The 20 Questions Book Tag

Happy Friday, everyone!

I hope you’re all doing well! University is now in full swing over here, which means I’m back to grading papers and struggling with my own homework… But it’s actually kind of nice to have some sort of fixed daily routine again. I feel as though I’m much more productive when I know staying in bed for another five minutes or succumbing to the depths of YouTube will mean missing a lecture or being massively behind on coursework. And besides, the students in my tutorial are definitely more engaged than the last bunch! They actually say stuff without me having to drag every word out of them, and their homework has been a breeze to correct compared to last semester’s. If things stay this way, I really think I’m going to like these guys!

I’ve also made quite a bit of progress on my thesis, which is both good and scary at the same time – the scariness being due to the fact that I’ve pretty much understood most of the theory I need in order to start coding. And I have no idea what I’m doing! Once computers enter the picture, I am way more lost than when I get to sit in my office all day and just think 😅 I suppose we’ll just have to see how it goes…

But before I get too obsessed with all the math stuff, let’s get back to books! I’ve seen the 20 Questions Book Tag floating around the blogosphere for a while now and always thought it looked really fun – so when Samantha and Amber @ Bibliomavens tagged me, I knew I had to jump on the bandwagon! Thanks so much for the nomination, guys, and kudos to whoever came up with this, too! I was unable to find the name of the creator anywhere, so if you happen to know, please tell me so I can properly credit them!

Anyway, without further ado, let’s get into the questions!

How many books are too many books in a series?

I don’t think there’s a set amount! As long as the books remain interesting and don’t just include lots of filler content or become super repetitive and badly written because the author is trying to churn them out as quickly as possible, I actually adore long series! That just means I get to spend more time with the characters I love, and discover more about my favorite worlds 🥰

Still, I’m not gonna lie – starting a new series when you know there are about fifty books in it can be a bit intimidating… Sometimes, I just want something quick and fun, something with a satisfying conclusion that won’t take years of commitment to reach.

So basically, what I think I’m saying is that I want variety? 😂 I do love my long series, but I also want some standalones and shorter series to read in between!

How do you feel about cliffhangers?

If they’re at the end of a chapter, but still get resolved within the book they first occurred in, I love them! There’s nothing more satisfying than being kept at the edge of your seat and needing to keep reading to find out what happens next. I’m always a fan of suspense!

BUT: At the end of a book, they’re usually a huge NOPE for me. More often than not, they feel like a cheap attempt of the author’s to persuade me to buy the next book, just so I’ll know what happens next. Convince me with good writing and a great plot instead, will you!? 🙄 Besides, more often than not, it’ll be a year or two before the sequel even comes out, so by the time I do get around to reading it, my initial excitement about the cliffhanger’s suspense will already have faded. Which just makes everything seem extremely anticlimactic.

Plus, if I’m reading a book, I expect it to have a complete story arc of some kind. Even if it has sequels, there’d better be some underlying subplot relevant to the book I’m reading now that gets resolved! Otherwise, why split the story up into different books in the first place? So if a novel ends on a cliffhanger that prevents me from getting any kind of resolution, I will, ninety-nine times out of a hundred, absolutely detest it. I can get on board if the cliffhanger is at the start of a new story arc, but if the book just randomly ends in the middle of some exciting scene, it always frustrates me beyond measure! 😤

Hardback or paperback?

Books Read GIF

Regarding aesthetics, I actually don’t think it makes much of a difference, but because paperbacks tend to be cheaper, I’ve got to go with them. Because cheaper books means you can buy more of them! 😎

Still, I do love using the flaps of hardbacks as bookmarks – pretty much the only time I ever bookmark anything, lol 😁 – and hardbacks do usually come out earlier… So if I really want a new release, I’ll probably get it in hardback.

Favorite book?

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix!! 😍😍😍 It has been for years, and considering how much I love it and the amount of nostalgia surrounding it, I doubt that’s ever going to change. I’ve re-read it so many times I can literally recite whole passages…

Least favorite book?

Hmmm 🤔😅 There are a few more candidates here, but I think this has got to go to either Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – Because seriously, how can anyone even think for a second that this absolute mess of a fanfiction is canon? – or Heart of Darkness, the epitome of a boring, convoluted, and hopelessly racist colonial narrative 🤮🤮🤮

Love triangles, yes or no?

