Happy Saturday bibliophiles! I went back to school on Wednesday and…I’m already tired, but it’s great to see my friends again and there wasn’t much homework this week, so I’m happy. For now.
Indeed I do. It happens less these days, what with my taste slowly being fine-tuned over the years, but I still end up DNFing a handful of books every year.
2. IF YOU DO DNF, DOES IT COUNT FOR YOUR FINISHED BOOKS FOR THE MONTH?
I’ve only started to keep track of the amount of books I read per month this year, but I still count them. I read part of them, anyway, and they still count towards my Goodreads goal, so I still think they count.
3. IS THERE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DNFING & JUST PUTTING THE BOOK DOWN FOR A LITTLE BIT?
Well…uh…I’ve never had an experience where I just put the book down for a little bit (I can’t read more than one book at once unless there’s a book for school involved), so I wouldn’t know…
4. WHAT POPULAR BOOKS HAVE YOU DNFED?
I DNFed A Curse So Dark and Lonely, Red Queen, and An Absolutely Remarkable Thing at different times for different reasons (didn’t like any of the love interests/couldn’t hold my interest, every bad YA trope known to man, and some SERIOUSLY iffy bisexual rep, in order), but everybody else seems to love these ones…not my cup of tea, really.
5. WHAT ARE SOME BOOKS YOU WISHED YOU DNFED?
When I read Night Owls and Summer Skies, I didn’t know that it was acceptable to DNF an ARC, so I tried to plow through it…I ended up finishing it in about an hour and a half, but it just sucked the whole way through. I felt obligated to finish Deep Blue because I’d bought it, but it didn’t get better. At all. PAIN. And Wings of Ebony…man, I feel really bad about giving this one such a low rating, but the only good thing I have to say about it is that I loved the unapologetic approach to racism/colonialism. Otherwise…yikes.
6. HAVE YOU EVER RE-ATTEMPTED TO READ A DNF, AND WAS THIS SUCCESSFUL FOR YOU?
Nope. Usually when I DNF a book, I hate it with a passion, and even if middle school Madeline did it a bit too frequently, there’s usually no going back with DNFs for me.
7. WHAT DO YOU DO WITH DNFED BOOKS?
If it’s on my Kindle, I’ll delete it, and if I borrowed it from the library (which is most often the case), I derive great joy from forcefully shoving it in the return machine. Usually I don’t end up DNFing books that I bought physical copies of, but in that case, I donate them.
+ anyone else who wants to participate! If you see this tag and want to do it, I can’t wait to see your answers! If I tagged you and you’ve already done it/don’t want to do it, my bad!
Today’s song:
ksjdhfskjdfh my shuffle just said “hey let’s throw Madeline back to April 2019 for a bit, how about that”
That’s it for this book tag! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!
I’ve been wanting to do a post like this for a little while, so here goes nothing…
We all know the feeling. We’ve picked up a book because of the seemingly endless 4 and 5 star reviews and the high praise from friends and fellow readers and book bloggers, and then it turns out to be a steaming disappointment. For me, popular YA books live up to the hype about 50% of the time for me, and the other 50% is either just…not feeling anything from it, or not liking it at all. And there’s plenty of hyped books that I’ve loved! But sometimes, a lot of these books just haven’t worked for me.
And before I start, I just wanted to say this – if you liked any of these books, this post isn’t meant to shame anybody’s reading preferences at all. If you liked them, good for you! These are just my opinions here, and as per the Latin proverb, to each, their own is beautiful. I just wasn’t a fan of these books.
It’s been about three years since I’ve read this one, but it was a pretty quick DNF for me. Red Queen felt like every bad YA trope melted into a single book – an unoriginal dystopian world with the “plain heroine that doesn’t realize how beautiful she is and is THE CHOSEN ONE” and gets into an insta-love romance…gah, I forget how long it took before I put it down, but this was just painful.
