drew-the-tattooed-book-geekIt’s been a while since I’ve done a tag… and believe you me, I have about 10 of those suckers in my drafts… they’re fun and I thank everyone who’s been tagging me. I shall get around to some of them in the future, I may not… This tag, however, was created by the wonderful Drew @ The Tattooed Book Geek and so this tag shall be done!

I don’t probably have to prompt you to check Drew’s blog out but I will- check it out! … You’re more than likely already familiar with Drew’s blog where he publishes his poetry (ow, Drew, your poems stab the aul heart quite often!) and reviews all the mighty fantasy books he reads. He’s funny and friendly, despite the tattoos 😛 , and just… go on! click-click! 🙂

It has taken me quite a while to get this tag going. Mainly because I am the ambassador of “I don’t have a favorite” so this tag has been swirling in my mind for days and days and days… and it has left me so frustrated with myself because- “Suck it up buttercup, make up your mind!”… This is me having a go…

The Rules:

  • Credit Drew @ The Tattooed Book Geek as the creator of the tag, either use the created tag name graphic or create your own and link back to my blog. I created my own graphic. It’s not pretty but practice makes perfect so I shall keep practicing… also, anything to procrastinate from what really needs to be done, right?
  • Answer the questions
  • Tag as many people as you want

What is your favorite genre?

Even though I so wanted to come up with a totally original answer for this one, there’s no denying the power of a good fantasy book. Fantasy it is… And I like it with a decent villain, corruption, heart-stopping action and kickass hero(ine). I also like it when it comes in the form of trippy and otherworldly!

thommas68

Who’s your favorite author from the genre?

13604217My life pretty much has 2 differing reading timelines. One when I was younger and didn’t know about boys and booze so from back then I would say Tove Jansson would have been my favourite with her Moomin tales.

Tove wrote some fantastic children’s tales (and other books) full of so much wisdom and morality. Plus the Moomin themselves are just adorable looking.

The other timeline starts some 10 years ago when I moved to Ireland and got back on the fast-moving reading train. Favourite author from the most recent and current timeline in the fantasy genre would probably be Mark Lawrence.

Source: Goodreads
Source: Goodreads
Source: Goodreads

Make no mistake though, there are some brilliant indie authors out there whose fantasy books are just as mind-blowingly fantastic (pun!) and by no means should be discredited for the sake of ‘bigger’ names. Not to mention all the well-known fantasy authors whose books I haven’t even managed to read yet.. but I want to. So badly, I do!

What is it about the genre that keeps pulling you back?

The endless possibilities. I am always worried about starting to see a pattern in fantasy books, and sure, there is some but then again some of the detail is quite unique to everything I’ve personally read so I am always in awe at how many brilliant brains there are behind the books at producing scenes, settings and characters. It’s the fantasy author’s imagination that knows no bounds, their ability to tie the fantasy element into so many different aspects that can be found in other genres that really tells me- read fantasy and you have it all!

What’s the book that started your love for your favorite genre?

The books that definitely re-ignited my flame for reading was The Broken Empire trilogy by Mark Lawrence. I think, mainly, because I was in a weird place in my life at that time… you could say, stagnant, and these three books just shot me up with so much excitement. I realized- “Hey! You don’t need to live a boring, routine life… read more, you daft girl! Read more!”… and off I went…this very blog was turned from a ‘whatever the hell this was before’ into a book blog because I wanted to share my excitement around the trilogy and suddenly I started getting review requests and the rest is history.

If you had to recommend at least one book from your favourite genre to a non-reader/someone looking to start reading that genre, what book would you choose and why?

I would recommend The Steps of Power; The Kings book series by J.J. Sherwood, starting with “Kings or Pawns”, followed by “Heroes or Thieves”. I really enjoyed “Kings or Pawns” with it’s wide character cast in the swirl of elven political intrigue.

I would also recommend a recent discovery of mine- The Saga of Thistles and Roses by Karen Gray. A fantasy with a twist of post apocalyptic/futuristic element in a Scottish setting. I mean, you have unicorns and other magical beasts with some serious hard-to-see-coming twists and fabulous characters in royal intrigue.

And… och!.. I could just keep going.. there are so many fabulous fantasy books out there I could recommend…

Why do you read?

I read because I have FA else to do with my free time at the moment. Reading has always been my preferred medium. I rather read than watch. Give me a piece of content on paper or on video and I will always choose paper format.

Yet, it’s also escapism and entertainment… mostly, for me, reading is a form of procrastination… and I am not proud of the fact but YOLO! I used to be able to ‘reward’ myself with books, for example  I would have told myself- ‘Clean the house, make dinner and then you have the rest of the day to read!”… Well, it doesn’t work anymore… *sigh* Now I just read and then try to make time for everything else 🙂

I tag:

Teach! @ TeacherofYA’s Book Blog

Ishita @ bookmyopia

Meg @ Magic of Books

Stefanie @ Your Daughter’s Bookshelf

…and everyone else who wants to have a go.Yo, Tags! Don’t feel pressured into doing the tag and apologies if you have already been tagged. 🙂