No!! Seriously, they’re as annoying as it gets, especially since usually, it’s perfectly clear who our poor love-trianglee is going to end up with.

Honestly, I think the only love triangle I’ve ever been fully on board with is the one in The Hunger Games, because there, it seemed a natural part of Katniss growing up and didn’t take center stage in the plot. But when a girl simultaneously meets two guys and falls irrevocably in love with both of them over the span of just a few days, it makes me want to barf!

The most recent book you just couldn’t finish?

As a rule of thumb, I don’t DNF things. Like, ever. Even if I don’t like a book, I’ll be way too curious to find out how it ends after already sacrificing so much time to read it! Maybe that doesn’t exactly make me the smartest person, but I just hate leaving things unfinished 😅

Still, there are a couple of books I never got back to, for various reasons… The last one was Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield, which I started sometime in September 2020, I think. But then came my horrifying monster exams and my loan period from the library was about to run out anyway, so I returned it before I’d finished reading. I definitely plan on getting back to it at some point, though, because what I did read, I enjoyed!

A book you’re currently reading?

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky! So far, I’m very intrigued by where things are going, although I also constantly feel like slapping Raskolnikov for all the stupid decisions he’s making 🙄

And before you ask: No, I’m not reading this in Russian 😅 It took me almost two whole months to finish a sixty-page Russian children’s book where pretty much half the page space was taken up by pictures, so I decided it was okay if I went with the German translation for now 😜

Last book you recommended to someone?

The Betrayals! 😍😍😍 I’m so in love with it that I’m currently trying to get everyone near me to read it 😁😊

Oldest book you’ve read?

I honestly have no idea. Maybe something I read in Latin class? Cicero’s De Re Publica was written sometime between 54 and 51 B.C., so whatever it was, it’s got to have been as least as early as that…

However, if we’re not sticking strictly to whole books, I’ve also read excerpts of Gilgamesh, which dates back to about 2100 B.C. I think that’s pretty epic! [Get the pun? Sorry, I know it’s awful, but I just couldn’t resist 🤣] And I do plan on reading the whole thing eventually, so if you’ve got a favorite translation you’d like to recommend, let me know!

Newest book you’ve read?

The Anti-Relationship Year by Katie Wismer! I beta-read an early draft of this, so obviously I had to get my hands on a finished copy when it came out on March 30th 🤗

Favorite author?

I don’t have one. It’s just way too hard to pick!

And besides, how would I even go about defining that? The person who wrote my favorite books ever is J.K. Rowling, but she’s also written stuff I only feel lukewarm about at best, like The Casual Vacancy. Even more importantly, all the statements she’s made towards the trans community recently are definitely not something I feel comfortable supporting.

Then there are other writers whose works and writing styles I’m a huge fan of, like Suzanne Collins, Kristin Cashore, Marie Rutkoski, Patrick Rothfuss, Jeanne Birdsall, Astrid Lindgren, Otfried Preußler, or Michael Ende, but pretty much all of them have also written at least one book I didn’t particularly like. And I don’t really know what they’re like as people, either – for all I know, we’d hate each other if we ever met 😅 (I mean, at least Patrick Rothfuss would probably be fed up with me pretty quickly for continuously nagging him to finally finish that third Kingkiller book…)

And then there are authors I’ve actually interacted with, whom I’ve genuinely gotten to like as people. But if their books aren’t among my absolute favorites, does that mean I can truly count them as my favorite authors?

Basically, all I’m trying to say is that this question is way too difficult to answer 😂

Buying or borrowing books?

BOTH!!!

A book you dislike that everyone else seems to love?

Oh boy… There are so many 😅 Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Golden Son and Morning Star by Pierce Brown. Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I think I’ll leave it at that before everyone here starts to hate me 🙈

Bookmarks or dog-ears?

And then, I suppose, there’s me…

I’ll take bookmarks over dog-ears any day, but usually, I’ll go for neither and just remember the page number I’m on!

A book you can always re-read?

If I liked a book, I will re-read it!

But there are definitely some that I re-read more often than others 😊 Apart from the obvious answer that is Harry Potter, one of my absolute comfort reads is The Penderwicks on Gardam Street.

Can you read while listening to music?

