Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Olympic Book Tag


Shannon started it...

Then, Kristen and Kristen joined the fun...

And Rose...

And Bev...

And Jenn...

(and if there are others I'm missing, share them with me because I'd LOVE to read them!)

How could I pass up a post like this?


A Book I Loved from the First Page:  This is the first paragraph of the Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys"My mother's a prostitute. Not the filthy, streetwalking kind. She's actually quite pretty, fairly well spoken, and has lovely clothes. But she sleeps with men for money or gifts, and according to the dictionary, that makes her a prostitute."  I was immediately invested in the story.


Favorite Road Trip Book:  Violet and Finch explore their home state of Indiana through some adventures similar to a scavenger hunt in All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven, but this book is about so.much.more than that.

A Book with a Good Love Triangle:  The love triangle of Ridge, Sydney, and Maggie is heart-breaking and well-written.  It's YA, and yes, there's some cheesiness, but overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover

A Book I Really Didn't "Get":  Sorry, not sorry.  To me, there is nothing sexy, attractive, or appealing about Christian Grey.  The believability factor was completely off the map for me with 50 Shades of Grey by E.L. James.  I quit it with only 50 pages to go because I just did not care what happened.



A Book Set in the Summer:  Released under two different names, Vanessa Lafaye's Summertime (or Under a Dark Summer Sky) is set in the Florida Keys during 1935 Hurricane Season.  A book about relationships, duty, racism, love, small town dynamics, crime, life after war, death, a hurricane, and loss, there are just so many reasons why I loved this book.


A Book with a lot of Fighting/Bloodshed:  Don Winslow's epic saga portrayed in The Power of the Dog and it's follow-up, The Cartel is a realistic account of Mexican drug cartels and the "war on drugs".  Guess what.  There's A LOT of violence, fighting, death, and bloodshed in that world.  A lot.  Not for the faint at heart, but so, so good.


A Book with a lot of Plot Twists:  After reading I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh, this is what I had to say:  "You know when you're reading and think you've got it figured out...then you change your mind... then think 'well, maybe'... then you are completely wrong...then you are kinda correct, but there's a twist...then you've figured part of it out but it doesn't matter because the book is still so good? That was this book for me. I stayed up past my bedtime because I couldn't put it down."
A Book that Made Me Sob:  Others have listed this one as well, but I posted photographic proof that Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale did indeed make me sob black mascara streaks down my face.


A Slow Paced BookI'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid is so slow that I almost quit it, and I don't quit books often.  Then, the last third of it (or quarter of it), it changed, picked up the pace, and I felt like I was watching a horror movie.


A Childhood FavoriteThe Poky Little Puppy is the book that I remember begging anyone and everyone to read it to me.  I loved it so much, I wanted to learn to read just so I could read this book.


A Book Featuring Animal(s):  The love I feel for The Thicket by Joe R. Lansdale is all about the cast of characters: a teenager who is chasing after a group of men who kidnapped his sister, Jack Parker, a charismatic "bounty-hunting dwarf named Shorty, a grave-digging son of an ex-slave named Eustace, and a street-smart woman-for-hire named Jimmie Sue" plus a wild hog that truly is a character all himself.


A Book I Struggled to FinishRunning with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs - ** SPOILER ALERT ** This book and I didn't click. Sure, I could find the hilarity in the absurdity. But some of the severity of the dysfunction (particularly the graphic sexual abuse of a young teen boy by an adult, and the acceptance and encouragement by other adults for this "relationship" to take place) was so disturbing that I couldn't take the hiding behind humor and shock value as the only view presented.


A Book with a Great Friendship:  There is so much beauty to The Book Thief by Markus Zusak including both of Liesel's significant friendships: with Rudy and with Max.  A very close runner-up that is also WWII based is The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne and the friendship of Bruno and Shmuel. 

A Book that Actually Features Olympic Sports:  When I first created this list, I thought of The Book Thief for this category because Rudy idolized the great Olympian Jesse Owens.  But, the story of the friendships was much more important, so it went to the category above.  Then, I realized I had no rock bio in my list, and I read many rock bios.  In It's So Easy by Duff McKagan (bass player and founding member of Guns N Roses and other bands), he discusses at length the many tools he learned to fight addiction and excess.  One of the disciplines he practices is cycling. 

I've discussed almost all of these books in the past, but this was such a fun way to compile them in this post.  Won't you join in the Olympic Book Tag fun?  If you don't create your own post, then at least tell me at least one book for one category that you'd select.


12 comments:

  1. Interesting post, friend! And bless your heart (that mascara/Nightingale picture)!

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  2. Several of these have just made their way onto my to-read list. *Sigh*. Seriously though, great choices!

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  3. Yay for the Olympic book tag! I have read none of these, so I can't compare, but I'm still glad you did it. It's so fun! And lol at your dripping mascara picture!!! I cry so easily these days, I'm sure I'd have a few of those if I ever thought to document it.

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  4. this is the coolest idea for a book tag post. fun way to tie in the games. i think i found some i need to read. and is it weird that i like books that make me cry? i guess i just appreciate writing that can make someone have that kind of pull

    xoxo cheshire kat

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  5. I so cant wait for All the Bright Places movie!!!!
    Ahhh - the smeared mascara... sign of a perfect book.

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  6. I thought about doing this but I don't feel like I'm enough of a reader to have books for each category. Everyone that's filled this out always have "What I Read" posts with +140 books, lol! I'll keep it in the back of my mind. I added lots of TBR books to GoodReads, though, thanks to your list!

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  7. I laughed when I saw this post because mine is scheduled for this Thursday. :) Out of the Easy sounds fantastic and I'm adding it to my TBR. And I did not get 50 Shades of Grey either. I even tried twice and never even made to the sexy parts because everyone annoyed the piss out of me.

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  8. Several of these books: All the Bright Places, Book Thief, The Cartel...are on my TBR. Loved loved loved The Nightingale. And I cant remember if I have Pokey Little Puppy for my baby or not already. I need to check and correct if I dont!

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  9. Yea, I wasn't one for 50 Shades either. I read the first two but have not even touched the third one...I have it but I have WAY too many books to read before I'd think about picking that one up. :\

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  10. Ooh now looking forward to Out of the Easy and All The Bright Places even more... So good! :) Just added summertime to my TBR sounds really interesting. I like this tag, it's super fun. I have not read any of the 50 Shades... I'm not in any hurry... I don't know that I'd care for it, but I suppose I haven't entirely ruled it out either. I'm pretty MEH and there are PLENTY of awesome books that I KNOW I want to read. :) XO - Alexandra

    Simply Alexandra: My Favorite Things

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  11. out of the easy is on my list and that first paragraph has me hooked as well!
    all the bright places.. still can't believe i haven't read that! it's on the list.
    oh is sydney a girl in maybe, someday? i don't think i've ever read a love triangle that had 2 girls instead of 2 guys... that sounds weird, but you know? it's definitely not as common (in the books i read).
    you made it 49 pages more than me in 50 shades of grey. i got 1 page. did you see the movie?
    awwwww The Poky Little Puppy <3 little golden books are the best!
    this tag is so fun and i love seeing what people pick.

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  12. our mutual friend would OWN half these categories... but i'll work on this today... how do i get the pictures?

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