book tag – inkyspells

TAG | The Reader Confessions Tag

06/10/2016

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I was tagged to do this (quite a while ago!) by Mystery Date With A Book! Thank you so much for tagging me! 🙂

HAVE YOU EVER DAMAGED A BOOK?

Never intentionally, but my books do tend to get damaged as time goes by. I do annotate books, and I have dog-eared pages in the past. I do try to keep my hardback books looking nice though, if only because they cost so much more! Probably my most damaged book is my first copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, but I’ve owned that copy since I was about seven years old. You can see how bad it is from this picture:

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There’s also my copy of The Stand, but that was my dad’s and is probably over 20 years old!

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To be honest, I do kind of like the look of a well-read, battered paperback!

HAVE YOU EVER DAMAGED A BORROWED BOOK?

I don’t usually borrow books but, no, I never have. As much as I don’t mind if I damage my books, I know I’d be pretty mad if I lent it to someone and they damaged it, so I’m very careful if I do borrow books.

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE YOU TO READ A BOOK?

It depends, really. If I’m taking notes, then it takes me a little longer. If I’m reading for fun, I tend to read quite fast. It also depends on whether I’m into the book or not!

BOOKS THAT YOU HAVEN’T FINISHED?

There’s definitely plenty of assigned books that I’ve just set aside. The most recent of these is The Sea, the Sea by Iris Murdoch. I also picked up Red Rising by Pierce Brown a couple of years ago and couldn’t get into it so I put it down. I know a lot of people love that book though, so I do definitely want to try reading it again!

HYPED/POPULAR BOOKS YOU DIDN’T LIKE?

Probably Sarah J. Maas’ books. I liked the first couple of books in the Throne of Glass series well enough, but I didn’t enjoy Queen of Shadows at all. I’ve been reading reviews of Empire of Storms in order to decide whether I want to the series or not but it looks like it contains a lot of the stuff that I really didn’t like about Queen of Shadows, so I’m probably going to drop the series! Her books are so hyped though, so I find that I’m always a little disappointed even when I do enjoy her books.

IS THERE A BOOK YOU WOULDN’T TELL ANYONE YOU’RE READING?

Not really, no. Although I didn’t tell anyone I was reading Captive Prince when I first started it, but I completely love that series, so I have no idea why. I guess people get a bit embarrassed about reading romance or erotica so that might have been part of it, but to be honest, I’m mostly quite open about what I read.

HOW MANY BOOKS DO YOU OWN?

Uh.

Probably around 400? Maybe more? I honestly have no idea. I don’t have bookshelves so my books are just sort of…everywhere. I dread to think how many I actually own!

ARE YOU A FAST READER OR A SLOW ONE?

Definitely fast! I only read slowly if I can’t really get into a book.

DO YOU LIKE TO BUDDY READ?

I’ve never done a buddy read before! I’d love to do one though, they look like so much fun!

DO YOU READ BETTER IN YOUR HEAD, OR OUT LOUD?

In my head, definitely. I do like to occasionally read poetry aloud, however. I think a lecturer at university recommended reading poetry aloud, so I just took that advice on board.

IF YOU WERE ONLY ALLOWED TO OWN ONE BOOK, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

Does my Kindle count? 😉

This question is so evil! I honestly have no idea. Part of me says The Book Thief because it’s very dear to me, and I’ve reread it so many times. I couldn’t just pick one Harry Potter book, so they’re out of the question. I think I’ll say Les Miserables? I’ve seen the musical twice, but I haven’t finished the book, so at least I’d be reading something new!

So those are the questions! I’m doing my usual and leaving this as an open tag, so if you’d like to do this tag, consider yourself tagged! 🙂

This is a scheduled post as I’m currently away on holiday! I might not be able to respond to comments until I’m back, but I’ll probably be around on Twitter and Instagram 🙂

TAG | The Coffee Book Tag

25/08/2016

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I’m back with another tag! I was tagged to do this by Lauren @ Comma Hangover—thank you again! 🙂

Without further ado, let’s get into the questions!

Continue reading “TAG | The Coffee Book Tag”

TAG | The Book Sacrifice Tag

15/08/2016

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I was tagged to do this (forever ago!) by Louise @ geniereads! The tag was originally created by Ariel Bissett on YouTube. In this tag, I have to sacrifice some of my least favourite books. If I mention one of your favourite books here, I’m really sorry, and it’s not my intention to bash anyone’s faves, these are just my opinions.

