Life, oh life | Life in Books tag

After the creamy fun of last week’s tag, it’s time to sit down and get serious for a moment. Some of you have been with me from the very start of this blog – muchas gracias for that – and others have just recently joined my posse – a very hearty welcome to you! But whether you’ve been with me for 14 months or 14 days, since your numbers have been steadily rising I figured it’s time to bare my soul to you.
A while ago, Joey tagged me for the Life In Books tag. A big thank you for that, J. After this, you’ll know me inside out, so let’s sit down and dig into my deeper thoughts and feelings.

Find a book for each of your initials.
So, my real initials are JV. Last month, we had a challenge at book club where we had to read an author who shared our initials and I had a lot of trouble finding an author with those initials that I wanted to read. Apparently, I don’t own a lot of books whose title starts with a J either. So for this one, I’ll go with Jarka Ruus by Terry Brooks. I have yet to read this book – in fact, I have to read any Terry Brooks even though I own most (all?) of his books. It’s just one of those series that I always intended to read and collected over the years, but never got to. Soon, perhaps. With the TV series, I am slightly more motivated to get started.
For V, I’m going with Voyage Of The Basilisk by Marie Brennan. Unlike Terry Brooks, I have read this series up till this one. Actually, I got the fourth one this weekend so I’ll be starting that one perhaps near the end of the month or so. I had a lot more possibilities for the letter V, but I chose this one cause it was one of last year’s biggest surprises. I didn’t know what to expect, but it turned out to be a very well-written, amusing and thoughtprovoking series. Think Downton Abbey but with dragons and traveling.

Count your age along your bookshelf. Which book is it?
Let’s start with the question, which shelf? Do I have to pick one from the bookcase with the pretty books downstairs? Or from the YA-case in the study? Or from the thriller-case or one of the two fantasy-cases there? Or from the bedroom shelves? And what about the books in the attic?
With 8 Ikea-Billy’s and another one divided over the different rooms and books in boxes in the attic, I’m not going to start looking up every 27th book there is to find. Let me tell you that they are all amazing and must-reads!

Pick a book that represents a destination you would love to travel to?
This is quite the impossible question, cause there are a lot of places in books that I would want to go to – preferably after all the conflict from the books has been resolved, thank you very much. But can I go all-out crazy? Then I would love to take a trip to Discworld. Man, I have yet to discover a whole lot of this world, but from what I’ve read, it sure promises to be an amazing trip. Of course, I would do a city trip to Ankh-Morpork, but all the other crazy places there are sure well-deserving of a visit.
Sure, when I come back the normality of mundane life would be boring as hell, but if you’ve seen Discworld, I think you’ve seen it all.

Pick a book that’s your favourite colour?

Which book do you have the fondest memories of?
Can you guess? My fondest memories are of Harry Potter, for all the reasons I’ve mentioned before. It was Harry that propelled me headfirst into Reading, capital R. It was Rowling who was there when I was going through my teens and provided a place to find refuge from reality in Hogwarts. Even now, I reread the series every other year and reading them now brings back so many memories. Memories of reading till I fell asleep, completely exhausted in the middle of the night. Memories of going to the movies with my dad and brother. Memories of when life was, simpler.

Which book did you have the most difficult reading?
Of all the books I’ve finished, I think I had the most difficulty with Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. This book was a bookclub pick of the month and luckily I went to get it from the library instead of buying it, cause I just could not get into it. The idea behind it was great, but I had no connection with any of the characters and the plot just did not grab me at any moment.
Funny enough, when I’m writing this, I see flashes of the different storylines like I imagined them back when I read it in 2010. In fact, I can tell you where I’ve been reading this book. On the terrace and in the garden at my parents’ – my brain is weird like that, I can give you the silliest details of things long gone by, but I tend to forget important stuff..

Which book in yoru TBR pile will give you the biggest sense of accomplishment when you finish it?
First and foremost, I would consider it an achievement to have read The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson. Seriously, I am not easily intimidated by books and Sanderson is a brilliant writer, but The Way Of Kings and Words Of Radiance are intimidating. Part of me is scared, but part of me is also thrilled in knowing that there will be eight books like this to come in the next fifteen years or so. Sometimes, life is golden.
Another daunting series is the Malazan Book Of The Fallen by Steven Erikson. I think the least amount of pages in this 10-books series is about 600 pages and most of the books can be used as a lethal weapon if thrown with just a little over average force. I have heard a lot of great things, but this series also seems like a very complex one. The day I finish it, I’ll throw a party.

Last but not least, any Mark Z. Danielewski, but more specifically The Familiar. These books are hella pretty and I orgasm just by flipping through them, but a planned 27-books series where each book is 800 pages and written like that?! Challenge accepted. Another party in the making when I’m retired.

So, my friends, I feel like you all got to know me so well today. It’s like I have no more secrets for you. At least until there is another tag like this and we can have another serious sit-down.
Time to share your life with all of us Ana, Anna, Analee, RedheadedBooklover, Panda, Alyssa, Angie, Annemieke, Jess, Catia, Jesse, Nya, Kacie, CW, Bookkeeper’s Secret, Becca, Becca, Intro To Blurb, Codie, Chloe, Cori, Chelsie, Cinderzena, Drew, Lily, Proxyfish, Elza, Jolien, Mark, Betty, Gel, Emma, Michelle, Jonas, Melissa, Aentee and Kat.
If you have already done this tag or don’t feel like doing it, just ignore this and there won’t be any bad blood between us.