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 What apocalypse, you ask? Well, my little narwhal friend...
(Disclaimer: I'm making this a lot more ridiculous than Ely intended this tag to be, I think. But that's just me and my personality! Sorry.)
...The zombie apocalypse, of course. At least that's what I'm choosing to believe. Also all the plans I've made are based on the expectation that zombies will be a threat. People will of course be the more imminent threat because have you seen what happens to society when zombies attack?!

Anyway, this is totally off-topic. Ely never specified how the world is ending, but it just is, and since I was tagged, it's my job to pick a team of able-minded people to help all of us stay alive as we battle hordes of zombies try to find drinkable water when it's all gone or something.

 What did I do to figure out this dilemma? I did what any reasonable human being would and put out a kind of casting call/job advertisement on twitter, of course:

Meet my team! 

Nicole Lynn @ PopCrunchBoom!Books.

Nicole Lynn said she has street smarts and some basic fighting skills. Exactly what we need, right? Also she's willing to kill off zombies even without compensation. Perfect! (Plus, if we still have books at this point, I think she would agree to be our librarian. Because priorities.) Also she is such a sweetheart!

Anna @ Adventures with a Book Nerd.

She would be awesome because she's promised to help us clear out all the zombies! But... apparently if people start disappearing the reason is probably that she's hungry and is going after us. I told her it was okay though, because she's so lovely. We'll just watch our backs ;)
(It was actually just Anna's first blogiversary, and she's got a giveaway going at the moment! Go say congrats!)
We haven't known each other long, but I have a good feeling about Sophia. We're both short and we might need some help killing the tallest zombies. (and reaching the cookie jar.) Sophia would kick ass in an end-of-the-world scenario though - I just have this feeling she would.

Ezrah @ I Heart Romance & YA.

She totally volunteered for this position because she's so brave. The plan is she'll get her brains eaten bitten early on and then she'll become the nice zombie. (Zeee the Veggie Zombie.) Forever on the side of good. (Writing this makes me think of the power puff girls for some reason.) Ezrah also loves romance, so I feel like she'd keep our morale high and ensure that we still believe in happily ever afters even in these dark zombie times.


Cee @ the Novel Hermit.

I obviously wanted Cee on this team so we came to the conclusion that she's the Chosen One. (All hail Queen Cee/Raise a Glass to Ceedom.) Soooo we need to keep her alive because she's the cure to the zombie plague or whatever we decide to call it. Also she's so lovely and smart and always sympathetic. So really, if it was an apocalypse kind of situation, why wouldn't you want Cee there?!

Katelynn @ Books and Bottles.

She didn't actually volunteer for this position, but Katelynn has all the alcohol recommendations so obviously, she's included. I don't know what we'll be drinking but I'm sure we can find some old bottles somewhere and she can... test them for us? It's an important job. Alcohol in a post-apocalyptic world. Important? Yep, probably. Also - she is just the sweetest, and I think she'd either be this calming presence in our midst OR she'd be all over the whole chopping off zombie heads thing. I'm not sure which scenario is more likely.

Sky @ Bookish Night.

Actually I think they might only be in this for the wine I promised but... Sky also loves Intisar Khanani's writing! I think that's a brilliant reason to include them in this squad. Also also also I think the first discussion we had was about how to make friends. So obviously by now we'll be awesome at making friends (while being awkward?) and we'll keep the entire group together! Sky's the glue! Or the linchpin? You pick!
Hello lovelies!
This is meant to be a short and sweet, light-hearted, and slightly exaggerated feature for sharing my deepest and darkest bookish secrets (and for you to share yours, maybe?)
What better topic to start on than a Game of Thrones? I'm just over halfway through the book and... I don't know if I'll ever finish it.
Under no circumstances should you take me too seriously! I definitely don't ;)

I DON'T LIKE GAME OF THRONES


I know, I know! Everyone loves it. It's amazing!
But why? 

I don't get it.

I'll rant in a nice, respectful way for a minute, okay? And then you can try to convince me to give the book another chance. Deal?

Things I like about A Game of Thrones.