Let’s get to it!

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Situation: You’re in a store when the zombie apocalypse hits. The military informs everyone that over-hyped books are the zombies only weakness. What book that everyone else says is amazing but you disliked do you start chucking at the zombies?

16143347 We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. I read this back when it first came out, and there was so much hype that I couldn’t not pick it up. I didn’t dislike this book, I thought it was just okay. Because of how people were talking about it (and being encouraged to lie about the plot itself as part of its marketing campaign) I knew there was going to be a huge twist, so I read the book with this anticipation, so when the twist actually came I wasn’t as shocked by it. I’d actually kind of guessed it already. I did actually enjoy the writing, I just think I ended up expecting more because of how highly people were speaking of it.

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Situation: Torrential downpour! What sequel are you willing to use as an umbrella to protect yourself?

17227209 Guardian by Alex London. This book is the sequel to Proxy, which I did really enjoy. After reading Guardian, however, I found myself wishing that these two books had just been one longish book. I found that this book tried to fit in way too much, and that in hindsight, not a lot happened in Proxy to set up any of the stuff that happened in its sequel. It might just be that I read them too far apart, but while I enjoyed it, I just became very aware of how it could have been better. I also found that this book ended really abruptly, so it didn’t answer some of the questions I had. It’s not bad, it was just a bit of a disappointment.

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Situation: You’re in English class and your professor raves about a Classic that “transcends time”. If given the opportunity to travel back in time, which Classic would you try to stop from ever publishing?

762821 A Sentimental Journey by Laurence Sterne. This book is literally about a man who travels around France and cries at things. It was written in 1768, and is a novel of sensibility, which basically means that it’s very, very, very heavy on the emotion, and light on everything else. From what I remember, it’s written in a style that either is, or is close to, stream of consciousness, so it was really hard to get through, and wasn’t rewarding in any way. The book is less than 150 pages and it took me an absolute age to get through.

least fave

Situation: apparently global warming = suddenly frozen wasteland. Your only hope of survival for warmth is to burn a book. Which book will you not regret lighting?

13536858 Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James. Honestly, I wish I had a better or more original answer for this, but I think we can all agree that this is probably the worst book that I’ve ever read. Aside from all the really awful things about it, it’s just boring. Literally nothing happens for so much of this book. I honestly couldn’t believe that it was over 500 pages long! I had to read that stupid contract he wants her to sign twice! So I mean, if we’re talking about setting books on fire to survive, this provides plenty of fuel, so at least there’s that.

And that’s the tag! This was really fun, and it’s interesting to talk about books that I don’t like instead of books that I do like. I’m not tagging anyone again, because I’ve been so out of the loop lately that I have no idea who’s already been tagged! So if you want to do the tag, then please feel free! 🙂

TAG | Harry Potter Spells Tag

02/08/2016

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I’m finally getting around to working through my backlog of tags! I thought that, given the release of Cursed Child, it would be apt to do a Harry Potter themed tag. I was tagged to do this by Lauren @ Comma Hangover! You should go check her out if you’re not following her already 🙂

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A childhood book connected to good memories.

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Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling. Okay, I know that it’s cliche to pick a Harry Potter book, but I do have very fond memories of reading this book particularly. I used to make forts in the dining room in the house I grew up in, comprised of the cupboard under the stairs, the table, and a clotheshorse. I used to sit in the fort and read this, or read it to my brother. I actually wrote a blog post about how into Harry Potter I was when I was a kid. I’m 22 and people still call me and my friends the Harry Potter Gang…..

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A book that took you by surprise

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Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon. I had to read this for my Victorian Novel class back in my second year of university, and I hadn’t really heard of it so I wasn’t expecting very much from it. I ended up loving this. It’s a really good mystery, and I really didn’t anticipate some of the turns it took. Usually it takes me a bit longer to get through classic novels, but I think I read this in about two sittings.

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The last book you read.

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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany & Jack Thorne. I mean. Do I really need to say anything about this? I read this in its entirety on the day it came out. Hopefully I should have a review/discussion post up about this either this week or next week!

alohamora A book that introduced you to a genre you hadn’t considered before.

