The Last 10 Books Tag

I saw this tag earlier this week on Kristin Kraves Books, and I like that it’s not organized the way tags often are. I’m going to do my best to really tell you about the LAST, and not just my favorite that you’re probably tired of hearing about.

Last Book I Gave Up On

I actually rarely give up on books. I can probably count the number of books I’ve DNFed on two hands, and they’re probably all classics. In 2019 I stopped halfway through The Wind in the Willows, not because it was terrible, just because I didn’t care enough about it to keep reading and there were other things I was more interested in. I see why it was charming for the time it was written in, but I didn’t feel particularly like being nostalgic for a time period that was only good for the landed gentry…

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The 2020 Book Tag

Well, 2020 is over (thank God), but on Tuesday I was tagged by Hundreds and Thousands of Books, and I feel like the year isn’t so far gone that I can’t still participate. It’s been ages since I’ve done a tag. 🙂

Rules:

• Link back to the original creator, Phoenix @Books With Wings
• Thank the person who tagged you
• Answer all the questions 
• Tag at least 4 people

Using only books read in 2020. Okay, GO!

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Part 1: Beginning of the Year

A book you were really excited for
I had been waiting a year and a half for Hilary Mantel’s conclusion to her beloved Thomas Cromwell trilogy, The Mirror and the Light. It’s one of the the only books I pre-ordered before June. Fortunately, it was *just* as amazing as I hoped it would be, and ended up being my favorite book of the year. I laughed, I cried, I was so absorbed.

The Anonymous Bookaholics Tag

I like this tag because it’s a little different, asking questions about my bookish preferences rather than giving me prompts in which I will, let’s be honest, probably choose the same books I always pick. This gives me a chance to tell you all a little about me, perfect since I don’t think I’ve done anything like this in a while.

Thanks to Em at Ember Revision for tagging me. She’s relatively new around here, so take a minute to check out her blog. 🙂

1. Do you have a favorite bookshop?

No, not really. There aren’t a lot of indies around here (two, to be exact) and they aren’t anywhere near me. If I go to the book store it’s usually Barnes & Noble, mostly because my mom is always sending gift cards. I have been buying from The Dock Bookshop in Fort Worth as much as possible, but they have a very small stock that doesn’t align much with what I read (mostly YA and SF/F), so everything I get from there has to be ordered.

The Beatles Book Tag

My friend and very favorite blogger, The Orangutan Librarian, recently created The Beatles Book Tag. Little known fact, The Beatles are my all-time favorite band, and my favorite song in the whole world and all styles of music is a Beatles song. So I was so excited to get tagged and would have tagged myself if she didn’t. *smiles*

Rules:

1. Tag back to the original creator Orang-utan Librarian (me)
2. Thank whoever tagged you
3. Tag people and keep it going!

Love Me Do

A book with a character you wish would love you

It’s pretty hard to go wrong with The Orangutan Librarian’s original answer, Mr. Knightly. I would also be okay if Faramir came knocking on my door.

Classic Remarks: A Classic that Change my Life

This week Krysta and Briana at Pages Unbound are hosting the discussion: What is a classic that changed your life?

I’m going to approach this question from maybe a bit different of a perspective than was intended. This is a story I’ve shared on my blog before, but it’s been a while. This is a book that changed my life not because of the contents, but because of things in real life, if that makes sense.

2007. I was a freshman in college doing a week of marching band before the semester started. I was basically ONLY reading classic novels (and Eragon…), and I was in a situation where I had to make new friends for the first time in four years. Suffice to say I didn’t really know how. While the rest of my section went out to eat, I stayed behind in the music building and read Love in the Time of Cholera by myself. In my defense, I was jobless and paying for gas to commute so I had zero cash for tacos.

On the other side of the music building, my now-husband tells the story that he, too, was lonely. In his case he wasn’t looking for friends, but for love. He tells the story that he was praying, asking God to send him someone. (Because that’s totally how God works.) He says he was specifically hoping to find someone “smart”.

folklore Book Tag

Star at Star is All Book Up created this tag waaaay back when the folklore album first came out, and I saw her posting about it all over her Instagram but I was catching up on the tags that I was tagged in literally a year ago. So I’m only just now getting to it!

Full disclosure, I’m still not 100% sure how I feel about folklore. All of Taylor Swift’s albums sound so different, but post-rock isn’t my favorite style. Still, I said the same thing about both Reputation and Lover, so I’m sure I’ll come around. 🙂

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the 1

a book you grew out of

I don’t usually grow out of books, I’m usually capable of reading a book from my past self’s perspective, especially my kids’ books. But I definitely don’t care for Eragon and the rest of the Inheritance Cycle as much as I did in my teen years. Part of it is because the last two books were so lackluster, but also I think because I’ve discovered SO MANY great books since then. Don’t get me wrong, I still like Eragon, just not as much as I used to.

