It seems like just yesterday that The Book Chat began, and yet today it celebrates a whole year of existing! I remember getting an e-mail from Jessica asking if I’d like to participate in some book prompts and I was thrilled. Now, a year later, I’ve met so many great bloggers who love books as much as I do because of TBC, and I’ve just loved seeing it grow.
As far as blog prompts go, this one is very dear to my heart (I was going to compare it to Jess being it’s mom and me being the aunt, which feels fitting in my mind, but sounds creepy here. But there you go, I’m sharing anyway). Not only is it about one of the things I love most in the world, The Book Chat has allowed me to share my love of reading with so many people, make new friends, send endless e-mails about great reads, discover more amazing books, and just all around it has been an awesome weekly thing that I have looked forward to every single week, whether I participated or not.
That being said, I was checking my stats, and I participated in exactly HALF of last year’s book chat prompts. 21 out of 42! Today, there is no topic, but rather an open “choose your favorite from the year and talk about it” prompt. I thought I’d take advantage and write about the top FIVE topics I missed over the year that I would have loved to have participated in.
Without further ado, a more compact version of The Book Chat- the missing links from 2012-13!
1. Book recommended by a friend (June 14/12)
- Want to read recommendation: Before I Go to Sleep by S.J Watson, Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts-
Read and loved because of a friend: Graceling by Kristin Cashore, Switched by Amanda Hocking, Cinder by Marissa Meyer, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, among many many more!
2. What have I been wanting to read but haven’t gotten around to yet (June 21/12)
-SO MANY! At the top of that list is the follow up to Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Days of Blood and Starlight. What a great series. Also, JK Rowling’s Casual Vacancy, The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness (follow-up in his Chaos Walking dystopian series, great read!) and Torch by Cheryl Strayed.
3. Do you judge a book by it’s cover? (July 12/21)
- No! Never. I used to, for a very long time, but working with books has taught me what a terrible thing that is to do. The Hunger Games is my favorite example, it has one of my least favorite book covers of all time. It was one of the first YA novels I read 4 and a half years ago when I started my job, and I loved it so much I vowed to never judge another book again!
4. Favorite school assigned reading (August 16/12)
- I never properly appreciated my assigned readings in high school, but the ones that stand out from that time are definitely The Great Gatsby (which I plan on re-reading this year) as well as Lord of the Flies, which terrified me but intrigued me as well. I also read ‘Night’ in high school, which is a book that changed my life.
In CEGEP I was assigned the graphic novel ‘Safe Area Gorazde’ by Joe Sacco, a war-related true account of Sacco’s time in Bosnia. I never imagined enjoying this kind of story, but I was surprised by just how much I learned, and how enraptured I was by this way of storytelling.
Finally, in University, I read ‘Fast Food Nation’ which was actually extremely interesting and terribly eye-opening. I also re-read ‘Night’, and in that same class was assigned ‘MAUS I and II’ which was one of the most fascinating takes on life in Nazi Germany I have ever read (I have always had a terrible fascination with books set in this time period)
5. Your favorite names from literature (September 6/12)
-Off the top of my head, some of my favorite characters (both written and because of their name!) in recent years:
- Rhine from the Chemical Garden trilogy by Lauren DeStefano
- Harry Potter
-Katsa from Graceling by Kristin Cashore
-Karou from Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
-Hazel Grace from The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
-Liesel Meminger from The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
And there you have it! Another five book chats complete. Your turn! Choose a prompt and answer in the comments.