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Saga by Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples. Before reading this, I’d never really been into comics. Which is odd really, because I used to be really into manga. Well. I was really into Naruto. But I’d always considered comics to be sort of hard to access? I had no idea where to start, especially with superhero comics, so when I heard about this I decided to pick it up. I’m so, so glad I did. I love this series, and it’s really pushed me to get into comics more generally.

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A funny book you’ve read.

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Sofia Khan is Not Obliged by Ayisha Malik. I actually don’t read too many specifically funny books? But this was the last book that really made me laugh!

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A book you think everyone should know about.

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Asking For It by Louise O’Neill. This book is definitely well-known, but it’s definitely one I think everyone should read. Asking For It is an incredibly harrowing book about rape and rape culture. I talk more about it in my review, which you can read here if you want to know more about it.

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A book or spoiler you would like to forget having read.

I’m going with spoiler for this one, because unbelievably I managed to spoil myself for the Red Wedding before I read A Storm of Swords. I have no idea how I managed it, but I very much regret that I somehow managed to do it!

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A book you had to read for school.

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The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I’m picking this because I was actually assigned to read it twice, once at A Level and again in my first year at university. When I read it at A Level I liked it fine, but I really liked it when I read it again for university. It’s one of two “classics” that I’ve ever reread (the second being Dracula which I was also assigned at both A Level and university, and also wrote my undergraduate dissertation on).

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A book that was painful to read.

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Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. This book…is so boring. It’s so boring. I had to read this in my first year at university, so maybe I just wasn’t “ready” for it but oh my god. I actually hold so much resentment for this book because I was a goody two shoes and bought the expensive Norton Critical Edition because the reading list said we had to get this version and I was so pumped to finally read such a classic book. I felt so betrayed. And now I’m loath to get rid of it because I spent so much money on this stupid edition!

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A book that could kill (interpret as you will).

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The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks. This is probably one of the most disturbing books I’ve read, and I’m going through it at the moment annotating it so I can write about it. Frank, the protagonist, is sixteen and pretty much a psychopath. I mean:

Two years after I killed Blyth I murdered my young brother Paul, for quite different and more fundamental reasons than I’d disposed of Blyth, and then a year after that I did for my young cousin Esmerelda, more or less on a whim.

That’s my score to date. Three. I haven’t killed anybody for years, and I don’t intend to ever again.

It was just a stage I was going through.

It’s definitely not a book for everyone, but I’d definitely recommend it if you’re into very dark fiction.

So that’s that! This was a really cool tag! I’m not tagging anyone specifically for this, because I have no idea who has and hasn’t done it, but if you’d like to do the tag, then consider yourself tagged 🙂

TAG | The Diverse Books Tag

25/06/2016

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This tag was created by Naz @ Read Diverse Books and I was tagged by Izzi @ Ravenclaw Book Club! I absolutely love the idea for this tag; in recent years I’ve tried to make more of an effort to seek out and read books from authors who aren’t white, or straight, as it’s too easy to fall into the habit.

Here’s Naz’s description of the tag:

The Diverse Books Tag is a bit like a scavenger hunt. I will task you to find a book that fits a specific criteria and you will have to show us a book you have read or want to read.

If you can’t think of a book that fits the specific category, then I encourage you to go look for one. A quick Google search will provide you with many books that will fit the bill. (Also, Goodreads lists are your friends.) Find one you are genuinely interested in reading and move on to the next category.

Everyone can do this tag, even people who don’t own or haven’t read any books that fit the descriptions below. So there’s no excuse! The purpose of the tag is to promote the kinds of books that may not get a lot of attention in the book blogging community.

So let’s get to it!

Find a book starring a lesbian character.

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The Night Watch by Sarah Waters has multiple narrators; two of the women are lesbians, and while it is not explicitly stated, the male narrator is a gay man. Many of the side characters in this book are also lesbian women. The book takes place in London throughout the 1940s, so it’s refreshing and interesting to see a book that primarily focuses on the lives of queer people during this time period. I really enjoyed this book, and it’s one that I’d highly recommend.

Find a book with a Muslim protagonist.

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Sofia Khan is Not Obliged by Ayisha Malik is a wonderful book told from the perspective of the titular character, Sofia, after she has broken up with her boyfriend/potential future husband, after he proves to be a little too close to his parents. It’s a funny and relatable book, and one that I should have a full review of very soon!

Find a book set in Latin America.

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I was surprised to find out that the only book that I actually own that’s set in Latin America is One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a book I haven’t yet read. Another book I’ve heard a lot about, but don’t own, is The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende; I’m very interested in family sagas, and I don’t read enough of them.

