Be that as it may, I saw this super-cute tag on Coffee, Classics, and Craziness a while back and felt like answering it myself, so here goes! Book titles linked to my reviews where applicable.
1. “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”: a book/series you thought you’d love but ended up disliking
I quit reading Kathy Reichs' books because they got too repetitive. But I own all twelve seasons of Bones, the TV show based on them. Go figure. (TBH, it's all David Boreanaz' fault.)
2. “Red”: a book with a red cover
I have a wonderful old copy of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe that is bright red and I love it.
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| (All book photos in this post are mine from Instagram) |
3. “The Best Day”: a book that makes you feel nostalgic
I can't read The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King without remembering both the Wisconsin library where I first found it and also a bunch of Veggie Tales silly songs that my first toddler loved -- I would let him watch ten minutes of silly songs on YouTube every day, and I'd read while he watched. It was often my only chance to read at that time, and so... I clung to it, rereading favorite books in tiny chunks with Bob and Larry in the background.
4. “Love Story”: a book with forbidden love
Speak Easy, Speak Love has several love stories, and most of them are not forbidden. But the love between John, who is Italian, and Maggie, who is black, is absolutely not acceptable in the 1920s. And they're two of my favorite characters, and watching them struggle against their own fears and the prejudices of their society is just... so good. Love that book. (How could I not? It's a Much Ado About Nothing retelling!)
5. “I Knew You Were Trouble”: a bad character you can’t help but love
A lot of people seem very appalled that I love Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre, but how can I NOT love that damaged, flawed, sad, lonely man? And he's not totally bad -- he does reform and repent and change and grow.
6. “Innocent”: a book/series someone ruined for you
I'm not sure I've got anything for this. I don't know that anyone else has ever ruined a book for me. What kind of a person would do that?
Oh, some person in my life has literally wrecked my physical copies of books, that's true. But that didn't ruin the story for me, just that particular copy.
7. “Everything Has Changed”: a character who goes through extensive character development
Um, all good characters? Okay, to pick one I haven't talked about yet, Edmund Dantes in The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. He goes from a simple, uneducated sailor to a man of great learning and exquisite taste; from being consumed with the desire for revenge to an understanding of how ruinous vengeance can be.
8. “You Belong With Me”: your most-anticipated book release
Of Literature and Lattes, Katherine Reay's upcoming follow-up to The Printed Letter Bookshop.
9. “Forever and Always”: your favorite book couple
Valency Stirling and Barney Snaith from The Blue Castle by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Both of them are intelligent, quirky, introverted, quiet, secretive, wonderful people, and I love them fiercely.
10. “Come Back . . . Be Here”: the book you would be least likely to lend out
My autographed copy of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Ain't happening.
11. “Teardrops On My Guitar”: a book that made you cry
Many books make me cry. Most recently, I was finishing reading Caddie Woodlawn aloud to my kids, and I cried over the part where their dog comes back.
12. “Shake It Off”: a book you love that other people hate
Hmm. Maybe The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald? I know a lot of people aren't into that one.
13. “Stay Stay Stay”: a book you wished could go on forever
Well, I was so reluctant to leave the world of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society the first time I read it, I just flipped back to the beginning and started it all over again.
14. “All Too Well”: a series you wished could go on forever
The Sherlock Holmes canon. It could be four times as long and I'd be ecstatic. That's why I read so many pastiches. I NEED more!
15. “Ronan”: a book with a tragic character death/death of an innocent
Anne's House of Dreams by L. M. Montgomery. If you've read it, you know what I'm talking about. if you haven't... I'm not spoiling it for you here.
16. “Out of the Woods”: a book that had you worried about the characters up to the very end
Even though I've read it a dozen or more times, I still worry about Ponyboy and everyone else in The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton the whole book through.
17. “Getaway Car”: a book with a tempestuous romance
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen certainly qualifies for that, I think.
18. “Clean”: a book that taught you something profound
A Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh taught me many things about woman's innate need to create, the importance of alone time, and so on.
19. “Long Live”: a book that transports you every time
The Hound of the Baskervilles by A. Conan Doyle never fails to whisk me away to windswept moors.
That's all, folks! If you had fun with this, feel free to snag it for your own use. Not tagging anyone today.
Loved reading your answers, Rachel! :D
ReplyDelete"A lot of people seem very appalled that I love Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre"--this is directed at me, isn't it *crying laughing*
"but how could I NOT love that damaged, flawed, sad, lonely man?"--WE LEAD VERY DIFFERENT LIVES, DON'T WE. *more crying laughing*
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, this post just made my day. Thank you. ;-)
I'm not appalled that anybody loves Rochester, or Jane Eyre; I just reserve my right to unapologetically say, "yeah this entire story / concept / premise / mix of characters does Absolutely Nothing for me." Like, NOPE.
Charity calls it me "noping out" of things. She says I do it a lot. She says that's because I'm an INFP. (Like Jane. Lol.)
Katie, well, no, it was more directed to all the people on IG who go into heated, vehement sermons about how he's A Bad Person. And I'm like, you don't get this book. So yeah.
DeleteI mean, I'm fine with people like you who are all, "This is not my jam." But when people start preaching at me and telling me that *I* am a moron/bimbo/sinner because I love this 100% imaginary character? ::insert angry face::
Yeah, I can see that. I nope out of stuff myself with some frequency.
People on INSTAGRAM say that???? Wut. *blinks rapidly* Instagram is clearly a much more opinionated place than I thought.
DeleteAnd that's so wrong!! It doesn't make you a bad or stupid person if you like Mr. Rochester. It just means, you look at the world (and at fiction) very differently than I do.
Very, very, very differently, heh. But that's okay! That's what makes our conversations exciting ;-)
Katie, um, yes. It can be.
DeleteThank you. I agree :-)
This was fun to see on your blog. :D Great answers. Your Bookstagram pictures are muchly satisfying. ;)
ReplyDeleteOlivia, glad you liked it! I am highly fond of my current booksta pic style myself :-)
DeleteI love The Great Gatsby! I need to read so many of these.
ReplyDeleteSkye, isn't it a fascinating book? I learn new things with every reread. So good.
DeleteI'd really like to know what you think of Speak Easy, Speak Love at such time as you read it!