Tag: 90s Kid Book Tag

Thanks so much to Erin @ Undercover Binge Reader for tagging me! As soon as I saw the pingback, I said (out loud), “Oh, this one is going to be perfect.” I am such a 90s kid that it’s maybe a little embarrassing. I’m about to have way too much fun with this tag. Prepare yourself.

Rules:

1. Link back to the creator The Literary Phoenix to show her some love as a thank you!
2. Freeze tag was all the rage in the 90s. Tag people you think would have fun with this!
3. Have fun getting all nostalgic!

 

Pokemon: Gotta Catch ‘Em All!
The author you need every book from.

Let’s see… definitely Krista & Becca Ritchie. I’ve read everything they’ve ever written plus their web series. I’ve also read everything that Huntley Fitzpatrick has ever written. I’m currently working on reading everything R.S. Grey has ever written, but she also releases new books so quickly, so I’m always behind!

AIM 
Book that connected you with your best friend.

First, let me just say that I had flashbacks to my friend’s basement in like 2003 just from that screenshot. Because we were super cool teenagers, the thing we did on Friday nights was chat with our crushes on AIM, which mostly consisted of “what’s up” followed by approximately three seconds of awkward conversation and then silence. We were amazing at everything, what can I say.

But anyway, a book that connected me with my best friend! The book that always comes to mind is A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray because my best friend was, at the time we read it, living in Maine! We kept in touch pretty well (I remember my mom getting so mad at me over the long distance phone bill one month because that’s how old I am) and we’d write each other about what we were reading. She wrote me a letter about that one, so I checked it out from the library and I loved it! I’m very happy that her time in Maine was short-lived, but we had a ton of fun sending those letters back and forth.

Furby
Book that seemed like a good idea but was actually a monster.

First, a long-winded story about Furbies. My mom actually told me, back in like 1998, that I would never be allowed to have a Furby. She thought they were creepy and overpriced and that they were government spies, or something. Anyway, my best friend at the time was this girl named Stephanie, and Stephanie and her parents went on a vacation to Florida and asked me to stop in every night to check on their cat. (Side note, I still remember that the cat’s name was Tiger Lily, because apparently I am such a crazy cat lady that I even remember felines that I haven’t seen in 20 years.) I faithfully went to check in on the cat every night (not that I needed much convincing) and was rewarded with a brand-new Furby as a thank you gift when they returned. As I recall, my mom was not particularly thrilled. I was SO EXCITED. SO EXCITED. Then this creature started waking up in the middle of the night and randomly talking to me. TERRIFYING. I put the Furby in my dresser. Muffled talking. I put the Furby in my closet. Muffled talking. I popped the Furby’s batteries out and put it in the attic. I don’t know what ever happened to it.

But anyway, All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. Also, Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk, Allegiant by Veronica Roth, and any other book I’ve ever rated one star.

N*SYNC
Book you hated to say Bye, Bye, Bye to.

There are an awful lot of books that would fit this prompt, but most recently, The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater.

Slimed!
A book everyone loved but you hated.

Can I go with All the Bright Places again? Also, I absolutely despised Boarded by Love by Toni Aleo and it somehow has a 4.07 average on Goodreads? (Here’s my review, which is one of my favorite things I’ve ever written.) Or City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare, which was an actual mess (in my humble opinion) and has somehow gotten itself an average of 4.15 on Goodreads.

Oregon Trail
A book that made you wish you died of dysentery.

Distrust by T.L. Smith. No contest. Also, Oregon Trail day in computer class was always the best thing ever.

Mixtape/CD
3 books you recommend to anyone, anywhere, no matter what

This is a very hard question! I know that the kind of books I usually love really don’t have widespread appeal, so let me go with some books I’ve loved that I could probably recommend to my best friend, my mom, and my boss:

• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
• Room by Emma Donoghue
• Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

Dial-up Internet
A book that took FOR FREAKING EVER to read.

The book that took me the longest to read is The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker, which I started on November 2, 2013 and finished on May 11, 2014. Fun fact, I probably only finished it because I took it to jury duty with me one time. It’s not a bad book and I’m obviously really interested in linguistics (I have a degree in it, after all) but there was just something about it that made it really difficult to finish.