Find a book about a person with a disability.

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Not If I See You First by Eric Lindstrom follows Parker Grant, who is blind. I’ve heard a lot of good things about this book, and it always catches my eye in the book shop!

Find a science-fiction or fantasy book with a POC protagonist.

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Proxy by Alex London has a POC protagonist, Syd, who is also gay. Syd is a a proxy for a wealthy kid, Knox, which means that he has to take the punishment for any crimes/transgressions that Knox commits. After Knox crashes a car, killing one of his friends, Syd is sentenced to death—and then it all gets much more complicated. I really enjoyed this book when I read it, and I haven’t really seen too many people talk about it.

In relation to diverse SFF, there’s also Kaleidoscope which is a collection of YA short stories, all of which feature diverse protagonists.

Find a book set in (or about) any country in Africa.

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I’m very interested in Africa39, which is a fiction anthology featuring 39 African writers from south of the Sahara. I admittedly haven’t read many African writers, and this looks like a really good way to discover some new authors. I also really want to pick up Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, which for some reason isn’t out in the UK until January next year?

Find a book written by an Indigenous or Native author

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I know that Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko is a celebrated piece of Native American literature. And this isn’t Native American, but I have read Potiki by Patrica Grace, which is about an indigenous Maori community in New Zealand.

Find a book set in South Asia (Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, etc.)

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I really would like to finish up Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie at some point. This was assigned reading for a postcolonial literature module I did at university, and I got part of the way through it, but ended up having to put it down, as it’s a bit of a chunky book. This is a magical realism novel that follows Saleem, who was born at the precise moment of India’s independence.

Find a book with a biracial protagonist.

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I found The Chaos by Nalo Hopkinson, which is an urban fantasy book with a mixed race protagonist. As a plus, it seems this book also has LGBTQ+ themes. I hadn’t heard of Nalo Hopkinson before doing some research for this tag, but a lot of her books sound really interesting!

Find a book starring a transgender character, or about transgender issues.

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There’s been a lot of buzz about If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo lately, and it’s one I think I’ll be picking up in the near future. I’ve also heard amazing things about George by Alex Gino.

And that’s that! I know there are a fair few of these that I haven’t read, but I did go and actively seek out more books for these categories if only to expand my own knowledge (and I’ve ended up adding a fair few books to my wishlist as a result!)

I’m tagging five people today, but if you’re interested in this tag, then I definitely encourage you to do it! I tag:

Apologies if you’ve already done it/already been tagged but otherwise: have fun! And if you have any recommendations for me, based on the categories here, I’d really love to hear them 🙂

TAG | Summertime Madness Tag

14/06/2016

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I was tagged by the lovely Katherine @ Fabled Haven! Thank you for tagging me! I’m on holiday as this post is going up so I’m definitely in a summer mood right now! 🙂

Show a book with a summery cover! (sun, beach, etc.)

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The colours of Lola and the Boy Next Door remind me of a sunset, and for some reason sunsets are always associated with summer for me!

Pick one fictional place that would be the perfect destination for your summer vacation.

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I mean…this isn’t a fictional place, but Anna and the French Kiss takes place in Paris and I’d love to go to Paris.

You’re about to go on a flight to your summer vacation, but you want to read a book that lasts for the whole flight. What novella do you choose?

I actually read very fast, so I feel like a novella might not be enough for a whole flight for me — I read Eleanor and Park in its entirety on a 4 hour flight. A Court of Mist and Fury is at the top of my Holiday TBR, so I’ll probably have spent the flight getting stuck into that.

You have a case of Summertime Sadness — what happy book do you pick up to put a smile on your face?

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I’ve mentioned Stephanie Perkins’ books a lot in this post, but they’re really feel good books. Other books that always put me in a good mood are Howl’s Moving Castle and Carry On (though Carry On feels more like a winter book to me?) so either of them!

You’re sitting at the beach all alone…which fictional character would be your beach babe?

I’m going to go with Finnick Odair, because how could I not? 😉

To match your ice cream you want an icy cool sidekick! Which fictional sidekick do you pick?

They’re not sidekicks, so technically I’m cheating, but I feel like the Marauders would make very entertaining beach companions!

