I was nominated for The Unique Blogger Award by Hannah,one of the nicest, kindest bloggers of our community. Her reading choices are pure quality, so visit her blog and let your TBR pile grow a little more:)
The Rules:
- Share the link of the blogger who has shown love to you by nominating you
- Answer the questions
- In the spirit of sharing love and solidarity with our blogging family, nominate 8-13 people for the same award
- Ask them 3 questions
Hannah’s questions:
1) If you had to pick one genre to read for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Oh, this is easy. Historical Fiction, hands down! For many years, I used to read Historical Fiction novels almost exclusively, it is a genre very close to my heart. It can be quite exasperating, though, when a writer decides to take too much liberty with historical facts and figures or add a silly romantic relationship just for the sake of it…
2) What is your most unpopular opinion you want to shout from the rooftops?
I will keep this one book-related. ”Please, dear publishing companies, stop publishing paper-y things -because I refuse to call them ”books”- with naked men and women on the front cover. It is distasteful, hideous, utterly sexist and truthfully? It debases the notion of attraction and sexuality to a level that is lower than low. I understand that to each their own and if someone wants to read this genre, then be my guest but the covers? Give me a break here, okay? A little discretion and respect wouldn’t hurt…At least, the covers of the old Harlequins my grandma used to read were tasteful…
3) What topic could you give an impromptu 20 minute talk on?
Being a teacher, I can always compose lengthy monologues -or rants, if you wish- about the danger of burdening our children with our own expectations and wishes that may not be their own. We need to let them develop their goals and skills according to their abilities and wishes, supporting and guiding them but not pushing them to accomplish something they don’t want. And parents need to stop feeling as if their children are their mirror. They’re not, they never will be. Our children are human beings, unique human beings and they can become so much better than us if we let them.
My questions to the lovely people:
1) If you were obliged to read the same book every month, which one would it be and why?
2) If you were a planet, which one would you be and why?
3) (Because I know we’re all lovers of Mythology) What are your favourite Greek and Norse deities?
I tag: Marina @Books of Magic
Kara @Bernard’s Book Blog
Grainne @Darkly Whimsical Reader
Callum @Callum McLaughlin
Aneela @The Mystique Reader
This has been super-fun and Hannah’s questions were a delight to answer. Thank you so much, Hannah!! I look forward to reading everyone’ answers!
The Opinionated Reader 
I love your answers Amalia! I appreciate you more as a person, not just as a reader, each time I read your answers to these questions. 🙂 I would ban the naked covers haha, they’re hideous! And as if that’s not enough – the sexy models are reused multiple times on different books ugh! I cringe every time I see a cover like that.
I love your questions too! I can’t wait to answer them, and thank you so much for nominating me. ❤ I have a thing to add though, hope you won't mind – when you tag someone you have to link a post, not the homepage, otherwise the person won't be notified. I read all your posts so I saw it, but someone else might not. 🙂 Now I'll go and think about the answers to your awesome questions. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much, Marina!! You know, I wasn’t sure whether I tagged everyone in the right way and I thought that linking the homepage would be the most ”logical” way to go. Thank you so much for telling me, it will save me from embarrassment from now on😝
Oh, those covers…I don’t think that a lower level can exit. I mean, I know, I understand that there are people who enjoy reading this genre. Okay, fine, to each their own but debasing female and male sexuality to such a degree is something that really bothers me and it shows a lot about the society we live in…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haha no need to be embarrassed, it took me a while to figure it out too, actually Kara told me. 😀 And I still can’t figure out some things, but I’m getting there. 😀 There should be a blogging manual!
I knoooow, people should read whatever they like, but when I see some of those covers I’m completely grossed out. :S This is the most recent one I’ve seen and I was flabbergasted, in a lack of better words. I do warn you before you open the link haha: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28419695-big-rock
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, my God….Such quality….Just when we think we’ve actually seen everything, eh?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Exactly 🤢
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love your answer for number 3! I totally agree.
Thank you very much for the nomination, it’s much appreciated 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much, Callum!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love your answers! And I am very much in agreement with regards to your answer to question three.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much, Hannah!! Oh, this issue has been one of the greatest banes of being a teacher. There are parents who just refuse to see reality and end up damaging their children irreparably.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I can imagine. I teach at university level and even I have students who tell me they wanted to do something completely different with their lives but their parents thought they need to study something useful (I teach at a department for business). It’s heartbraking and infuriating. I imagine it is even worth in schools.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, it is exactly as you describe. And to see all these expectations loaded on a child from the age of six and seven is something that I can never ever stomach even after 11 years of teaching…And it only gets worse with the years. Everyone has to be a doctor or a lawyer or take over the family business…
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love your answer for #3. I agree with that 100%. It’s so irritating seeing parents trying to shove all their opinions and ideals down their kids throats. And the thing about the romance covers! I don’t see how those are appealing to anyone. Plus they all look alike! How are you supposed to know which book is which?
Thank you so much for tagging me! I love these shorter tags — I always get distracted when I’m writing up answers for longer tags. Short tags are my jam!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I definitely agree with you, Kara! Those covers are so horrible…I can’t imagine the reason why they want to have them in their bookcase…#3 is one of the absolute worst moments of being a teacher. When you see the amount of pressure and expectations on a child’s shoulders and you are almost unable to do anything to help because parents…
You’re very welcome, Kara!! I love shorter tags too plus they give us the opportunity to communicate all the love and appreciation of our lovely book community:)
LikeLiked by 1 person
That sounds awful 😦 It sucks that parents can’t just let their kids be who they want to be without being molded by the parents. It either forces the kid to be someone they might not want to be, or it just pushes them away. I grew up in a pretty religious household, but that constant “we are Christians whether you like it or not” mentality ended up pushing me away from religion. I don’t know, it’s just so much healthier for the parents AND the kids if the kids are allowed to become their own person.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I couldn’t agree more and I completely understand what you mean. More often than not, we preach and lecture and try to pass our own convictions -be them right or nor, it doesn’t matter- to the young ones without considering that they have their own mentality and personality. I am confident, though, that things will change with our generation. I hope that we will become the parents our children need and break free from the mentality of the past.
LikeLike
Exactly. I’m sure it must be hard being a teacher and seeing kids who’ve already been molded to be what their parents want them to be, but I’m sure there are some cases where they might realize what has happened or want to change to be something THEY want to be because of you! Teachers are meant to help with the molding process, after all, and you can help them see that they don’t have to be exactly what is expected of them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’ve said it perfectly, Kara. After all, this is what being a teacher should be all about. Not teaching sterile sentences and information about the past or technicalities but helping the young ones develop as full personalities as much as we can.
LikeLiked by 1 person