Fun for Monday: 3 Bookish Things

Right, let’s get this year’s tag count up, shall we?

I found this tag over at Zeezee’s and she got it from Kristin Kraves Books. I’ve mentioned before that Zeezee is my go-to-gal for tags and she has an awesome Long List of Book Tags here that you can view either as a straight list, or organised by theme, which is just perfect. Thank you, Zeezee, for being so very, very fabulous!

So without further ado, let’s talk about bookish things. In threes.

 

3 Read-Once-and-Loved Authors

Octavia E Butler. Wow. Maryam the Curious SFF Reader and I recently did a buddy-read of Kindred together (our posts will appear in due course) and I’m not sure I have the words to describe how powerfully I was struck by this book. Butler has me in her grip and I am chomping-at-the-bit keen to read more of her work.

Similarly, Aliette de Bodard’s The Citadel of Weeping Pearls grabbed me by the hair (my thoughts to be posted next weekend) and I want all of the Xuya Universe stories in my eyes right now. Since this month’s book allowance has been used up however, I’m planning to start her Dominion of the Fallen series for Wyrd and Wonder next month, which has been on my shelf since imyril’s enthusiasm put it there.

And P Djèlí Clark’s The Haunting of Tram Car 015 captivated me. I’ve got both Ring Shout and The Black God’s Drums on the shelf ready to read, and I’m eagerly anticipating A Master of Djinn next month. I love writers who can create for me an immersive sense of place and Clark did so beautifully in Tram Car 015 and in the short story “A Dead Djinn in Cairo”. Both Butler and de Bodard equally so, which I guess is why all three of these authors have grasped my imagination so completely, so quickly.

   

 

3 Titles I’ve Watched but Haven’t Read

Ha! I’m even worse at catching up with TV series and movies than I am with books! Also, I tend to prefer to read before watching, where possible. Saying that,

I watched Howl’s Moving Castle before I read the book. (And I love them both equally).

   

And I love the film Battle Royale and truly meant to read the novel by Koushun Takami, but … well, I still haven’t. Yet.

     

I have watched a host of movies based on Philip K Dick books and stories, but never yet read a book of his in its entirety.

 

3 Characters I Love

I’ve mentioned it before. No doubt I’ll mention it again. Granny Weatherwax is who I want to be when I grow up.

Gertrude from I Hate Fairyland by Skottie Young – which I’ll be posting about in a couple of weeks’ time – is one of my newer, younger personal heroines. Her attitude to life, indomitable spirit and inventive expletives are all fabulous!

Last, but never least, Lady Vincenza ‘Vintage’ de Grazon from Jen Williams’ Winnowing Flame trilogy holds a very special place in my heart.

  

 

3 Series Binged

I’ll answer this in past-present-future fashion.

Past: One of the first series I ever binged was David Eddings’ The Belgariad. I started with the second book (because that’s what was available at our little local library at the time), read through to the end, then finally got hold of Pawn of Prophecy and read that last, after it was all over. I then found the whole set at a secondhand books market stall, bought them and read them all over again. It’s now been almost twenty-five years since then and I feel these books are due a reread, but am nervous about finding myself disappointed.

Present: The Diviners series by Libba Bray is my current binge, although I stalled briefly for the All Systems Read weekend. I can’t put my finger on why this series has grabbed me like it has, but I’m having a blast.

Future: In my very near future I need to read more of de Bodard’s Xuya Universe stories. I’m experiencing withdrawal as we speak.

 

3 Unpopular Bookish Opinions

Argh. I’m never very good at this. Ermm …

One. Harry Potter can suck it, Mildred Hubble was being awesome before he was even born.

Two. I don’t care if George R R Martin never finishes A Song of Ice and Fire. It’s been quite a long time since I caught up with the books and there’s no way I’m reading them all over again in readiness for book number whatever. I didn’t care for the tv series either, was annoyed by all the hype, and I think there are so many more awesome books out there waiting for us all.

Three. I don’t really get the signed-by-the-author thing. I have one, possible two, books that are signed, but I didn’t get them because they were signed, they were just the copies that came into my hands. I’m confused that the author’s signature has any value. This is not a dis, I just … don’t get it.

 

 

3 Current Favourite Book Covers

Only three?! *grumbles under breath* Fine. Let’s pick three from my TBR pile:

Both the cover by Jim Kay and the gorgeous endpapers for The Quick by Lauren Owen have me curious about this book. It looks like it’s going to be a slice of historical, gothic intrigue, but I’ve heard some interesting things that suggest it goes in another direction entirely …

The Man with Compound Eyes by Wu Ming-Yi is on my TBR for it’s beautiful cover art by Joe Wilson. Not that it doesn’t sound interesting too, but if you put a whale on the cover of a book, I will read it. Whales are all kinds of cool.

And Victor Mosquera’s cover art for Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer has got such a vibe to it that I keep picking it up and gazing at it lovingly, or stroking the slightly raised patterning down the front. Not that I’m weird or anything …

 

3 Bookish Goals for the Year

They’re a bit boring, really:

1. Read more books from my own shelves, not just for the 21 TBR in 2021 Challenge, but also because we’re running out of space and, seriously, some of the books I have I’ve had for years.
2. Crack on with the Great Series Read Project. I swear I add two new series for every series I finish.
3. I recently joined the FanFiAddict team in an attempt to stretch myself a bit more (you can find my first post for them here, so my biggest goal is to not let them down, whilst also keeping this blog going too.

 

 

So what would your answers be for these prompts? Join in with the taggy fun if you’d like to!