keep those answers short!

Challenge: try to answer all the questions in five words or less. Brevity is the goal of today! (and boy, was it hard! I’m a word-happy blogger…)

Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack?


No snacks. Icky residue. COFFEE.

Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of
writing in books horrify you?


Academic books get penciled in.

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears?
Laying the book flat open?


Bookmarks rule! (or my memory)

Fiction, Non-fiction, or both?


Mostly fiction with some exceptions.

Hard copy or audiobooks?


Hard copy, but e-books, too.

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you
able to put a book down at any point?


End of the sentence.

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away?


No. Context helps me understand.

What are you currently reading?

Prada and Prejudice, Only Milo and Half Moon.


What is the last book you bought?


Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.

Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can
you read more than one at a time?


Several at a time.

Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read? 


Red armchair in early evening.

Do you prefer series books or stand alone books? 


Either, but well-written and long!

Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over?


Neil Gaiman is made of awesome.

How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author’s last name, etc.?)

Haphazardly. Only organization by size.

teaser tuesday (11)

It's Teaser Tuesday, a bookish blog meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Here's how it works:

Grab your current read and let it fall open to a random page. Post two (or more) sentences from that page, along with the title and author. Don’t give anything vital away!

“Margaret appreciated my initial effort so much she asked me to ‘work my magic’ again.

Little did she know.”

-p. 11 of Barry Smith’s Only Milo

hello, my name is:

Bianca (or Bee, for short) is the sweet blogger behind Wicked Good Books, a fun book blog focused on Young Adult titles – with a dash of romance and fantasy for good measure. Bee was recently featured at Bookworming in the 21st Century, and you can learn a lot about her in that interview (she answers some of the more ‘traditional’ questions, like how she got into book blogging). I subjected her to my own brand of questioning (err…silliness), and she rose to the occasion. Meet Bee, and be sure to keep reading…there’s a book giveaway at the end!

[This is a BBAW swap, so if you want to check out MY answers to HER interview questions (and win some awesome music), check out Bee's blog.]

Who are some of your favorite authors?

I have plenty but some that come to mind are JK Rowling, Sarah Dessen and Ellen Hopkins.

Are there any genres that you refuse to read?

I don't really like historical fiction, I wouldn't say I refuse to read it, but I'm not big on it.

Do you do reading challenges?

Currently right now, no, but I definitely plan on doing them in the future!

I hear that in real life – outside reading and blogging – you swim. What’s your best event?

Last year was my first year on the swim team, so my coach just kept me with freestyle, but at the very end -and I'm talking last practice of the season- I wanted to try the butterfly stroke and to everyone’s surprise, I was actually quite good. So I'm positive I'll be giving that a try this year!

What’s the best book you read in the last month?

Probably the book I'm reading right now! The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. Soo good.

If you were trapped on a desert island, which books would you not take with you?

The Lord of the Flies, ironically enough. I couldn't stand that book. I feel like I'm one of the very few people who did not like that book. I hear all the time about how it's a lot of people's favorite.

How many books are in your TBR pile right now?

35+ o.0 But I think I'll have them all read by November.

One of the things I love about blogging is that I can recommend books to total strangers and not feel awkward or shy about it. Have you ever recommended a book to a stranger in real life?

Oh yes! I'm one of those people that loves talking to strangers. And we'll get to talking about random things and usually these are the people who share some of the same interest and we'll talk about books and such and I'll just say 'hey have you read..' It's awesome!

Do your family and friends know about your blog?

What do they think of it? Yeah, my parents and siblings know about it and they think its great that I get books to review and run a blog that has followers. Only like, one of my friends knows. She likes it. :)

If you were a muppet, which one would you be?

Any of the ones from the Broadway musical, Avenue Q! <33

If you had to own a cow, what color would you choose?

Probably brown!

Alright, last question, so be sure to press all your favourite things on me. Give me one book I absolutely have to read, one book blog I have to visit, and one fashion trend I have to avoid at all costs.

Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld, I think Genevieve's Blog is wicked, and I absolutely do not like those Ugg boots!

------

Bee is a big fan of Sarah Dessen, and I love her books too, so I’m offering a giveaway for one (1) copy of ANY Sarah Dessen book listed for UNDER $11 (US) at The Book Depository. All you have to do is comment on this post with an email address and whichever title you’d like to receive. Giveaway is open internationally. Contest ends at 11:59pm PST on September 22, 2009. I’ll pick a random winner and post the result on the following day. Good luck!

three things guaranteed to make you laugh

Interesting weekend. I should probably start by staying that I’m an introvert mostly, except for when I’m being an extrovert. Basically I like to make people laugh, so I’m goofy and talkative and just a wee bit crazy when I’m in company. What that all means is that usually I GET ALONG WITH PEOPLE. There are hard cases, like the people who had their sense of humor removed at birth (happiness vampires), witchy/unhappy people (switch the ‘w’ for a ‘b’ and you’ll get what I mean), and the ignorant crowd. Typically I can get around that some which way…

Not on Saturday. Had a slightly miserable time at a party (I KNOW – how can that even happen?), but it ended up being okay because I had a book so hilarious and sassy and ridiculous with me that I chuckled aloud in my little abandoned corner a couple of times. Well, and the food ended up being delicious. But really…when the best part of a party is the book you brought with you? Hmm… (never, EVER leaving my own car at home – and thus cutting off my escape route – ever again)

That said, here are three things guaranteed to make you laugh:

1. Meeting Mr. Wrong (book mentioned above…guaranteed laughter and other healthy things included) by Stephanie Snowe. A true story of dating disasters and life gone awry told in an honest and hilarious and gosh-darn-awesome voice. The author is so authentic - I feel like I know her. If you don't see yourself getting the book anytime soon, check out her blog (just click on her name above). Same impish, feisty humor, in daily snippets. I want to be Ms. Snowe when I grow up. Well...at least when I'm older. How about tomorrow?

2. The Demon’s Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan. YA fantasy novel full of quotable sound bites and laugh-out-loud type moments, with an action-packed story and mystery to match. Also contains gorgeous bad boy with more ‘personality’ than Edward and Jacob *cough, cough* combined.

3. The INTERN’s blog. I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s worth checking again, and especially if you’ve never read the publishing INTERN’s snarky, fabulous adventures in manuscript and surreal-apartment-living land.

[begin aside]

Today marks the start of Book Blogger Appreciation Week (which hereafter will be referred to as BBAW), a celebration for and by book bloggers. Though I don’t consider myself a full-fledged book blogger (mostly because I like to post about…oh…everything?), I am taking part because the community is awesome, and I’ve met some super-sweet people through the blogging experience.

[end aside]

There you have it. I nominated the INTERN for best publishing industry blog, and can only assume that she didn’t make the shortlist through miscarriage of justice (err…scratch that. perhaps simple procrastination? failure to enter? yeah…). She’s my ‘mention.’ Many others deserved to make the shortlist as well, and I voted for them (you’d better believe it!), but this is the post entitled THREE things, so I’ll leave it at that for now. Go off and have a lovely Monday, and look around my blog tomorrow for a book blogging interview swap and GIVEAWAY. Yes, I said it. Now, shoo!