Technically this is a book blog. I mean, the word “read” is in the title. There’s a review category in my main navigation bar. I talk about Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland a lot and that’s a book.
But this blog is focused on one thing more than it is focused on books, and that thing is Me.
Books I like. Books I don’t like. Shows I like. Graphics I make. My jokes. Me talking about how obsessed I am with myself. Me talking about my life except scratch that last one because I only do that when I’m complaining vaguely about the shambles it’s in.
Long story short, you guys have a lot of unsolicited info about Moi.
Every once in a while I like to give you EVEN MORE. In massive amounts, and today I’m going to answer twenty Qs you never A’d.
This is the 20 Questions Book Tag!!! I was tagged by Bentley @ Book Bastion and May @ Forever and Everly, two beautiful people with beautiful blogs. I love all four of these things (Bentley + Bentley’s blog + May + May’s blog) more than life. FOLLOW THEM!
Now let’s get into it.
How many books are too many books in a series?
Two.
Okay no just kidding but god I am so into standalones. There should be more standalones. NOT EVERY STORY NEEDS A SERIES TO BE TOLD.
Also I am sick to death of all these authors “”finishing”” “”series”” and then adding more books like they’re slick. Maas. Clare. Now Bardugo?! It never ends and my suffering is infinite and truth is fake and everything is deceit.
Anyway I don’t think many series need to be over four books.
How do you feel about cliffhangers?
At, like, the end of a book? When there’s going to be another book that won’t come out for another small infinity? (That was a half-assed John Green joke. Shoutout to The Fault in Our Stars, as always, for being garbage.)
Anyway they bug me for a while but then I end up forgetting about it and then forgetting the book and then forgetting the series and then seeing everyone in my various feeds reading the just-released sequel and then I’m like, “I guess I have to reread this book now? And then buy the new one?” And then months pass and then I reread and then months pass and I still haven’t bought the new one and at this point if I got the sequel I’d have to reread AGAIN and that’s just insane.
This is all to say they don’t affect me very much at all.
Hardback or paperback?
Hardback. All the way.
They’re prettier. They look better on a shelf. They’re easier to read. (I feel like we don’t talk about the fact that you can damage a paperback irreparably literally by reading it enough). (And not even like reading it wrong. Just…reading it. If you open the book past an acute angle the book will permanently scar itself out of righteous fury.)
Dust jackets are weird, yeah, but hardcovers don’t PUNISH YOU FOR READING THEM.
I’m very passionate about this.
Favorite book?
ALICE.
ALICE.
ALICE ALICE ALICE.
No, yeah.
It’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Least favorite book?
Oh god it’s so much harder to pick just one.
That’s not normal, right? People who like reading have a harder time picking a favorite than a least favorite? Huh. I wonder what that must be like.
Let’s do a fun top-ten-in-no-particular-order. Rant reviews linked! ❤
- Thirteen Reasons Why
- The Fault in Our Stars
- The Girl on the Train
- When We Collided
- Perfect Ten
- The Light We Lost
- This is Where the World Ends
- Alex, Approximately
- In a Perfect World
- A Court of Wings and Ruin
Love triangles, yes or no?
No.
Next!
The most recent book you just couldn’t finish?
I try to…never do this? I have DNFed 9 books in my whole human existence. If a book reaches an unimaginable level of garbage to which I cannot finish it, I’ll usually know early enough to just…not really start reading it.
Or the force of my fury powers me through.
Usually I only DNF a book if it’s just boring as hell.
In February I read The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher, and DNFed the sh*t out of it. But that was for a Unique Reason.
A book you’re currently reading?
Infinity. Infinity books. And also none.
But kind of The Sleeper and the Spindle and Jane Eyre and Ink and Bone and A Million Junes and a thousand others.
Last book you recommended to someone?
I never recommend books to anyone in real life, because a) who reads in the human world and b) who puts themselves out there ever, and I never recommend books to anyone in the world of the internet because a) I never like anything and b) no one ever likes anything and c) I couldn’t handle the pain of recommending a book to someone that I love – the book, not the person; a book that is near n dear to my heart – and they didn’t like it???
I’d have to fall on my sword.
Technically speaking I shouted at the lovely May to read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. But I’m pretty sure I’m just constantly projecting that/attempting to foist it onto everyone more than actively recommending it.
Oldest book you’ve read? (publication date)
Ohhhh god now I have to scroll through my classics shelf on Goodreads.
Wait! I’m not going to do that. Because I’ve read the Odyssey (not a fan) and that sh*t was composed eight centuries before 0.
Truly wild.
Newest book you’ve read? (publication date)
Now this is considerably more complicated. I’m truly going to have to go to my ARC shelf on Goodreads and see which has the furthest-in-the-future release date.
