The Liebster Award – Our first book tag

Thanks to Beth from Bethan May Books for tagging us and providing these great questions.

So the rules…

They are pretty simple. Just answer the questions and then write your own set. You can find out more on the original post.

Beth’s questions:

1.Our society has been overrun by a totalitarianism dictatorship; knowledge is power, so any sources of knowledge are illegal and actively destroyed. Including books.
It is thirteen minutes past two in the morning and your door is being hammered in by a battering ram. They’re here. They know of your collection. But they do not know of your escape tunnel in the cellar.
You grab one book.
What is it?

Mrs. NW: A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson.
Mr. NW: The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch [Mr NW failed hard at this. He spent an eternity picking].

2.Speaking of terrifying dystopias, which one keeps you up at night? (Not figuratively, just, which do you believe is the most scary)

Mrs. NW: AI taking over.
Mr. NW: Post nuclear war.

3.You’ve had a hellish morning in work and you’re grateful to escape to the staff room/kitchen/canteen etc for lunch. Martha from three desks over is there, engrossed in a new book; the cover has a man’s naked torso on it so you keep walking (because for argument’s sake you’re like me and not a fan of romance/erotica etc). Phyllis is making a cuppa with her nose stuck in a book, but on closer examination, it’s the same one Martha’s reading. You sit at the table across from Susan and Suzanne and they’re poring over the same book, Sue eagerly assuaging Sue that she can borrow it after her because it’s so good.
Except, it isn’t. It’s domestic violence masquerading as risque S & M. Even your bloody mother has read it.
So what book do you despise that everyone else loves?

Mrs. NW: The Hobbit [almost unforgivable]
Mr. NW: The Hunger Games

4.Speaking of unappealing, cliched book covers; what kind of cover to you find yourself instantly judging?

Mrs. NW: Anything pink or purple.
Mr. NW: Anything with people in skimpy clothing pretending to be vampires or some other crap.

5.Despite the towering odds stacked against you, the gargantuan spider guarding the entrance, the most spirited attempts of that group of flesh eating cultists you stumbled across, and your debilitating fear of the dark; you have made it to the deepest part of the temple where it is rumoured Telmarric the Oathslinger’s magic crystal is hiding. You face an enormous bronze door featuring an inspiring pattern of faces stretched into the most hideous and gruesome visages. As you approach, the ground beneath your feet begins to shake. It begins to crack. You grasp the arm of your companion to stop yourself slipping into the widening abyss at your feet.
What fictional character is your companion?

Mrs. NW: Vin Venture
Mr. NW: Kvothe Kingkiller

6.Speaking of dungeon crawling, what would be the one thing to stop you in your tracks, turn your knees to jelly and send you packing?

Mrs. NW: Same as Indiana Jones: snakes.
Mr. NW: A Balrog.

7.It’s the morning commute. It’s seven o pissing clock in the morning and here you are on a bus/train, surrounded by strangers, but you’re miles away. You cannot put this book down, you were up until somewhere gone one and woke up shortly after to your alarm screaming at you and the book on your face. You’ve fallen hard. You’re invested. And you’ve just read a line that’s knocked you for six. That lump is in your throat and your eyes are tickling and your nose is betraying you but there are people looking at you.
What line was your downfall?

Mrs. NW: The bit in The Power of One where all the prisoners are singing.
Mr. NW: I got nothing. We don’t have a good bus system.

8.Speaking of public transport, if there was any way you could travel, any method from a work of fiction or otherwise, what would it be?

Mrs. NW: Water-powered invisible helicopter.
Mr. NW: Starship. A nice big fast one.

9.You’re scrolling through Twitter in a daze; you’ve had a long afternoon of [difficult work activity] and you just need to veg out. You’ve replied to four tweets with adorable cat gifs, tagged three celebrities in tweets fanpersoning over their shows, and retweeted eight furious tweets supporting a cause you will gladly die on a hill for; when your eye is caught by a sponsored tweet. IS TIME TRAVEL POSSIBLE? I believe it is and I believe I have the means. Test subjects required. No time wasters.
To what time period would you travel and why?

Mrs. NW: The Roman Empire so that I can finally use the Latin I learnt in high school.
Mr. NW: Ancient Egypt. So that I can be Pharaoh and make some epic sculptures.

10.Speaking of hideous cliches, which is your least forgivable?

Mrs. NW: Hero must travel to a distant land to fulfill a destiny.
Mr. NW: Farm-boy is secretly the most powerful thing since sliced bread.

Okay, now here are our questions:

1. You need a team of 3 people to help you overthrow an emperor. Which fictional characters would you recruit and why?
2. What is the most surprising twist you have come across in a novel?
3. You are hunting for a house to buy with your family. The only places available are Northern Westeros (north of the wall), Mordor, and Arrakis. At which location will you purchase a home?
4. If you had to attend a fictional school of magic, which one would you select?
5. You are the likable, but slightly useless, best friend to the main character. What one skill keeps you out of trouble?
6. If you had to read every single book by one author, which author would you pick?
7. Which is the best country in the world?
8. You are on an epic quest to save the world. You can take either a phoenix, a dragon, or an old bearded man. Which do you choose?
9. Wine or beer?
10. You have struck it lucky and book blogging is your full-time pursuit but you need a co-author for your blog. Who do you choose and why?

Our tags

So here’s the deal, if we tag you and you’ve done this before or it’s not your kind of thing, then don’t worry, just don’t do it. If we haven’t tagged you but you’d like to do the tag, go ahead.

Dragons and Zombies

Arachnid Weaver and Spinette Spider The Web Weavers

Maddalena at Space and Sorcery

Maria H at Contemplate and Intimate

raistlin0903

For Tyeth at FTSabersite

Laura at LFBooks

The Orangutan Librarian

Lindsay B

Bookstooge (but we know you are probably not doing tags)