The “I Dare You” book tag.  This should be so fun!

Thank you to Aleksandra @ IncendiumLibri for tagging me.  The tag was originally created by Lena @Bookfandom1001. I love the concept, so I’m excited to get to these questions.

Please be sure to check out both of their blogs when you finish here.  🙂

Here are the rules:

• You must be honest 
• You can’t not answer a question
• You have to tag at least four people 

1. Which book has been on your shelves the longest? 

Sioux Slave by Georgina Gentry… ugh, that’s so embarrassing.  It’s nostalgia only, I swear.  I don’t read this stuff anymore.  When I was a preteen my sister and I discovered romance novels.  I mean, the bodice ripper kind.  Our parents didn’t really censor our reading, so we flew through them.  After all these years I’ve lost most of them, but I haven’t lost my battered copy of Sioux Slave, and I keep it on my shelf to reminisce about my misguided youth.  😀

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

These questions are always tough, because I’m writing this 2 weeks before it’s published.  (I space these out so I only do one a week.)  Currently I’m reading Gemina.  I just finished Scythe.  And next, I think I’m reading On Broken Wings… possibly Willing Victim and Brutal Game by Cara McKenna.  Whichever calls to me more.

3. What book did everyone like, but you hated?

A lot, probably, but I think I’ll go with Mortal Instruments.  As a whole, I didn’t hate the first couple books.  I didn’t love them, but I didn’t hate them.  After book 3 my appreciation drastically plummeted.  I hated the final three books.  I hated what a victim the author turned Jace into.  I’m sorry.  I hated it.  I loved Infernal Devices though, so hopefully that earns me back some points.

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

The House of Hades.  I stopped reading the series with The Mark of Athena, and I keep telling myself that I will go back and read it.  It’s on my bookshelf waiting for me.  I just don’t feel the desire to actually pick it up and read it.  I don’t think I ever will.

5. Which book are you saving for retirement?

I don’t know how to answer this.  I’m not saving anything for retirement.  Not actively.  I don’t plan reads that way.  I guess, if I have to answer, I’d say Jane Eyre.  I have it, my Grandma’s copy, but I’m not a fan of the classics.  (Gasp!)  I’ll probably be retired before I actually get around to reading it.

That’s sad, I’m ashamed of myself.  I really should read it soon.  My grandma would be thrilled if I did.

6. Last page: read it first or wait till the end?

Wait till the end… mostly.  Sometimes I will flip ahead a few pages, or a lot of pages, and I’ll catch something.  It’s subconscious though, I don’t realize I’m doing it until it’s too late.  Rarely do I read the last page however.

7. Acknowledgements: waste of paper and ink or interesting aside?

I don’t think it’s a waste of paper.  I think it’s nice that the author takes the time to acknowledge the people who helped the book come to be.  As a reader, I don’t read them.  I think they’re boring, unless they’re funny.

8. Which book character would you switch places with?

Claire… but only for one night.  I’d even like to pick the night.  Like, Claire on her wedding night.  Because Jamie!

Or, following the same vein, I’d take a swap with Mac, on their first lucid night in Shadowfever.  Um, because Barrons. Duh.

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

So many.  Timeline by Michael Crichton reminds me of my older sister.  I read it for the first time on a vacation trip to Florida.  We went for 10 days, and I read 10 books.  Best. Vacation. Ever.

Where the Red Fern Grows reminds me of my grandfather.  He read me the end once, when I was little, and it made him cry.  I always imagined him as Billy.

10. Name a book you acquired in an interesting way.

I don’t have anything that I acquired in an interesting way.  I do have a book that is interesting though.  Along with Jane Eyre, my Grandma gave me her older copy of Gone with the Wind, and inside it she had cut out articles about the movie and stored them inside the book.  One of the articles was about how Vivian Leigh hated kissing Clark Gable, supposedly because he had false teeth and his breath really smelled bad.  (Or so the article said.)

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

I’m not the best at giving good books away, so I’d say no.  I’ve given books away to people I care about, and they were books that I knew I wouldn’t like but others might.  I’m not sure that counts, though.

12. Which book has been with you to the most places?

Probably Outlander, but only because it’s the book that I’ve probably read the most.  There’s no great story here, it’s just the luck of the draw.

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

No, I’ve never been a fan of “required reading”.  I don’t like being told what to read.  And maybe this is where my disinterest in the classics stems from, being forced to read them in school.  There were some that I didn’t mind reading at the time.  I liked Sounder, and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.  Outsiders.  I didn’t even mind Of Mice and Men.

14. What is the strangest item you’ve found in a book?

Nothing.  Does this happen to people?  Where do they find these books with strange things inside them?

15. Used or brand new?

Brand new.  I’m not uptight about used books or anything.  I don’t mind them.  I just don’t often find used books that I want to read.  I don’t use the library either, because I’m not so great at returning.  So, I stick with brand new books, because it’s just easier.

16. Have you ever read a Dan Brown book?

I sure have.  I’ve read Angels & Demons, The Da Vinci Code, and Inferno.  I’m in the minority, but Da Vinci Code was my favorite.

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

Scorch Trials.  I liked Maze Runner the book.  The movie was good too.  Unfortunately each subsequent book got worse and worse (for me).  Scorch Trials was even better than Maze Runner, so it’s one of the rare instances where the movie is better than the book.

18. A book that should have NEVER been published.

I don’t like this question.  There’s no such thing as a book that should never have been published.  There are a lot of books I didn’t like, maybe even hated, but I will never ever say that a book shouldn’t have been published.

19. Have you ever read a book that’s made you hungry, cookbooks being excluded from this question?

Oh yeah.  I recently did a reread of the entire PsyCop series on audio.  It was spectacular, but each time the narrator would talk about Victor Bayne’s meal I’d get the worst craving for it.  It happened with Mexican, and with Pizza.  Luckily my husband was a good sport and fed me both.

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

This is a very pointed question.  It’s one that doesn’t have one easy answer.  It depends on the genre, and the history of recs from said friend.  I suppose I’d say that my Goodreads friend Heather is someone I go to when I’m looking for a good romance.

Tag! You’re It!

Chosen completely at random, I tag:

• Marie’s Library
• Books, Coffee & Passion
• Maya the Book Explorer
• Novels and Nonfiction

Happy Book Tag!