Holly Black is a hit-or-miss author for me, but The Cruel Prince definitely fell among the misses for me. The worldbuilding was great here (and I loved the little ink drawings at the beginnings of the chapters!), but all of the characters were astronomically unlikable. Everybody just seemed intent on bullying and backstabbing everybody else, and there wasn’t any balance with a character with a slightly better moral compass. And don’t get me started on Jude and Cardan being a thing…WHY? If I remember correctly, Cardan spends about 3/4 of the book relentlessly degrading Jude, and then gets down on his knees and tells her that he loves her…HUH?
HOW MUCH MORE TOXIC CAN YOU GET? And somehow, Cardan’s up there with Kaz Brekker and that dude from ACOTAR (I don’t remember his name, I haven’t read the books and don’t intend to) with the brooding YA dudes that everybody fawns over? Makes me lose a little faith in humanity sometimes…
Here’s one that everybody recommended to me…should of listened to that guy in my class in middle school who did a book report on this one and didn’t like it
Okay. Maybe this one’s a little skewed. I read most of Throne of Glass when I was home sick with a stomachache, but even then, I think I wouldn’t have been a fan. The ✨fantasy names✨ were a pain to pronounce, Calaena came off as a very static character with very little development, if any, and everything seemed to worked out a little *too* well for her in the end. The worldbuilding was interesting, though. I guess. Probably not gonna pick this one up, but I don’t think I’ll go for ACOTAR or Crescent City either. Meh.
My main problem was the same one I had with The Cruel Prince – the toxicity of the main relationship. Mirnatius spends about 3/4 of the book being borderline abusive towards Miryem, and then, ✨poof!✨ Happy relationship!
Yeah, no, that’s just weird. Also, wasn’t there a significant age gap between the two of them? Final nail in the coffin, really…
This one lured me in with a gorgeous cover and the promise of mermaids, and…well, we got a mermaid, but the rest of the book didn’t make up for it.
All the Stars and Teeth felt very formulaic for me, right down to the conveniently-placed puppet show to explain the worldbuilding. We’ve got a protagonist with dangerous magic, the mysterious love interest…it just felt like every other YA fantasy in the last few years. Not much to distinguish it from the others, if anything at all.
Out of all of the books here, Cinderella is Dead is probably the one that I had the highest expectations for. I mean, what could possibly go wrong with a book with a sapphic, POC lead taking down the patriarchy in a world sculpted from the myth of Cinderella?
…several things, as it turned out.
I found the worldbuilding to be full of holes, none of the characters were very distinct, the villain was an irredeemable caricature, and all of the attempts commentary on abuse and misogyny and such relied way too much on telling, as opposed to showing. For me Cinderella is Dead was just a case of a great idea, but poor execution. Shame…
This one was another DNF for me about two years ago. I still really appreciate that Kemmerer chose to have a disabled character at the forefront of a YA fantasy (Harper has cerebral palsy – not sure how accurate the rep is, though), but otherwise…meh. On top of the obvious attempt to make this Beauty and the Beast retelling as Dark And Gritty™️ as possible, the love triangle (and both love interests, if memory serves) put me off in the end.
This was my first exposure to Jennifer L. Armentrout, and I don’t think I’ll be reading anything of hers after this. Again, this falls into almost every YA trope that I hate – the Chosen One who is so very clearly Not Like Other Girls, the Sarcastic Bad Boy Love Interest (Zayne still makes me squirm)…I forget where I DNF’d this one, but I just could not take another page. Yikes.
Instant Karma was a sore disappointment…I’ve loved almost everything else of Marissa Meyer’s, but I just didn’t click with this one. I loved the premise of a magical-realism rom-com and all of the Beatles references were great, but Pru really got on my nerves, and the romance never made me feel anything.
TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK! What were your thoughts on these books? What’s a popular YA book that you didn’t like?
Today’s song:
That’s it for this post! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!
This tag was created by Brianna, who also tagged me in the post. It looked super cute, so I had to give it a go! (Also, she has an incredible blog, so if you haven’t checked it out already, go check it out!)