Okay. Um. Jon Snow is alright? I like whathisname Lannister? Tyr-something? Tyrannion? Tyrannus? No, that's Tyrannus Basilton Grimm-Pitch, right? HOW AM I MIXING UP Game of Thrones and Carry On?! What is this?!
Anyway. There.
Wait, no! Also, there's dragon eggs, so there will be dragons, yes? That's good.
And direwolves! Them, I like.
And the mother. Who's all WAAHH I'll protect my children! I forget her name but she's nice. I like Dani too. Poor Dani.
SEE?! So many positive things. I tried really hard.

Why I Don't Get It

I'm halfway through and I'm bored! I just can't do it, I can't finish this book! Too many characters, and yeah, they're okay, but I don't care about any of them, and I need to care about the characters, because otherwise, what's the point of you, book?! WHAT IS THE POINT?!
I'm really disappointed in myself because this is fantasy - one of the greats - and I LOVE FANTASY. I just don't understand what's happening.

TV versus books

I swear, everyone I know who's obsessed started by watching the TV programme. Maybe that's why people love it so much? Except it was a big deal before then, too, wasn't it?
BUT I am against watching the TV series first. It goes against all my principles. BOOK FIRST. That's the rule. Except, in this case, I just can't finish the bloody book. 

*ahem*

Oh, I just had a realisation!

I compare Game of Thrones to the Kingkiller Chronicle

This HAS TO BE why I can't read it! Because I've seen Patrick Rothfuss's Name of the Wind recommended to people who like A Game of Thrones. And if you've been around for a while, you will know that I f***ing love that book. I'm so obsessed that I wrote a post about how obsessed I am. But I digress. I read Kingkiller first and it's the most fantastic thing in the world, and then I go to read A Game of Thrones, and it should be as good, right?! But it's not. I think maybe I'm just biased, honestly.

So, to,,, finish this post off on a positive note - I found things I like about Game of Thrones! But I just can't get into it. Oops. That's not positive at all.

This is the most rambling, I-ran-out-of-adjectives level weirdness filled post I have ever written. (Even that sentence didn't make sense.)
 
Do you like Game of Thrones? (I will still love you if you do, I promise.) Please, feel free to convince me that it's amazing and that I should keep reading.
Any bookish confessions of your own? Do you have a book everyone seems to love but you just don't get? Let me know in the comments, or feel free to write a post of your own if you fancy it!
P.S. I love you
P.S. The origin story of this feature: I was going to update you on my writing progress for Camp NaNo, but then I thought, HEY, what would be even sillier, and even more embarrassing for me? So here we are. I'll write about writing when I feel like...writing.
Hello lovelies! Two really lovely book bloggers, Molly @ Molly's Book Nook and Geraldine @ Corralling Books did this tag (really, go check out their posts, they're awesome!) and basically I'm pretending that they both tagged me although they didn't. Let's all pretend, please.
[edit: the wonderful Marie @ Drizzle & Hurricane Books did actually tag me for this! {yes, for realsies! I didn't even resort to blackmail or anything}]

VITAL STATS

Name: Annika
Nicknames: Mostly ridiculous ones friends come up with when I complain I don't have a nickname. Grannika is one of my favourites. I made a reference to Titus Andromedon yesterday and my BFF ran away with it. Titika and Annikus were what she came up with, but then we figured Annikomedon makes me sound like a komodo dragon. So anyway. Crazy nicknames? Check.
Birthday: 31 July! 
Star Sign: The lion one, you know, Leo.
Occupation: Master's student. Does that count? No? I'm never going to do anything useful with my life? NOOO

APPEARANCE:

Hair colour: Ginger. Proud of it. (we do have souls!)
Hair length: Short-ish? Like a lob? A long bob? You know what I mean? I hope you do because I really don't.
Eye colour: Blue
Best Feature: You're asking me? Ask someone else, anyone else.
Braces: Nope. I was so afraid of the dentist when I was little that I probably would've died.
Piercings: Ears.
Tattoos: I do have one, actually! It's tiny though. I took it when I was in Romania for a summer.
Right or Left: Right! Actually, left too. For playing chords on the guitar. Let's pretend I'm ambidextrous.

