Instead of sharing another book review, I wanted to change things up a little for today's post! While reading other book blogs I found this book tag on Lauren's Boookshelf. I really enjoyed reading her answers so I thought it was a fun idea to fill it in myself. Even though we are already way over the middle of the year, I hope you still enjoy reading my answers.
1. Best book you've read
At the beginning of the year, I have reread a lot of books that I loved when I was in secondary school. From the books that I read for the first time, I loved Normal People by Sally Rooney and House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas the most.
Both are novels in very different genres, but I liked them because they both got to me in some way. Rooney let me think about the modern world and relationships. Besides that, I really enjoyed her style of writing. Sarah J. Maas just always seems to get me to tears and that was also the case here. Besides that, I completely lost track of time and the world around while reading her book. To me, that is a sign that I really enjoy a novel. She left me heartbroken and in need of the sequel when I finished the book. I am still counting down the days.
2. Best sequel you've read
I finished The Cruel Prince by Holly Black at the end of last year, and The Wicked King just after new year. I enjoyed both books and thought that The Wicked King was a very strong sequel. In the meantime I have also read the last book of the series The Queen of Nothing, I loved that book too. Black just writes stories filled with plot twists and most of them I didn't see coming which is so fun! I also really enjoyed the character growth Jude went through in The Wicked King, and of course the romantic tension between Cardan and Jude. I would recommend this series to all fantasy lovers because I am sure that you will like it.
3. New release you haven't read but want to
I don't really know what I want to read the book so badly, but something about the novel I killed Zoe Spanos by Kit Frick really speaks to me. This one is still high up my to-read list. Besides this novel, there are of course many other books that I want to read even though they weren't published this year. For example, Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin, Emma by Jane Austen and Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. I am slowly working my way through this list but I keep adding new books to it. It is a never-ending cycle.
4. Biggest disappointment
So I am a massive fan of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, but I was really disappointed by her newest book in that world: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (review coming soon). I disliked the main character Coriolanus, a name that I still do not know how to pronounce, and I just didn't like the story. To find out the origin of some of the songs in The Hunger Games was fun, and reading the writing of Suzanne Collins left me wanting to reread The Hunger Games series, still, I did not enjoy reading this book. Over the course of the book, I could less and less ... myself with Coriolanus and I eventually thought that he was just being bad for the sake of being bad. I missed his motivations. No, this book just wasn't it for me.
5. Biggest surprise
During this year I participated in a book exchange with a few friends from university. I was send the novel In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park. Personally, I do not have much knowledge about Korea and especially not North Korea so reading this book was eye-opening for me. Learning about the cruel world Yeonmi had experienced and her way to freedom was something I had never read before. I enjoyed reading her story and cried hard when her father died. The message of being grateful for my freedom got to me and I still cannot get my head around the fact that people in North Korea are still being 'brainwashed' on a massive scale. This book did truly expand my worldview.
6. Favourite new author
This is a hard one! I really cannot decide between Holly Black and Sally Rooney. Both are great authors and are writing in really different genres and I enjoyed both of their writing. I also think that both writers really add something new to their genre in the sense that they do not follow the common crowd. I really look up to Holly Black, she has written many books before these and I would love to read her other YA Fantasy series.
7. Newest fictional crush
Again a hard one... I cannot decide if I like Cardan (The Folk of the Air) or Hunt (House of Earth and Blood) better. Both have their charms and I really enjoyed reading about their personalities. Besides the question here maybe is wings or tails and I do not think that I need any of that tho. Hahah.
8. Newest favourite character
Here it is also between Maas and Black, they created such powerful and interesting characters that I cannot decide between Bryce and Jude. Bryce seems more like a badass to me, but I really enjoyed reading about her friendship with Danika. However, during the novel, we find out that Bryce is more than just a girl with a lot of arrogance. I think that that is why I like her. Jude on the otherwise I have seen grow up more. During the novels you see her character change and she becomes more confident with herself and the power she owns even though she is 'only' human. She is strong and finds herself during these books.
9. Book that made you cry
Okay so before I answer this, I am an easy crier, so that might be the reason why I cry during many books. Yet House of Earth and Blood, The Queen of Nothing and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows are on top of the list. When a book or a story touches me I think that it is a good novel. These all are. Often I also tend to cry when I have finished a series of books, just because it is over. I really get into the worlds that the writers create, sometimes it is hard to let them go. I think that other passionate readers can agree on this.
10. Book that made you happy
A book that hasn't made an appearance here so far is Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson. This is a standalone fantasy novel with fun characters and a good ending. Even though I wished there were more books in this world I felt happy after reading it. Rogerson gave me a novel that satisfied me and I enjoyed it a lot. Also, reading about books is just a perfect combination!
11. Favourite book to film adaptation
I think that one of my favourite book to film adaptations is The Hunger Games, after reading The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes I really wanted to see the films again. I think that Jennifer Lawrence plays the role of Katniss very well and I like how they have translated the book into films. All the characters are fun and I like the 'slow' pace the first film seems to have. But that just makes it more similar to the book. It doesn't just jump right into the action.
12. Favourite review you've written
This blog is still very young but so far I think that I like my review of The Queen of Nothing the most. Every post I write is better than the one before that and I just see this blog as a work in progress. I like writing long reviews so that is my goal, to make them more in dept and longer. But I have never really reviewed novels before so this is all experimentation for me. To see what works best, how I like to review, what parts of a novel I talk about. I am excited to see where I will be in a year, how my reviewing style has changed!
13. The most beautiful book you've bought
Not too long ago I bought the 2013 Collector's edition of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings series. I was on the search for beautiful editions of these books as Tolkien is one of my heroes and I wanted to do his stories 'justice'. So, I was browsing the internet for the books and I found a picture of this edition. Via a Dutch secondhand site, I was able to buy them and I have been so happy with this purchase! These books are very hard to find on the internet as they are not for sale anymore so this find was just pure luck. I have never spent so much money on books before but I just knew that if I didn't buy them I would regret it for the rest of my life. I am planning on keeping these for the rest of my life.
14. What do you want to read by the end of the year
Like I said earlier in this post, there are a lot of books still on my to-read list. But for the new releases coming out this year the novel How the king of Elfhame learned to hate stories by Holly Black is one of the books I still want to read this year. I am also planning on finishing The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings series this year just as The Witcher series and hopefully, I will have started Game of Thrones.
That was it for this post, I hope you all enjoyed reading it! Some questions were definitely hard to answer, I just have a too long tbr list. Not complaining though!
Keep reading,
Julia
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