#BookishBloggersUnite: My Life in Books Tag

#BookishBloggersUnite is a group of like-minded bloggers wanted to write about books together. This week, it’s being hosted by Sue @ Doddy About Books & she found this cool tag over at Talking Tales by the lovely Amy, who runs her local book store. Make sure you check out both blogs & feel free to link up at Sue’s blog if you want to participate!

1. Find a book for each of your initials.

My initials are SAA, so I chose some books I remember adoring.

Shadowshaper is a wonderful YA urban fantasy that I just finished about a week ago. I loved the characters & the world–and I can’t wait to dig into the sequel. All the Rivers is one I’ve talked about before and is a well written novel about an Israeli woman and Palestinian man who fall in love in New York. It was very nuanced and real. Finally, The Age of Miracles is a quiet apocalyptic book about what would happen if the world slowly stopped turning, and how a teenage girl handles that and her first love.

2. Count your age across your bookshelf.

I picked one of my bookshelves and came up with this one:

I read George’s Mary Called Magdalene when I was in high school & I LOVED it. In recent years, I’ve shied away from both historical fiction and very large books, but I did pick up this book and her Memoirs of Cleopatra at  a used bookstore awhile back and will get to them someday.

3. Pick a book set in your city/country.

I haven’t read any books set in Nashville, where I live for about 8 more weeks, but I have read a book set in a town based on Franklin, TN which is about an hour away. That book is Hourglass and it’s about a teenager who can see ghosts and meets someone from a mysterious organization who may be able to help her understand her future and past. It was a decent YA read & I will eventually finish off the series I think.

4. Pick a book that represents a destination you want to travel to.

I don’t love this book–but I kind of enjoyed it, and I’ve found myself continuing the series, so I might as well just admit I like it. It’s an urban fantasy/paranormal romance-y book set in Dublin. I’ve always wanted to visit Ireland, and this Dublin is full of bookstores and pubs and interesting people (and also fae–which I know won’t really be in Dublin, but you know).

5. Pick a book that’s your favorite color.

While this shade isn’t my favorite, I love this book–and green is my favorite color. If you haven’t read this, I highly recommend it (but lots of trigger warnings for alcohol/drug use, self-harm, & sexual abuse of a child).

6. Which book do you have the fondest memories of?

This is the first book I remember becoming obsessed with. My mom read it to me and I also adored the BBC adaptation. I did not recognize all the religious symbolism until high school–when I was young, I just really loved the fantasy. I’ve never actually finished the series, but maybe one summer, I’ll knock them all out. I know this one like the back of my hand.

7. Which book did you have the most difficulty reading?

I just couldn’t with Faulkner’s writing style in college. I’ve thought about trying again now that I’m older and perhaps more patient–but I’m still unsure I’d love it.

8. Which book on your TBR will give you the biggest accomplishment when you read it?

I don’t read a lot of nonfiction–and this one is a whopping 818 pages. Because I read nonfiction so slooowwwlllyyyy, I will consider this one a huge accomplishment.

Have you read any of the books I chose? How would you answer some of these questions? Let me know in comments & don’t forget to participate if you want to!