The things I do for you guys, which you did not ask me to do and presumably do not care about at all.
Oh! I read Run, Hide, Fight Back, which was supposed to be out this summer and is now being pushed back to September 2019. Which mostly sucks because I actually wrote a review for it and everything and now I can’t post it.
The injustice.
Favorite author?
I HAVE SEVERAL.
They are: John Steinbeck and F. Scott Fitzgerald and Jane Austen and Lemony Snicket and Jonathan Safran Foer and Roald Dahl and Emily Henry.
Ah.
Let’s just relish in the love for a sec.
Buying books or borrowing books?
Buying!
Then you have them!
Forever!
What other justification do I have to give!
A book you dislike that everyone else seems to love?
Oh jesus christ it’s like this tag was specifically designed to be incredibly difficult for me, specifically. Me alone. Me of everyone else in the universe who could possibly do this tag. Where is the fun. Where is the opportunity for some classic hijinks. Where are the jokes?
That last one is a genuine question because I am slightly sleep deprived and either being extremely brilliant right now or wildly boring. Can’t tell. Going to go with the latter.
Anyway I have an unpopular opinion tag here and an unpopular opinion shelf on Goodreads and I am garbage at updating both. Go to either and take your pick. Or go with the fact that every Sarah J. Maas book is actually bad in my privileged opinion, which rules all other opinions like a benevolent king.
Bookmarks or dog ears?
Neither. I pick unwritten option #3: “Whatever scrap of paper happens to be nearby – usually a receipt or something or like a tissue but a clean one duh I’m not disgusting.”
I don’t have my life together enough to keep bookmarks around, let alone buy them, but god I also don’t hate myself or my books. WHO DOG EARS. WHO FOLDS A PAGE. WHO WOULD DO THAT………..TO A BOOK. (I hope at least one person read that in the “Who would do that……..to a friend?” voice from cinematic masterpiece I, Tonya.)
A book you can always reread?
I AM SO ADDICTED TO REREADING RIGHT NOW. Look at all the books I’ve reread! Look at all the books I want to reread!
It’s an endless cycle of endless suffering and it will never stop.
I can always reread Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, because duh. I can often reread The Great Gatsby, because also duh. And my favorite contemporaries – The Hating Game, I’ll Give You the Sun, Anna and the French Kiss, Just One Day, Wanderlove – are compulsively reread-able.
I am constantly, actively resisting the compulsion to reread all of these books. The fact that I get any other reading done is a goddamn miracle. I don’t like to throw around the word “hero”…but I’m totally, definitively a hero.
Can you read while hearing music?
I mean, technically I can. But like, unless I am on a bus or in a café or yards away from an erupting volcano or in some form of loud, people-centric situation, I would never ever want to.
And I’m pretty good while reading at blocking out the sounds of lava-related fear screaming noise.
One POV or multiple POVs?
ONE.
PLEASE GOD, STOP WRITING BOOKS WITH MULTIPLE POVs.
At best, it is tolerable. It neverever adds to the story and the voices always sound the same and it’s just boring and confusing and I hate it.
There are some exceptions. Like I’ll Give You the Sun and Emergency Contact. But the rules do not apply to Jandy Nelson and Mary H.K. Choi, because they are goddesses among men and are allowed to do anything they want including murder.
Do you read a book in one sitting or over multiple days?
Never in one “sitting,” because that would imply that I am capable of sitting down without getting a snack or opening my laptop or picking up a different book for 200-400 pages. And I am rarely that.
If a book is good or short or both, though, it won’t take me multiple days to read it. But it will take approximately 800 micro-sittings.
Who do you tag?
I am going to be a truly garbage human being and take the pass on this one, because as I type this it is 12:49 a.m. and I have miles to go before I sleep. By which I mean I interrupted a strict regimen of packing and homework to write this post. Yippee.
But it should go without saying that if you want to do this post, consider yourself tagged!!! Even comment if you want and I will formally tag you. But, like. In the comments, though. Editing a post is too hard.
I completely agree with your thoughts on standalone! I prefer a story that can be told in one book! It is rare that I read a series that is longer than 3 books!
Ugh The Light We Lost. I absolutely hate that book. We have such similar tastes that now I am nervous to read Alex, Approximately which I have on my shelves at home!
Loved reading your answers.
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thanks kristin!!! ❤ i feel like we might be in the minority on the standalone thing, but i believe it so wholeheartedly??? most stories don't need so many books!
the light we lost was THE WORST. i'm sorry you had an unpleasant time reading it, but also i'm so thrilled you hated it so we can be in a club together. i hope alex approximately goes better for you??? it's at least a quicker/lighter read.