This was such a fun tag! I’m not sure who is and who isn’t enjoying (or enduring, I guess) summer right now, so I’m tagging anyone who wants to do it 😀

This is a scheduled post as I’m currently away on holiday! Unfortunately I may not be able to answer comments and the like until I’m back, but I’ll probably be around on Twitter and Instagram 🙂

TAG | Problematic Fave Book Tag

06/06/2016

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This tag was created by Izzi @ Ravenclaw Book Club, and I was also tagged by Izzi!

I feel like there might be some unpopular opinions in this? So, y’know, remember that they’re just my opinions, you don’t have to agree with them, I’m not saying my opinions are “right” or “better”, etc., etc., etc.

A character everyone loves that you hate.

Vague spoilers for the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas.

Aelin Galathynius, the artist formerly known as Celaena Sardothien. I don’t hate her, per se, it’s just that her entire character seemed to change between Heir of Fire and Queen of Shadows. She cast off Celaena as if she were casting off her coat, and it really didn’t work for me. I found myself growing incredibly weary of hearing about how hot and powerful she was — like, okay…but some character development would have been nice?

A character everyone hates that you love.

Guys… I really like Kylo Ren. He’s a petulant manchild, I know, but I’m so interested. I can’t wait to learn more about his character; I’m so interested in how he got involved with Snoke, and why no one in his family apparently thought to tell him about Vader before somebody else could. I also like that he’s a snarky asshole.

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A character that started out problematic but grew to be a better person.

I actually really struggled for this one because I’m not really about redemption plot lines, I’d much rather see people become increasingly awful as time passes. Also, I’m incredibly hesitant to pick this character because he doens’t really redeem himself, but Jamie Lannister? He’s very content to have his world confined to just Cersei when the books start out, and he’s incredibly cocky and self-involved. As the series develops (and, really, when he loses his hand) he starts becoming a different person, something that’s probably best exemplified in his rescue of Brienne.

A character that started out good but became problematic.

giphy2 I’m not taking problematic to mean that I disliked them here, but rather that they’re a character who became more and more corrupt, so: Walter White! He’s my second problematic fave, but I’ll just mention him here because I love the way his character develops. I mean, his starting motivation was to provide for his family and it’s absolutely fascinating seeing that motivation completely disintegrate as the series goes on. He becomes so self-involved and obsessed with power that each and every time he says “I’m doing this for my family” it becomes more and more of a lie (I mean, spoilers? But in the finale when he finally admits that he did it for himself? I was LIVING). His is probably one of my favourite character arcs of all time. It’s brilliant.

A problematic couple that you ship (doesn’t have to be canon).

I probably have quite a few, but you’ll never catch me confessing to them, so I’m stealing Izzi’s answer and going with Draco and Harry. I just think their dynamic is incredibly interesting, and I love seeing people’s interpretations of their lives/personalities post-Hogwarts.

A couple everyone ships that you find problematic (doesn’t have to be canon).

Again, spoilers for the Throne of Glass series.

Aelin and Rowan!!! He’s awful to her in Heir of Fire, and suddenly they’re all over each other in Queen of Shadows? I don’t get it! There’s been no relationship development for them, and I’m just not feeling it. Is it just because they’re hot? Like, I’m supposed to ship them because they’re the most ~aesthetically pleasing~ together? I can’t take it seriously. All that Aelin wandering around in her skimpy nightwear and Rowan being consumed with lust or whatever — isn’t he supposed to be a hundred years old? The man needs to pull himself together.

A problematic trope that you love.

I love whiny/broody men. The whole “my tragic backstory has made me a total dick” thing? I’m here for it. I am 100% here for the Sasuke Uchihas of the fictional worlds, I don’t care. It’s the worst and I don’t care.

A book/movie/TV show that is problematic but you love anyway.

Probably Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt? I know there are issues with it, and some of the jokes/plot lines make me uneasy, but mostly I watch this show for Titus.

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A book/movie/TV show that you hate because it’s problematic.

I don’t think there’s one I feel particularly passionate about? Usually I’m pretty good at knowing when a something’s going to contain something that I’ll end up getting mad about. I mean, I can’t really get behind Fifty Shades. And I’m petty as hell, so I’m still kind of mad that Game of Thrones cut out Arianne Martell’s character, and I’ve only been half watching it since then really, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I hate it? I don’t really have an answer to this one haha!

