The Bookshelf Tour Tag // Original Tag

Last year, I was nominated for the Bookshelf Tag, and I had a lot of fun answering the questions. But recently I’ve been wanting to answer more bookshelf-related questions, so I decided to go ahead and create a tag of my own. Voila. 

A short but powerful book

SIX CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR

This isn’t a particularly happy story, or even one that made a whole lot of sense to people. But there’s also something deep and moving about it—in a painful, meaningless sort of way—and when it’s performed in theaters, it’s a great way to troll audiences. 

A good, long book

GONE WITH THE WIND

While GONE WITH THE WIND was not the easiest story to get through, mainly because Scarlett started to wear on me, it is also well-written and insightful. If you especially like sweeping historicals with selfish heroines and intrigue, then this book will be right up your alley. 

Favorite classic (on your shelf) 

DRACULA

I have a tiny obsession with books about vampires (you may have noticed this, if you've been following me on Goodreads), particularly books that deal with the morality issues surrounding vampirism. I think there’s a whole lot of room in this sub-genre for deep philosophical and metaphorical thought. But despite the many vampire stories I’ve devoured, DRACULA remains my favorite. 

A relatively obscure book

THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY

I haven’t read this book yet, but I’m hoping to within the next few months. My friend recommended it to me when we were shopping for used books, and since she has good taste in literature, I decided to buy a copy. Apparently it deals with a priest trying to find meaning behind the deaths of five people, which sounds like something right up my alley. 

An underrated book

IMAGINARY GIRLS

IMAGINARY GIRLS isn’t for everyone, as evinced by all the negative reviews out there, but I absolutely loved it, and I shall continue to thrust it in your faces until the end of time (or, you know, until you get super annoyed and leave). 

An overrated book

THE RETRIBUTION OF MARA DYER

I haven’t read many good reviews for this one, but it has a 4.17 star review on Goodreads. Unfortunately, I was rather disappointed by it, and only gave it two stars. *sad face* I just felt that it didn’t make for a strong trilogy conclusion. 

Most reread book

INKHEART

I think I’ve read this book at least ten times (although I’ve only read the copy I own once). 

Of all the books you own, how many have you not read? (An approximation will suffice.)

What an awful question. Who thought of it? Oh right, me. *nervous laugh* 

Since I don’t have all my books with me at the moment, I’ll just have to guesstimate that, out of the 600 or so books I own, I have yet to read about 300 of them. But while in some bookish circles having this many unread books is a mark of shame, I try to stay excited about this number because, if the apocalypse happened and I was never able to reach a bookstore again, I would still have a lot of new material to devour. 

A book you haven’t read

A TALE OF TWO CASTLES

I already asked how many books you haven’t read, I know. But now it’s time to get specific. Out of all the books languishing on your shelves, surely at least one sticks out to you. What book has been nagging you to read it for ages? I want to know. 

Mine is A TALE OF TWO CASTLES. I’ve owned it for about five or six years now, and my sister has even read it. I love the author, I love the idea of the story, and I’ve been wanting to pick it up forever. But for some reason, I just haven’t. Maybe this year I will bite the bullet. 

A short story collection 

A PLEASURE TO BURN

I’ve discussed some of my short story collections on this blog before, including A PLEASURE TO BURN. But I’m going to feature it again, because I can, and because you need to read it. (Pretty please.) It’s like extra-delicious, literary ice cream for your brain, but healthier. 

Enjoy that mental image.

A non-fiction book

THE PRINCE

I own two copies of this book because I love it so much. *eyebrows raise around the room* But before you judge me, let me just say that I don’t espouse Machiavelli’s views on government. I do, however, find them useful for writing villainous power figures. And if we’re talking disturbing political ideas and the lesser of two evils, let’s just say I prefer Machiavelli’s notions over Sir Thomas More’s suggestions in UTOPIA. But that’s a matter for another post. 

A book (physical copy, not the story itself) that has an interesting story behind it

HOLLOW CITY

You may recall a certain blog post where I talked about the day my pastor got stabbed. In it, I mentioned spilling coffee on one of my nicest books. To give you a little more detail, I had brought my really nice copy of HOLLOW CITY into church with me that Monday, because I was going to hang out there all day, and I needed something to read during my breaks from writing (my sister works at the church, so sometimes I write there, for a change of scenery). Something told me I shouldn’t bring HOLLOW CITY with me, because I was worried I would damage it somehow, but I really wanted to read it that day, and I am stubborn and often ignore the little warnings in my head (always to my detriment). 

Anyway, we had to evacuate the building after the stabbing because information was slow in coming and there was some concern that the man who attacked my pastor would show up at the church. In my hurry to get out, I had just grabbed up all my stuff, and I hadn’t made sure my book bag (with HOLLOW CITY in it) was safely on my shoulder. As I was speed-walking, it slipped down to my elbow, and when I reached to fix it, coffee splashed out of my thermos (this gross, Keurig coffee that I had decided not to drink and had been too lazy to dump out earlier, even though I had told myself that it was a spill hazard waiting to happen). 

Long story short, I tried to ignore the coffee stains on my book, because it’s just a book, and it’s just coffee, and all that. But I don’t deal well with damaged books on the best of days, and I especially didn’t like looking at the stains and remembering, every time I saw them, the awful way I felt that day. (To help you understand this, I already have PTSD, and needing to evacuate the building tapped into that. For more information, I refer you to this post.) I mentioned the stain to my sister, and she was super nice and bought me a new copy, just like that (and took my original copy off my hands for me). So this story has a happy ending, because my pastor is okay, and I don’t have to stare at the coffee stains and remember the hours when I wasn’t sure he was going to make it. 

I still haven’t read HOLLOW CITY yet, but I hope to tackle it soon. 

The moral of this story is three-fold. Keurig coffee is evil incarnate. Maybe don’t bring one of your nicest books with you when you’re going out. And I should really listen to the warning bells in my brain. 

And that’s it for the tag. Now for the nominees. Since this is an original tag, I’m just going to go ahead and name everyone I can think of (sorry in advance if I forget you—it’s nothing personal, just me being scatter-brained). If I’ve tagged you, and you don’t want to participate, that’s fine—you are by no means required to do this tag. Similarly, if I haven’t named you and you would like to participate, please do so and drop me a link in the comments so I can read your post. 

Aimee // Alexa // Alyssa // Ashley // Cait // Clara // Heather // Imogen // Katie // Opal // Rachael // R.M. Lutz // Tessa // TT // Victoria // Victoria

What about you, little coffee beans? Do you like the classics? Have you ever spilled coffee on a book?