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I posted this tag yesterday and I also said the Odyssey was the oldest book I’ve read! haha 😀
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whoaaaaa! so in sync!!!
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Love this post!! I agree with most of your opinions; I however am one of the few who dogears pages, but I wish I had the composure to use bookmarks!! I never digest library or borrowed books, but I have no qualms about digesting my own copies. Totally agree on multiple POVs though, they can get so distracting if there’s more than one!!
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honestly i get dogearing just out of not having bookmarks. i never have them and usually just use whatever semiflat object is nearby. glad i’m not the only one on the multiple POV thing!! & thaaaank you ❤
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I LOVE YOU. Seriously, this post (and all of yours), make me smile!! Can I consider myself tagged? 🙂
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CONSIDER YOURSELF TAGGED TIMES INFINITY. thank you + ily + can’t wait to see your answers!!
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Ahhh did May tag you for this as well!! (I’m severely procrastinating this post, bc I’m boring and don’t have as entertaining answers to these Q’s as you.)
I agree with hating it when authors add books to finished series, but HOW CAN YOU NOT BE EXCITED ABOUT SOC #3, EMMA?? Obviously, I’m loving 5. and 14., though & ahhhh you’re reading Jane Eyre!!! I LOVE. And approve very much of Jane Austen being your favorite author, but we already know this.
BUT I CONTEST 9.!! YOUR VERY CLEARLY RECOMMENDED THE TRC SERIES TO ME.
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*YOU VERY CLEARLY
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I TOTALLY RECOMMENDED TRC TO YOU AND I STAND BY THAT. but i think, like, the day after that i harassed May about alice. and yes she did tag me!! honestly i have infinity tags from last year i haven’t done but for some reason i did this one in a timely fashion???
I AM EXCITED FOR SOC #3. but also it’s a disappointment that bardugo is now one of the YA-writing masses who just never. keep. their series-ending promises.
yes i’m rereading jane eyre!!! just in fits and starts but i’m enjoying it greatly.
I EVEN ENJOY READING YOUR COMMENTS IMMENSELY SO I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOUR ANSWERS TO THIS TAG. soon please!!!! ❤
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I … may or may not read TRC #2 this month. I’M STILL WAITING FOR THE UNIQUE BLOGGER AWARD POST FROM YOU. But procrastinating all the tags is a serious mood of mine, so no judgment here.
True, if it wasn’t Leigh Bardugo, this’d draw forth a serious side-eye from me. (Okay, it still does, a little bit. But I’m too excited to dwell on it.)
In fits and starts can honestly be the best way to re-read books!! And I’m glad you still love it, it’s one of my favorite classics next to Emma. :’)
AHHH YOU ARE SO KIND! That is so sweet of you. 😭❤️
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PLEASE REMEMBER THAT TRC2 IS THE WORST OF THE BUNCH BUT THAT TRC3 IS A GIFT FROM THE HEAVENS THAT WILL MAKE YOUR LIFE A JILLION TIMES BETTER.
it’s okayish b/c bardugo is doing it but every time maas and clare do it my eye twitch grows in seriousness.
& tru rereading jane eyre in bits and pieces is working surprisingly well!!
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I have to endure another ENTIRE book until I get to a good one?? Emma,,, (maybe I should just read a summary of #1 & #2).
Everything about CC makes my eye twitch grow in seriousness, to be honest. And I’m relatively indifferent towards Maas, though I know that she’s problematic.
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it’s worth it to fully appreciate BLLB!! and they’re not NOT short reads. (ok but they’re not short reads either)
all of my thoughts on clare = the emotional equivalent of an angry mob with pitchforks. (except EMOTIONAL ONLY and therefore NONVIOLENT)
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Thank you!!! I can’t believe so many people worship her, whenever I see a favorable review or rating for her book(s) I want to crawl into a cave and forget about civilization.
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even if she weren’t problematic af her books aren’t…good? and also she’s problematic af SO WHAT’S WITH THE APPRECIATION, PEOPLE
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I honestly didn’t expect them to be, given how they came to be. 😂
Also, I woke up to news of the TV show Shadowhunters being cancelled, people are RIOTING.
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OMG HAHAHA
i thrive on the suffering of others. that show seemed bad
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I knew the E in Emma stood for Evil.
(Lowkey laughing with you, though.)
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oooh rebranding to make that true
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Looking forward to seeing my name next to the credits
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always
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All of your answers gave me life, and I felt each in my soul. Also, I hope the universe is treating you kindly, because you only deserve every single good thing. 💕xx
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oh my god i love you so much. this is the best comment i could ever in a hundred thousand years receive, especially since the universe is being so kind to me at the moment! i hope everything is going absolutely perfectly for you ❤ ❤ ❤
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Jane Austen is one of the best! Also, I really need to check out your unpopular opinions shelf because I love your rant reviews.
