25 Bookish Facts About Me

Published September 26, 2016 | By Laura

Sweet Valley High I’ve seen people do this tag on You Tube and it looked pretty fun so I thought I would give it a go. It’s the twenty five bookish facts about me. If you fancied doing this too, please do in the comments box below. I love tags like these. So here we go…..

Fact one: Despite all of the books I’ve read in my life so far, I can actually be quite a slow reader. It can take me quite a while to get through some books. It’s usually a sign that there is something about the book that I am not quite gelling with and that I am finding it hard going. Sometimes it’s because I keep falling asleep as I tend to read before bedtime.

Fact two: One of my favourite book series growing up was The Sweet Valley High series. I adored them and I think they are pretty much all I read for a good couple of years. I was very much an Elizabeth in that I loved writing and books but I wanted Jessica’s confidence. I loved the TV series too. Anyone now got the theme tune in their heads?
I am surprised I didn’t start writing Sweet Valley High fan fiction. I was so excited to get my hands on the new book in the series that came out a while ago. It was good to find out what happened to these characters I grew up with.

Fact three: I have many favourite characters from literature but I think one of my absolute favourites (because Harry Potter can’t be my answer for everything,) is Don Tillman. Don is the main character from The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion. Don doesn’t really do subtle but he is such an adorable man. His heart is in the right place. He has a lot of charm and is loveable. Despite the bluntness he displays sometimes, he is a very good man.

Penguin

Fact four: OK, so you know when I said that I can’t include Harry Potter in every answer and fact? Well, this one was unavoidable because the fictional world I want to visit is Hogwarts. I want to go to school and learn potions, transfiguration, charms and play Quidditch. OK, I am more likely to be in the crowd cheering having fallen off the broom too much to be able to play but it would be so cool.

Fact five: I am trying to write my first novel and have been for a while (and could if I got out of my own way.) It’s called The Back Up Plan and currently focuses on Carrie, Dylan and Sarah.

Fact six: The first book I read that made me go wow as I made my way through it was The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. I read it when I was sixteen and it made such an impact on me that even now, it is a book I still think about a lot. Whenever I hear The Day We Find Love by 911 and A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton (yes I know, my music taste hasn’t improved with age either,) I think of this book as these were two songs I was listening to a lot when I was reading this novel.

Fact seven: My favourite place to read is in bed. This is one of the reasons I actually quite like winter evenings. It’s the perfect excuse to snuggle under my duvet, stay warm and make my way through a good book. I find it really relaxing.

Face eight: My favourite things to eat and drink when reading is a mug of tea and biscuits. My tea of choice is good old Tetley or everyday brew from Tea pigs. I also collect mugs and I love going to my shelf, picking a mug and making some tea. It’s the small things. Ha ha. My favourite biscuits are chocolate digestives or hobnobs and jammie dodgers (unless I have Fox & Son’s Jam creams,) and yes, I dunk!

Egmont Children’s Books

Fact nine: My favourite book is The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams. I really do wish I had discovered this book earlier than I did. It’s such a beautiful story and has such a lovely message. I will forever own a copy.

Fact ten: I’ve previously never been too keen on audiobooks. In the past, I have tried and failed to get through an audiobook. I am trying to improve. I am currently making my way through The Glittering Art of Falling Apart by Ilana Fox and really enjoying it so I am coming around to the idea. I am trying to make more of an effort to listen to them and are finding they are great in the car.

Fact eleven: I struggled deciding on the contents of this fact as I love so many but If I were only allowed to own three books (which was be a sad state of affairs indeed,) they would be Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K Rowling. This is my favourite Potter book and I can’t imagine not owning one, Bridget Jones Diary as Bridget is a wonderfully flawed character who I imagine would be great to hang around with and Bookends by Jane Green. I read this when I was living by myself in London so it reminds me that I can do things that scare me and get through the experience.

Fact twelve: If there were no intervening factors getting in my way, the characters I would most like to have around for a dinner party would be Severus Snape (just so I could listen to the voice,) Elphaba from Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (as I relate to her a lot,) Aslan, as he is just a cool dude and also a big cat and I love cats and finally Becky Bloomwood from the shopaholic series as I imagine she is just really great fun to talk to.

Fact thirteen: I collect bookmarks (as well as mugs.) I have all the bookmarks my Nan collected in her lifetime from all the places she has visited and when I can, I’ve carried on the tradition.

Fact fourteen: Although I have tried to, I very rarely re-read books once I’ve read them.

Fact fifteen: I can read a book and then see a movie based on that book but I can rarely see a movie and then read the book it is based on. It has to be book then movie not the other way around.

Fact sixteen: Although I will never completely move away from the printed book, I am reading a lot on my kindle at the moment because I read the electronic versions quicker. I’m not sure why.

Fact seventeen: I volunteered in the library when I was at school so even then I was obsessed with libraries and bookshops. Oh I miss Borders so much.

Wordsworth

Fact eighteen: My least favourite literary character is Uriah Heep from David Copperfield. He just looks and feels slimy.

Fact nineteen: A popular book I didn’t like was A Girl is a Half Formed Thing. This is nothing against the author. The plot of the book was very interesting. I just couldn’t get on with the format of the book. There is no punctuation so I found it hard to keep up with.

Fact twenty: I also couldn’t get on with Twilight. There was just something that meant I couldn’t settle into the novel. However, I loved the first film.

Fact twenty-one: I can’t write in books or turn the corners to mark the pages. I can’t even write special messages at the front of books if I am giving them as presents. I think it goes back to the time where I was writing in my guide handbook as I was working on a badge and my guide captain screamed at me because I was writing in it despite the fact that it was my copy I’d personally brought. It’s put the fear into me and even now, nineteen years plus later, I can’t write in books.

Fact twenty-two: I have absolutely no organisation to my bookshelves. I wish I did but I don’t. The thought of trying to organise them makes me want to hide in a corner so I am not sure whether I will bother.

Fact twenty-three: I like many genres and one of my favourite genres is actually young adult. For example, I adored The Fault in Our Stars. The one genre I don’t like is horror.

Fact twenty-four: I think the fictional characters I would love to swap places with for a day would be, you’ve guessed it, Harry Potter or Bridget Jones (although can you imagine what trouble Bridget would get herself into at Hogwarts.)

Fact twenty-five: I’ve never read A Catcher in the Rye, 1984 or The Great Gatsby. I keep meaning to but have never got around to reading these.