Over the next few weeks, I am going to be asking a few bloggers all about their favourite books! I always find it really hard to answer this question myself as my answers are always changing depending on my mood, or the genre that I am into at that specific moment. My favourite book of all time will always be, Enid Blyton's Folk of the Faraway Tree series. My mum would read them to me when I was really small, but then as I got older and learnt to read, I would stay up all night reading them to myself. BUT, if you were to ask me what is my current favourite book, I would be stumped. Nothing I have read recently has stuck with me long enough for me label it with the prestigious title of being my favourite book. Because of this, I decided to put a few of my fellow bloggers on the spot, and asking them the very questions I hate the most.
As I had such an overwhelming response to the project, I decided to break it down into a series of posts, meaning that each week you can check back and see what each of my victims said in response to the nitty gritty questions revolving literature.
First up we have: *Drum roll please* The lovely, Becky!
Who are you/what is your URL? (Tell the world who you are! A little self-promo never hurt anyone.)
I’m Becky, a lifestyle blogger from Hampshire, who publishes book reviews every Friday at beckybedbug.com. You should totally read it.
Do you have any weird/strange reading habits?
I don’t, which makes me feel really sad! I just read in bed before I go to sleep. I never fold the pages and use little Post Its to mark pages of interest to me. I read one book at a time, rather than having several of the go at once, and I never read spoilers. How boring is that? I need to develop a strange reading habit- Any ideas?
Mind you, my husband thinks I’m strange because I only reread books I really, really, really love (see below). There are so many books in this world and I want to read as many as is humanly possible- Why would I slow myself down by rereading some? Am I weird here or is he?
Favourite genres?
Generally speaking, I like what is very helpfully classed as “general fiction”. I dislike pretty much anything that has a strong genre identity- sci fi, crime fiction, romance, “chick lit” (hate that phrase!), young adult… You get the picture!
I do, however, like Japanese fiction. I love the dreamy quality of it- generally speaking, the writing is very descriptive and almost poetic, and there is usually a surreal element to the stories. I also love classic fiction, particularly 1800s gothic as the dark themes and social commentary are right up my street! Then, there is true crime which I love! I’m fascinated by crime, especially serial killing, so I’m always reading up on these. Still hate crime fiction though!
What was the last book you read, and would you recommend it?
Funnily enough, considering my last answer, I’ve just finished Fred and Rose by Howard Sounes which, as you may have guessed, is all about the crimes of Fred and Rose West. It was very well-written and well-researched (unlike some exploitative books that are rushed out to cash in on public curiosity immediately after a crime), giving a full recount of their crimes as well as the upbringings that ultimately turned the couple into serial killers. It’s not something I’d recommend to everyone, for obvious reasons, but if you’re into true crime, check it out!
List your three favourite books, of ALL time:
1. Of Mice and Men- John Steinbeck
2. A Tree Grows In Brooklyn- Betty Smith
3. A Clockwork Orange- Anthony Burgess
3. A Clockwork Orange- Anthony Burgess
Thinking of the first book you mentioned, why is it your favourite?
Like most of the UK population aged 16-30, I first read Of Mice and Men at school when I was studying for my GCSEs and it hugely moved me. It’s a very basic, very short tale of platonic love and friendship but so powerful. Steinbeck’s descriptions of the Californian landscape are beautiful but everything is concise- it’s not flowery. The themes of hope, loneliness and inevitability are simple human emotions that we can all relate to, and it’s such an incredibly sad story that I cry every time.
(I just realised I do have a strange reading quirk- I love books that can make me cry! Books that break my heart and shatter it into tiny pieces are my favourite because it’s an indication of how deeply invested I am in the story and characters. Happy, fluffy, and-they-all-lived-happily-ever-after books are not for me, which is why the ending of Harry Potter made me so angry. But that’s a story for another time!)
What would you say to anyone that was thinking of reading it?
Just do it! It’s only 100 pages long, give or take a few depending on your copy, so you can get it read in just a couple of hours. Do not listen to your sibling/ friend/ child who studied it at school and says it’s awful- They're just bitter because it reminds them of school!
If you could be any character, from any novel, who would it be, and why?
I’m going to avoid the obvious Harry Potter characters (Study at Hogwarts? Yes please!) and choose someone a little less clichéd.
*Some time later*
Do you know what? I wouldn’t want to be any character! I’ve looked over my bookshelves and all the characters I relate to have some form of tragedy in their lives (as I said- my favourite books break my heart). I guess I’ll have to plump for a generic teacher at Hogwarts.
*Some more time later*
Actually, maybe Daisy Buchanan from The Great Gatsby. It would be nice to be rich and not have to worry about anything. I’d marry Gatsby and everything would be lovely.
Who is your least favourite character from any novel, and why?
Lucy Westenra from Dracula. She absolutely did my nut in! I know the book was written in a different time and she was the personification of a perfect woman but eeurgh! "Sweet, dear Lucy" with all her "loveliness" and "purity". She floats around in white, simpering and blushing. I desperately wanted her to be killed off!
What is your least favourite novel, and why?
