Sunshine Blogger Award

Lizzie Hexam at Starlight and Saucepans (what a fun blog name, by the way) nominated me for the Sunshine Blogger Award!

The rules of this award include thanking the nominator, answering his or her questions, and nominating up to 11 others. I've never been very good at following tag rules, and after almost thirteen years of blogging (and barely showing my face here during the previous six), just about all of the bloggers I was actively following in the beginning have moved on with their lives. So I really have no one to tag.

But I can follow rules #1 — thank you, Lizzie! — and #2.

The questions:

1. What’s your second favorite TV show?

Hm, I don't watch TV shows very often (movies are more my thing). But I'd say Wodehouse Playhouse is up there as a not-quite-favorite-but-always-delightful option.

2. If you could only read the works of one author all the rest of your life, who would you choose? (The Bible is exempted from this.)

Jane Austen, no question. Though C. S. Lewis would be a very close second.

3. What’s a fun fact about yourself that you would like people to know, but there’s never a good opportunity to bring up?

I really enjoyed my research on French history during my master's degree and loved any opportunity to share about it, but rarely got the opportunity to talk about my research in detail (and still less now that it's several years in the past). 

4. Tell us a random weird word that you like.

"Lest."

5. You’re going to Mordor with the Ring, and you’re assembling your Fellowship! Which eight fictional characters (from any fictional works, not just LOTR) do you want to come with you, and why? (If you aren’t familiar with The Lord of the Rings, just assemble eight fictional characters you would want to bring along on a dangerous quest.)

I assume this comes with the unspoken limitation that I can't just pick the Fellowship itself. Sooo, in no particular order, the following are a mismatched selection of people who are good to have along in sticky situations:

1. Gandalf (though likely to abandon us at some point, he'll be useful while he's along)
2. Anne Elliot (as Captain Wentworth knows, we can count on her to be calm and sensible in a crisis)
3. Percy Blakeney (when we get in a jam, he's very likely to think of clever solutions that no one else would think of)
4. Bilbo Baggins (we need someone along who values food and cheer and song)
5. Jason Bourne (clearly someone you want in your corner when it comes to a fight)
6. Jill Pole (brave and experienced in dangerous adventures)
7. Gurgi (his wallet of food would come in handy, but most especially Gurgi himself is the only one who can equal Samwise Gamgee for faithfulness)
8. Thorin Oakenshield (we all know he isn't without his faults, but once he committed himself to the cause he wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice his life to bring the quest to completion, and he is a warrior to be feared)

That was fun. :)

6. Do you on the whole prefer movies from before or after 1960? Why?

Well, most of my favorite movies fall between 1990 and 2005, so I would say after 1960, but I do enjoy many pre-1960 films and I have a hot take that there are no truly excellent movies made in the last two decades.

7. Suppose you’re tasked with creating a flag for a new country. What does it look like?

A rich green background with a silver or gold Celtic knot pattern in the center.

8. Is poetry or prose fiction more expressive? Do you think one form is higher than the other?

I prefer prose. Poetry is such a widely varying genre that it's hard to rank how expressive it is. I find most poetry to be the author expressing something that no one else understands, and thus prose to me is generally more expressive. 

9. What are the last three songs you listened to?

I recently discovered The Gray Havens and have been listening to little else for the past two weeks. I love their complex lyrics and literary allusions. My Spotify history says the last three songs were Anywhere, Come Thou Fount, and Train Station.

10. If you had the ability to make it so that it was always your favorite season of the year, would you do it?

No, because I like the variety. Now if I could shorten my least favorite season (summer) so that we could cut down on the days we have to endure above 90º... that's tempting.

11. Dream cast your favorite actor and actress (either can be from any time period; this is dream casting, after all!) in an adaptation of the classic book you think they’re best suited for.

This is a tricky question because I really don't have favorite actors or actresses. I don't follow any celebrities, and it's easier for me to think of actors who I find annoying than ones I really like (I guess it's a good thing I'm not a casting director). My mind is also going blank on classic books that have yet to be made into good film adaptions (except for Mansfield Park, which I've already dream-casted, and The Space Trilogy, which I'm certain would be a horrible movie if someone decided to adapt it).

Thinking about Wodehouse Playhouse has reminded me that there are some more obscure Wodehouse stories that have yet to be portrayed on screen. I think "The Castaways" from Blandings Castle and Elsewhere would make a hilarious addition to the collection. This is a boring answer, but the husband and wife team who star in all the Wodehouse Playhouse episodes would undoubtably do a fine job.

And that's a wrap! If there are any readers who would have liked to answer eleven interesting questions, consider yourself tagged and answer in the comments:

1. Would you ever raise and butcher your own meat?
2. What is the newest book (by date of publication, not read-date) you read and liked?
3. What is your favorite board game?
4. Are there any hobbies you once enjoyed but abandoned?
5. If you could be instantly fluent in another language, what language would you pick?
6. What is the most valuable thing you learned from your mother?
7. Are you a capable plant owner? (and if so, can you tell me how to become like you?)
8. Are there any words or phrases you say too often?
9. What is the most recent meal you ate?
10. What is your favorite thing about your least favorite season?
11. If you've completed a college degree, what would you have studied if you didn't get that degree? (Or if you haven't completed a degree, what would you like to study?)

À la prochaine,