I can’t stress enough how much The Search for WondLaseries has changed my life. Even now, it’s just as enchanting as it was when I first checked it out at the library. I’ll definitely be giving the series a re-read soon; book 1 turns 10 this September! 😭
I forget exactly why I DNF’d A Curse So Dark and Lonely (though I shelved it as “cliche” on Goodreads, soooo…), but everybody else seems to love this series, so I might give it another try. Maybe. Possibly.
The Kingdom of Back was such a lushly written and enchanting novel, and I’m always up for another round of Marie Lu’s stellar writing, so I’ll absolutely be re-reading this at some point.
Ugh…Red Queenwas such a steaming mess of bad tropes…
Without a doubt, Jay Kristoff. Even though I haven’t read everything of his, I haven’t read anything of his that I haven’t rated between four and five stars. What a mastermind…
Now that I own the entire duology, I seriously need to get back on the space-thrill-ride train that is the Heart of Iron series…
Not a series, but it’s just been announced that the Eleanor & Parkmovie has a director (!!!), so I’m simultaneously excited and scared for that.
I’m not much of an audiobook person (I’ve only listened to…maybe one or two? Either way, it was ages ago, and…possibly on my old Hello Kitty CD player? Anyway…), but I’d be interested to see how Aurora Risingtranslates into an audiobook. It’s got a full cast of characters for all of Squad 312, so I’d be down for listening to that. I did listen to some of the snippets that the publisher had in the article, and they all sounded good, though Cat seemed uncharacteristically perky. (Hey, that’s just me, though.)
I TAG ANYONE WHO WANTS TO PARTICIPATE! GIVE BRIANNA SOME LOVE!
Since I’ve already posted once today, you can head over to today’s Book Review Tuesday to see today’s song.
That’s it for this book tag! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!
I found this tag at A Little Haze. You all know how fiery I can get when ranting about a book/series/trope that I hate, so I’ll channel all of my bookish salt into this one.
Let’s begin…
A POPULAR BOOK OR SERIES YOU DIDN’T LIKE
Red Queenhas gotten BOATLOADS of hype over the years, and I just don’t. Understand. At. All. IT’S EVERY BAD YA TROPE ROLLED INTO A SINGLE MONSTROSITY. UGH.
A POPULAR BOOK OR SERIES THAT EVERYONE SEEMS TO HATE BUT YOU LOVE
I mean…?
From what I can tell, Daughter of the Pirate Kinghas been fairly well-received (and has a solid 3.98 on Goodreads), but both my mom and I have noticed that when the bad reviews come in, they are positively scathing. I know this doesn’t really count, but I couldn’t think of any other books/series.
A LOVE TRIANGLE WHERE THE MAIN CHARACTER ENDED UP WITH THE PERSON THAT YOU DID NOT WANT THEM TO END UP WITH OR AN OTP YOU DON’T LIKE
UUUUUUGGGGGGHHHH. I am still FURIOUS over the fact that Juliette ended up with Warner. He’s just…I don’t know, they’re trying to make it seem like he’s “changed” or whatever, but I can’t see past the manipulative, controlling creep he was in the first two books or so. I’ve jumped off the Shatter Meship anyway, after the disappointment of Defy Me, but this was my first dealbreaker.
A POPULAR BOOK GENRE YOU HARDLY EVER REACH FOR
Mystery. I mean, it’ll do in a pinch, but it’s never been my go-to.
A POPULAR OR BELOVED CHARACTER THAT YOU DO NOT LIKE
As much as I adore the Harry Potterseries…the chosen one himself really doesn’t do it for me. I suppose he’s got some admirable qualities, but I think it was his actions in Order of the Phoenixthat really ruined it all for me. He was just so whiny…so entitled…so repulsive…
A POPULAR AUTHOR YOU CAN’T SEEM TO GET INTO
Weeeeell…
I’ve only read one of his novels (Foundation), but I really haven’t taken much of a liking to Isaac Asimov. Eh…it had such a fascinating premise, but most of the book seemed to be a bunch of old white guys sitting around… “Oh, so we might all be annihilated in a matter of days? Let’s discuss…”
A POPULAR BOOK TROPE YOU’RE TIRED OF SEEING
Love triangles. Never start well, never end well, and they create a disgustingly unnecessary (in most cases) romantic subplot. And even if you’re rooting for one party, the main character ALMOST ALWAYS, WITHOUT FAIL, PICKS WHOEVER YOU’RE ROOTING AGAINST. Disappointing.