Absolutely not 🤣 If the music I’m listening to has lyrics, all hope is lost from the get-go, because I’ll immediately focus on those and probably start singing along. And even when the music is just instrumental, I will eventually be swept up in those melodies and rhythms! 🎵🎶

However, I do come from a pretty musical family and it’s hard to find a time when someone isn’t practicing one of their instruments. Funnily enough, though, I have absolutely no problem tuning that out while reading. But maybe that’s just because I never intended to listen to that music anyway, so I don’t have any regrets when I can’t tell you anything about what I just listened to later? 🤔

One POV or multiple POVs?

One. There are also books with multiple POVs that I love, but there’s just something about single POVs that tends to draw me in more. Also, often, when there are several POVs, I will inevitably start picking favorites, which will make me less excited to read the other characters’ chapters 😅

Do you read a book in one sitting or multiple days?

Both! I read books in one sitting a lot, but unfortunately, I don’t have the time to always do it that way 😪 And besides, I wouldn’t want to! Some books are best when you really take your time to savor them 🥰 I still wouldn’t say no to extra time for binge-reading, though!

Who do you tag?

I tag the following wonderful people, whose blogs you should definitely check out!

Of course, you guys are in no way obligated to do this if you don’t want to! If tags aren’t your thing or you just have a lot going on right now, I totally get it 😉

And in case you’ve already done the tag and I somehow missed it, please tell me so I can go remedy that!

So yeah, that was it for today! I hope you had fun reading, and do let me know whether you agreed with my answers or not! Are your unpopular bookish opinions as controversial as mine? Do you prefer long series or standalones? I would love to know!

41 thoughts on “The 20 Questions Book Tag”

    • abookowlscorner says:
      Reply

      You’re welcome! And don’t worry, there’s no rush – I usually end up doing my own tags months later, so feel free to take your time 😂

      And yay, I’m so glad someone can relate!! 🤗 Although I have a very strange relationship with Throne of Glass… I do like some of the books, but then there are others, like Queen of Shadows or Kingdom of Ash, that I absolutely hated 😅🙈😁

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Definitely Moi says:
    Reply

    I loved your answers, Naemi! Thanks for tagging me! Although, you don’t like Alice in Wonderland? I liked it, but personally, I think Through the Looking Glass is better. It’s full of nonsense and makes a light-hearted, fun read!

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Jan @ thedoodlecrafter says:
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    Thanks for tagging me!! I couldn’t finish Alice in Wonderland and the catcher in the rye. Alice in wonderland seemed just the sort of fantasy story I’d love but it just…I lost interest after a few pages. I know, the only love triangle I ever felt was done well was the one in hunger games!

    Liked by 1 person

    • abookowlscorner says:
      Reply

      You’re very welcome! I’d love to see your thoughts on some of these questions, Jan! 😊

      I’m also so glad I’m not alone with some of my unpopular book opinions! If I hadn’t read it for university, I might have put Alice down after a couple of pages, too 😅 And it’s nice to see you agree with me on The Hunger Games 🥰

      Liked by 1 person

  6. Line says:
    Reply

    It was interesting reading your opinions on cliffhangers. I don’t have a very passionate opinion about them at the end of a book, but at the end of a chapter? I hate it so much! 😂 I think I might have experienced it too often that those cliffhangers don’t actually mean that something exciting is about to happen. For example, characters think someone is following them and they’re about to be attacked. Cliffhanger! And then it actually turns out to be a friend or something that isn’t dangerous. It’s fake suspense! 😤

    I relate to your determination about not DNF’ing books. I’ve started doing it more, but I still hate that feeling of leaving something unfinished. And I don’t feel like I can count it on Goodreads as read, so yes, all that work for nothing 😂

    Oh, and I’m glad I got someone to read The Betrayals who’s going to push it onto more people 😄 That Goodreads rating is awfully low.

    Liked by 1 person

    • abookowlscorner says:
      Reply

      Haha, I think your explantion of why you hate cliffhangers at the end of chapters is the exact same reasoning I have for hating them at the end of books 😂 I feel as though they’re only put there to add unnecessary drama to make me read the next book, but then the way things are resolved is always so anticlimactic! Because more often than not, a sequel probably has its own story arc, so the cliffhanger situation has to be reduced super quickly so that the new story can start 🙄 And those solutions are never very satisfying…
      I haven’t seen as many of these annoying cliffhangers within books, though. And when I do, I don’t mind too much, as long as the suspense is “real” most of the time and there are actually stakes. But as a way of ending a book, it just feels so cheap!

