The Last 10 Book Tag | Tag Friday

Hello everyone,
I love book tags so I've decided to make it a regular occurrence on this here blog. Hence, Tag Thursday! YAY!!

Check out the creator's original tag video.

Presenting my last 10 books...

The last book you didn’t finish?

The Hot Shot by Kristen Callihan. It was one of my most anticipated books of 2017 and I one-clicked it as soon as it was released. I think I got to chapter 2 when I stopped because I had to read a bunch of review books, and I never went back to it. Months passed and I just lost interest--I still want to read it, especially every time I see it on my Kindle, but right now there are other books I want/need to read sooner.

The last book you re-read?

I don't reread very often, but I reread East by Edith Pattou about a week ago. I first read East back in high school, and it always left an impression on me.When I learned that the author was releasing a sequel over a decade after publishing East, I just had to reread it since it's been over ten years since I last read it.

The last book you bought?

Birthright by Nora Roberts. I bought the audiobook edition (with my Audible credit of the month--love Audible!) so that I can read the mass market and listen to the audiobook at the same time and it won't take me 1000 years to finish the book. I'm reading Birthright for one of my Romanceopoly challenge.

The last book you said you read but didn’t?
I am an elementary school librarian, but I'm not a huge middle grade reader. This is a BIG problem because I have to book talk A LOT of middle grade books often.

So, I skim the books and read a lot of reviews, and I can usually then get by talking about them to my students. I guess most of them just assume I read the books.

If a student does ask (one or two usually does) if I read the books I tell them the truth: that I haven't but I read enough of the book to know what the story is about and if they're worth recommending.

#librariantrick

The last book you wrote in the margins of?
East. I attempted to underline my favorite lines, details I liked, and some foreshadowing and doodle in the margins, but it was stalling my reading when all I wanted to do was keep reading.

I don't usually write in my books--not because I want to keep them nice and pristine, but because it makes me pause in my reading to do it when all I want to do is to keep going. And I find going back afterwards doesn't work because by then I'm thinking about a different part of the book.

I like the idea of writing in books as I'm reading, but I have to figure out a good system for it.

The last book you had signed?
In-person: Summer of Sloane by Erin L. Schneider back in 2016--the last time I attended the ALA Annual Conference.

Ordered: The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi from Owlcrate's January YA box.

The last book you lost?
I'm very good at keeping track of my books. Also, I don't let others borrow my books--lesson learned after I let a few classmates and friends borrow my books and they come back either damaged or didn't come back at all. 😒

The last book you had to replace?

The Diviners by Libba Bray. I had a gorgeous first edition of the book sitting on my shelf for YEARS. 20s + paranormal? I thought I wasn't into it.

So, I traded it away.

Then, I listened to the audiobook of The Diviners--actually, all three books in the span of a week--and fell in love the series and just had to have physical copies of the books on my shelf. But, when I looked up The Diviners I found out that the covers had been changed and the new cover was not attractive at all.

So, I had to hunt down a copy of the hardcover edition I had before and find a copy that is in very good condition and isn't ridiculously priced. Thank God I did!

The last book you had an argument over?

I try to avoid all arguments because arguments (whether I'm in it or merely witnessing it) give me really bad anxiety. But, my mom and I had a little tiff over Luck Be a Lady by Meredith Duran a while back.

My mom is a voracious romance reader like myself and she borrows my books all the time. I recommended she read Luck Be a Lady, which I loved! Meredith Duran is one of my favorite historical romance authors and IMHO one of the best historical romance writers ever. But, my mom DNF'd Luck Be a Lady and called it boring!

I tried to set her straight about the amazingness that is a Meredith Duran book, the historical detail she infuses in her stories, the complicated, multi-dimensional characters, the gorgeous writing, how she takes cliched tropes and makes it her own, etc. to no avail.

She said she found the writing style too "wordy" and the pacing too slow. WHAT??

The last book you couldn’t get hold of? 

I want the hardcover UK edition of The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden, but I believe it's out of print and people are selling it for outrageous prices. The cover is absolutely GORGEOUS, though, and I want it so that I can have the entire series in the UK hardback edition.

Happy reading,
Michelle