Um, so I like more than 2 books in a series? But not more than 3 or 4. I think duologues are epic, but when series drag on and on and on…well, I get annoyed.
And I *might* steal this tag sometime.
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PLEASE CONSIDER YOURSELF TAGGED. SO HARD. i would love to read your answers ahhh!
oooh the duology point is such a good one! i think that’s such an underrated/ideal number of books.
yay yay yay jane austen! (& looking forward to your post on this tag <3)
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Love triangles need to DIE
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A PAINFUL DEATH. perhaps by fire
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I agree, it’s forever annoying when authors decide to add an extra book to their ‘already completed series’.
You’re so good! I wish I was a rereder 😦 I don’t know what it is, I always pick up a book to reread but never finish them.
And love triangles can be fun 😀 *smirks*
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honestly i wish i could break the curse of rereading. for years i couldn’t do it, and then last year i started rereading a LOT and now i just. can’t. stop. will i ever read a new book? questionable.
& authors adding books to completed series = my new pet peeve times infinity.
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I’m always sooo careful when reading paperbacks, but the spine usually still cracks which leaves me crying on the floor rip.
Also ayyy I don’t like Maas’ books either high five
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HOW ARE PAPERBACKS SO HARD TO READ??? it’s impossible to not hurt the cover or the spine or something. i hate.
three cheers for not liking maas!!! b/c like seriously oh my god
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It’s always a blessing to see your posts on my timeline! ❤
I love your answers and more importantly, I love youuu!
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YOU ARE THE KINDEST PERSON IN GLOBAL HISTORY. ily ❤
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<3<3<3
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Hi. I agree with this. Like a lot. Like 19/20 answers. Ily. Bye ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜
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wow um love u thanks queen
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Finally someone acknowledges the fact that “umm how do people even read books in one sitting??”! That’s a whole new level of super power honestly. I slowly simmer in craziness if I don’t put a book down every 5 minutes thx.
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i am WAY too easily distracted to be able to just……sit and read a book. like what kind of magic
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I LOVED READING YOUR ANSWERS!!! You’re answers were really interesting! I think I like trilogies the best! Any more (unless it’s Harry Potter) and I lose interest!
And NOOO LOVE TRIANGLES ARE TERRIBLE!!!! And I’m sorry but I used to dog ear! Not that often but sometimes! I feel so bad now!!!
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you have repented for your dog-earing sins and that’s all that matters!!!
trilogies are a-okay in my book (but i also think duologies are underrated). love triangles, however: PRETTY MUCH ALWAYS BAD
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Yay! I’m glad to be forgiven! 😂 I think duologies are definitely underrated! I think I’ve only read one and that was Six of Crows. But that’s turning into a trilogy soon! Do you have any good duologies you recommend? (Not that I don’t have enough to read!)
And ugh love triangles. NO. NO. NO. ❤️😀
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i think the only duology i’ve read is six of crows (but not anymore), but i think the wrath and the dawn and this savage song are maybe duologies? also maybe passenger, unless any of them are adding more books
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Ooh! Thanks! I’ll definitely check those out! I’ve really been wanting to read this savage song! xx
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i’ll be looking forward to your thoughts – only schwab i’ve read was ADSoM and haven’t been a huge fan thus far but i wanna give her another chance!
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I haven’t read any of Schwab’s books but I’ve heard a lot of good things about her so I definitely want to try her books! Let me know if you try her books again! xx
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it’s def an unpopular opinion on my end as it stands. hope you enjoy / will keep you updated!
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Haha! I can imagine! Schwab has a LOT of hype! Thanks! xx
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I am not a fan of a series either!
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not everything needs a series!!!
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Why am I addicted to your blog??Love all your posts!!
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THANK YOU!!
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Very interesting questions and responses! The stand alone book question seems to be quite the topic! I can see why. Although, I think some Harry Potter fans would be very sad if that was only one book. What I don’t like is when a book does well and they try to eek another 3-5 books out of it. I think if it’s a planned series or the subject matter lends well to a series, then it’s a good idea. I don’t like it when it feels forced or stretched out just because publishers want more money. That said, I am known to get sucked into series, so it’s had to hate on them! 🙂
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thaaaank you! i totally agree with you – i think there are some stories that need multiple books to be told. harry potter is def one of them (though my hot take is that i don’t think all 7 were needed!). but it seems like more and more young adult authors lately are adding books to series that don’t need more books just to make money and i hate that!!! esp b/c the standalone is such an underrated form already.
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