A POPULAR SERIES YOU HAVE NO INTEREST IN READING
After the train wreck that was Atlantia, you can consider me all but turned off to anything else by her. Matchedis no exception, and even though it may have been one of the first series of the YA Dystopia revolution, I have zero interest in it.
THE SAYING GOES “THE BOOK IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN THE FILM,” BUT WHAT FILM OR TV ADAPTATION DO YOU PREFER MORE THAN THE BOOK?
As much as I adore Roald Dahl, Wes Anderson’s adaptation of Fantastic Mr. Foxis one of the few movies that I feel surpasses its source material. Anderson expanded so much on the world that Dahl built, and brought an immeasurable amount of life to it via the gorgeous stop-motion animation.
Today’s song:
I tag anyone who would like to participate!
Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!
First off, I’ve seen most other people who’ve participated put in some pictures of their cats, so I thought it would be fitting to put mine in here as well.
This is Padmé; she’s incredibly chatty, and has an affinity for clinging to people’s left shoulders. Doesn’t matter who’s shoulder it is, so long as it’s the left shoulder. Don’t question her.
Here’s Anakin, Padmé’s younger cousin. He and Padmé are inseparable. He’s also an itty bitty little cat, even at about 11 years old.
Finally, here’s Hobbes, the newest of the bunch. Most of the time, she acts too dignified to be petted, but when she’s affectionate, she’s the sweetest little cat around. (In fact, she’s sleeping right above me as I write this out.)
TWITCH WHILE DREAMING – Have you ever dreamt of a book you read?
An after-product of having read this innumerable times (“I lost count at 50,” as I used to say), I’ve definitely dreamt about The Search for WondLaseries more than one time.
SEEMS TO PLAY NICE UNTIL THE CLAWS ARE OUT – Which book had the biggest plot twist(s)?
GETTING THE CAT – How did you find your favorite book(s)?
Most of my favorite books have been recommendations from Goodreads, but just as often, I’ll find them hidden between the shelves in libraries or advertised in the back of other books.
OH. OH. I forgot this book existed for a minute there…
YIKES. The corny names. The cringy, fake slang. The timeline. God, Earth Girlreally was something of a train wreck…
BEING IN PLACES THEY SHOULDN’T – Least favorite cliché:
If I had to pick…most definitely love triangles. Much of the time, they only serve to muddy the existing plot with unnecessary angst and bickering. I won’t be sad to see them phase out of YA literature. I sure hope they do.
THE GOOD OLD CARDBOARD BOX – Most underrated book series?
AAH! Without question, the Faloiv series! (consisting of A Conspiracy of Starsand An Anatomy of Beasts) I doubt I’ll ever find another series with this amount of attention to detail in the worldbuilding.
I tag anyone who wants to participate!
Today’s song:
That just about wraps up this tag! Have a wonderful rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!
I’ve been wanting to do this tag for a little while, but I figured that it would be good for today since I’ve pretty much been subsisting off of Netflix for most of this four-day weekend. (*coughcough I AM MOTHER coughcough MONTY PYTHON coughcough*) I found this tag on First Line Reader, and the tag was originally created by A Darker Shade of Whitney.
RECENTLY WATCHED: The last book you finished reading
I’ve been a big fan of Raina Telgemeier for years, and I was so excited to find Gutsat the comic shop last week!
TOP PICKS: A book/books that have been recommended to you based on a book you have previously read
POPULAR ON NETFLIX: Books that everyone knows about (2 you’ve read and 2 you haven’t or have no interest in reading)
BothThe Poet Xand Red Queenhave received tons of hype over the years, but I have very different opinions about them: the former was an absolute triumph, and the latter was…ugh. Nope.
