Yes, really. The Britney Spears book tag. I saw it on Anastasia’s blog, thought it looked awesome and wanted to give it a go. She featured some great titles so hopefully it’ll inspire others to pick up something different. Here goes!
Mickey Mouse Club
A book you read as a child that sparked your love of reading
Enid Blyton’s The Magic Faraway Tree. It’s one of the first non-picture books I can remember reading to myself and I used to love re-reading it at night when I was meant to be going to sleep. I loved her books – The Famous Five, Secret Seven, Adventures of the Wishing Chair… So magical. I wanted to be George from the Famous Five and loved the TV series too.
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Oops, I read it again!
A book that you love to re-read
The only books I’ve re-read since I was a teenager have been The Bell Jar, The Catcher in the Rye and the Shopaholic series. I’m a sucker for Sophie Kinsella’s chick lit and it’s a fun, easy read.
Jamie Lynn
A book that looks really similar to another book
OK, so I’m cheating a bit with this one, but the similar spines on my freebies from various World Book Nights really bother me!
Crossroads
A severely underrated book
I won a copy of Holly Bourne’s debut novel, Soulmates, in a competition. I probably wouldn’t have read it otherwise but I got really into it and even shed a couple of tears. It’s about a couple in college who are literally soulmates but they can’t be together because the world will end. Pretty intense, right?! Read my review here.
Justin Timberlake
A book you can’t get over
Some of the endings of Jodi Picoult’s novels have surprised me and stayed with me. The Storyteller was pretty epic. To be fair, anything based around World War 2 is pretty hard-hitting and unforgettable. Read my review here.
Madonna
A book with an older character you secretly want to make out with
I don’t think I’ve ever had a crush on a character in a book but Henry Tilney in Northanger Abbey was pretty impressive. It made a change to read a classic and have a man not be so traditional and sexist.
The Onyx Hotel
A book you quit half way through
It’s not very often that I’ll give up on a book as curiosity tends to get the better of me; I hope that it’ll get better or I’ll still wonder how it ends. The first time I picked up The Diary of Anne Frank, as a teenager, I couldn’t get into it. I later read it cover to cover as an adult and thought it was incredible. Read my alternative review here.
Federline
The book you most regret bringing into your life
As I just mentioned, I rarely give up on a book, so I persevered with The Road (really didn’t like the writing style but wanted to see if it was just like the film) and We Need to Talk About Kevin (how are you meant to read til the end when you hate the characters?), even though I didn’t enjoy them. I also thought Caitlin Moran’s How To Build a Girl and Lena Dunham’s Not That Kind of Girl were hugely over-rated. I felt like they tried to shock rather than entertain and didn’t do anything for me.
Barefoot in the Bathroom
A dirty book
I don’t think I’ve ever read anything particularly explicit! Caitlin Moran’s tales of masturbation are usually as hardcore as it gets.
The Cheeto
A book with an orange cover
I have a few but I’m going with Goose by Dawn O’Porter. It’s the sequel to her first young adult book, Paper Aeroplanes. I believe the third part of the series is on the way…
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2007
A book that was tough to get through
Each Game of Thrones book takes me about two weeks to read on the bus to and from work. It’s a lot of time to commit to a book when I have some many in my TBR pile.
‘Gimme More’
A book that should have had a sequel/series
I don’t think I’ve read a stand-alone book and been desperate to find out what happened next but there have been serieses (series?) I’ve really enjoyed, particularly Dennis Lehane’s Kenzie and Gennaro thrillers. To say it’s a gritty series about a couple of detectives would be a massive understatement. If you liked Gone Baby Gone (the Ben Affleck-directed drama based on one of the novels), go check them out.
Starbucks
A book that kept you up all night
I can remember borrowing The Five People You Meet in Heaven from the college library and staying up until 4am to finish it. I can’t really remember much about it now other than that I had to keep going.
‘3’
A book featuring a love triangle
Gotta be The Hunger Games Trilogy, right? Even though I was always rooting for Gale.
‘Cool’
A book you thought was really cool
Whip It! Roller derby is so freakin’ cool. As is this book. And the Drew Barrymore-directed film.
‘Work Bitch’
An inspirational book
Caitlin Moran’s How To Be a Woman and Moranthology reminded me of the kind of writer I wanted to be.
If you fancy having a go at this tag, leave your link below cos I’d love to check it out 🙂
Liked this post? Check out my women in literature post for more on my favourite writers.