Blogging Awards Catch-up and science fiction/fantasy question

I have been the grateful nominee for two blogging awards that I really like:

JS Peyton at Biblioaddict nominated me for the Literary Blogger Award. Wow. Not only do I love the picture, I want a window seat like that!! And my Cool Inner Literary Bookworm (whom, if you remember, is very hard to please) is thrilled that my attempts to read classics is being recognized! Even more though, is being recognized by bloggers who I really like. That would be all of you, dear readers.

Here are the acceptance rules: 1) Put the logo on your blog/post. 2) Nominate up to 9 blogs which make you feel comfy or warm inside. 3) Be sure to link to your nominees within your post. 4) Let them know that they have been nominated by commenting on their blog. 5) Remember to link to the person from whom you received your award.

I really like this award. It's not just about being literary, but about inspiring others to read, and being a blog to rest a while in.
1. Eva - A Striped Armchair - she makes reading literature sound fun and easy. She makes me remember why literature is good to include among my reading.
2. Jane - Reading, Writing, Working, Playing - she reads classics! and discusses them! And she just went to Ireland. And she loves North and South and *Richard Armitage*.
3.Bybee - Naked Without Books. My Book-twin. She has one of the best senses of humour in the blogging world, and she's reading all the Pulitzers.
4.Gentle Reader - Shelf Life. She is what she says she is, a gentle reader whose blog is sweet and restful and all about books in the midst of her busy life raising her family.
5. Matt - A Guy's Moleskine Notebook. Matt reads literary classics and prize winners and he actually likes Virginia Woolf. Not only is it refreshing to argue with him (because I detest Virginia Woolf, which maked me a minority of one! in the blogging world), but he makes me think about literature and why it's important to read. He also likes many of classics and modern literature.
6. Molly at My Cozy Book Nook. From a neophyte blogger a mere few months ago, her blog now surpasses mine AND she's set up her first challenge -the summertime book reading challenge. She is also willing to try reading anything once, and she is curious about books and reading and she is very friendly. She inspires me to keep making my blog more interesting!
7. Chris at Stuff as Dreams Are Made On. When I need to be refreshed, I find myself here. He always has a great review that I add to my want list, he has stories about his work and what Katrina did to his hometown, and mostly, he loves books and writes about whatever he's reading with some kind of passion.
8. Matthew at Falling Stacks. He loves Star Trek. And fantasy. And he rants about books and he has a great header for his blog that I love. He couldn't wait for the new Star Trek movie to come out, and was the first to blog about it. He also didn't like it much, so we disagreed. Sometimes a little discussion is good for the soul.....and he got a Wonder Woman action figure for his birthday! I didn't know they still existed!


The other award is also a joy to receive. I'm always thrilled when someone thinks I am creative! Jane at Reading Writing, Working, Playing, a new to me blogger who found me through North and South, honoured me with this one.

She said it was because we have so many books in common, and she always finds new ones to read through me. Well, that is about the highest compliment we can give on our book blogs, isn't it? That we find books through one another. So I thank her too, very much.
Here is my list of bloggers who I would like to let know that we have so many books also we share and love, and where I go to find new ones to read:

1.Deslily - Here, There, and Everywhere, 2nd Edition. She created the Bad Bloggers list!!! And through the truly awful year she had beginning last summer, she is still with us, blogging. Pat, this is for you.
2. Nymeth - Thing Mean Alot. She writes in such an easy, accessible manner, and writes purely awesome reviews that take my breath away. She read everything. And she hosts all kinds of carnivals, plus she is incredibly generous. All this while she goes to school. And she has that wonderful header and cool purple background.....
3. Joanne - The Book Zombie. Her site is so cool, with monthly total stats graphs, and amazing ways of showing book covers and blurbs. I always find new books to read here. And quotes to laugh at.
4. Bookstack at The Ravenous Reader. She writes thoughtful posts on reading, poetry, books in her life. Going to her blog is like pausing to reflect on what books mean to me, and somehow every post she writes gets me to do this!
5. Trish at Hey Lady, Whatcha Readin'? She makes me laugh. And she has opinions about everything, that makes it a thrill to go to her blog and see what the topic of the day is. Plus, she says "reading is sexy'. Take that, world!! Oh, and she reads alot and has funny posts about the books she's read and why she likes them or not.
6. Trish at Trish's Reading Nook. Ever since her first comment, Trish has made me laugh with her zany posts. She is among the most friendly of the bloggers I have encountered (and we are all to some degree friendly and approachable or we wouldn't be blogging!), and her blog feels like you've come into her kitchen and are having a lovely chat about books, every time.