I’ve been recommended bothThe Hate U Giveand One of Us is Lyingcountless times, but I’m not super invested in reading them. I might, but they’re low on my priority.
COMEDIES: A funny book
I know I use this one every time I do a book tag, but Good Omenshad me in stitches.
DRAMA: A character who is a drama king/queen
Elliot fromIn Other Landswas the very definition of melodramatic…part of why I DNF’d this book, ultimately.
I haven’t read The Catcher in the Ryesince we read it for my English class last year, but I enjoyed it immensely.
DOCUMENTARIES: A nonfiction book that you’d recommend to everybody
My nonfiction shelf is pretty slim, but for those of you who are writers/aspiring writers, I’d highly recommend On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft.
ACTION AND ADVENTURE: An action-packed book
Though it was a bit more slow-burn at the beginning, The Smoke Thievesmanaged to keep me on my toes for a good 3/4 of the book.
NEW RELEASES: A book that just came out or will be coming out soon that you can’t wait to read
I had no idea this had come out until my school librarian (who I recommended the series to, and now loves it 😄) told me that it had come out! I cannot WAIT to get my hands on Honor Lost!
This tag was created by Another Book in the Wall, (oh my God, what an incredible blog name…🤣), and I got this tag from The Corner of Laura. It looked super cute, so I figured that I’d give it a go!
The Mean Girl | A Book You Can’t Help But Rant About
I’ve got a fair amount of books that I’d put in this category, but I’ll go with Samantha Young’s Smokeless Fire. Lord…this book is practically screaming in agony for an editor’s pen…
The Bro | Your Favorite Sidekick
Without question, Doop from Peter Milligan and Mike Allred’sX-Statix. He’s just…floating about wherever the team goes, filming everything, knowing everything, and just being straight-up relatable, sometimes, with that tired face of his. I mean, he plays a hilariously big role later on, but I guess you could call him a sidekick.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with X-Statix, here’s Doop himself…
LEGEND.
The Dumb Jock | A Book Whose Cover Is Better Than Its Story
I’ll have to go with Laura Weymouth’s The Light Between Worlds. The cover is stunning and so well designed, but the story was just so…unbearably…boring…
The Loner | A Standalone You Love
Jessica Khoury’s sci-fi retelling of the tale of Anastasia, Last of Her Name, blew me out of the water with its lush writing and worldbuilding. Maybe I should read it again sometime.
The Overachiever | A Series That Should’ve Ended After Book 1
As much as I love Rainbow Rowell’s Carry On, I don’t know if Wayward Son was really necessary, as much as I hate to admit it. It just lacked that emotional punch that defined book 1, and now a third book is confirmed…dunno how to feel about that…
The Class Clown | A Book That Makes You Laugh
Without a doubt, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s Good Omens. That book made me laugh like no other book I’d read before.
The Outcast | A Unique Fictional World You’d Want To Visit
As mediocre as much of the book was, I must say, I’d definitely like to visit the Martian Exovet Cloister in Christian Schoon’s Zenn Scarlett. Certainly wouldn’t have any dull days while caring for weird alien critters.
The Nerd | An Author With the Best Writing
Neal Shusterman, without question. Not only is he incredibly clever in every little detail he creates, the writing is all at once heartrending and witty, beautiful and terrifying.
The Prom Queen | An Over-Hyped Book
I’ll say it once, and I’ll say it again…Red Queen. [whips out megaphone] IT’S JUST A SLOPPY LITTLE BALL OF OVERUSED TROPES, PEOPLE, NOTHING TO SEE HERE…
I promise that I didn’t choose this one because both it and the prompt have the word “queen” in them…no pun intended, I swear…[breaks into a nervous sweat]
The Drama Kids | A Protagonist Who Is Melodramatic
It’s been a while since I’ve read Sarah Rees Brennan’sIn Other Lands, but one of my distinct memories of why I DNF’d it was because of how whiny and entitled I found Elliot to be.
