25 Bookish Facts About Me

I've seen this tag floating around on BookTube and since the idea of making a video of me talking scares me more than it does thrill me, I'm going to do a blog version with pictures!

#1

My favorite book as a young child was Goodnight, Moon by Margaret Wise Brown.

Image courtesy of Goodreads

#2

My favorite book of all time is Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh. I had one copy that I read until it fell apart, then I got another copy to replace it. (Which is now falling apart). I got a hardcover special anniversary edition as a birthday present this year and I plan on keeping it safe. Thanks to that book (and the movie), I've been writing and journaling since I was 7 and to this day I still really enjoy a good spy/heist novel.

#3

When I'm stressed out, I tend to listen to audiobooks and read more comic book/graphic novels.

#4

As of right now, I have more fantasy books on my bookshelf and my to-read list than I do any other genre

#5

My favorite graphic novel (so far) is The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi.

#6

I'm slightly ashamed to say that I have not read the entire series of The Chronicles of Narnia. I read the first book in 5th grade and I've seen the movies. Just haven't gotten around to reading the rest. I should get on that.

#7

My favorite classics are/were The Secret Garden, A Little Princess, and The Wizard of Oz.

Unfortunately, I only own The Wizard of Oz.

#8
When I was in elementary school, I wrote and illustrated a picture book about a girl and her cat, titled Lucy and Kate, for the Reading Rainbow Young Writers and Illustrators contest. I got an honorable mention.

#9
The first manga that I read was Ranma 1/2 by Rumiko Takahashi.

Image courtesy of Goodreads

#10
One of my bookish pet peeves is having to mark a book as DNF.

#11
As a kid I didn't like the clear plastic covering that were on library-owned hardcover books because I wanted to be able to feel the jacket and see what was underneath. I still feel the same way now.

#12
I still have bookmarks from elementary school.

#13
My least favorite genre (so far) are romance books that don't have any other storyline other than the main characters getting together.

#14
I was a fan of Twilight when I was in late high school and early college. (And I didn't care if Bella was an unreliable narrator.) But I never considered myself to be a "Twihard". Back then I was Team Edward but after reading Dannika Dark's books, the shifter world seems much more interesting.

#15
I love it when a book that I enjoyed gets turned into a movie. But I can't stand it when the original cover of a book is replaced with the movie version.

#16
My favorite place to read is in a big comfy chair with a blanket nearby and tea, coffee or apple cider at my side.

Image courtesy of Michelle Meiklejohn at Free Digital Photos

#17
I don't like marking in books or dog-earring the pages.

#18
Paperback or Hardcover? Hardcover

Image courtesy of ddpavuma at Free Digital Photos

#19
I read more fiction books than I do non-fiction books.

#20
I'd rather have a book that has a lot of chapters but fewer pages per chapter.

#21
My favorite brick and mortar bookstore is Half-Price Books. My favorite online bookstore is Book Outlet.

#22
The first book I ever had signed by an author was Things Change by Patrick Jones.

#23
When I was in elementary school, there were many times I choose to read during recess rather than do what all the other kids were doing.

#24
My favorite book of the Bible is Ruth.

#25
Buying a new copy of a book is fun and all but I much rather "adopt" a used copy instead.

Reader-Bashing: This Should Be A Thing

Okay, so you know when you're scrolling though social media, looking at articles, and checking up on the CBLV blogger website *winkwink*. You see some kind of mention about a book that you read at some point in time and enjoyed.

Or, better yet, you see an opinion list on the best and worse books ever. Lo and behold, a book (or books) that you enjoyed is on that list of worse books. Then you make the mistake of reading the comments. Oh boy, these comments are mean!

Readers insulting other readers for liking a particular book. Reader-Bashing. I don't know if that's a term but, I'm going to make it one.

If you really disliked a book for personal reasons and you want to share your thoughts, okay. But, I don't understand the insults and name-calling that some readers (and writers) hurl at each other for liking a particular book or genre. We don't know what they're thinking, their true reasons for reading it or what they'll get out of it. Right?

For example, here are some books that have made multiple "Worst Book" lists:

• Twilight (series) by Stephanie Meyers 
• Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler
• 50 Shades of Grey by E.L. James
• The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
• The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
• Wicked by Gregory Macguire
• Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
• The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Shouldn't the focus be, "At least they're reading."? Doesn't this "reader-bashing" thing sound kind of dumb? It is. Let's be nice to people with different reading interests. If you want to read Twilight, 50 Shades of Grey or The Da Vinci Code, go ahead. No need to explain why. Just don't forget to read other stuff, okay?

-B

The Book I Plan on Reading This Week Is...

Image credit: "Prohibited Sign" by artur84 via FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Margaret Atwood's, The Handmaid's Tale. I looked up my new read on Goodreads, the tags that describe the book are: science fiction, dystopia, feminism, and fantasy. Side note: I enjoy dystopia stories. So dystopia+feminism sounds intriguing! Scrolling down, I also saw that one of my favorite authors, Veronica Roth, also marked it as 'to-read'.

Last year, my banned/challenged book was The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. In this book, Sinclair shows readers the harsh life of immigrants living in the meatpacking district. We see different aspects of their home lives, their hopes and dreams before coming to America, how they are treated during and outside of work, and how they view their world after a few years. In addition to the life of the immigrants, the reader is led down a very vivid and gory journey of what goes on in the slaughterhouses, how the animals are treated, and how the meat is treated before it's sold for consumption. (All for the sake of convenience and money.) It's gross, but I strongly encourage everyone to read it. Then do your own research about factory farms and slaughterhouses today.

So with that being said, I say: be bold and read a banned/challenged book this week... or at least listen to the audio version. (Not the movie!)

Happy Monday!