Book Tag: I Dare You

I was tagged by Ngọc @ Read with Ngọc to do this book tag. And I’ve been procrastinating all day, so I thought, why not procrastinate a little further and do it right now. So, because I have zero impulse control, that’s exactly what I’ve done!

What book has been on your shelf the longest?

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Oh man, currently, it’s probably this one called Shakespeare’s Secret, which I read when I was probably 11 or 12 and haven’t got rid of because it’s actually a pretty damn good book (that I remember). The other possibility is The Armourer’s House or The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff. Any other books I read when I was young I probably got rid of. My mum still has a load of picture books she used to read to me and my sister though.

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

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I have so many current reads where do I even start. The ones I’m focusing on right now are The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, A Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics, Rogue Nights, The Heart Forger and Six Goodbyes We Never Said.

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My last read was Floating, Brilliant, Gone, a poetry collection by Franny Choi.

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I don’t tend to plan what to read next, because I’m much more a mood-reader than a planner (as you can probably tell by my rate of failure at TBR lists), but I will be reading Patsy, Call Him Mine and A Spark of White Fire soon.

What book did everyone like, but you hated?

The first one I can think of is Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant. It has a 4.18 average rating among my Goodreads friends but I just hated the writing. Really early on, in chapter 3 or something, there was this exchange: “Baby, if it’s not an answer, if it’s not the piece you’ve been looking for, don’t let it break you.” “It’s okay, Mom,” said Tory […]”I’m already broken.” And I literally could not take it seriously from that point on. Also there was some highly bullshit science going on (don’t quite remember what but it was enough for me to note in my review) and I can’t stand bullshit science. Ultimately, the only reason I finished this book was because I was stuck on an island with only the books I had brought along with me.

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

So many. So many. Mostly it’s actually books someone else tells me to read that I keep reminding myself “you promised to read this” and then never getting to them. So like, Emma Mills’ or Mhairi McFarlane’s books, or The Weight of the Stars by K. Ancrum.

What book are you saving for retirement?

Bold of you to assume I would plan that far in advance.

Last page: read it first, or wait ’til the end?

If I’m wondering whether to get a book, particularly one where I’m like, okay is this gonna be endgame, I’ll read the last page or so. I also, oddly, do that to check if I like the writing style. But on the whole I try not to read the end first. Doesn’t always work.

Acknowledgement: waste of paper and ink, or interesting aside?

Interesting, and important because a lot of people go into a book as well as the author, but I hardly ever read them.

Which book character would you switch places with?

Probably someone in a romance who has a proper adult job and everything going for her because couldn’t we all use that right now. Also, I’m a coward, I don’t want to be in some kind of fantasy/sci-fi/dystopia with a war going on thank you! Equally, a world where global warming isn’t an issue. That’d be nice.

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

Two books! The Ordinary Princess and The Lioness and Her Knight. I used to borrow these about once a week from the library because I loved them so much when I was 9 or 10. My mum would be like “not these ones again“, but they never got old. And now I really want to reread them to see whether they stand the test.

Name a book that you acquired in an interesting way.

I’m not sure I have it any more, but Mal Peet’s The Penalty I got from a family friend who is an English teacher, so she used to get advanced reader’s copies and let me pick some to read sometimes. But honestly, that’s about as interesting as it gets.

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

Nope. The only reason I give away books is if I didn’t enjoy them or aren’t going to reread them ever. And then it just goes to a charity shop.

Which book has been with you most places?

Honestly, The Priory of the Orange Tree, right now at least. I’ve taken it home, to uni, to Cornwall, and at this rate I’ll take it on my summer holiday too.

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

No, because if I hated it I never picked it up again. I mean, I might some day be tempted to pick up Réquiem por un campesino español again but I didn’t hate that so much as just feel kind of meh about it. One I really hated was The Great Gatsby, and I read that about 10 times at GCSE, so no, I’m never reading that again.

Used or brand new?

Either. Depends on access/cost generally.

Have you ever read a Dan Brown book?

Me and my mum have this rule that if it’s compared to Dan Brown, or Dan Brown liked it, we don’t touch it, so no.

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

No, I tend to prefer the book to the film. Because there’s only so much you can fit in a film, and you get really into the characters and their minds in a book.

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

I’m always hungry.

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

Emma, Michelle, Anna and Shri. Because they have pretty similar tastes to me.

Is there a book out of your comfort zone (e.g., outside your usual reading genre) that you ended up loving?

I will genuinely read basically anything, but up until a few years ago I didn’t read a lot of historical romance books. So I guess the first of those counts as one outside my comfort zone that I loved. I think it might have been The Duchess War by Courtney Milan. Now she’s one of my favourite authors ever, so look how far we’ve come!

And that’s it!

I’m going to tag Anna @ readingpeaches, Laura @ thebookcorps, Sarah, Caitlin, and Laura @ littlepiecesofbooks.

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