FIRSTS

Best Friend: Elisa! We met at uni. Singing Broken hearted hoover fixer sucker guy in the library > instant friendship. (okay, I was 20 by that point, but it counts as a first!)
Award: I feel like I've never received any? WAIT NO - I once *almost* won the alcoholic of the year award. I was the runner up, and it's an awesome award, so does that count?
Sport: Hahahaha no.
Real Holiday: Like a beach and summer kind of holiday? Probably Croatia a few years back. We took a coach and it took over 24 hours to get there. We drove through France, Switzerland, Italy, and Slovenia to get there, and the first time we were asked for passports was when we entered Croatia. Insane, right?!
Concert: Umm. I haven't been to any big ones. Mainly just little gigs in pubs. I last went to see Amber Run in Nottingham and they were amazing!

FAVOURITES

Film: Walking on Sunshine. It's the worst musical ever. It's so bad it's good.
TV Show: Once Upon A Time, Castle, Doctor Who, IT Crowd... I could keep going.
Colour: Blue, Green, Purple... All colours?
Song: Well, at the moment, I keep singing/rapping Satisfied from Hamilton (seriously, I'm so obsessed, and I swear, I know the entire rap part of it word for word).
Restaurant: Slug & Lettuce. Also there's a lovely place called Mexigo where I used to live and I miss the burrito bowls so much!
Books: the good kind...? Pride & Prejudice? The Name of the Wind? any David Mitchell book? At the moment I'm also in love with When We Collided. Should I carry on?
Shoes: Boots. Preferably black.

CURRENTLY

Feeling: Confused. WHO AM I?!
Single or Taken: Single. And happy, and no I don't want to go out with your friend ;)
Eating: I have tea? Does that count?
Thinking About: I'm drawing a blank here. I'm not thinking? Oh, no, I know! Dragons.
Watching: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries. I'm almost to the end of season 2 now!
Wearing: Leggings and my Hangover Hoodie. It's my uniform, *and* my pyjamas.

FUTURE:

Want Children: I have two younger sisters that I looked after when I was growing up, so I'm kind of ambivalent for now.
Want to be Married: If someone comes along, sure. Why not?
Careers in Mind: I'm a grad student. Please don't.
Where You Want To Live: I guess, somewhere new? Maybe Scotland? Or maybe move back south? I have no idea, but I need to move somewhere in September when my lease runs out. Exciting times.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN…

God: Nope, kind of grew up atheist.
Miracles: Sure. The non-magical kind.
Love at First Sight: Not really, no.
Ghosts: Eeehh.
Aliens: As in life somewhere out there? Yeah, I think that's kind of likely.
Soul Mates: Maybe? I'd have to find proof.
Heaven: I guess not? I'd actually hate to think of anything eternal.
Hell: Same as above.
Kissing on the First Date: Why not? If you want to go for it. I know I have. So I won't judge!
Yourself: I try!

Those were some tricky questions!
And okay, so I answered with a lot of maybes and question marks. Oops.
Well, that's me.
I would like to tag all of you - can I do that? If you're up for it, do the tag and then let me know so I can get to know you better, too!
If you made it all the way through that massive post - wow! Look at you! You're pretty awesome. I'm sending you a virtual hug right now! Do we have anything in common? I would love to know!

It is sadly time for the last post for Rachel's Blogging Extravaganza - pop over to see her thoughts @ Beauty and the Bookshelf. The main point of the event was to remind us all of how important creativity and our own enjoyment are for blogging, so today's prompt included the following questions:
Why are you still here? What makes blogging worth it? Why is it so fun and fantastic and you don't want to let it go? Why do you love it?

So I'll give it a go, shall I? Even though I'm new at blogging, I appreciate that it's not always easy to keep going. For me, the reasons why blogging is worth it can be summed up in one word: community. Yes, I'm embarrassingly aware of how cheesy that sounds, but let me do what I do best and make a list (that today includes references to musicals because I like being random and making people uncomfortable) for you, okay?

Reasons Why Book Bloggers are the Best People in the World


WE'RE NOT ALONE. Having a blog means you have your own little corner of the world [/internet] where you can talk about the things that matter to you. You control it. It's a good feeling. But you also have people to share that space with you - they'll come and visit, you'll visit back. It's awfully nice. I like the social aspect of Goodreads, but it's still something quite different to blog and to share opinions that way. (If we're not friends on GR yet, go ahead and add me! I promise I'll be nice. Just be prepared to tell me what your favourite book is - sorry, I know that's a mean question.)

