Thursday, November 5, 2015

The Time and Place Book Tag

So I saw Ariel Bissett doing this tag and I loved to hear the strange stories she had to tell about five of her books. I know that I have some strange or beautiful, but mostly strange experiences with my books too. So that's why today I have for you the Time and Place book tag!

> The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
A whole new world
So I was like twelve around this time and I was this very very shy girl who liked videogames and just got into reading, thanks to one of her friends.
It was winter, I think, and on a cold afternoon my dad called when he was in the centrum (the part of the city with all the stores and stuff).
"Hey Nadi," he said and I listened very carefully and couldn't help the grin that spread across my face. I knew that when he called, he had some kind of gift or something like that to offer, hehe.
"So I'm in the bookstore right now and I found this book 'The Iron King', would you like to read that?"
"No no no," I sadi immediately, "I already have that one, it's actually called the Ice Queen."
(In Dutch 'ice' and 'iron' kind of sound the same. Well, at least to me...)
"No no," he said, "it's 'The Iron King'. You know what? I'll just buy it for and if you like it, that's fine and if don't, it's fine too."
"Okay."
When my dad came home and handed that book to me, I underestimated the power it held.
Because as soon as I started reading it, the book opened up my heart a bit more to reading. It grabbed me with its strong, but gentle, arms and dragged me into it.
My once so grey head became red. Orange. Yellow. Green. The rainbow.
My sweet escape, it was. And it would become so much more.

> The Complete Short Fiction by Oscar Wilde
The Book Chair
Now don't let this title mislead you - I didn't actually make a book chair (though that would be pretty awesome) with tons of editions of The Complete Short Fiction by Oscar Wilde. I did something to it that no reader should do to its book.
I sat on it.
Accidentally, of course! I'll tell you how it went:
So I was quite busy working on stuff. Switching from my laptop - which I had placed on my bed, since there was no place on my desk anymore - to my desk. And a bit to my phone...
After a few hours of working (I actually don't if it were hours, but it sounds good) I got a text from one of my friends to check out something on the internet. And, of course, for checking something out you're going to need a laptop. Or phone. But I chose the laptop.
Now keep in mind that the laptop was on my bed and my book lay next to it on my bed.
I think you've already guessed what happened afterwards.
I sat on my bed to sit comfortably in front of my laptop. And not realizing for ten seconds at least that I was sitting on my book. 
When I got up again, I was like: HOLY FUDGEBALLS I SAT ON MY BOOK. NO NO NO!
And then I put in the bookcase, where it could heal slowly and where butt can't do him any harm.
*Sigh*

> The Ghosts of Heaven by Marcus Sedgwick
A Gift of Heaven
I've told you this story before and I'm going to tell you again, because I can. (Was that a rhyme? Nice.)
So for English class I was supposed to read a book for my booktest, which basically was answering tons of questions about the book and get a grade for it. Woohoo.
Anyway, so I was in quite a rush, because booktest was about to take place in a couple of weeks and I'm not the fastest reader so I needed a book right now.
I decided to run to the big and probably the only real bookstore in town and as soon as I entered I ran immediately to the Young Adult-section of the store, not caring to take a look at any other books.
I was strolling between the tables, letting my hands glide over the covers of the books and knowing that I never wanted to leave again. But I had to and I had to very soon so I decided to push my feelings away and focus on the real task.
After fifteen minutes of walking between the tables and pondering about which book I should take with me and then he appeared. As if the angels of Heaven had put it there just for me to see, I found this blue-ish, turquoise book with a spiral staircase on it, which probably led to Heaven, I assumed, called 'The Ghosts of Heaven'. I immediately thought (after a few times considering to take another book instead) that this was it. This was THE book. And it was, because it became one of my favorites.
I need to buy more books of this author.

> Wonder by R J Palacio
Cry-baby and Smile-baby
So I was searching Goodreads for some nice and fun books to read and I suddenly came across this one: Wonder by R J Palacio.
I read the synopsis, skimmed through a few reviews and thought by myself: I HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK.
I put it on my Must Read List and went on searching for other books.
A few months later I found myself in that big and probably the only real bookstore here again. Me and my bookish friends were just spending hours in the bookstore, each of us in a quite different section of the store and were just indulging all the books we wanted to have but didn't have enough money for to buy all of them. We were basically torturing ourselves. But then I realized that I still had a book token (if that's the right way to call it) and a debit card with more than enough money. Now I could've bought a hell lot of books with my debit card and my book token, but I decided I was going to be a good girl and buy one or two books.
And then I saw one - exactly one - copy of Wonder between all the books on the lowest shelf. So I went and bought it immediately with another book. 
I thought it would be a nice read, not a heartbreaking story that would rip my heart out a billion times to put it back again, make it whole again and rip it out again afterwards.
I started reading this book and I started smiling like a doofus and I was letting it touch my heart and destroy it. I kept on smiling and smiling and siling, till something bad happened and I nearly cried. I was so engaged to the story that I could literally feel my heart stop as bad things happened, as Auggie got hurt or got really depressed. I love Auggie.
And this is probably the first book that really got me sooooooo close to crying. That made the tears literally well up in my eyes.
It destroyed me. And it made me smile.
God, I love this book.

> Het Geheim Van Mystic Mountain by Nadi Shahid
Written by Nadi
I HAD TO PUT THIS ONE IN THE TAG!
I always wanted to publish a book someday and when I was ten or eleven I decided that I would just Google: publisher for children.
And as stupid as it may sound, I actually found a publisher who would publish books written by children. I showed it to my mom and my dad and they looked at the site of the publisher carefully and nodded.
"Okay," they said. "You can send your manuscript if you have one already."
"Not yet," I said happily, probably while I was jumping and screaming, "but I'm going to write one and they're going to love it and everybody's going to love it!"
So in a few months I wrote a manuscript. It wasn't actually a book if you ask me now. More a short story. But back then I didn't care, whether it was a big book or a small one or even a book at all - I was so in love with the idea of publishing a book that I didn't really care what kind of book it would be and that I was actually already in love with the book I wrote before it was even written. 
As soon as I finished writing the manuscript, I send it to the publisher with my mom and dad sitting beside me.
A few days later my dad got an email saying that they'd love to publish my book and the following days were amazing. We needed to do some stuff for the publisher and we needed quite a lot of help for that. And I had so many supportive classmates who so happy for me as they got the news that I was going to publish a book. I got some sort of standing ovation, like Auggie, haha ;). 
And one teacher in particular was really supportive. She helped me plan stuff out, get the things I needed and she was just a great help. And I'm forever grateful for that.
She's a very special person to me and not only because she helped me publish my book, but for many more things. Good thing we still have some contact.
This book really has a special place in my heart, though as I look back on the story itself I could've made it even better, but it has given me so many great memories that I don't care whether it's a good book or not.

As you can see - this tag is really MY tag. Not that I created it, but it's just the perfect opportunity for my inner-writer to come out and take over. HELL YEAH! #NoShame
Well, I hope you enjoyed this blogpost as much as I loved writing it.
Until the next blogpost, then! :)




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