Well, I’m a little bit behind in writing reviews (sad trombone sound), but I did have time to fill out this fun book tag!

Not sure who originally created this and I wasn’t quite officially tagged but I picked this up over at Zezee With Books, a fun book blog with lots of personality. Highly recommend checking it out!

Without further ado…

What book has been on your shelf the longest?

This is a children’s book that I received in 2nd grade from a classroom book exchange. So I’ve had it approximately….somethingsomethingI’mReallyOld years. 😀  I’ve always hung onto this book because it’s just such a lovely little book. I love the art and I love the story and it’s just a delight all around.

What is your current read, your last read, and the book you’ll read next?

 

That 7th Harry Dresden book…what a wild ride. I mean, dinosaurs! I did not expect a dinosaur!!!

What book did everyone like, but you hated?

There are very few books that I actively dislike. Usually I can find some kind of redeeming quality. That being said, I really do question why The Selection is rated so highly. I mean, I read the entire series because it was like crack, but it wasn’t a well-written book at all.

What book do you keep telling yourself you’ll read, but you probably won’t?

For a long time I thought it would be Assassin’s Quest by Robin Hobb, but I finally made myself read that one. There are a lot of books I’ve told myself I want to read but haven’t gotten around to yet, so this is a tough one. Realistically? Probably The Silmarillion. I find Tolkien’s world-building fascinating but I get so bored by his actual writing style. I’m so sorry. Do I have to turn in my Fantasy Fan card now?

What book are you saving for retirement?

I’m not really saving anything, trying to read as much as I can now because live for today! It would be really nice to retire and have more time to read one day though. 🙂

Last page: read it first or wait until the end?

Definitely wait until the end! One time, I picked up the second book in a series as soon as it came out (The Mageborn Traitor by Melanie Rawn) and was looking through the back to see how many pages it was and accidentally saw something about how my favorite character had died and so I couldn’t bring myself to read it. It’s been sitting on my shelf unread since….1997?

Acknowledgement: waste of paper and ink or interesting aside?

Oh, sometimes acknowledgements can be quite interesting! Especially if an author names other authors and you see who their friends and influences are, or who they may be in a writing group with. Or even if it’s just a lovingly written acknowledgement to someone who helped them along the way with support. Some can be quite humorous as well. Some are very straight forward and don’t mean much to us as readers, but I don’t think they’re ever a waste a all. They mean something to someone out there.

Which book character would you switch places with?

Elizabeth Bennet. Obviously. 😀

Do you have a book that reminds you of something specific in your life? (Place, time, person?)

Gosh, this book is so cheesy and some of it is a bit…questionable looking back on it. But I used to love it back in the day and it will always remind me of being on vacation at a beach town with my family and a friend because I picked it up at a book outlet while we were there. It was the first time my brother and I were old enough to just roam around without our parents and we had a great time on that trip.

Name a book that you acquired in an interesting way.

Hmm, not an exact answer but here’s one I re-acquired! I once lent my copy of Robin McKinley’s Sunshine to a friend and when I asked for it back they swore up and down that they didn’t have it. I didn’t press too much because, even after years, I pretty much knew where it was. One day my friend had a bunch of books they were going to donate to the library and I happened to be doing a book drive for NaNoWriMo so I said I’d take the boxes off of her hands. After collecting them and going through them, lo and behold, my copy of Sunshine. Reunited after 10 or so years. Never give up hope. 🙂

Have you ever given a book away for a special reason to a special person?

Sometimes I like to get signed copies of books and give them to folks that are fans of that author/series as gifts. So, I guess, yes, a few times.

Which book has been with you the most places?

This is a tough one because I always have at least one or two books with me when I go on vacation… OH! I went on a road trip with my brother once across a good chunk of the US. We visited 15 states in 9 days and I took Saladin Ahmed’s Throne of the Crescent Moon along for the ride and had a lot of fun with it. At one point I did buy another book on the trip because I’d finished that one but I can’t remember what it was.

Any “required reading” you hated in high school that wasn’t so bad two years later?

 

I don’t think I’ve ever really revisited any required reading that I didn’t like. There were things that I had to read that I absolutely fell in love with (To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee, and Kindred by Octavia Butler), but others that I just couldn’t stand (pretty much all of John Steinbeck, sorry not sorry.)

Used or brand new?

 

Have you ever read a Dan Brown book?

Yes, although to be honest I really don’t remember that much because it’s been a long time. I do remember thinking it was a lot of fun and I bought Angels & Demons but still haven’t read it yet. (That’s a reoccurring thing with me, haha.)

Have you ever seen a movie you liked more than the book?

I don’t know, I think the movie worked better for me with this one. I think I just really got tired of Harry constantly whining in the book and in the film they cut a lot of that out. A friend and I still argue constantly about this one, lol.

Have you ever read a book that’s made you hungry (cookbooks included)?

I mean, it’s all about food stuff so, yeah.

Who is the person whose book advice you’ll always take?

Honestly, if I see that someone has similar tastes to mine then I trust their recommendations. There are a lot of people who I receive book advice from! Friends in ‘the real world’ as well as many that I’ve made online. Bloggers give solid recommendations. 🙂

Is there a book out of your comfort zone that you ended up loving?

I don’t really like Magical Realism for the most part, and this book is more Lit than Fantasy, but something about it just really made me think, about all kinds of things. It’s such a strange story and I loved it for never really explaining anything to the reader. I did a review of it a while back here.

 

That’s it! I don’t really like tagging people in things and making them feel obligated, but if you feel like doing this, please share in the fun! Happy reading! 😀