There are so many more bloggers I could name, who would be and are each and every one of you on my blogroll. You each put so much effort into your blogs, to make them attractive and fun to visit, and you write about what you read, and bits about your life, that make you each real and warm and wonderful people. I truly think that just for making the effort to have a blog, and for keeping up with posting, each of you who does have a blog, deserves both awards. So please, take them, and honour your friends and bloggers who most inspire you to keep blogging. I think this is also my way of catching up on the Dewey memory post a while ago, to name new to you bloggers you think others might enjoy, as well as favourites you want everyone to find.

I know now, from having by blog for 1 1/2 years, that it is both joy and work to keep up, a labour of love. So I thank those who gave me an award, and I really want to pass it on to everyone who comes here!!


Bookstack has the current Booking through Thursday topic that I think is worth passing on.
"So! In my Official Capacity as a writer of science fiction and fantasy, I hereby proclaim June 23 Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Day! A day of celebration and wonder! A day for all of us readers of science fiction and fantasy to reach out and say thank you to our favorite writers. A day, perhaps, to blog about our favorite sf/f writers. A day to reflect upon how written science fiction and fantasy has changed your life.

So … what might you do on the 23rd to celebrate? Do you even read fantasy/sci-fi? Why? Why not?"

Hmm. Regular readers of this blog know that I love fantasy. It is one of the two main genres I read, along with mystery. Hmm. A day to celebrate fantasy and science fiction books! I love this! I have 5 days to think about how fantasy has changed my life. Can I even imagine a world without fantasy books? A world without hobbits? Without travelling to the stars? From the very beginning of mankind, we have looked up to the stars and wondered. Fairies and dragons are a part of mankind's myths. We have always imagined the fantastic.

So.....do you read fantasy and science fiction? What do you enjoy most about reading these genres?

Myself, imagination is the stuff of life. I live by my dreams. Fantasy lets me tap into that mythic consciousness that we all share. The roots of fantasy are myths. I think those of us who read fantasy have made that jump from the myths and tales around the camp fire and fairy tales that our ancestors used to tell, to modern retellings that bring myths back into life again. Dragons have always existed, in our imaginations. Reading about dragons now takes us into a part of the world's imagination that is always there, that we would forget in our modern busy life that doesn't always leave space for imagining. Writers of fantasy are able to tap into that world imagination. I hope we never outgrow spinning fantastic tales, because something precious lives in those imaginings.

Science fiction is a combination of fantasy - imagining - and physical reality. What is life like among the stars? How would we get there? what happens to us when we are among the stars? If we were to stop looking up into the sky, I think that would be the beginning of the end of the human race. I don't read much hard science fiction, although I did some as a teenager. I am beginning to change that with the new space opera being written. I like the human element in science fiction stories, and to me Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein set the path for everyone to follow. Connie Willis is one of my particular favourite science fiction writers.

There is so much to wonder about, life on earth, in space, about what is, and what could be, about the magic of being alive, that to me reading fantasy and science fiction is just an extension of that basic wonder about life.

I'm not saying dragons exist, but in writing and reading about them, we learn about ourselves. And I really wish we would hurry up and send man to the moon again.

Are there any particular favourite books that shaped your fantasy and/or science fiction reading? Did you try either genre and find you didn't like it?