Usually, this is the time of month where I post a book
review. But March has been a rather slow month for me (I’ve only read six
books), and I haven’t quite found a book to recommend. Other than Bridge to Terabithia, of course. That.
Book. Is. Brutal! And beautiful. But oh, so brutal.
Instead of a book review, I’ll be participating in a book
tag, more specifically the Bookish Q&A Tag! Thanks for the tag from the
lovely S. M. Metzler who writes over at Tea with Tumnus. If you’re
looking for book recommendations, feel free to take any from this post unless
otherwise specified. And even then, feel free to read them if you want.
1) What books do you
remember reading that kick-started your bookworm habit?
I was fortunate enough to be influenced by several readers
as a child, and there are too many books to name. So I can’t say if a
particular one got me hooked on reading. Here are just a couple:
My dad likes to listen to Focus on the Family audio dramas
in the car, from Adventures in Odyssey
to The Chronicles of Narnia. He also read
The Hobbit to my brother and I over
the course of a couple weeks while we watched our triops (three-eyed fish) grow
and assert dominance over one another until one remained. Animals are brutal.
My mom introduced me to the Anne of Green Gables audio drama, often took me book shopping, and
ordered the books from the school catalogue that interested me.
My third-grade teacher used to read to the class a lot. I
remember listening to Junie B. Jones,
Methuselah’s Gift, and A Wrinkle in Time. The first book I
remember picking up on my own was The
Black Arrow. Even though third-grader me didn’t understand most of it, I
liked the title. I still have yet to finish it.
2) What genre, or
genres, would you normally choose?
3) Do you eat while
you read and if yes, what exactly?
If I didn’t eat while I read, I would probably starve to
death. Okay, that’s probably an exaggeration. I’m not always reading! I like to
write in the mornings, and when I do, I refuse to eat. In this sense, I’m like
Sherlock: “Digestion slows me down.” Come lunchtime (anywhere between noon and
three), I like to settle down with a good book and some food, usually some
pasta or a salad.
4) Are there any
scenes from your favorite novels that you remember vividly?
Code Name Verity: when
Verity is flying with Maddie over England, and they see the sky alight with
green, a rare but beautiful occurrence.
The Scorpio Races:
anytime the characters are standing by the water and the narrative description
is just so pretty!
The Silver Chair:
where Puddleglum tells the Lady of the Green Kirtle that he’s on Aslan’s side
no matter what and then proceeds to stomp on her magical fire.
I’m going to stop now because there are too many scenes and
too many books to describe.
5) Were there any
least favorites?
Are we talking about least favorite scenes or least favorite
novels? One particular scene from This
Present Darkness where the demons were attacking one of the main characters
has haunted me for years.
Or is it least favorite scenes from least favorite novels?
I’ve tried so hard to delete those memories. *clears throat* We do not speak of
those. Moving on.
6) So, as you’re a
bookworm, what are you reading currently today? (Optional)
I am currently listening to Cornelia Funke’s Dragon Rider in the car. Brendan Fraser
is a great narrator. I didn’t know he could do so many accents and sound
effects!
I’m also reading A
Philosophy of Walking by Frédéric Gros, which is fascinating. It makes me
want to take to the woods and mountains and never come back.
Wednesday I started reading Nikki Katz’s The Midnight Dance. Basically, it’s a
fantasy story set in Italy based off the twelve dancing princesses, and so far,
it has a Phantom of the Opera feel.
 |
A Philosophy of Walking
Yes, the title is tiny. But it's a pretty cool book! |
7) How’s it getting
along for you? (Optional)
Dragon Rider:
progress is slow. There are, like, ten discs, and I don’t drive a lot because
it stresses me out.
A Philosophy of
Walking: slow progress. I can only read a couple of chapters a day, and
sometimes I don’t want to read it that day. But that’s okay. The book is about
leisurely paces anyway.
The Midnight Dance:
quick. I read 40 pages the first day, 60 the next. By the time this post goes
up (I schedule most of my blog posts at least a day in advance), I may have
even finished it!
8) Have you then got
a large bookshelf, or do you plan to?
Do I have a large bookshelf! Hahahaha! I may have absconded
all the bookshelves in the house and deemed the room The Library. Here are just
the big ones:
The lawyer’s bookshelf (above). My grandpa on my mom’s side built
this one.
It’s fun, but the top shelf doesn’t sit properly. Maybe I put it
together wrong?
We’ve had this monstrosity forever (above).
My mom bought this one (above) at a bazaar, and I claimed it.
The landlord owns this one (above), but it’s the perfect kid lit
shelf.
Technically, this is the only bookshelf I bought (above),
but I like
to imagine that the others are mine as well.
9) Do you have a
liking to indie or traditional books?
I typically read traditionally published books, but as an
indie author, I try to read indie books as well. It’s hard living abroad in a country where the native language isn’t English.
Whenever I want free books, I either check them out from my
local library, which only carries traditionally published, or I wait for free
e-books.
When it comes to buying books, I’m terribly picky. I don’t
like to buy books (unless it’s an e-book) that I’ve never read because my
spontaneous buys tend to be the worst. So I’m pretty hesitant about buying
print indie books. That and they take three to five months to ship. Not fun.
Every now and then, I’ll take a chance on buying a print indie book, though I
buy more traditionally published ones.
10) And lastly, do
you plan to promote reading in some way, or already are?
Considering I run a bookish blog, I’d say I do a good deal
of promoting books. For those unfamiliar with my schedule, I typically post a
bookish post on the second Sunday of the month and a book review on the fourth,
with some exceptions like today.
And now for the tagging:
If you haven’t been tagged and you want to take part,
consider yourself tagged. Thanks for sticking with me to the end. Happy
reading!
Let’s chat! What are some of the best books you’ve read this
March? Any least favorites? When’s the last time you participated in a book
tag?
***
Literary references: Katherine Paterson’s Bridge to Terabithia, Focus on the Family’s Adventures
in Odyssey, C. S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia and The Silver Chair, J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, Barbara Park’s Junie B. Jones, Mary Elizabeth Edgren’s Methuselah’s Gift, Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, Robert Louis
Stevenson’s The Black Arrow,
Elizabeth Wein’s Code Name Verity,
Maggie Steifvater’s The Scorpio Races,
Cornelia Funke’s Dragon
Rider, Frédéric Gros’ A Philosophy of Walking, and Nikki
Katz’s The Midnight Dance
