March Book Madness! Day 24, My Life in Books Tag

Young Woman Reading by Richard Boyer

An original Book tag by Elaine Howlin, I found this tag on library looter‘s blog. Since I have limited time on my hands currently, I’ve been doing more book tags. This particular tag is quick, easy, and fun! I always put links for the authors and books so feel free to click on the provided links if any seem interesting.

Let’s get started.

Find a book for each of your initials

A- As You Are by Sarah M. Eden

E- Even This: Getting to the Place Where You Can Trust God with Anything by Emily Belle Freeman

M- The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

Count your age along your bookshelf: What book do you land on?

Pseudonymous Bosch‘s The Name of This Book Is Secret (2007)

SInce all my books are packed away, I went through a library catalog of my books on my phone! Since I am 30 years old, I stopped on this little trinket. It’s a fun book which I think fans of Trenton Lee Stewart‘s The Mysterious Benedict Society, or Lemony Snicket‘s A Series of Unfortunate Events would enjoy.

A book set in your city/country?

Rick Riordan‘s The Titan’s Curse (2007)

Funny story! Percy and his friends go to Cloudcroft, New Mexico. People probably would recognize it as the sad village in the mountains. Percy buys a plastic rat from someone because he feels sorry for them. So I lived there at the time I read this book! I still think its hilarious.

A book that represents a destination that you’d love to travel to?

Jennifer Deibel‘s A Dance in Donegal (2021)

I would love to travel to Ireland like Moira Doherty in this book! I have an extensive Irish ancestry. It is on my bucket list of places I want to see in my lifetime.

A book that’s your favourite colour?

Catherynne M. Valente‘s In the Cities of Coin and Spice (2007)

I love, love, love, love orange! This is one of the first books to pop in my mind with this color.

Which book do you have the fondest memories of?

Kate DiCamillo‘s The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (2006)

I’ve read this book multiple times throughout my life, and each reading is special to me. No matter how many times I experience this story it remains memorable and heartwarming.

Which book did you have the most difficulty reading?

Fyodor Dostoyevsky‘s Crime and Punishment (1866) (In Russian)

I’ve picked my way through several Russian novels but Crime and Punishment is by far the hardest I’ve attempted. I have yet to finish this book completely.

Which book on your TBR will give you the most satisfaction to finish?

Geoffrey Chaucer‘s The Canterbury Tales (1400)

Ever since my European tour in 2013, I’ve wanted to read this book. I finished it once upon a time as a teenager and hated it. However, I learned the history behind this classic collection and realized I had read it with the wrong mindset. I would love to dive back into this novel to understand the archetypes Chaucer tried to depict.

Thank you for reading! Spread this tag around! See you tomorrow.

March Book Madness! Day 23, The Fellowship of the Ring Book Tag!

March Book Madness! Day 25, Do you love books more than people?

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March Book Madness! Day 22, A Book For Each of My Initials

“Mom and Child” Carlton Alfred Smith

Fun little book post today! Here is a book for each initial of my name. I got this idea from One Book More.

A– Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War (2004) by Clive Barker (5/5)

A wonderful, and magical sequel for Abarat.

All things in their time . . .

Candy Quackenbush’s adventures in the Abarat are getting stranger by the hour. Why has the Lord of Midnight sent his henchman after her? Why can she suddenly speak words of magic? Why is this world familiar?

Candy and her companions must solve the mystery of her past before the forces of Night and Day clash and Absolute Midnight descends upon the islands.

A final war is about to begin. . . .

Goodreads Overview

U- Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption (2010) by Laura Hillenbrand (TBR)

I saw the movie but would like to watch the movie for a deeper perspective.

On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War.

The lieutenant’s name was Louis Zamperini. In boyhood, he’d been a cunning and incorrigible delinquent, breaking into houses, brawling, and fleeing his home to ride the rails. As a teenager, he had channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics and within sight of the four-minute mile. But when war had come, the athlete had become an airman, embarking on a journey that led to his doomed flight, a tiny raft, and a drift into the unknown.

Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will.

Goodreads Overview

B- The Big Sleep (1939) by Raymond Chandler (3/5)

An interesting mystery, but I didn’t like the main character AT ALL.

Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid….He is the hero; he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man.

This is the Code of the Private Eye as defined by Raymond Chandler in his 1944 essay ‘The Simple Act of Murder.’ Such a man was Philip Marlowe, private eye, an educated, heroic, streetwise, rugged individualist and the hero of Chandler’s first novel, The Big Sleep. This work established Chandler as the master of the ‘hard-boiled’ detective novel, and his articulate and literary style of writing won him a large audience, which ranged from the man in the street to the most sophisticated intellectual.

Goodreads Overview

R- Reilly’s Luck (1970) by Louis L’Amour (5/5)

A fascinating testimony on what it means to be a truly successful and virtuous man.

Val Darrant was just four years old the snowy night his mother abandoned him. But instead of meeting a lonely death, he met Will Reilly-a gentleman, a gambler, and a worldly, self-taught scholar. For ten years the each were all the family the other had, traveling from dusty American boomtowns to the cities of Europe-until the day Reilly’s luck ran out in a roar of gunfire.

But it wasn’t a gambling brawl or a pack of thieves that sealed Will’s fate. It was a far more complex story that Val would uncover, one that touched upon Val’s nearly forgotten childhood, the woman who was Will Reilly’s lost love, and the future of a growing country. In the meantime, Val would make sure no one forgot Will-least of all the men who killed him. But he need not have worried, for Will’s enemies were now his own….

Goodreads Overview

E- Edenbrooke (2012) by Julianne Donaldson (5/5)

A fantastic romance that kept me at the edge of my seat.

Marianne Daventry will do anything to escape the boredom of Bath and the amorous attentions of an unwanted suitor. So when an invitation arrives from her twin sister, Cecily, to join her at a sprawling country estate, she jumps at the chance. Thinking she’ll be able to relax and enjoy her beloved English countryside while her sister snags the handsome heir of Edenbrooke, Marianne finds that even the best laid plans can go awry.

From a terrifying run-in with a highwayman to a seemingly harmless flirtation, Marianne finds herself embroiled in an unexpected adventure filled with enough romance and intrigue to keep her mind racing. Will Marianne be able to rein in her traitorous heart, or will a mysterious stranger sweep her off her feet? Fate had something other than a relaxing summer in mind when it sent Marianne to Edenbrooke.

Goodreads Overview

Y- You Are Special (1997) by Max Lucado

A charming picture book on loving yourself and creating a personal relationship with God.

Max was interested in helping children understand their value – not from the world’s perspective, but from God’s. Wemmicksville is a land created by Eli, the “God” figure of the story. He creates each Wemmick in Wemmicksville uniquely, each with its own look and personality. Each story and video is a new adventure with the citizens of Wemmicksville. Punchinello is the central character, along with his friends Lucia, Splint, and Chip. When Punchinello strays from Eli, he begins to have problems. Only when Punchinello stays close to Eli does he clearly see how to walk through his life in Wemmicksville.

In this heartwarming tale, Eli helps Punchinello understand how special he is-no matter what other Wemmicks may think. Children will learn a vital lesson-regardless of how the world sees them, God loves each of them just as they are.

Goodreads Overview

Thank you for reading! See you tomorrow.

March Book Madness! Day 21, Piers Torday’s The Last Wild 5/5

March Book Madness! Day 23, The Fellowship of the Ring Book Tag!

Feel free to donate! Anything is appreciated.