Get-To-Know-Me Sunday: 20 things you might not know about me

Hey guys, it's been a very long time since I've done one of these! But I've seen this list of questions on a couple other blogs, among others that of the wonderful Micheline at Lunar Rainbows, and I've decided to fill it out myself. I'm not officially tagging anyone, but if you've done/want to do these questions you're welcome to link me up :)

Question 1: How tall are you?
164 or 165 centimeters. I don't always measure at the same height *shrug* I guess I tend to stoop? Anyway, I think that's either 5'4'' or 5'5''.

Question 2: Do you have a hidden talent? If so, what?
I don't have any talent that I'd call or keep hidden...

Question 3: What's your biggest blog related pet-peeve?
Reviews that are basically a one-paragraph summary + 2 short, non-specific sentences about how they liked it. Not very helpful. Also, crammed sidebars, glittery stuff that blinks at me, lots of different fonts with different colors.

Question 4: What's your biggest non-blog related pet-peeve?
Slow-walking people who take up the whole sidewalk so I can't push past. People who don't clean up after themselves in the kitchen. And never call me 'babe' or 'baby'. You won't like the consequences.

Question 5: What's your favorite song?
They tend to change and I love a lot of songs! But here are the videos of a few that I find myself listening to a lot lately:



And if Bring Me The Horizon is a bit too metalcore for you, I can give you this beautiful acoustic Death Cab For Cutie song:



Ever since watching the movie Only Lovers Left Alive last December, I've also been obsessed with Red Eyes & Tears by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club:



... and to round it off, the new Motionless In White album just came out and I'm listening to it a lot while writing, so here's their newest single. Again, this might not be for everyone...

Question 6: What's your favorite Etsy shop that isn't yours?
I haven't been on Etsy much lately... when I go, it's usually to shop either for cool steampunk stuff people make or for fandom-related things that I can't get anywhere else here. There's no particular shop I buy from.

Question 7: What's your favorite way to spend your free time when you're alone?
I obviously read a lot, but lately I've also started watching more movies and TV series again (I'm looking at you, American Horror Story!). My sister and I (we're roomies) also got an Xbox early in the year and I've been kinda obsessed with the Assassin's Creed series.

Question 8: What's your favorite junk food?
I hate junk food. On some days, the smell alone is enough to make me nauseous.
That being said, I don't consider ice cream and chocolate junk food. Because here it's made of real food instead of weird processed chemistry crap.

Question 9: Do you have a pet or pets? If so, what kind and what are their names?
I don't have pets in my apartment in Zurich because I'd feel bad about leaving them alone all day and I also can't afford the food right now. But I really miss our family cat back in the countryside at my parent's house! He's such a cutie. I also grew up around my mum's two iceland ponies and was horse-riding pretty much from birth until quit at 14.

I love this little guy :)

Question 10: What are your favorite fiction and nonfiction books?
Ugh oh god I hate this question >.< How am I supposed to pick only one?! That being said, I love all of Holly Black's books, everything I've read by Neil Gaiman, and I devoured Mark Lawrence's Broken Empire trilogy earlier this year.

As for non-fiction, I don't read much of it. I read a lot of articles etc. for my studies, but nothing I'd consider a favorite. But there's a book by a Swiss author about the time she moved to San Francisco with her family for a few years before coming back that I really enjoyed. It's called Flowers in Your Hair, by Milena Moser.

Question 11: What's your favorite beauty product?
Compact powder and eyeliner.

Question 12:  When were you last embarrassed? What happened?
I don't get embarrassed that often anymore. Usually it's just small things that I can laugh off. It was bad when I was a teen though.

Question 13: If you could only drink one beverage (besides water) for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Coke Zero.

Question 14: What's your favorite movie?
Gah >.< Same as the books. I love a lot of horror-ish, dark movies like The Crow or Donnie Darko, but I also love Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, various book adaptations, and I have this obsession with 80s teen movies like Heathers, Breakfast Club, or Ferries Bueller's Day Off.

Question 15: What were you in highschool: prom queen, nerd, cheerleader, jock, valedictorian, band geek, loner, artist, prep?
The high school equivalent in Switzerland is quiet different and doesn't form the same types of cliques. For instance there are no school sports teams, which gets rid of the jocks and cheerleaders. That being said, I guess I'd have been the nerdy emocore girl. You know, all black, band shirts, backpack full of buttons and patches of various band logos.

Question 16: If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?
Tough one. I love London and during my time in the US I also fell for San Francisco. I think it's a wonderful city to be a reader or writer in. But I also really like it here in Zurich, even though I know that at some point I'll have to emigrate if I want to work in the field I studied.

Question 17: PC or Mac?
PC all the way. The only apple product I own is my iPod. I don't even have an iTunes account.

Question 18: Last romantic gesture from a crush, date, boy/girlfriend, spouse?
My love life is pretty much nonexistent. Basically I just never fall for anybody *shrug*. I haven't had so much as a crush in 4 years.

Question 19: Favorite celebrity?
Erm. Jennifer Lawrence is awesome, obviously. I also really like Tom Hiddleston. He seems like such a genuine, intelligent, and dignified person. And he still also does silly stuff and doesn't take himself too seriously.
I have endless respect for Davey Havok, the singer of AFI. His lyrics have done so much for me in the past almost 10 years and inspired me to be a better writer.