The Teacher’s Pet | Favorite Animal Sidekick
Again, I’m turning to the world of Marvel–specifically the world of mutants–because Lockheed is an absolute show-stealer who I must shower with love and appreciation.
Here’s Our Boy™, shown with Kitty Pryde.
The Hipsters | A Book You Love That Isn’t In Your Comfort Zone
I’m not an avid fan of neither novels in verse, nor historical fiction. Kip Wilson’s White Rosehappens to be both, and I adored its poignant and tragic story.
Aaaand that just about wraps it up! I had so much fun doing this tag!
Today’s song:
I forgot about this song for years, and I just remembered its existence a few days ago. And what can I say except…[loud sobbing]
Have a lovely rest of your day, and take care of yourselves!
I came across this tag on the wonderful Megabunny Reads, and I thought it would be fun to participate. Here goes nothin’…
HOW MANY BOOKS IS TOO MANY IN A SERIES?
I’m notorious for starting series and never finishing them, but I feel like the limit for me would be once it passes the double-digit mark. Unless they’re spin-offs, I’m not sure how any series could possible perpetuate a story for so long without making it needless.
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT CLIFFHANGERS?
If done well, they’re an excellent way to keep the reader hooked. If poorly executed, I sometimes find that they can be a pathetic excuse for a rushed ending. But most of the time, I find them good, but painfully so.
HARDBACK OR PAPERBACK?
Eh…I don’t really discriminate. Hardback is more expensive, but I feel like there’s an equally likely chance for them to get damaged, so either one works for me.
Probably The Witch of Blackbird Pond. We had to read in in 6th grade, and I despised it with every cell of my being. So dry and boring.
LOVE TRIANGLE…YES OR NO?
I mean…no. I can recall many times where they’ve worked out, but most of the time, they definitely bug me.
THE MOST RECENT BOOK THAT YOU COULDN’T FINISH?
I hate to say it, but Half Badby Sally Green. After adoring her Smoke Thieves series, I was so disappointed at how little plot there was. But hey, debut novel. Everybody makes mistakes.
My school’s book club meeting for this month was yesterday, so I certainly threw out a boatload of recommendations. I think the most prominent one that hadn’t previously surfaced was Alexander Freed’s novelization of Rogue One.
OLDEST BOOK THAT YOU’VE READ?
I think that Frankenstein would take that title as well.
NEWEST BOOK THAT YOU’VE READ?
Hmm…I think it might be Marissa Meyer’s Supernova. That one was just published last November.
FAVORITE AUTHOR?
I don’t think I can pick just one, but Mary Shelley, Jay Kristoff, Amie Kaufman, Tony DiTerlizzi, Neal Shusterman, Ray Bradbury, Sarah Maria Griffin…the list goes on.
BUYING BOOKS OR BORROWING THEM?
I practically live at my local library, and I borrow books nearly every week; that being said, I don’t prefer it to buying. So, again, I’m indecisive.
A BOOK YOU DISLIKE BUT EVERYONE ELSE LIKES?
Red Queen. I’m still so baffled as to why it’s got such a huge fandom. It’s pretty much just ripping off every YA trope and rolling them into a sloppy, disgusting ball…
BOOKMARKS OR DOG-EARS?
Bookmarks, no question. Dog-earing is blasphemy, and you cannot change my mind.
I almost always read while listening to music! I sometimes change the song if it doesn’t fit the mood of the book, but you can almost always see me with my headphones on while I’m reading.
MULTIPLE POVs OR ONE POV?
I can go either way. One POV eliminates confusion, and with multiple, you can get several perspectives, as well as the possibility of dramatic irony. Either works for me.
DO YOU READ A BOOK IN ONE SITTING OR OVER MULTIPLE DAYS ON AVERAGE?
Multiple days, depending on how long the book is. It’s rare that I finish a book in one sitting.
I tag anyone who’d like to join in!