Zadie Smith’s NW was a book I couldn't wait to finish! It desperately wants to be quirky, but just comes across as try-hard, with unlikeable and underdeveloped characters. By the end of it, I just didn’t care about any of the characters or events. A book that leaves me completely, hopelessly apathetic to everything is not a good read for me!
If you could change the ending of any novel, what would it be? And what would you have happen instead?
Harry Potter for sure! I am a huge Harry Potter fan (I actually got married at Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Florida!) and first read the books when I was 10, around the time Prisoner of Azkaban was released. My grandparents bought he three books for me and I read them on a constant loop- I was obsessed! It was the time that the series kicked off and Rowling announced that she already knew how the series was going to end. Even then, I told anyone who would listen that I wanted Harry to die in order to save the wizarding world. It would have been the ultimate sacrifice- like a wizard Jesus. As it turns out spoiler alert if you’re one of the three people on Earth who doesn’t know how Harry Potter ends this was true- he did need to die in order to defeat Voldemort. He was a bloody Horcrux, for Pete’s sake! But nooooo… he had to come back to life and live happily ever after.
Can you sense the anger oozing out of your computer screen? I threw my book down in disgust when I finished it. I still maintain that Rowling was pressured by publishers and the public alike to have a happy ending when, in fact, she’d intended to kill Harry off.
… and that’s the story of how I would change the ending of Harry Potter.
And finally, the real juicy gossip that everyone wants to know: Snog, Marry, Avoid!
Edgar Allen Poe, Sylvia Plath, J.K Rowling?
Snog, Avoid, Marry
I mean Rowling is rolling in it (rowling in it heh!) and, you know, alive, which tends to help when marrying someone. As much as I want to like Plath, I’m ill enough as it is without spending time with someone else who is! And, well, Poe’s left over. I don’t particularly want to snog a dead chap but there you do!
Cthulhu, Gandalf, Doctor Frankenstein?
I’ve never read Tolkien and I don’t really have a desire to either. I have absolutely no idea who the first one is (does that make me terribly uncultured?) and then I’m left with Dr Frankenstein, who I would marry on account of him being able to knock up some frankly awesome- if terrifying- creatures.
Harry Potter for sure! I am a huge Harry Potter fan (I actually got married at Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Florida!) and first read the books when I was 10, around the time Prisoner of Azkaban was released. My grandparents bought he three books for me and I read them on a constant loop- I was obsessed! It was the time that the series kicked off and Rowling announced that she already knew how the series was going to end. Even then, I told anyone who would listen that I wanted Harry to die in order to save the wizarding world. It would have been the ultimate sacrifice- like a wizard Jesus. As it turns out spoiler alert if you’re one of the three people on Earth who doesn’t know how Harry Potter ends this was true- he did need to die in order to defeat Voldemort. He was a bloody Horcrux, for Pete’s sake! But nooooo… he had to come back to life and live happily ever after.
Can you sense the anger oozing out of your computer screen? I threw my book down in disgust when I finished it. I still maintain that Rowling was pressured by publishers and the public alike to have a happy ending when, in fact, she’d intended to kill Harry off.
… and that’s the story of how I would change the ending of Harry Potter.
And finally, the real juicy gossip that everyone wants to know: Snog, Marry, Avoid!
Edgar Allen Poe, Sylvia Plath, J.K Rowling?
Snog, Avoid, Marry
I mean Rowling is rolling in it (rowling in it heh!) and, you know, alive, which tends to help when marrying someone. As much as I want to like Plath, I’m ill enough as it is without spending time with someone else who is! And, well, Poe’s left over. I don’t particularly want to snog a dead chap but there you do!
Cthulhu, Gandalf, Doctor Frankenstein?
I’ve never read Tolkien and I don’t really have a desire to either. I have absolutely no idea who the first one is (does that make me terribly uncultured?) and then I’m left with Dr Frankenstein, who I would marry on account of him being able to knock up some frankly awesome- if terrifying- creatures.
Douglas Adams, Stephen King, Ali Smith?
I’d marry Stephen King because, as he’s such an imaginative story-teller, who seems to have an endless supply of them in his head, he could entertain me by telling me stories (although I’d ask him not to make them scary!). Avoiding Ali Smith purely on the basis that she bored the hell out of me with The Accidental which, again, leaves me snogging a dead dude. I promise this is not something I make a habit of!
I’d marry Stephen King because, as he’s such an imaginative story-teller, who seems to have an endless supply of them in his head, he could entertain me by telling me stories (although I’d ask him not to make them scary!). Avoiding Ali Smith purely on the basis that she bored the hell out of me with The Accidental which, again, leaves me snogging a dead dude. I promise this is not something I make a habit of!
___
And there we have it! If you have any questions for Becky, leave them below and I'm sure she'll get back to you! Or you can hunt her down on twitter, or over on her own blog www.beckybedbug.com
I never got the chance to read, Of Mice and Men at school, and I have been wanting to read it for years, so I may have to bump this up the 'to-read' list!
I never got the chance to read, Of Mice and Men at school, and I have been wanting to read it for years, so I may have to bump this up the 'to-read' list!
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