Tuesday, July 12, 2016

Ten Book Facts About Me

Today I'm linking up with the girls over at The Broke and The Bookish to share ten facts about me, and since they're a book site, I figured it'd only be appropriate if these facts were book related.


  1. Book I wish I hadn't read yet so I could experience it again for the first time?  Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (read 05/31/2010).  This book opened up a whole new world of mystery to me.  There is a definite difference between a European mystery and an American mystery. Europeans seem to have more flawed (meaning more real) protagonists.  Look at BBC shows like Luther, Wallander, and Broadchurch.  I remember watching Wallander, and there's this episode where he shoots and kills a guy in self defense and it really tears him up.  In most American cop dramas/ mysteries the officer would have been placed on leave while the department sorted it out. Said officer would have demanded to be left on the case because they were so close to cracking it.  Boss would have refused. Said officer would have worked case on the sly with his police friends.  Solved it, and been begrudgingly praised for good work.  It's refreshing to see a more realistic, more human view.
  2. Book to read if you like dystopian fiction?  The Hand Maid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (read 08-14-2005)  Atwood is the queen of dystopian fiction.  This gem was written in 1985 but reads like something that could have come out today.
  3. Weirdest book I've read that was not intentionally weird?  Lambs of God by Marele Day (read 05-21-2013)  I can't believe this book has a rating of 3.69 on Goodreads!  It's a bizarre little story about three nuns who stay at a rundown, isolated monastery on an island, and the ambitious young priest who comes to relocate them.  They decide to pretty much hold him hostage, and while Goodreads describes it as "often hilarious" it was just too bizarre for me.  I kept plugging along, hoping it'd get better, but it didn't.
  4. Book that really needs to be made into a movie?  The Likeness by Tana French (read 03-11-2015)  I think all Tana French's books should be made into movies, but this one is my favorite.  I love Cassie Maddox and Frank Mackey and really think the write actors could nail this. 
  5. Second novel that just didn't do it for me?  Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger (read 12-31-2009)  I loved, loved, loved The Time Traveler's Wife but this book just didn't do it for me.  It was far to long for the story it told and it had a very unsatisfactory ending (in my opinion).  I never even looked to see if she wrote anything after Her Fearful Symmetry because it left such a bad taste in my mouth.
  6. Book I was surprised I liked as much as I did.  The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (read 02-19-2013)  One of the CNAs at the hospital, who was old enough to be my mother, insisted I had to read them.  I kind of turned my nose up at them because they were "young adult" and past experiences with that genre hadn't exactly presented the type of books I would want to read, but she brought them in anyway, and I started them out of obligation, but fell in love with Katniss and Peeta pretty quickly.  
  7. Book I was surprised I liked as little as I did.  Mr Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan (read 09-22-1015) I had high hopes for this one.  I was so excited when I found it at the used bookstore and it's got a healthy 3.75 rating on Goodreads, but it just didn't cut it.  I was hoping for something more like daring adventure about books, instead I got this which I feel like someone obsessed with Google and computer programming wrote. 
  8. Longest book I've read.  The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (read 06-12-2006)  This hardcover clocks in at 642 pages, and it presented quite the ride.  It's a Dracula hunting, hopscotch across Europe set in the 1970s.  I thought it was great fun, even if it did take a little bit to get into.
  9. Most depressing read.  The Road by Cormac McCarthy (read 07-17-12)  If you think The Walking Dead is too cheerful, this is the book for you.  I have nothing but respect for the author.  His writing is great, you're sucked in, and you just keep waiting for something positive to happen, and it just doesn't, until maybe just at the end, but you have to wonder how long anyone is going to survive on the road.  
  10. Book I'd take with me to a deserted island, if I could only take one.  Selected Stories by O. Henry  This book is still on my to be read list, but I've read other collections of his and he can write tear jerkers, comedies, and little mysteries as well as anyone.  I think  could read this collection over and over again, without getting bored, until help arrives.
So what do you think?  Tell me what your answer would be to one of the questions above.   And, head over to the link up if you want to see all the posts. 

2 comments:

  1. I have only read one of these, the Hunger Games, as I mostly stick to YA but yes I have seen the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo movies, both the original series with subtitles and the American one. Very interesting.

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    1. I preferred the subtitled Swedish version, but if David Fincher got to finish the American ones, I would definitely watch them. :)

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