Over the next couple weeks, if a Top Ten Tuesday isn’t posted or I feel this place has been too silent and forming cobwebs, I’ll add some more letters to The Perpetual Page-Turner‘s A to Z Bookish Survey for you to read. Here’s Part II of the alphabet!
Part I || Part II || Part III || Part IV
Glad You Gave This Book a Chance:
There are several books I’m glad I gave a chance! The first two that popped into my mind were The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and Seraphina by Rachel Hartman. As you may have noticed in my reviews, I adore fantasy. So why would I have an issue with these in the first place? Night Circus received a lot of attention, and there was something about the circus setting in the summary that put me off. But I kept hearing such wonderful things that I finally gave it a try, and fell in love. Seraphina was a recommendation, and I should have listened and picked it up faster. I’m not a dragon person, but this book is about so much more than dragons, and the world is phenomenal.
Hidden Gem Book:
Not sure if it’s hidden seeing as I know there are students who have to read this for class (which blows my mind), but it truly is a remarkable story: Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys. Just read it.
Important Moment in Your Reading Life:
Somewhere between reading Jane Eyre (which really did change the direction in my life), reading Harry Potter (which revealed to world that I have major obsessions), and discovering Goodreads (everything is recorded in one place AND I can set a challenge for myself AND discovering more books AND win giveaways AND…?!).
Just Finished:
All the Truth That’s in Me, although I am very close to finishing an unpublished manuscript. I’m exactly in the middle of everything right now, so my most recent review is the one I “just” finished.
Kinds of books you won’t read:
This’ll sound weird, but…books set in California or Nevada (I don’t know what it is, just an instant turn-off when I see the setting), zombies, pedophilia, memoirs/biographies, and erotica. From there it’s just based on whether it tickles my fancy.
Longest book you’ve read:
Hmm…toss-up between David Copperfield and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Game of Thrones might be in there, but the font was so small and tight that in terms of number of pages, it was shorter than OotP.
What are your answers to these second six letters? Anything you’d recommend I read that could change these answers?
Scribbles & Wanderlust 
5 thoughts on “A to Z Bookish Survey: Part II”
Lark
Another fun list! I’m glad I gave Night Circus a try, too. Couldn’t think of anything for H or I, but I just finished reading Some Tame Gazelle by Barbara Pym; I avoid any and all books that have to do with Napolean or Ancient Rome; and the longest book I’ve ever read has to be Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Great post! Can’t wait for the next ones. Have a good one!
Amanda Foster
G) Honestly, The Hunger Games! It’s WAY outside my normal genre of book, but I’m glad I did because I’ve started to move beyond my obsession with historical fiction (oh, it’s still there. It will never go away. But I’m broadening my horizons!)
H) Big Plans by Bob Shea. It is so fun to read out loud to a class, and they get really into repeating the line “I got big plans! Big plans I say!” I get really into changing my voice as I read it. Seriously, check it out. Fantastic children’s book.
I) Freshman year of high school, when I discovered that being forced to read a book for class took all the joy out of it for me. I read exactly two of the books we were assigned in high school. That was when I realized that I did not want to become the type of teacher who made reading a chore for my students. I would go to any length to mold passionate, life long readers.
J) Oh my gosh, I haven’t finished anything I’ve started recently. I mean, I’ve read a ton of children’s books, so if you’re including those…that list is extremely extensive. If you get back to me in a couple weeks, I can include Flat Stanley and Magic Tree House: Revolutionary War on Wednesday (my 4th graders are reading those in our book clubs)
K) Apocalypse or sci-fi. I also have a hard time keeping my attention on books with male protagonists, which sounds weird as I admit it.
L) I’m not sure which is longer – Gone With The Wind, Little Women or OoTP
Laura
G) That’s funny, because in K you said you stay away from apocalypse/sci-fi, and Hunger Games is dystopian, a borderline between the two!
H) I’ll have to look for that!
I) oooooo are you one of those teachers that gives them a selection of books to read?
J) MAGIC TREE HOUSE. Glorious series.
K) see G
L) Oh, I think GwtW is a little longer than Little Women. No idea between it and OotP though.
Amanda Foster
Hahaha that’s why I took me a while to pick up Hunger Games! I read the series in summer of ’12 – and I was even more shocked when I couldn’t put it down! It is just so not my normal type of book.
Laura
You might want to try DEFIANCE by CJ Redwine. Possibly.