I HAVE CONFIDENCE. Or not. I'm not the most confident person in the world. Blogging and comments from other bloggers help me feel better about my writing skills though - and that gives me confidence in many other ways as well. I suppose you could call it agency? Blogging gives me a choice, and lets me make decisions for me, and that's something I find really important.

GOTTA GET MYSELF TO HOGWARTS, WHERE EVERYBODY KNOWS I'M COOL. Shared fandoms are the best. Something that comes with the territory of blogging is sharing your favourites with others, and I know if I go on twitter or blog about a book I love, someone will immediately go "YES I LOVE IT TOO" and the rest of the conversation will mostly consist of GIFs, capslock, and exclamation marks. I'm pretty okay with that.


SOMEBODY KILL ME. When a book makes you feel a bit like this, you have a support network of people who've read the same thing, experienced the same despair. You may feel like this either because a) a book is pretty perfect and just kills your soul [All the Bright Places, I'm looking at you and already crying again!] or b) a book actually just sucks and you can't take it [giving examples would be too mean]. (Sometimes the effect of either a) or b) can be something along the lines of feeling like you'll never be Satisfied.) All of this also applies if it's not a book making you feel this way. The emotional support of this community is just everything.

WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER. All the book recommendations you get from others are wonderful and horrible. My Goodreads TBR has about 600 books on it now, I think? I keep adding to it on a daily basis, and that's actually not even an exaggeration. The good thing is everyone is dealing with the same problems (obviously real problems as well as the TBR one) so you know there's someone you can talk to. I should probably stop before I make myself cry over how lovely everyone in the community is ;) But really, everyone who ends up reading this: thank you for being there.

Thank you so much to Rachel for putting together this awesome event, and for everything you've done to inspire us and remind us how much we love blogging ♥
So tell me: what's your favourite thing about blogging? Do you suddenly have a song from High School Musical stuck in your head? Let me know in the comments!
Hello lovelies!
IT'S FRIDAY! Since I live away from my nearest and dearest and have no way of visiting at the moment, I am making slightly different plans for my 4-day weekend (don't you just love bank holidays?).
If you'd like to join me in my spur-of-the-moment #hidingReadAThon, I've written down some guidelines for it!

#HidingReadAThon

Take part on twitter, instagram, on your blog (or all of them) - it's up to you!
  • write a post with details of your TBR and link-up here by Monday
  • write a wrap-up post on Monday
  • Post your TBR on instagram or twitter (or both!) with #hidingReadAThon. Please also tag me (@hidingbooks) in your entries!
  • do whatever else you'd like - honestly, this is entirely customisable. You do you! I'd love to see what you come up with!
Info on prizes coming up soon! (INTL)


If you know me, you know that I need a list of rules to get anything done so these would be it:
(Feel free to make your own or edit these to suit you! [or go without rules - you rebel, you!] If you don't want to write, don't write, if you want to see people, do it!)

    The Rules

    1. Read as many books off your TBR as humanly possible
    2. Ignore/decline invitations to social functions. It's allowed
    3. Blog hop!
    4. Keep notes on books so you can actually write reviews without forgetting all the details...
    5. Write at least for an hour every day (I'm doing Camp NaNo next month so I have plotting to do!)


    So here's my TBR - Am I insane, you ask? Quite possibly. But then, these make a nice 2000 pages and really, it's not that much...?
    I seriously doubt I'll be able to get through all of these but in case I do.... I've added an extra points category. It basically just means that if I get to those books by Monday, I will eat loads of chocolate and have some wine to celebrate how amazingly antisocial I am.

    Easter Weekend TBR

      
      

    Extra points!

     


    Short notice for a ReadAThon but... Would you like to join me on the dark side and be antisocial and bookish for a few days? If you're interested in reading a book or two or ten and writing a post about your weekend reading plans, add your link below!
    Oh, and let me know if you have any ideas for potential prizes ;)
    Another post related to an event hosted by the wonderful Rachel @ Beauty and the Bookshelf. Please do go check out her blog! Today's prompt was to review your favourite book - fangirling allowed and encouraged.

