One of my personal goals for my blog this year is to engage a bit more in the bookish community, so when Beth from BooksNest (both her blog and instagram name) created the "I Should Have Read That" tag I knew it was something I'd enjoy doing.
I'm not normally one for feeling guilty over unread books, but there are a few on my TBR pile (both literal and mental) that are causing me to squirm, so this was a good opportunity for me to pull these books out and remind myself why I was so excited about them in the first place!
A book that a friend is always telling you to read
What Belongs to You by Garth Greenwell - My dear friend Kieran loves this novel, and even though I was sent a review copy of the paperback I still haven't picked it up! Bad blogger and bad friend... Pretty shocking. I ended up giving the paperback away to a friend, but found the gorgeous hardback in my local Oxfam bookshop for pennies and decided to give it another shot. I will get to it one day. I will!
Hag Seed by Margaret Atwood - I love Margaret Atwood and I love Shakespeare, so Atwood's retelling of The Tempest should have been a book I opened the second I got it out of the bookstore. However, I bought it at an incredibly busy time in my life, I was moving to the other end of the country and starting a degree, and so it's ended up sat on my shelves waiting and I need to finally give it the attention it deserves
A book in a series you've started, but haven't gotten around to finishing
Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers - The Wayfarer series is one of the most beautiful series I have ever read. A breathtaking space opera, full of imagination and with so much warmth and heart. My boyfriend got me the third instalment for my birthday this year... and I haven't so much as cracked it open yet. I don't know why I'm dragging my feet, but the wait after I read the second novel was excruciating, so maybe I'm trying to put it off because I don't know if there'll be another one, and if there is I don't know how long it will be before I get my hands on it.
A Classic you've always liked the sound of, but haven't actually read
Any fiction by Virginia Woolf - A Room of One's Own was truly a formative book in my reading life. It came at a time when I was very lost and vulnerable, and made me fall in love with the crystalline beauty of women's art and writing, and appreciate how much I could offer the world if I began to value my creativity. Yet I haven't read any of Woolf's own fiction. Orlando seems like the most appealing to me, so that is probably where I'll start.
A popular book it seems like everyone but you has read
My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent* - Yet another review copy that's been sat on my shelves for an embarrassingly long time. In my defence I received this around the time I was reading Foxlowe and Our Endless Numbered Days, both of which are similar stories of young women growing up in cultish environments, and I wasn't really feeling yet another one. That was over a year ago now though, so my excuses have long since dried up, and I keep hearing wonderful things!
A book that inspired a film or TV adaptation that you really love but you haven't read yet
The Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo - I know poor old Marie has been highly misrepresented in the bookish community recently, but having actually watched her Netflix show I adore her philosophy of conscious ownership of our possessions, and only keeping things that we truly need and want. I actually owned her book a long time ago, but didn't read it very carefully, and ended up giving it away. I regret that now, and am tempted to buy another copy so I can absorb her ideas more thoroughly.
A book you see all over Instagram but haven't picked up yet
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon - The main reason I haven't picked this up is because it isn't out yet! It's released on the 26th of February, and is a standalone fantasy full of awesome female characters, wars, magic, and (i think) dragons! The second it hits my local Waterstones I'll be swooping in and getting my hands on them.
Definitely give this tag a try if you're like me and tend to let books you were incredibly excited to read fall by the wayside. It was a great opportunity to revisit some of the books that I wanted to read a while ago but have forgotten about, and get excited for them again!
Let me know if you've read any of these, and feel free to do Beth's tag yourself!
Thanks for reading!
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Some fab choices! Thank you so much for taking part!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Beth! Glad you approve :D
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