      And I’m the exact same way about not counting DNFed books on Goodreads 🤣 Although even separately from that, it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth if I’ve already invested several hours into reading something and don’t see it through to the end. I just want to know the whole story! Which is, logically speaking, probably pretty stupid because I could be reading something I would end up liking more, but I’m just weird that way 😁

      And you just made me check goodreads and The Betrayals has an average rating below 4 Stars???! 😨 What is wrong with people? Don’t they see all the wonderfulness? We definitely need to do our best to change that! 🤣

      Liked by 1 person

      • Line says:
        Reply

        Yeah I see what you mean. When the cliffhanger drama has to be resolved so quickly to make room for the story arc of that book, it might as well have been put in the previous book. Although I think I hate it more when that first book doesn’t have its own climactic moment. If that cliffhanger at the end is the only excitement we’re going to get, then I hate it just as much. If we’ve already had that moment, then I don’t mind a cliffhanger that builds suspense for the next book I think.
        And I’m guessing you aren’t by the end-of-chapter cliffhangers because you haven’t read some of Brandon Sanderson’s more recent books. That man is in love with building fake suspense! I guess it’s part of the reason why I don’t give his books 5 stars anymore 🤔

        And yes! A Goodreads rating below 4 stars and you just know people aren’t liking it! And it’s significantly below 4 stars 😢 But so are a lot of my favorite books so I’ve kind of accepted it 😅

        Liked by 1 person

        • abookowlscorner says:
          Reply

          Yes, that’s exactly what I meant when I said I want a book to have a complete arc – that climactic moment is so important! So I agree, it’s just as dumb if nothing exciting happens in a book at all and it just randomly ends… And I can bear the cliffhangers if they’re more of an afterthought, rather than something integral to the story of the first book.
          Although I must admit, you’ve made me kind of nervous to start Way of Kings now 😅 I want lots of real suspense, not just the fake kind!

          Liked by 1 person

    • abookowlscorner says:
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      Ahhhhh!!! 🤗🥰🤗 I’m so excited for you to read it!! I really hope you end up loving it at least as much as I did – judging by goodreads, people seem to have pretty mixed opinions 😅 But either way, I’m already dying to know your thoughts on it!

      Liked by 1 person

  8. koppsan says:
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    I agree with your view on cliffhangers. End of a chapter is fine, but I hate series where a book ends on a cliffhanger and you have to read the next book to learn what’s going on. I read a lot of books and if I change to one outside of the series I may or may not get right to the next book. That’s why I end each book of my Epthelion series with a resolution.. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    • abookowlscorner says:
      Reply

      Exactly! If you don’t immediately keep reading a series – which is sometimes even impossible because the next book hasn’t been released yet – cliffhangers just feel so anticlimactic! I definitely approve of your strategy there 👍

      Like

    • abookowlscorner says:
      Reply

      Thanks, Birdie 😊 And yeah – even though I read lots of long series, I am often intimidated by them at first, too! It can take me forever to finally commit to reading them 😅 But once I’ve started and fallen in love, I just want those books to keep coming! 😂

      Liked by 1 person

  10. bibliomavens says:
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    Naemi, it was so much fun reading your answers! You have my two least favourite books too!! I could rant for so long about how much I don’t like Cursed Child and Heart of Darkness. Cursed Child is a joke and Heart of Darkness is just so many kinds of bad. I had to write a paper on it in university and it was the biggest struggle ever.

    I also don’t DNF anything. I will sit there and struggle through everything until the end. Only recently have I started to DNF books and it’s more of a ‘I’m not going to finish it now, but I will one day.’

    I really want to read The Betrayals. I’ve seen some great reviews on it and I’m also a huge sucker for a pretty cover and that one is beautiful!

    Loved reading your answers! – Amber

    Liked by 1 person

    • abookowlscorner says:
      Reply

      Thanks, Amber! I’m so glad we are united in our hatred of Cursed Child and Heart of Darkness – it’s always nice to know you’re not alone and have someone to rant to 😂 Seriously, they’re AWFUL, and I’m so glad I never had to write a paper on them – I don’t envy you at all! I’m already not super excited about writing ordinary term papers, but for a book I despised? It sounds torturous! 😅

      And aaahh, the DNFing struggle is so real! I’m exactly like you – the only time I ever don’t finish books is “by accident”. I put them down, fully intending to pick them back up someday 😄 And to be honest, I’m still half convinced I will for the majority of those books!

