The Estellosaurus Book Tag

Hello people of the internet! Long time, no speak! That saying perfectly reflects the relationship I have with this little blog of mine right now :D People are saying this is the time that we should all be throwing ourselves wholeheartedly into our hobbies, and that may be the case for those whose lives are usually tied up by work or other social/family obligations. However, I live with chronic illnesses, and the majority of these are mental health conditions that seriously impact my ability to engage in most aspects of social interaction. Thus, I am unable to work, so the social distancing life which has taken over most of our lives is pretty much my everyday existence. I struggle to partake in my hobbies at the best of times and it's not as simple, for me, to just suddenly become super engaged in my hobbies as it probably is for those who aren't disabled. It is hard trying to not take to heart all of the pressure to do ALL THE THINGS during the lockdown! 

I've been trying to motivate myself to blog for days (weeks even!), so it was just wonderful timing for my fabulous friend Estelle to tag me in a Book Tag she's just created! So, this post is for my fellow bookish people :) I hope you all enjoy reading! I can't promise my answers will be very interesting though. You have been warned XD 

Welcome to the Estellosaurus Reads Book Tag! Here are the rules: 

1. Copy and paste the rules and sentence above. Answer the questions. Duh.

2. Thank the person who tagged you, don't forget to link to their original post/answers,

3. Tag 2 new people to take part,

4. Use #EstellosaurusReads if you share your post anywhere!

5. Have a nice cup of tea.

Thankyou so much for the tag, Estelle! And I have myself a cuppa at the ready as I type out my answers :) 

Q1) What are you reading at the moment, if you aren't reading, what have you just finished? 

I am currently reading Everything's Eventual by Stephen King. It is a collection of short stories and my favourites so far have been The Little Sisters of Eluria, and Autopsy Room Four. I'm going to explain a bit about each briefly, so subtle spoiler alert! 

Autopsy Room Four is all about a man who finds himself in an autopsy room, and soon realises that he is unable to move and is presumed to be dead. I'll let you guys use your imagination :O The Little Sisters of Eluria is much less intense but still centres around spooky goings-on. Obviously, it's written by Stephen King :D But anyhow, it's a futuristic tale about a cult of strange nurses and patients that keep disappearing. I don't usually read many short stories and I'm really enjoying this book, so I'll definitely read more :) 

Q2) What book does everyone love that you just don't get?

Last year, I finally got around to reading some old classics that have been loved for years and years, and are deemed to be literary masterpieces in one way or another, and although I could see why they are so acclaimed, especially at the time they were published... I just didn't enjoy some of them like I thought I was going to. 

One of these was The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. I wasn't a huge fan of the writing style and found it pretty tough to get through because of it, and the fact that I wasn't engaged by the storyline at all. I found the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, to be very annoying and I think that was maybe the point, but oh my gosh, did it make it difficult to get through the entire book! I didn't care about what happened to him, and I had to force myself to keep going, almost giving up several times. Those of you who have read The Catcher in the Rye, what did you think? 

Q3) What book or book series deserves its very own Netflix (other streaming sites are available) series?

Ooo this is such a tough question, because there's so many! I'd love to see a series made for the Marauder's 'era' of the Harry Potter novels, about all of the adult characters as teens at Hogwarts. Another book that I read last year was Tess Gerritsen's The Bone Garden (which was very kindly lent to me by Estelle, as was the Part of Your World book in my photo above! You're a star!!) and all the way through reading it, I couldn't stop thinking 'this would be good as a movie!', but I much prefer TV series because so much more detail and character development can go into them VS movies. So I'd love to see that adapted on film in some way, too :) 

Q4) Is there a book that you just could not finish? Why? 

There have been many books that I have not finished and to be honest, it wasn't because I didn't enjoy them, but more because of the state of my mental health at the time that I picked up the book. I love books, I thoroughly adore getting lost between the pages and being transported to other worlds in my mind. However, over the years, I have had a strange relationship with reading (and with lots of other things I love to do), and it's taken me a while to get back to my old bookworm self. There are many books that I didn't finish that I will pick up again at some point. One being Cross Stitch by Diana Gabaldon, (aka Outlander).

But to answer the question correctly, one book that I could not, for the life of me, finish was Stephen King's The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordan. It's maybe somewhat due to the fact that I was a teenager when I tried to read it and the storyline just wasn't my cup of tea back then, but I really don't think it would be now either. My best friend lent it to me after she also tried and failed to read it. It didn't take me long to understand why! It's about a girl who gets lost in the woods, and I just found it so unengaging. Maybe the story would have gotten better, but I just couldn't make it past half way through the book. Oops! 

