Would You Rather (Book Blog Edition)

Hey, y'all! So this book tag has been floating around Booktube for a few months, and I decided it would be fun to do this because some of these questions are very, very difficult. So let's jump right into it!

1. Read only trilogies or stand alones?

I really wish that one of these was swapped for series, because I love series more than either trilogies or stand-alones. And this is probably one of the harder questions. I have several stand-alones that are very close to my heart, and so many trilogies are really weak. However, I would get so tired of stand-alones, and having three books allows me to get more invested in the world and the characters.

I guess I'm going to have to go with TRILOGIES. Because I'll almost always choose the one that allows me to get more invested with characters and worlds.


2. Read only female or male authors?

This one seemed rather easy to me at first glance, but upon second glance, I realized that it might not be. Harry Potter, The Mortal Instruments, The Infernal Devices, and the Across The Universe trilogy are very near and dear to my heart, and they were all written by women, as are a large chunk of YA books. However, out of my top 15 stand-alones, a whopping TWELVE are by men, as is the Pendragon series, AKA one of my all-time favorite series ever.

In the end, though, I think I'm still going to have to give it to FEMALE AUTHORS. Because if I couldn't read JK Rowling and Cassandra Clare's books ever again, I would be very sad. Plus, it gives me more options when choosing new books to read. 


3. Shop at Barnes & Noble or Amazon?

This one is one of the least difficult for me. I absolutely love going to a bookstore and picking out books and physically taking them home with me. However, Barnes and Noble is usually a lot more expensive than Amazon. And even if the website says the book is in-store, with my luck, it probably isn't there. I have Amazon Prime, so I can buy books for less expensive and get them in two days. 

I have to go with AMAZON. Although my ideal shopping experience is used bookstores. And Amazon has some shady business practices. But it's inexpensive, which is helpful for me.

4. All books become movies or t.v. shows?

When I first read these questions, I made a hasty decision, but I've since changed my mind. I absolutely have to go with a TV SHOW. Or, depending on the book, a TV mini-series. So if it's a stand-alone, just a mini-series, and then be done with it. Or in the case of Harry Potter, a seven-season long show, with each season being the exact replica of each of the books. So seasons 1-3 would be fairly short, but seasons 4-7 would be massive and epic.

5. Read 5 pages per day or 5 books per week?

I would have to go with FIVE BOOKS PER WEEK. I could always read 4 smaller books if there was one large book I wanted to read, although reading a 1000 page book within one week terrifies me. But yeah, 5 books a week. Although I don't know where I would find the time for that.

6. Be a professional reviewer or author?

This was probably the easiest question on this list. AUTHOR. AUTHOR. AUTHOR. It's been my dream job since I was an infant. Unfortunately, I have to be realistic and work on my novels on the side while balancing school and work and blog, but it's still a dream of mine. And I honestly don't think I'm a great reviewer, which is why I call my reviews "discussions" because I don't feel like I'm objective enough to be a good reviewer. 

7. Only read your top 20 favorite books over and over or always read new ones that you haven't read before?

As a notorious re-reader, this is actually really tough for me. I've seen so many people say "oh, I don't like re-reading that much, so this is so easy!" but that's definitely not me. I love re-reading books. I've read some of my favorite books like... 20 times. When I really love characters and a world, I love re-experiencing things and noticing new things that I'd missed before. However, 20 books is not that many. That's like... Harry Potter, The Infernal Devices, The Mortal Instruments, and probably my 3 favorite stand-alones. Not only is that neglecting all of my other favorite books, but also any new books I could ever enjoy. So I have to choose to ALWAYS READ NEW BOOKS THAT I HAVEN'T READ BEFORE.

8. Be a librarian or book seller?

If you've been following my blog for very long, you might know that when I finish with my undergrad, I plan to continue to grad school and get a dual degree in library science and musicology because I want to be a music librarian. However, I think it would be really cool to be a book seller too. I would never want to work in Barnes and Noble or in a public library at the front desk. Not my thing. However, I think it would be really cool to own an independent bookstore. And obviously, I would love to work in an academic library as a music librarian. I would also enjoy working as a cataloging librarian as well. Even though the independent bookstore option sounds really great, I'd still have to choose LIBRARIAN. I mean, that's what I'm going to school for. DUH.

9. Only read your favorite genre, or every genre except your favorite?

Well... I have two favorite genres (Fantasy and Dystopian!) so I'm just going to work off the assumption that both count as my favorite genre. Honestly, even if I had to choose between the two, I think I would still choose to ONLY READ MY FAVORITE GENRE. Most people have been choosing to read every genre except their favorite because it's less limiting, but I have to choose the opposite. If I had to choose a single genre, I'd probably pick fantasy. There are like 20 billion fantasy novels. And often, fantasy is mixed with other genres, so that gives me even more options. Plus, if I couldn't read fantasy, I couldn't read any of my favorite series. That just wouldn't work. 
 
10. Only read physical books or eBooks?

eBooks are really convenient for travel, but I will always, always choose PHYSICAL BOOKS. I love going to used bookstores and dream of having a home with shelves and shelves full of books. I will never give up on physical books. They're great.