Your problematic fave.

giphy Isn’t Amy Dunne the ultimate problematic fave? The woman’s a psychopath, but I loved her character. She’s so, so interesting. She’s absolutely ruthless and so, aggressively intelligent. I actually found myself surprised at how far back into her own past her manipulations reached. Her whole character is what kept me reading this book. I also really enjoyed the film adaptation; Rosamund Pike got Amy absolutely spot on, and watching the film actually made me like the book more!

I’ve already mentioned Walter White, but I figure Saul Goodman should get a mention too. I’m very enamored by Better Call Saul. It’s really interesting watching his transition from Jimmy McGill to Saul Goodman, and it’s so painful watching it when you know exactly what’s going to happen. Everything Jimmy/Saul does comes from a good place, but his methods are so very, very wrong.

I’m going to tag:

And anyone else who wants to do it! This was such a great tag, so I hope you guys have as much fun with it as I did! 🙂

TAG | NY Times By the Book Tag

28/05/2016

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I was tagged by the wonderful Katherine @ Fabled Haven! If you’re not already following her, you should definitely check her out! I loved watching these videos when the tag was going around BookTube, so I’m very excited to be doing it.

What book is on your nightstand right now?

In my case, my “nightstand” is my desk/desk chair. So discounting the books that I keep on my desk anyway, I have the books that I’m currently reading—which I actually did a blog post on. For the most part those books are the same, though I did end up DNF’ing The Sea, the Sea because I really wasn’t feeling it. The book that I’m actively reading at the moment is The Girl Who Couldn’t Read by John Harding.

I also have a stack of potential books for my dissertation, some read, some unread, which consists of these books:

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If you can guess what my dissertation’s going to be about, I’d be very impressed haha.

What was the last truly great book you read?

18813642 I’m going with Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay, because to me a “great” book is one that makes you think, or sticks with you, and that was the case for me here. Bad Feminist is a collection of essays covering all sorts of topics, but notably feminism and race. I particularly liked Roxane Gay’s analysis of media, such as books and television shows. It’s one that I’d recommend whether you’re new to feminism or not, because I guarantee you’ll learn something new.

For “great” in terms of enjoyment, then definitely the Captive Prince series by C.S. Pacat (you can read my full review here) and I really liked The Winner’s Kiss, which is the conclusion to the Winner’s Trilogy by Marie Rutkoski.

If you could meet any writer, dead or alive, who would it be? And what would you want to know?

I actually struggle with questions like this because I don’t think there’s anyone I’d like to meet? Or rather, I know I’d feel awkward or nervous and would probably bumble my way through the whole thing. But if I had to choose, I’d probably go with Stephen King, just because he’s the first author whose work I really loved.

What books might we be surprised to find on your shelf?

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I’m quite an eclectic reader, but possibly Fifty Shades of Grey? I had no intention of reading it, but it was assigned reading, so that’s the only reason why I own it. Also, I don’t think I’ve established my love of “trashy” vampire fiction, but I have the entire Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris, better known as the TV show True Blood. I actually did my undergraduate dissertation on vampires, and one of the books I wrote on was Dead to the World from this series, so I feel very fond towards it.

How do you organise your personal library?

Given my lack of bookshelves, I organise it poorly. Or as best as I can. I started to organise the stacks on top of my wardrobe by read hardbacks, unread hardbacks, read paperbacks, and unread paperbacks, but that’s kind of fallen apart as I’ve bought more books. The ones under my desk are mostly read paperbacks and/or uni books. The books on my desk are pretty hardbacks, and I keep most of my favourites on a shelf in my wardrobe, alongside books that I want to read soon. The rest of my books are under my bed.

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It’s a mess, guys. A total mess.

What book have you always meant to read and haven’t gotten around to yet?

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Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. I’m sure I’ve talked about it before, but I love the musical and I did get part of the way through the book, but ended up having to put it aside. That was a few years ago, and I still haven’t gotten around to reading it again. On the plus side, at least I know there’s still some Les Mis for me to discover?

Disappointing, overrated, just not good: what book did you feel you were supposed to like but didn’t?

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Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas.

(…please don’t hate me)

I just found the writing/characterisation to be inconsistent between Heir of Fire and this book. To me it felt almost as if she was trying to merge elements of A Court of Thorns and Roses with this series (i.e. the heavy focus on romance) and it didn’t work for me.

What stories are you drawn to? Any you steer clear of?

