Harry Potter Spells

Hey!

Soo ... I've been meaning to expand my content for a while now because after a year of mostly doing just reviews that has kind of become a little bit boring if I'm completely honest. However, I wasn't sure what I actually wanted to do in terms of "expansion" until I thought about doing a book-tag. Actually, it's already been a couple of months since I came up with that idea. And why? You might ask. Frankly, I'm not quite sure whether I can pull off doing a book-tag (the reasons are probably entirely irrational) and that's why I've been kind of avoiding it even though I've secretly watched/read quite a lot of book tags and wondered whether anyone would be interested in hearing my take on them. Today I've decided that I no longer care about any insecurities and that I'm just going to try a tag and see how much I like it. Maybe I'll do more in the future or maybe I'll think of something else to do.

tl;dr: I'm gonna do the Harry Potter Spells Book Tag now.

Also, since I can't find the original tag I'm just going to link you to the video I'm using as reference for the questions. 

Enjoy!

A childhood book connected to good memories.

There are so many and it is soo hard to chose! However, since this is my first book tag I want to get my priorities straight right away. I was nine years old when I first read - or rather started to read - The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien (obviously). I have so many great memories of ... well, you know, sitting around and reading. It was an awesome summer!

A book that took you by surprise.

I have to go with Trouble Is a Friend of Mine by Stephanie Tromly here (I actually wrote a blog-post about this one. It's in German, though. The one I wrote about the second book, however, is both in German and English.). I had heard that this book was supposed to be funny but it totally swept me off my feet and I've been in love with that series ever since. Who could possibly resist Digby, Zoe, Henry and Felix trying to solve mysteries and getting themselves in a ridiculous amount of trouble? I, honestly, have no idea.

The last book you read.

Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins (again, I already wrote a blog-post about it if you haven't seen that one yet). An action packed and fun read about high-school-queen Harper Price getting herself in so much more trouble than she could have/would have/wanted to anticipate. Sadly, I was disappointed in it but that was probably mostly due to my absurdly high expectations after reading Hex Hall (I wrote German reviews on all three of those books), which is also by Rachel Hawkins and also a book that took me by surprise now that I'm thinking about it.

 A book that introduced you to a genre you had not considered before.

This one is pretty hard. Not because I've always read the same genre or something but because my memory is terrible and I don't remember what compelled me to start reading YA. I guess you could count Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling (Do I really need to say it again?) or Inkheart by Cornelia Funke but for the majority of my life I considered those exclusively Fantasy (and Fantasy, as you might not be aware of because my ignorant child-brain had decided so, was exclusively an adult-genre. ???) which is why I won't count them. I'm left with two options: Either John Green books (I read The Fault in Our Stars and Looking for Alaska back to back) or It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini. Both of these options I'd be happy to call starting point for my embarking into YA books because I loved/liked all of those books but It's Kind of a Funny Story is probably the one that had the biggest impact on me.

A funny book you've read.

Again, there are a lot of possibilities but I'll have to go with Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella (also one of those extremely rare books I already wrote a blog-post about) which became an instant favorite of mine when I read it last year. It was so funny and heart-warming and I really liked the portrayal of panic attacks. It's cute, family is important, there is an element of romance but it's the right amount of prominent, and I'd genuinely recommend it if you like laughing (out loud - a lot).

A book you think everyone should know about.

This is a no-brainer: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (or Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger Vicomte de Saint-Exupéry as I like to call him just because I can). I don't even know how often I've read this book. If I had to guess, I'd say probably around 50 times. It's my everything and it has taught me so much about life and love and everything in-between. I'm not saying everyone has to read this but you should at least know about and consider reading it. 

I really need to read it again soon.

A book or spoiler you would like to forget having read.

There are a few books I kind of wish I could erase from my memory, the problem is that some of them are so popular that I'd just be intrigued to read them if I never had. That's why there is only one option because I listened to (parts of) the audiobook of Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire entirely randomly and no one has ever recommended it to me. Therefore, I could safely forget about it and never have to think about such a mind-boggling amount of idiocy, douchebaggery, general stupidity, arrogance, manipulation, psychopathy, abuse– (you get it) ever again!

A book you had to read for school.

For this one I've decided to go with The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon. We had to read this during the period of time I had forbidden myself to read because I wanted to concentrate on studying (stupidest decision ever) and, hence, compensated my swallowing whatever book we had to read for school. Needless to say, I finished this within the same day we received it and I loved every second of it. 

A book that was painful to read.

Tropes! All the tropes! And no character whatsoever! Brains? We don't need those! Plots don't need logic, stupid! I'm talking about no other than Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard which alternated between boring me to death and strangling me with it's stupidity. For me, it had no redeeming qualities whatsoever and I totally could have done without it. (Should you understand German and are interested in a more elaborate version of my thoughts: Here you go.)

A book that could kill (interpret as you will). 

Well, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak seems pretty death-ly to me, don't you think?

And that's it! Thank you for bearing with me. Also, just a little disclaimer I'm adding way to late: You can obviously disagree with me on any of my choices. If you like some of the books I dislike or you hate some of the books I like then that's okay. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. (You can, however, obviously tell me about yours if you want to.)

I hope you have a nice day, 

Bye!

Oh, I just realized that it's common etiquette to tag someone when completing a tag! I'm such a mess. Obviously, you can just do this tag whenever you want and use me as an excuse but I'd also like to tag Lisa from Lies 'n Buch specifically and kind of return the favor of inspiring me to do a future tag.