That's all for Would You Rather Book Blog Edition. These questions were really tricky, but this was lots of fun!

I've also created a Facebook page for my blog, so if you want to check that out and like it, you can click HERE. I'll try to keep that pretty up-to-date with new posts and such.

Thanks for reading! If you like my posts, I'd really appreciate if you'd subscribe/follow so that I know you're enjoying what I'm posting! See y'all soon!

April Wrap-up/ Favorites

Hey, y'all! It's time for the new series I've mentioned a couple times! I'm just testing it out right now- I'm not completely sure if it'll become an actual series and make its way into my normal rotation.

Anyway, on to my April! So, two major things happened in April for me. The first one needs a back story. Long story short, when I went to college, my parents moved a significant distance from where we lived due to my dad's job. The town they live in now is really small and the only people I really know are my parents, so there's not really much for me to do over the summer when I go "home." I had a job last summer that I didn't really enjoy, so I decided that for this summer, I'd stay at school and work.

During the school year, I have a work-study job in the library that I really enjoy, and there's always a student position open for the summer. I decided that rather than go back to a place where I don't have friends and have a job I don't necessarily enjoy, I'm going to live on campus over the summer and work in the library.

Our library is so pretty! 

This is going to be the first time I'm living by myself and paying my own rent, so this is a pretty big step for me. I'm really excited to finally be a bit more independent and taking care of myself.

So the other major thing that happened for me is that my advisor has gotten a grant to have a research assistant for the fall and has asked me to take that job. She does music/psychology research, so it's right up my alley. I'm also getting paid, and I possibly get to be a co-author on the paper. WOW. Such an exciting and awesome opportunity for me! I can't wait to get started on this.

April Faves!

Sushi

April was definitely the month of sushi. I hadn't tried sushi until March, and once I tried it, I went a bit sushi crazy. I wanted to try any kind of roll that I could, and that's what I did. My absolute favorite that I tried is the one at the very top on the left. It was a crawfish volcano roll and it was absolutely delicious. I really like the deep fried rolls, and rolls with avacado or salmon.  

The Office 

The Office has been one of my favorite shows since I was a freshman in high school. I've only seen through the second half of season 7, because it's just not the same without Michael. I want to finish up the show, so I decided to start from the beginning and work my way to the end. So, my goal this summer is to finish the entire show. So far, I'm a few episodes into season 3, which is one of my least favorites... so it may take me a while to get through to season 4... which is one of my favorites.

Dance Moms

I don't know what got me watching this show- I hadn't watched it much before this month, just off and on when I found it on TV. But when I discovered that pretty much every episode of the show is online, I went a bit crazy. I watched all of season 1 and almost all of season 2 in only a couple weeks. I guess I just started watching and wanted to see what drama would happen next, so I just kept watching. And watching. And watching...

Used Bookstores

As you could probably tell from my book haul, I spent a lot of my time in April in used bookstores. I just enjoy going through the shelves and seeing what I can discover and how inexpensively I can find it. Now I just need to make sure I don't spend all of my money on books, as much as I love them. 

So, that's about all that I had for this post! My April wasn't extremely interesting, so hopefully my May will be a little better and more interesting. You'll probably see me again tomorrow with a new post, so I'll see y'all again soon!

Exciting New Acquisition- Library Card Catalog!

This is a pretty random post, but I'm really excited about this, so I'm posting it now and hoping to get some suggestions!

I don't think I've ever mentioned this, but I work in my school's library in the cataloging department. I take care of the books- preparing them for library use by putting in barcodes, college stamps, making book jackets, etc. I also do repairs and shelving- my most frequent jobs.

Recently, my college has decided to stop using physical cataloging cards. Now, there's no longer a use for all of these huge shelving units the cards used to go in. Much to my pleasure, someone in the library decided that the cataloging staff, as well as the cataloging student workers, get to keep sections of the shelves- FOR FREE. I wish I knew who in the staff made that decision so that I could give them a huge thank you.

Not only have we been allowed a 5 drawer by 3 drawer section of the shelves, but we were allowed to pick out which drawers we wanted, allowing us to create our own unique section.

My section is the one shown in the middle with the post-it on it. It needs to be cleaned up a bit, but I'm really excited that I get it. I've always really liked these, and they're terribly expensive to buy- especially vintage ones like these. And let's be serious- vintage card catalogs are WAY cooler than pristine-looking new ones. 

Here's my predicament though... I'm not sure what to use them for! They're great to look at, but I want them to be functional as well. I know where I'm going to put them, but I'm not sure how to use them! Eventually, once I have my own place, I want to have an office with lots of books and bookshelves, so this would be a cool office organizer... or something. But currently, it's just going to go in my room, and I'm not exactly sure what to put inside. All that really fits inside are smaller things, and I'm not exactly sure what smaller things I can put inside. I've seen ideas online, but most of them show how to make card catalogs prettier, or how to make them into a table... but I just need organizational ideas.

So, what should I put inside my card catalog? Any and all suggestions will be helpful! I don't get to take them home for a little while, so I have a while to figure out what to do with them. Thanks in advance for your ideas!