As I continue to fill in my Tuesday posts in lieu of Countdown Questions (a few authors who agreed to participate haven’t gotten back to me yet), I thought I’d participate in a little meme instead. This meme came from Beth over at Books Nest, and it is pretty simple. Here are the rules:
- Thank the person who tagged you and link back to their post
- Link to the creator’s blog (booksnest.co.uk) in your post
- Answer the questions below
- Tag 10 others to take part
- ENJOY THE TAG!
The Questions:
- A book that a certain friend is always telling you to read
- A book that’s been on your TBR forever and yet you still haven’t picked it up
- A book in a series you’ve started, but haven’t gotten around to finishing yet
- A classic you’ve always liked the sound of, but never actually read
- A popular book that it seems everyone but you have read
- A book that inspired a film/TV adaptation that you really love, but you just haven’t read it yet
- A book you see all over Instagram but haven’t picked up yet
Just like my fellow blogger Mina at Stacked Reviews, I wasn’t tagged by anyone, so I too decided to steal this tag. She found it on A Little Haze Book Blog and Pretty Purple Polka Dots and decided to do it, and I’m coming along for the ride. Thanks to all of you, and of course, special thanks to Beth for this creating this lovely book tag!
My answers:
- A book that a certain friend is always telling you to read
This isn’t an easy first question. First, I’m not sure what she means by “a certain friend,” since I can think of a bunch of friends that recommend books to me all the time. As for the “always” bit, I don’t know if any of my friends have been insistent about any one book in particular. Still, there is one book that keeps coming up from various different people, and that would be Jean Rhys’ novel “Wide Sargasso Sea” which is a prequel to the Charlotte Brontë novel “Jane Eyre.” This book seems to come up every year or so, and always by someone else! In fact, only about 10 days ago, someone asked me if I’d read it or not. I really think this is one of those books that I should have read a LONG time ago!
- A book that’s been on your TBR forever and yet you still haven’t picked it up
Oh, I have quite a few of these! If I’m going to be technical about it, I could use the book that appears on my Goodreads list with the oldest “date added” on it, but the first two are already part of another question here. The next one after those is “The Marriage Plot” by Jeffrey Eugenides. Of course, October 2011 isn’t really “forever” but I think it will do for this meme! The truth is, I really loved his book “Middlesex” and I don’t know why I’ve never gotten around to reading anything else by him. This one, I believe, I already have on my shelf as a paperback, so there’s really no reason… My bad!
- A book in a series you’ve started, but haven’t gotten around to finishing yet
I don’t read a whole lot of series, to be truthful, but there are two series that I started, and never finished. One of them is the Harry Potter books, but I got stuck in the next to last book and I don’t want to read any more of them (we even gave away all our copies, and I stopped having interest in the movies, as well). The other is the last two books in Colleen McCullough’s Masters of Rome series. I started reading “The October Horse” but just never finished that book. That means I never got around to reading the last book of the series, “Anthony and Cleopatra” either.
- A classic you’ve always liked the sound of, but never actually read
Do modern classics count? I do hope so, because the first book that comes to mind isn’t an old classic, but a modern one. I’ve always liked the sound of “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath, but I’ve never read it because… well… to be frank, it kind of scares me. I don’t know why, but I have a feeling that it would depress me too much to read, especially knowing that there is some mental health problems in my family. I guess that’s why I’ve never read it, or even bought a copy of it. You forgive me, don’t you?
- A popular book that it seems everyone but you have read
Tons of those as well. In fact, every year there seems to be a best-seller that I just totally ignore – I’m all against the hype, you know! Despite that, this past year I actually gave into the hype around “Daisy Jones & The Six” by Taylor Jenkins Reid, and I don’t regret that for a minute! But I think the book that would fit this category best is probably the best-seller novel “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens. I’ve even seen bloggers who usually don’t read this genre get all excited about this novel. Funny thing though, I recently read two reviews of this book that were not very flattering at all. I know Oprah loved it, but I’m not sure I’ll be reading this one.
- A book that inspired a film/TV adaptation that you really love, but you just haven’t read it yet
On this one I’m going to go with “Gone with the Wind” by Margaret Mitchell. What an amazing film, but the book… well, to begin with, it is well over 1000 pages and that’s pretty daunting. I am SUCH a slow reader because of my mild dyslexia, I tend to shy away from books that are really long – in fact, anything near 400 pages or more almost automatically gets a pass from me. This one is more than double that. I should note that I actually have a very old copy of this book in my shelf, one that I believe belonged originally to my mother-in-law, which looks like it was printed in 1936 (that’s it, in the picture here)! That’s the other reason I’ve never read it – I’m afraid it would fall apart in my hands.
- A book you see all over Instagram but haven’t picked up yet
I’m not all that active on Instagram, but I do post there when I have a book review up. When I do visit, I can tell you that “The Testaments” by Margaret Atwood was there even before it was published, and it hasn’t let up since it came out. Now, I adore Atwood’s writing, and I know that I will get around to reading this one some day, but I think I’ll wait until the buzz quiets down (and I can get it at a reduced price in paperback), before I indulge. In the meanwhile, there are still lots of Atwood books that I would love to read that are lesser known. (By the way, although I knew much about the story before the TV series, I actually only read “The Handmaid’s Tale” very recently. It was one of the few audiobooks I read back when I had surgery on my eyes and I had to have compresses on them all day long.