      Also, yes, read The Betrayals! 🤗🥰🤩 I’ve seen pretty mixed reviews so far, but I think that book is a masterpiece, so I need to push it onto as many people as possible 😁 I would love to hear your thoughts on it!

      And thanks again to both you and Samantha for tagging me! I had so much fun with this! 😊

      Like

      • bibliomavens says:
        Reply

        It was actual torture. Let’s just say I trusted Google a lot on that paper because I didn’t have it in me to properly analyze that book.

        And haha same! As long as I tell myself I’ll read it someday it’s not a proper DNF, right?

        I’ll definitely let you know what I think when I read it! And you’re welcome, we loved reading your answers. 🥰

        Liked by 1 person

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  12. Susana @susanalovesbooks says:
    Reply

    I personally prefer paperbacks to hardbacks too! I own very few hardbacks which seems to be a bit unusual at least from what I’ve seen in the bookish community online.
    I don’t DNF books either, I totally get you on that 😂

    Liked by 1 person

    • abookowlscorner says:
      Reply

      I know! Everyone seems to be crazy about hardbacks, but I just don’t get it… Why for the more expensive version when you can also have a cheap one? 🤔 And I actually think those floppy kinds of paperbacks are way easier to read than other kinds of books – they just stay open without you having to force the pages apart all the time 😂

      Also, I’m glad so many people seem to understand my aversion to DNFing things! That makes me feel like slightly less of a weirdo 🤣

      Liked by 1 person

  13. Susana @susanalovesbooks says:
    Reply

    I don’t know how you can just remember the page number, I would definitely forget it 😆
    Thank you for tagging me! I love reading your answers and the memes you chose hahaha

    Liked by 1 person

    • abookowlscorner says:
      Reply

      Well, I usually only read one book at a time and tend to finish them pretty quickly, so remembering the page numbers usually isn’t too difficult 😁 Though I definitely can’t say I’ve never forgotten one and accidentally spoiled myself as a result, either 🤣

      And you’re welcome for the tag! I can’t wait to see how you answer these questions!

      Liked by 1 person

  14. Rabeeah says:
    Reply

    Thank you for tagging me!! I’m definitely going to do this tag, although I don’t think I could match how funny your answers were. ‚Can’t have a bad ending if you don’t finish the book‘ is something it took me a long time to realise I was doing – just, not reading the last few chapters a book because I knew I wouldn’t like the way it ended! 😅🤦‍♀️

    I had to laugh when The Cursed Child popped up on this list. I didn’t read it, because I went to watch the show instead, and the dread I felt as I slowly realised what the big reveal of the story was going to be was intense. The less I think about that debacle, the better…

    I also agree with you on love triangles, However! I recently read Legendborn which (kind of) contains a love triangle and… I don’t think I hated it? The characters are all super well-written, and it doesn’t seem very obvious where they will all end up. Highly recommend!

    Liked by 1 person

    • abookowlscorner says:
      Reply

      You’re welcome for the tag! I can’t wait to see your answers – I’m sure they’ll be at least as funny as mine! Especially since I can’t really take credit for any of the funniness; I just stole a ton of memes from people more talented than me 🤣😅

      And oh my gosh, I can only imagine your horror during that Cursed Child experience! Reading it was bad enough, but at least it was over quickly and I had my siblings to rant to during the experience. I think we vented about it for about five hours on end after all of us had finished it, and only stopped because we had to go to bed 😂 But seeing a beautiful stage performance have such horrible content? I think that would be even more disappointing, especially considering how excited I was for Cursed Child before I knew anything about it!

      Ooh, and that sounds very promising! I actually got my sister Legendborn for Christmas (obviously with the intention that she would let me read it afterwards; that’s pretty much how all our presents work 😁), so I’m waiting for her to bring the book with her next time she comes home… But the fact that you’re praising it so much only makes me more excited to read it!

      Liked by 1 person

      • Rabeeah says:
        Reply

        Legendborn definitely deserves all the hype it gets, imo, I’m sure anyone who enjoys fantasy will love it. Im not usually a huge YA reader either, but I enjoyed it a lot.

        You are correct about the beautiful stage performance of Cursed Child, it was very creative, shame the second part of the story had to come along 🤣. Im not surprised you had to rant about it, I’m sure I still could! It was just… so unnecessary 😭

        Liked by 1 person

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