I’ll read pretty much anything, but I guess I typically go for fantasy/YA fantasy. I get on pretty well with YA books in general. I also really enjoy horror books, and dystopian or post-apocalyptic fiction. I guess I don’t actively pursue crime fiction, or historical fiction, though I’ve enjoyed both in the past, so it’s not like I’d never read either.

If you could require the president Prime Minister to read one book, what would it be?

Ah, I don’t imagine I’d give him anything to attempt to change his views. So probably something boring, or difficult to read and boring, the kind of book that people feel they should like and don’t, but are usually too embarrassed to admit otherwise. I’d get some petty enjoyment out of that, I suppose.

What do you plan to read next?

My intention is to get through as many of my possible dissertation books as I can before the 9th of June (when I have to send my supervisor a plan). So basically, it’s all of the books pictured at the start, but I think the next one I’ll be picking up is We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson.

TAG | Around the World in YA

20/05/2016

around the world

This tag was created by Becca @ Becca and Books, and I was tagged by the lovely Izzi @ Ravenclaw Book Club.

In this tag, I’ll be naming a few countries, and telling you about a book that takes place in that country (I did end up completely ignoring the YA part!). I decided to choose five countries.

ZIMBABWE

The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing.

I read this for my Doris Lessing module last year. The Grass is Singing is Lessing’s first novel, and takes place in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in the 1940s. The novel deals with Rhodesian white culture—primarily its racism, exploring and critiquing it through the relationship between Mary and her servant Moses.

IRELAND

25594874 Asking For It by Louise O’Neill.

This book takes place in the fictional town of Ballinatoom, Ireland, which I believe is supposed to be situated near Cork. The novel deals with rape culture, so it is, unfortunately, applicable to any culture, but there are mentions of things specific to Ireland. For instance, there’s a brief mention of how abortion is illegal in Ireland, and ultimately I think the setting is important to the story, though I haven’t seen it talked about too much.

I did a full review of this novel, and you can read it here.

JAPAN

863846 Out by Natsuo Kirino

Out takes place in Tokyo, and is a gritty horror/thriller, that follows a group of women who work in a bento box factory as one of them murders her husband and enlists the help of her co-workers in covering up the crime. Some of the book deals with Japan’s yakuza, but the best part about the book is how it details women’s position in Japanese society (something I knew very little about), and more generally, how women are driven to violent crime.

ENGLAND

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Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf.

Initially I wanted to avoid putting England on here, but I don’t think I’ve ever read a book with a more evocative setting than Mrs Dalloway. The book takes place over the course of one day in London, starting with Mrs Dalloway as she is sorting out the last details of her party. There’s a sense of drifting through London, moving from character to character as you go. While Woolf’s writing can be challenging, it’s beautiful, and London is wonderfully captured in the text.

MOROCCO

13600168 Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor.

This book primarily takes place in two places, Prague and Marrakesh. I chose Morroco for this because this was by far my favourite part of the book, and because much of the second book, Days of Blood and Starlight, also takes place in Morroco. This was another book where the setting was very evocative, and I actually ended up reading it not long after I visited Marrakesh myself, so there was a feeling of revisiting the city while I was reading.

And there you have it! I feel like I should have put way more countries on this list, but I wanted to choose books that I’d actually read. Also, even if I included some of the books I had read, it’d end up being very Eurocentric, which is bad. So if you do have any recommendations for books with a non-Western setting, I’d love to hear them! I’m very keen to diversify my reading.

I tag:

As always, if you don’t want to do the tag, or you’ve done it before, that’s totally fine! 🙂

TAG | 3 DAYS, 3 QUOTES | DAY THREE

12/05/2016

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The Rules:

Thank the person who nominated you.
Post a quote for three consecutive days
~~Nominate three new bloggers each day.~~

It’s the last day! And I’ve sort of cheated for this one. It’s not one single line of text, like I chose for the other two days, but an entire passage. I chose a very small part of Amy Dunne’s Cool Girl speech from Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.

Obviously, Amy Dunne isn’t particularly kind or fair to other women, but, she’s a literal psychopath, so that’s to be expected. I chose this because it’s nice when a book has beautiful writing, but it’s also nice when a book tells you some potentially uncomfortable home truths. I know this whole passage resonated with a lot of people when they read it, and it certainly stuck with me.

And that’s the last day! I’m not going to tag anyone today because I think a lot of people have done this tag now. This was really fun, so thanks again to NotablePad for tagging me!