Kenan Thompson
The book you see referenced everywhere and is in everything, but that’s okay because it’s awesome.

The obvious choice is Harry Potter because of course it’s referenced everywhere and in everything. I can’t think of any other books that fit the prompt!

Heads Up, Seven Up
Book where you peeked just REAL quick at the ending because you don’t like guessing games.

I actually don’t do this! I never want to know how a book ends until I actually get there myself.

Dunkaroos
Your ideal bookish snack. 

I so rarely eat (or drink) while reading because I am a disaster and I’ll probably end up ruining the book. (Or my Kindle.) If I have a few extra minutes, though, sometimes I’ll read while I have my morning coffee. I don’t think I’ve eaten anything while reading since I was in college.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
A book that kept you up all night. 

Maybe The Abyss Beyond Dreams by Peter F. Hamilton? First of all, it’s very good, but second of all, I had a dream that the fallers were real and it was terrifying so I was literally awake for the rest of the night because of it.

Bill Nye the Science Guy
A book that taught you something new

I’ve been making an effort to read more non-fiction this year, so I’ve definitely learned things. Most recently would probably be How Democracies Die.

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I’m not sure who’s done this one and who hasn’t and I also have no concept of how old most people on the internet are, so I’m tagging anybody who’s a little nostalgic for the 90s! If you decide to do the tag, please link back to this post so I can see your answers. ❤

Top Ten Tuesday: Books with sensory memories

Happy Top Ten Tuesday! Today’s theme was submitted by Jessica at A Cocoon of Books. It’s an interesting and unique theme: books with sensory reading memories (where I was, what time of year it was, who I was with, what I was eating, etc.) At first, I thought I’d have trouble with this theme, but then the memories just started rolling in.

• Honestly, I remember little to nothing about What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonya Sones. I read it in the summer after seventh grade (2003) and Far Away by Staind was super popular. I remember that it came on the radio while I was reading and now every time I hear that song, I think about this book.
• I remember that it was hot as all heck when I read Beauty Queens by Libba Bray.
• I read Room by Emma Donoghue in an airport when I arrived five hours early for my flight because I am an anxious person and for some reason, I was just convinced that the plane was going to leave without me.

• I read The Help by Kathryn Stockett in an airport amid a blizzard as my flight was delayed one hour… then two hours… then three hours… then four hours…
• Some backstory: back in 2013, I lived in a more or less abandoned area of town in a huge house that had been converted into multiple apartments. The house was actually pretty nice but it had five doors. As I mentioned, I am an incredibly anxious person and was therefore always checking to make sure all five doors were locked. It didn’t help that this apartment was like a quarter mile from this super seedy motel where actual murders had happened. My boyfriend had to go to New Mexico for like two months for work and I made the brilliant decision to read Gone Girl while alone in the house.
• I read Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher on the last shift of my last college job. RIP jobs that paid me to read. I did not take advantage of it nearly enough.

• I read Lovers Like Us by Krista & Becca Ritchie in the guest room of my mom’s house and felt suuuuper awkward about it.
• I read The Fault in Our Stars by John Green right after my boyfriend moved halfway across the country. Honestly, it was probably not the ideal time to read a sad book like that because I remember sobbing like crazy. I don’t usually cry when reading!
• In 2011, I had a job that I absolutely loved tutoring high school kids after school. I made a lot of really great friends and I hope that I made a difference in those kids’ lives. I was in my senior year of college and it was our spring break when I read the entire Hunger Games trilogy over the course of a weekend (plus Monday morning). I wasn’t really paying attention to the fact that it was not actually the kids’ spring break, so I went to the high school a total zombie. I told all my kids to read it.
• I was so excited when Infini by Krista & Becca Ritchie finally came out. It’s probably my favorite book that they’ve ever written and Luka is one of my all-time favorite characters. I was anticipating it so much that I considered taking a day off work to read it. I ended up not doing that because I couldn’t justify it, but then I woke up with a horrible cold the morning after it came out. I never get sick! I ended up taking a sick day and reading most of the book while trying (and generally failing) to breathe.

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Honestly, I could keep going! I have sensory memories about so many books, but I’ll stop here. Do you ever get transported right back to where you were, what was going on in your life, or the people you were with when you read a particular book?