Remember chain emails, where you’d have to pass a message on to 40 people to gain eternal happiness or risk utter tragedy along the lines of never being kissed by a boy? Or when on Facebook people would post messages of love and admiration that you were supposed to pass both back and on? Some remember those with annoyance, but there was also an element of being included.

What’s not even a little bit annoying, and just fun is the fact that Hardcovers and Heroines nominated for The Versatile Blogger Award this week by one of our favorite bloggers Cross(stitch)YourHeart. She is a frequent commenter on our blog, we would comment more on hers if we understood the blogosphere more. It is definitely a site you should check out. Between her book reviews and her crafty projects. Thanks so much!

Rules of the Award

(1)Thank the person who gave you this award. That’s common courtesy. (2) Include a link to their blog. That’s also common courtesy — if you can figure out how to do it. (3)Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly.  (4) Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award.(5) Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.

Our Nominees

Here are some awesome blogs that Alison L and Alison D follow, organized alphabetically so as not to show favoritism. But we promise not to curse you if you choose not to participate.

• 1000 Awesome Things: This is one of the first blogs I ever followed, and it’s exactly what the URL sounds like. They post an awesome thing every week day. They’re into the top 20!
• A Cup of Jo: No one I know will ever be as cool as Joanna Goddard.
• Appellation Mountain: The best name blog around. Period.
• Books and Sensibility: Not just a clever name. Book reviews, author descriptions, and more.
• Books Without Any Pictures: Grace is a self-professed bibliophile and an aspiring librarian. She reviews at least a book a week and her reviews are very thoughtful and honest.
• The Bloggity Blog of Scott J. Clemons: Another writer and reader, with a focus on Science Fiction and Fantasy. This blog will crack you up. Scott writes with a seriously high level of wit.
• Ermilia: A combination of the two bloggers and co-writers of the Blind Sight series which came out this month. Many excellent book reviews and writing prompts.
• Hannah Katy: Alison D. worked with Hannah for a short time, and considers Hannah a huge blogging role model. Read this lyrical blog and you will definitely feel better about the world. You should also take a look at her Love Letter Project.
• This Here Is a Bookish Place: Jen blogs about her writing (she’s currently working on a novel), reading, and other funny bits from her life. Our favorite blog from across the pond.
• The Literate Condition: This blog explores fiction and poetry. It’s a new favorite, but the sharp prose and feminist perspective are intriguing.
• Margaret and Helen: Two best friends keep a blog (hey, that sounds familiar). They mostly blog about politics. And they’re eighty-two years old.
• The Monster in Your Closet: Written by mother and writer Deborah the Closet Monster.
• The Northanger Abbey Book Project: Kelsey doesn’t just post book reviews, she talks about libraries, bookstores, fountain pens, and all things literary.
• Plaid Bag Connection: This blog explores connections between Asian groups and promotes breaking down barriers and building understanding between countries and cultures, popular understandings and academic understandings, scholarship and activism.
• Yaminatoday: A literary blog that looks at the writing process and publishing trends from all kinds of genres and technologies.

Our Facts

1. Alison L and Alison D once filled a professor’s mailbox with half a dozen lemons as a prank.
2. Our birthdays are exactly 6 months apart.
3. We are both Irish.
4. At one point, we could both recite the beginning of the Canterbury Tales in Middle English.
5. We both have tumblrs (Keep Up With the Pacebike and An Un-calibrated Centrifuge).
6. Alison L likes to be the big spoon.
7. Alison D and Alison L both have ten fingers and ten toes.