Last 10 Books Book Tag

Hello, and welcome back to my blog! Random news, but I just left the house for the first time in two and a half weeks (I was quarantined while I was sick) and it felt amazing! I’m finally completely better. Anyway, back to the blog.

In the last couple weeks, I have been tagged to do three tags on YouTube. I decided just to film them all as one video on YouTube, but here I feel like the posts will get a bit long if a did that. So, for the next week, I’ll be coming out with three book tags back to back. Don’t worry, after that we’ll be back to regular, varying posts.

This tag was created by Marc Nash over on YouTube and I was tagged by Lady Jane Books (She’s such a great Booktube channel!). So, let’s get into it!

The last book you didn’t finish

Usually, I don’t remember what books I’ve dnfed, because I don’t keep a list of them. But I did try to read this one recently and boy was it weird. This is a classics book that I bought from the Goodwill a few years ago and it’s been sitting on my bookshelf since.

Published in the 1960s, it’s a collection of short stories that just feel really weird. Like the first one is about a man with a mentally handicapped son who begs for money to send his son on a train from New York City to California to live with an uncle because the father is dying, and some people treat him badly (the story seems to be saying its because his son is handicapped or, as the title suggests, an “idiot”-though that seems pretty offensive to call someone who has developmental challenges an idiot). The second story is the one which made me give up on this book because. It’s called “Black is My Favorite Color” and is about a white man obsessed with black people (yes, it feels that creepy as he gushes about how pretty their skin is and almost turns them into objects to be appreciated by him).

Basically, the stories are just weird and I don’t want to read more.

The last book you re-read

I don’t reread books all the often, but this is the one I read most recently and that was all the way back in July of 2020. During early quarantine, I decided to work through rereading all of this series, but I gave up pretty quickly and never finished the third book. I really should go back and finish my reread.

The last book you bought?

This is hard because the last time I went and bought books, it was at my local Dollar Book Swap and I bought like 10 books. But I’m pretty sure this is the last one that I picked up off the shelf and actually decided to buy, so we’re going with this one.

This book is a YA fantasy retelling of The Wizard of Oz, but from the perspective of another girl from Kansas who gets transported to Oz only to discover that Dorothy has become a cruel dictator of the world. I don’t know anything more about this book outside of that, but the premise was really intriguing and you guys know I love my retellings!

The last book you said you read and you didn’t?

Technically, I’ve never said that I’ve read a book when I haven’t. However, this is about the closest I got. Back when I was attending classes in person right before Covid hit (about March of 2020), I was taking an American history class. We were talking about the Dustbowl of the 1930s, where severe drought and dust storms hit parts of America and Canada. My professor asked if anyone knew about The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. While I hadn’t read it, I did know the plot, so I raised my hand. I explained what it was about (a family traveling from the Dust Bowl areas to California to start a knew life) and my professor mentioned how glad he was that someone had read it in the class. I suddenly felt really bad, especially when he went on to another topic so I couldn’t correct him. Technically, I didn’t say I read it, but I still felt bad that he assumed I had and I didn’t correct him.

The last book you wrote in the margins of?

I rarely write in margins of my books. The only exception is school books because I want to go back and know exactly what sentence I want to quote. This book, about King Leopold and his slavery rubber empire in the Congo in the early 20th century, was the latest one I did this with.

The last book you had signed?

I never get books signed by authors, though I have bought a couple used copies of books which were previously signed by authors. This is the only exception to that rule. Caitlin Doughty is a mortician and YouTuber who I’ve watched and enjoyed in the past.

A few years ago, when this book came out, she came as a key speaker to a Death event at my local art museum in Minnesota (the event was a way to inform people about the industry of death and death traditions about the world). After the event, she signed copies of her book and I was thrilled to be able to get this book and her debut book signed.

Besides this exception, I’ve never gotten a book signed by an author.

The last book you lost?

I don’t think I’ve ever lost a book (at least permanently).

The last book you had to replace?

Again, I don’t think I’ve ever had to replace a book before. I have had to get a second copy of some classics because my college classes required a different edition than I owned, but that’s about it.

The last book you had an argument over?

I don’t think I have ever had a full argument about a book. But I do know when I read Shadow and Bone a few months ago, my boyfriend and I did have some debates about the book. He loves this series, while I really did not like this first book (the series did get better as it continued, but I really didn’t like the first book). It wasn’t a full-blown argument, but he argued what he thought was really good in the book and I argued about what was really bad in the book.

In the end, he agreed to the weaknesses I had critiqued (the characters and teen tropes) and I agree to the strengths he argued for in the book (the world and magic system). So it ended well.

The last book you couldn’t get ahold of?

This is the first book of the Detective Kaga series by Keigo Higashino. The fourth book, Malice, has been translated to English and I read and loved it. Unfortunately, only a handful of Higashino’s books have been translated from Japanese to English (and I have read them all). His books are exceptional, but unfortunately I can’t get ahold of any of his other books because they are in Japanese.

In general, there were quick a few authors which have not been translated into English that I would love to read more!

As always, I’m not tagging anyone, but I would love to read your answers if you decide to do this tag. What are some of your answers to these prompts? Have you read any of these books? Let me know your thoughts down in the comments, thank you so much for reading, follow my blog for more musings and, as always,

Best wishes in your life full of adventure,

Anne