Question 20: What blogger do you secretly wish you were best friends with?

Micheline from Lunar Rainbows! I really really hope we can meet some time in the future, maybe at BEA!

That's it :) Comments on anything or questions are welcome! Do we have anything in common? (Taste in music, maybe? It's so hard to find anyone I share book AND music taste with!). Also as I said above, feel free to do the survey yourself or link me up to your post if you've already done it :)

Discussion: Book Turn-Offs, Part 1

It's been a while since I've had a discussion going here, and this is a topic I've wanted to tackle for a while. I want to split the discussion of book turn-offs up into at least two posts, one dealing with turn-offs in the description of the book and another that is about what's on the cover. Clarification: this is more about what makes me not want to read a book in the first place, not about stuff that annoyed me while I was reading a specific book!


Today I want to talk about book descriptions / the summary on the back of the book or on Goodreads etc. The elements mentioned below represent my personal opinion and the list isn't meant to be complete or final. I'm a moody person, so they can change, but many of these really have been grating on me for a while. Also, you're very welcome to defend what's a turn-off for me but a promise of awesomeness to you, or add your own deal-breakers to the list!


Turn-off #1: it's too vague
This is a problem if the description is so general that it resembles that of a gazillion other books in the same genre. I don't want to feel as if I'm re-reading a story I already know. I get that it's to avoid spoiling the mystery but often it doesn't give me enough clues/details to become interested in the first place. Possible remedy: reviews pointing out an element in the book I was not expecting and find totally awesome. I never would have known about that without the review though, so the description is a fail.

Turn-off #2: prophecies
I think I liked those when I was in my early teens, but now I have a huge aversion to any mention of them. They are fatalistic, I find them week as a plot element/character motivation, and they are often bound-up with a love story of two people being 'destined' for one another. Sorry, but there should be more to two characters' romance than simple destiny that says they must be together because "so 't is written".
There are exceptions here, but usually I don't like these books. One reason is that they also often feature the next item on the list.

Turn-off #3: the hero(ine) is So Special
I get the need for this. I do. It's interesting to read about characters that are different, that have abilities normal people don't. Hell, I love fantasy so that's almost always a feature. But what I mean here is the way this difference is treated in the book/hinted at in the description. Some mysterious past (often there's a mystery surrounding parents/legacy and use of the orphan plot), an idea that this person is unique and destined for greatness and to save the world / her race / restore balance. What bugs me is that the specialness is often a bit unclear for large parts of the book or is not properly rooted in the personality of the character and their development during the book. I've found such 'special' characters rather bland once you take away their abilities. Or they are simply special Because Of Reasons.
I often see this 'specialness' as a criticism aimed at female characters, but I think gender doesn't matter here and I've also come across males of the same type.

Turn-off #4: instant but inexplicable connection
What I just mentioned above is also why formulations such as '(s)he feels inexplicably attracted to the new guy/girl/mysterious stranger' have begun to bug me lately. I have no problem with instant attraction, but why does it have to be inexplicable? Shouldn't there be reasons why the hero(ine) likes/is attracted to the other person? Why they have a connection? I'm still guilty of reading a bunch of such stories, but I've seen this exact wording in book descriptions so often lately that by now it just makes me roll my eyes.

Turn-off #5: (playboy) millionaires, corporate America
The averagely-well-off or poor heroine wants to get herself a millionaire, who is usually either emotionally cold or a total playboy (or both). So she has to redeem him. While he raises her up out of her averageness or insignificance. The power structure implied in such blurbs makes me feel sick. Also, the focus is very often pure romance, with lots of drama and a healthy dose of sex. Not exactly my favorite combination. But as I said, this is just me personally. I'm also not wild about the whole settings in huge corporations and they whole career/success-oriented powerplays etc.

Turn-off #6: tragic/traumatic pasts
Now it gets a bit tricky. I have no problem with books that portray a character's getting over a tragic/dark event in their past and moving on and growing as a person. But I've seen so many summaries lately, mostly of NA contemporary novels, that feature a heroine and/or hero with such a thing hinted at. Sometimes it's the vagueness of the hint that bothers me (if I had a clue what this tragic thing is about I'd be able to decide whether I find it interesting), sometimes it's very over-the-top (how do all these tragic things fit into the life of a 20-year-old?). Also, I feel like it's becoming such a 'thing' that it's often just put there as a plot/marketing device, and that the writing/character development just can't measure up.

Turn-off #7: love across the ages
Maybe this again plays into me not being such a romancy person (more about that here), but I really dislike the idea of the reincarnated love interest, who then falls for the guy (or his reincarnation) again after centuries of separation... not because of anything they still have in common but because she loved him way back when, even though she doesn't remember, and he is still mad about her, so of course she must love him back (you know, him having waited for her so long and all). Also, of course there is an evil organization/other problem that again tries to drive them apart and it's all very sad.
In short: as soon as I see a hint of this plot, I'm usually out.

In short, a book's description should make me want to do more of this:

Do you agree with any of my book turn-offs or the reasoning behind them? Do you have something to add? Do you want to jump to the defence of one of those points? Please share your opinion :)