This or That Book Tag

A little over a month ago Krisha from Krisha’s Cozy Corner tagged me in the This or That Book Tag. I’ve seen plenty of variations of this tag, and I *think* participated in one before (though I couldn’t find it). But I really like the prompts in this particular version, which are more interesting than “Paperback or Harback?” and “Bookmark or Dog-Ear”. Snooze. These are much more fun!

Okay, here we go!

Read on the bed or the couch?

Honestly, I do both of these. But reading on the bed isn’t my favorite because my pillow is AWFUL and doesn’t give my back enough support. So if given the choice I’ll *usually* choose the couch. It’s only once the sun goes down and our lighting gets bad that I’ll move to the bed.

Currently Reading Book Tag

I’m *almost* caught up on the tags I was tagged in a million years ago! Whitney from Whit Reads Lit tagged me in this tag back in February. I’ve been reading a lot lately, so this should be interesting!

How many books do you usually read at once?

I actually wrote a post all about this lately, because I used to only read one book at a time, but in the last few years I’ve been intentionally opening up to the idea of reading more and more books at once. At that time I was reading 5 or 6 at any given time, but since school started back up I’m down to 4.

1. Main fiction read
2. Middle-grade book
3. An anti-racist non-fiction title
4. A chapter book I’m reading aloud to my five-year-old

Classic Remarks: Classic Work that Needs a Film/TV Adaptation

This week Krysta and Briana at Pages Unbound are hosting the discussion: What classic work should get a film/TV adaptation? It’s kind of a funny question because so many of my favorite classics have been adapted for the screen, often more than once. Great example is Pride and Prejudice which, off the top of my head, has four adaptations I love.

In fact, as I’m looking through my list, I don’t see any books that I think would make great films that haven’t had an adaptation. However, many of those adaptations are older, and I’m not a super fan of classic films. Nor am I a huge fan of the BBC Miniseries (I know, revoke my P&P fanclub card). So I have two suggestions to all of the major film studios who I know read my blog.

The first is that I would love to see The Scarlet Pimpernel get a 21st century update. Disney would do a great job, and I would love to see the team that worked on the original Pirates of the Caribbean bring one of my favorite books to life. It has everything a great blockbuster needs: romance, action, mystery, disguises, guillotines, British accents, French accents, period dress.

The Scarlet Pimpernel is a classic that, in my opinion, doesn’t get enough attention, probably because it isn’t “literary” enough. But alll of the things that cause it to not get taken as seriously by the literature world are the exact things that would make for an excellent blockbuster film. It’s the story of a band of British nobleman who form a secret society to sneak the French nobility out of the country before they can be executed. A French actress name Marguerite is blackmailed into finding the identity of their leader, the dashing Scarlet Pimpernel, but at the risk of losing her husband forever. We could all use a little more French Revolution in our theaters, so I say give the people what they want: attractive men in period dress running amok with swords and kissing lovely women!

Classic Remarks: A Recommended Classic I Loved

This week Krysta and Briana at Pages Unbound are hosting the discussion: What classic did you read – and love – because it was recommended to you? Well, the real answer is just about all of them.

Seriously. Pride and Prejudice because it was Kathleen Kelley’s favorite book in You’ve Got Mail. To Kill a Mockingbird because my sister-in-law said it was her favorite book. The Scarlet Pimpernel because my 12th grade world lit teacher read the first chapter aloud to us and I loved it. Their Eyes Were Watching God because my anthropology teacher recommended it. EVERYTHING from The Great American Read back in 2018.

In fact, I think I’ll go ahead and talk about a book from The Great American Read today. Because this is a book that I not only wouldn’t have read, but wouldn’t have even known EXISTED if it wasn’t for that PBS special. I was so inspired by listening to Noelle Santos,* owner of the small indie bookstore The Lit Bar, describe how it was the first book she saw herself in, and how it made her a reader, that I knew I just had to pick the book up. And I loved it.

*you can watch that clip here

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a coming of age story about a young daughter of immigrants living in poverty in early 20th century New York. Francie’s life is hard: her family can’t always afford food, her father is an alcoholic, her teachers abuse her, her neighborhood is dangerous. But she finds solace in books and in familial love. This book is tough and honest, but still full of the wonder of a child. Like The Catcher in the Rye, we might today consider this a “young adult” book, though certainly that descriptor did not exist when it was written in 1943.