Who am I tagging?
I hate tagging people so I’m tagging EVERYONE and ANYONE! So, if you’re reading this, consider yourself tagged! Of course, I’m tagging you only if you want to join in. If not, then don’t. Up to you!
The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog 
OOOh, I’ll have to have a go at this when I get on top of my reviews, so hopefully, you’ll see a post from me next week. I haven’t read Where the Crawdad Sings either, I’ve read loads of great reviews, but I read one today that made me think I might not rush to get to it.
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IS THAT A FIRST EDITION OF GONE WITH THE WIND???? If it was published in May 1936, it’s considered a first edition (I think.) If it was published in June 1936, it’s probably from the second printing. EITHER WAY I AM JEALOUS. That’s a beautiful edition! 🙂
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It is falling apart, but I don’t think it is a first, first edition. Inside it says it was reprinted four times that year, so this is from the September 1936 (fourth) printing.
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STILL such a great thing to own though! ❤
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Wide Sargasso Sea is a gorgeous story! I hope you get to read it soon. And The Bell Jar is on my tbr for 2020. I can’t believe I haven’t read it yet either. Happy Reading!
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I’m also waiting for cheaper copies of The Testaments to show up. I read Where The Crawdads Sing. It didn’t completely live up to the hype for me because I did some eye-rolling, but most of it is beautiful. I still think about that book often.
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I’ll keep that in mind before I decide to read Crawdads or not. Thanks.
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Loved your answers Davida. Gone With the Wind is my ‘desert island’ book. I read it pre-children. I don’t think I would have the time to read it now.
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I am much the same when it comes to Crawdads — a little bit too much hype makes me wary.
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Ooh I might give this one a go in a couple of days.
The prequel to Jane Eyre I’ve never heard of, Jane Eyre is my favourite classic, I’ll have to take a look at this one.
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I know what you mean about the length of Gone With the Wind being off-putting but it is a wonderful book. Lots more happens to Scarlett than does in the film. I like the idea suggested by one of the other commenters that you could make it a long term project.
I just recently got the Crawdads on Audible so will see what I think of it.
Not sure I was a huge fan of Sargasso Sea but then, controversially, I’m not a fan of Jane Eyre either. Or rather, not a fan of Mr Rochester!
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Yeah, Rochester isn’t a very likeable character.
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I love Jane Eyre, but I wish she’d told both Mr Rochester where to go. Would you really want to marry someone after they’d tried to trick you into marriage by failing to tell you that they already had a wife shut up in the attic?! Especially in mid-Victorian times, when Jane’s reputation and that of any children they might have had would have been destroyed if it’d come out that their marriage, if the first ceremony hadn’t been stopped, was illegal. She should’ve run a mile!
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Yes my thoughts exactly! Not only was he trying to marry her bigamously, the poor girl had the devastation and humiliation of her wedding being stopped. Reader, I wouldn’t have married him!
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HA!
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I loved “Middlesex” but “The Marriage Pact” made me want to bang my head against the wall haha. “The Bell Jar” is a great book. But yeah, it is kind of a downer. I have yet to read “Gone With the Wind” and “The Testaments” as well. Eh, one day. Fun tag! 🙂
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Thanks so much for taking part, loved your answers!
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Thank YOU for this lovely book tag!
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This is a fun post! 👍 You need a Gone With the Wind Intervention! It could be a year long project…1,000 divided by 52=approx 20 Pages a week!!! Doable! GWtW was my first histfic hangover …I read it in high school and I think it’s responsible for my love of the genre! I wonder how the reading would hold up today? I don’t want to find out if it would ruin my dear memory! One book I haven’t read that most everyone else has read is Harry Potter! And…I’ve been burned by hype on occasion too!
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Year long project? Hm… maybe after I retire this summer, I’ll think about it!
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🙌
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Fun tag!
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I’m going to consider myself tagged, so thank you for that! I’ll my post up on Thursday. Loved reading this! 😊
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Excellent! Could you tag me back so I can make sure I see your post?
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Will do, I’ve already popped the link to this post in mine. 😊
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Looking forward to reading your answers!
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I find Wide Sargasso Sea very over-rated. It’s one of those books that everyone always tells you that you should read, but I just don’t get why there’s so much fuss about it. My sister’s got Where the Crawdads Sing, so I’m waiting for it to be passed on to me!
Gone With The Wind is the greatest book of all time 🙂 .
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Great list! I also keep hearing about Wide Sargasso Sea but I always forget about it when I’m choosing what to read next 😂 I absolutely recommend Bell Jar, if you like mental illness representations you’ll probably love it.
I haven’t heard of Masters of Rome but it sounds interesting. Did you not enjoy it or just stopped reading the series by accident?
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I think the reason I stopped reading the Masters of Rome books was simply because they are very detailed and I think they just exhausted me.
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Awesome, that’s exactly what I like 😂 it’s going to TBR 😁
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Cool! I really loved them at the time, and I learned so much about Rome that after I’d read about three of them, on my first visit to Rome, I was talking about the sites as if I was a tour guide! Start from the first one – they do NOT read well out of sequence!
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