have a problem here...
10. I actually remember the first time I read something. I had a pack or A4 lists with xerocopies of some "learn to read" book, beginning with the separate letters and ending with a HUGE story occupying a whole page! And I remember this story! It was about a fox. I felt very proud when I finished it. My mom gave me some other children's book then and said that she's so happy she doesn't need to bother with entertaining me now :) That was a joke of course, nobody has ever spent so much time with a child as my mom did :) But it's true that from that time all I needed to keep me occupied was a book.
11. I also remember how my dad brought me a Harry Potter book. Usually my mom bought me books or I was taking them from the library, but my dad told me that all his colleagues at work said that their children were crazy about it, so he got me one too. I wasn't impressed, because the cover seemed stupid, but it was the beginning of a long-lasting love! It's possible I've read the Prisoner of Azkaban even more times than I did The Lord of the Rings, but I'm not sure.

11 Questions from Andrea:

1. What is your ultimate comfort read? What is the book/genre that you automatically turn to when lacking something new to read? The answer would be fantasy! What can be more comforting than escaping to another world? Also, see my confessions about HP and LotR above :)
2. Do you have a bookish pet peeve that drives you absolutely nuts? People reading books just to fill their social networks with "thoughtful" quotes. Awww, it drives me mad. Even worse if they haven't read the book at all though.
3. If you could meet one living author right this moment, who would it be? What would be the first thing you say to them? G.R.R. Martin. What would I tell him? "Write faster!!!". Duh.
4. Do seasons affect your reading choices? Do you tend to read more at certain times of the year? Being a student, I read much more during summer, as I don't have classes. Also, I never pick something sad when it's cold outside. I don't want to make it worse!
5. What is your number one reading goal this year? Read as much Arthurian books as I can.
6. If I asked you to recommend a book to a total non-reader in hopes of changing their blasphemous ways, what would it be? Why? It doesn't work like this, I'm afraid. I have a friend who is not reading at all, and I keep recommending him awesome books, but he never actually tries them... Because "where could he find time for it"? Indeed....
7. Where do you like to get majority of your books and why? Internet. Some ebooks (mostly classics) are for free, others are usually cheap. I'm also frequenting a book fare here, because I just have to own some paper books to feel comfortable in my room! 
8. Have you ever borrowed a book and never gave it back? Well... yes, I'm guilty. But it was mutual :) At school, we used to swap books a lot, and I have no idea how many of my books ended up in my friends' flats and how many books I've acquired :) But it was an awesome time :)
9. Turn to you bookshelf, look at second shelf, reach out to book number five. What is it? If you have no bookshelves where you are, what is the first book your eyes stop on? I'm a poor student living in the dorms, I have only a small pile of books on the corner of my table... I guess Wolf Hall stands out, because it has a bright white cover.
10. What was the last book you read last year? Do you plan any special conclusions to December, or leave it all to fate? Interesting question. I don't plan much for December at all, as it is the time I visit my parents and also all the New Year preparation madness... The last book I finished last year was Little Women, and it was a great timing!
11. If you could instantly know one language to read untranslated books, which one would you pick? Latin!

Come up with 11 new questions to ask your nominees

Em... My creativity was all used up yesterday on finishing my paper for the conference. So answer Andrea's questions, OK? I think they are pretty awesome :))


Nominate 5 – 11 blogs that you think deserve the award

I read a lot of blogs (and very much suck at commenting on all of them, which doesn't mean I don't appreciate them!), but here I'll highlight blogs that are:

1. Focused on books
2. Review the type of books I'm interested in
3. Stand out in one way or another

If I haven't included you here, it's not because you are not awesome, it's just we probably read a bit different stuff, and not everything you review makes me want to read it too NOW! No offence, OK? :) Also, if you have already participated in the award, just ignore it :) Or not! I'll still highlight you!

1. Riv @ Bookish Realm
2. Jean @ Howling Frog Books
3. Emily @ Classics and Beyond
4. ebookclassics @ Honey, I'm Reading! - I'm highlighting her new non-classic blog, because you should already know her classics one!
5. Juliana @ Cedar Station
6. Fanda @ Fanda Classiclit
7. Ruth @ A Great Book Study
8. Melissa @ Avid Reader's Musings
9. o @ Behold the Stars
10. cleopatra @ Classical Carousel
11. Fariba @ Exploring Classics

I got to 11 without even reaching the middle of my feed list... So many great blogs out there! Go check them out!