    Story time! (You don't actually have to read this entire following paragraph. You can skip to the last few lines. I was just in a writing mood.)
    I walked into Waterstones. I didn't mean to, I just accidentally ended up standing inside the shop, staring at a stack of wonderful new hardcover releases. After a struggle of heroic proportions that really should be told in iambic pentameter to do it any justice, I decided on only two books(!). I walked over to the friendly cashier who was communicating with a 2-year-old kid about buying a book focused on incy wincy spider. (She seemed just as excited about her book as I was about mine. [The little one was obviously in the arms of her mother who was letting her practice the process of buying things.]) It was adorable, but I digress. As they left, I stepped forward and somehow ended up in a long conversation about Garth Nix, Trudi Canavan, Philip Pullman, Patrick Ness and got invited to a YA book club meeting. 
    But the most wonderful thing was that when I said "you know Patrick Rothfuss? I'm absolutely obsessed with his Kingkiller Trilogy," this guy beamed at me. 
    "Yes. He is excellent."
    This made me really happy, because a) I seriously freaking love those books, and b) it's awesome when someone's actually heard of them before I passive-aggressively and almost reduced to tears force them to just read the bloody book and see for themselves.

    Check the details and the introductory post over at
    Beauty and the Bookshelf and get involved!

    It turns out it was World Kidney Day yesterday, so prompted by Rachel (make sure and check the link above!) I came up with a list of three bookish things that would totally be worth handing over one of my kidneys. (obviously I'd only be able to choose one of these because I'm pretty certain I need to retain one of my kidneys, but let me dream of having extra kidneys and getting all three things, okay, thanks.)

    This is my first post that is part of the Get Up Offa That Slump Blogging Extravaganza (don't you just love that name?!) hosted by Rachel @  Beauty and the Bookshelf. It starts today (Wednesday 9th March) and runs for the next three weeks, until the end of the month. You can take part on your blog, instagram, booktube - it's up to you.

    Check the details on the introductory post and get involved!

    If you don't feel like you can cope with insanity today, you may want to skip this post ;) It's okay - I'll love you anyway.

    [Me]: I feel ridiculous asking you questions I know the answers to.
    [Me]: You are ridiculous. But do you know the answers? I might surprise you.

    I'm finally getting around to posting this! Blog hopping and twitter (#LoveAThon) have kept me so busy, but I love it.

    The idea for the first mini-challenge for Love-A-Thon is to mash-up something non-bookish (a hobby, a passion...) with my bookish life.
    I was going to take a picture of the cinnamon rolls we baked today but... we ate them so let's scratch that.

    Okay. So I collect postcards from places I've been to, and ones that have inspirational things written on them. I put them up on my wall and door so to remind myself to be happy of all the good times, and not to worry too much about the future.


    If you haven't heard of it before, the organisers of Love-A-Thon are the wonderful Cee (The Novel Hermit), Mel (The Daily Prophecy), Alexa (Alexa Loves Books), and Hazel (Stay Bookish). Go check out their blogs - they're all brilliant!

    Hope this questionnaire helps you get to know me a little bit! I'm always awkward when talking about myself but here we go :)

    1. What’s your name?
    Annika, like that friend of Pippi Longstockings'. Feel free to pronounce it however you'd like :)

    2. Where in the world are you blogging from?
    A pretty little city in the North of England. It's cold and rainy. But pretty! Always pretty.

    3. How did you get into blogging in the first place?
    I really wanted a place to talk about books with people since my friends IRL seem a bit bored of my monologues. Also, I've been unwell lately, and at the moment I'm just more comfortable socialising online, so it's kind of a compromise: I get to stay home and spend time with people.
    Hi!

    You're reading my blog! That's awesome. My name is Annika, and I like to talk about books. I like to talk about books a lot.
    I hope you stick around while I try to get myself and this little blog situated ( - talk with me, suggest books to me, throw pens at me, you pick). I'm pretty weird, but I'm consistently weird. Actually, I have no idea why that would be a good thing but I'm going to run with. Consistency is key, you guys!

    Before I started