Today’s song:
(I’ve been on a big Phoebe Bridgers kick lately…)
That just about wraps up this post! Have a great rest of your day, and keep on reading!
A Little Haze Book Blog recently posted this tag, and though I wasn’t specifically tagged, they encouraged their followers to do this tag if they wanted to. I thought it’d be a fun tag, so here we go!
What is your current read, your last read, and the book you’ll read next?
I’m currently reading Jay Kristoff’s DEV1AT3, which I’m IMMENSELY enjoying! (For my review of book one, click here.)
I finished reading Rainbow Rowell’s Wayward Son a few days ago. (My review for that is here!)
I’m not sure what I’ll read next, but I have a few books on hold at the library that I’ll probably pick up on Friday. 😉
What book did everyone like, but you hated?
I’ve probably got a few examples up my sleeve, but I absolutely despised (and DNF’d) Victoria Aveyard’s Red Queen. UGH. Everybody’s comparing it to Shatter Me and X-Men, but…just another tropey, unoriginal, and poorly written YA dystopian novel trying to be the next Hunger Games. I wish I could un-read that one.
What book do you keep telling yourself you’ll read, but you probably won’t?
Hmm…probably One of Us is Lyingby Karen M. McMannus. Everyone’s been pestering me to read it, and maybe I will someday, but…well…everybody and their sibling has it on hold at the library, and I’m not much of a mystery person anyway.
What book are you saving for retirement?
Assuming this planet doesn’t go up in flames before I’m of retiring age (aHEM…)…
You know? Maybe I’ll just get more into Tennyson’s poetry. I already have a little collection of his, but I feel like that kind of atmospheric, lyrical poetry is ideal for sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch as the sun sets.
Last page: read it first, or wait until the end?
Wait until the end, most definitely. Of course, I accidentally read part of the last page more often than not, because I like to figure out how long the book is…oops.
Which book character would you switch places with?
Maybe Alina from Leigh Bardugo’s Grisha trilogy.Grisha magic certainly has its perks.
Do you have a book that reminds you of something specific in your life? (Place, time, person)
Mary Shelley’s Frankensteinalways makes me think of the late September-October period of my freshman year of high school. Sitting in English class, snuggled up under a cozy blanket, fog, seeing the showing of the National Theatre adaptation of Frankenstein at the movie theater…ah…
Name a book that you acquired in an interesting way.
The most *interesting* one I can think of is my copy of Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game. I got it from my school library; they had taken out some books that weren’t circulating much anymore, and I had heard some good things about it, so I took it home.
Have you ever given a book away for a special reason to a special person?
…not that I can think of…
Which book has been with you most places?
Anything from the Search for WondLatrilogy. They were my favorite books for a while (and I still consider them incredible novels), and so they’ve probably been taken to at least three other states besides my own.
Any “required reading” you hated in elementary school that wasn’t so bad two years later?
I enjoyed *most* of the books I read around that time, but I do remember feeling ambivalent about Orvis. I haven’t re-read it since, but I’ve been meaning to for a little while.
Used or brand new?
I prefer brand-new, but I could go for used, depending on the condition.
Have you ever read a Dan Brown book?
Nope.
Come to think of it, the name doesn’t even ring a bell.
Have you seen a movie that you liked better than the book?
The ones that stand out most to me are Fantastic Mr. Fox and the How to Train Your Dragon movies.
Have you ever read a book that’s made you hungry? (Cookbooks included)
I know I’ve experienced the feeling, but I can’t think of anything off the top of my head. Sorry…
Who is the person whose book advice you’ll always take?
Without question, my mom. I wouldn’t have gotten into Rainbow Rowell without her, so I’ll always be in her debt after that. 😉
Is there a book out of your comfort zone (outside of your usual reading genre) that you ended up loving?
I’d have to say All Out of Prettyby Ingrid Palmer. We’re reading it for my book club this month, and though I was a little hesistant about it, I found it to be an incredibly moving and powerful novel. But be warned–it’s a rough ride in every sense of the phrase.
The Bookish Mutant 