The Booker Award!

Hi, everyone! Sorry I've been quiet lately. Life has been, you know...life.

So, this week, I was tagged for the Booker Award. Of course, being my typical clueless self, I had no idea what this was. But Google is my best friend.

Yay! So, the rules:

1. This award is for book bloggers only. To receive this award the blog must be at least 50% about books (reading or writing is okay).
2. Along with receiving this award, you must also share your top five favorite books you have ever read (more than five is okay).
3. You must give this award to 5-10 other lucky book blogs you adore

 Alright, then. Simple enough, right? Here I go! Being me, though, I might have the overwhelming urge to explain everything, so bear with me.

Top 5 Favorite Books (in no particular order):

1. The Scorpio Races, by Maggie Stiefvater: Because the writing is gorgeous, the voices of the two POVs are distinct, and the ending was heartbreaking. A lot of books now are raw and gritty, but this one was simple and beautiful and gripping without being dark. I was in love from the first page.
2. Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins: A lot of people didn't like this one as much as the first two in the Hunger Games Trilogy. I loved it. I bawled. So hard. Mostly, I loved that Collins wasn't afraid to make sacrifices, and that made it believable. She tore my heart out, and I loved her for it.
3. The Book Thief, by Marcus Zusak: If I were ever asked to recommend one book to every teenager in the world, it'd probably be this one. The voice is witty and dry and a tad wistful, and writing...THE WRITING. I loved the little snippets from Death, the "Here's a small fact..." sections. Also, one of my favorite things about this book was that the reader knows the end from the very beginning. Everything is flatly stated, and the realities of WWII are gritty and immediate, but the ending still tragic because we couldn't keep ourselves for hoping for something else.
4. The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green. This is a book I would have read just for the title. I have no way to describe it except: READ IT. Please. Keep a pillow handy, because you will sob into it uncontrollably. 
5. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card: I'm being so repetitive now, but I seriously love this book so, so, so much. It doesn't fit at all with my usual tastes, and I expected to hate it. The premise is just...so...sad. Children-stripped-of-childhood gets me every time.

Then there's Harry Potter, which first made me fall in love with reading, classics like Pride and Prejudice and To Kill A Mockingbird and A Little Princess (don't judge me...I fell in love with that book in third grade and never stopped), contemporaries like Before I Fall and dystopians like Divergent. I like the old books my library sells for a quarter each and I like the new ones on the display cases and the not-so-old-but-not-really-new-ones sandwiched on shelves...telling me to pick five really isn't fair.

And...5 other amazing blogs:

1. Mark O'Brien Writes
2. Write or Die Trying
3. Truth, Justice, And Other Stuff
4. Wonderland's Reader
5. Olivia's Opinions

So that's it! Hope ya'll enjoyed!