Although we are already past “official” blue Monday, today felt surprisingly like one for me. Combining the chilly, grey weather here with the start of another workweek, all I want is just a little pick-me-up. Like many others, my go-to for situations like this is a good cup of coffee. In honor of the black liquid gold that makes our Mondays just that bit more bearable, I’ll be doing the Coffee Booktag. Thanks to the original creator of this tag BangadyBangz! You can find his channel by clicking here.
BLACK – Name a series that's tough to get into but has hardcore fans. For me, the series that are hardest to get into are usually high fantasy ones with extensive worldbuilding. Coincidentally, it’s exactly this in depth world that makes me love them once I get my bearings. One example of such a situation was The Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson. It took me 3 attempts to start The Final Empire, yet now it is one of my favorite books of all time. Another example would be The Broken Earth Trilogy, which has a massive fanbase, yet is quite tough to get into. For this reason, I still haven’t read the second book, even though I really want to do so. Hopefully I’ll get to it somewhere this year.
PEPPERMINT MOCHA – Name a book that gets more popular during the winter or a festive time of year. I feel like saying Harry Potter or A Christmas Carol would be too much of a cliché, but they probably are the most prominent ones. This year I’ve seen “The Bear and the Nightingale” around a lot, and for good reason. It has the perfect winter atmosphere, where you can almost feel the cold radiating from the pages. When the snow is falling outside, and you just want to stay in with a warm drink and a book on the couch, this is your companion for the night.
HOT CHOCOLAT – what is your favorite childrensbook? I have a long, long list of childhood favorites, although many of them are available Dutch only. My favorite childhood authors were Paul Biegel and (once I was a little bit older) Thea Beckman. If you are Dutch or Belgian and have read anything by those authors, let me know in a comment: I’d love to hear from you!
As far as more internationally available books go, some of my absolute favorites were Mathilda by Roald Dahl and Ronja Rövardotter (translated as Ronia, the robber’s daughter). I legitimately wished I was either one of these protagonists for a large chunk of my childhood. Still both books stand proudly on my shelves, and make me feel a little bit warm inside every time I look at them.
DOUBLE SHOT OF ESPRESSO – Name a book that kept you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.
a book that actually kept me up for the majority of the night, because I was just unable to put it down was Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. The story and mystery, combined with the fact that nearly every chapter ends on a cliff-hanger just had me turning those pages like crazy. If you’re looking for a good (sci-fi)thriller, this is my go-to recommendation.
STARBUGS – Name a book you see everywhere. At the moment: Birdbox by Josh Malerman. As Netflix has just released the movie, I see people all around me speedreading the book to be able to watch it. I personally read the book about a year ago and loved it. I want to see the movie, but haven’t gotten to it yet.
DECAF – name a book that disappointed you My most recent “controversial” disappointment was The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. As a book that is showered in 5-star-reviews, it just couldn’t and didn’t live up to the hype for me. If you want to read my full review, you can find it here.
THAT HIPSTER COFFEE SHOP: give a book by an indie author or an underrated book a shoutout I’m going for an underrated book for this one: The Gloaming by Kirsty Logan was possibly my absolute favorite book of 2018 (at least in the top 3), and it baffles me that it has only 528 ratings to date. Please people, stop sleeping on this one, so I have someone to discuss the story with. In a similar vein, I’d like to shout out the short-story collection By light we knew our Names by Anne Valente, which only has 398 ratings on Goodreads. Beautiful, atmospheric short-stories that focus on grief, through a lens of magical realism.
THE PERFECT BLEND: Name a book or series that was both bitter and sweet but ultimately satisfying. My most bittersweet book will probably forever be A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. As a novel about a thirteen year-old boy, dealing with the imminent death of his mother from cancer, you can probably imagine how the “bittersweet-part” comes in. When people ask me for my favorite book of all-time, this is usually my answer, for the simple reason that I feel such a personal connection with this book. I’ve found comfort and a kind of catharsis in books before, but never to the level I did here. You can find my full review here, although I have to warn you: it’s probably one of my worst written ones. I struggle to put into words what this book meant to me, but many of you who have read it can probably understand.
This has been the Coffee Booktag. May your coffee be strong, your mondays short, and your books long! I'll see you again in my next post and until then: happy reading!
Love Renée
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