Q5) What book is your recommendation when someone asks you to suggest a good read?

All of my favourites. The Harry Potter novels (J.K. Rowling) , The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings book series (J.R.R. Tolkien) , The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood), A Little Princess (Frances Hodgson Burnett), to name a few :) 

Q6) Is there a book that you've read multiple times? Why do you keep going back to it? 

I have read each of the A Song of Ice & Fire novels by George R.R. Martin at least twice, some of them three times now, partly because they are so detailed and I feel like the second time you read them, you notice things that you didn't the first time around. Have you ever felt like that with any books before? And also because I love them! I am very much into the lore and very invested in the plot and several of the characters. I really enjoy the multi-character point of view through this book series, with each chapter being told from a different perspective. When I was deep into reading the books, I spent a lot of time when I wasn't actually turning pages, thinking about the world. George! We need the next book already! T_T 

Q7) Is there a book that you had to study at school that you would definitely never, ever read again?

Not at school, but when I was studying English Literature at college: The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald). I could have chosen this book to answer question two as well, because it's another one of those classic novels that people seem to love. It was still interesting to delve deep into the meaning and symbolism behind the plot, but I just didn't like any of the characters. They all irritated me in some way and I found myself not caring at all what became of them by the end of the novel. Sorry to all those Gatsby fans out there, but I never, ever want to pick up this book again! 

I was lucky in that, I actually enjoyed most of the books that I read during high school. For my GCSE's, we had to read Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Oh... actually, I take back my statement XD I don't ever want to read the play, An Inspector Calls (J.B. Priestly & John Scicluna) again for the rest of my life! Who's had the unfortune of reading it before?

Q8) Is there a book that stirs a memory for you of a point in your life?

The book that came to mind first when I read this question was Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. In my early teens is when I really discovered my love for Japan and all things related to the culture and history of this beautiful country. I was pretty obsessed to be honest (and still am to this day, haha!) and so I just loved learning as much as I could about Japan. I found the Memoirs of a Geisha book at my dad's house and immediately started reading it, and not long after that, my best friend surprised me for my birthday when the 2005 movie adaptation was released. Although there is a lot of controversy involving the author and Mineko Iwasaki, the real woman behind the story, this book always makes me think about those years of my life and for that I will always have fond feelings surrounding the book. 

Q9) Who is that one literary character you've like to punch in the face?

Dolores Umbridge! 

Q10) If you could re-write the ending of a book, which book would you pick and how would you change it? 

*spoilers* 

I need to stop myself keep returning to Harry Potter, but I'm a fangirl so I can't XD. I would make it so Professor Severus Snape had a cure for Nagini's attack, or someone came along and saved him :'( He is one of my favourite characters from the novels, and I was very unhappy about what happened to him in the end. Although, to be honest, I can see why J.K. Rowling made that decision. But no. 

I wouldn't really change any ending of the books I've read. I'm usually accepting of any ending the author decides upon, and if I don't like the ending, it's mostly due to the fact that I wasn't a fan of the overall story and I was hoping the ending would make it worth the effort of enduring the entire book! The last book I remember disliking the ending of was back in high school when I was reading Of Mice and Men. Like, did he really have to die? I mean it made sense, because of the views of society during the time period that the book was set in, but my poor heart. 

Oh my god though, if the ASOIAF novels end as rushed and thoughtless as the inspired HBO series, I'll be pissed! I don't mind a ruthless and somewhat unhappy ending for some characters, and I don't even mind some sort of plot-twist or shock factor scenerio, but bloody hell, that was a shitshow, after being so invested for years... but this is a book tag so I won't ramble on about that! But please let the final books that we are waiting ever so patiently for do justice to the story that we've all fallen in love with so much! 

So, those are all of my answers. Hopefully that wasn't too boring to read and that I did Estelle's tag justice! Estelle blogs over at Estellosaurus and also runs two Youtube channels; one is about disabled life and the other is dedicated to books! They are all brillaint and you totally need to go check them out :) In fact, if you are a fan of reading, then you definitely have to go watch this video. And join in with the #EstellosaurusReads Readathon ♥ I will be doing very soon. So, stay safe guys! Keep indoors and look after yourselves and your immunocompromised loved ones & neighbours! We will get through this shitty time together. I'll try to get another post up as soon as possible. Have the best week you can, under the current circumstances! 

Before I finish this post, I tag Jess from Little Piink Duck and Eleanor from MxrshmallowQueen to join in! 

Thankyou for reading! 

♥

What are you currently reading? 

What book are you planning to read next?

Please feel free to join in with this Book Tag and tag Estelle if you do! 

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