Books under the tree | Christmas book tag

I was tagged by my wonderful booktube friend, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXcY77LnYvk&t=1s 

Be sure to check out her video!

1. What book would you like to find under the tree this year? 

 

Tangelweed & brine by Dierdre Sullivan

Tangled tales of earth, salty tales of water. Bewitched retellings of thirteen classic fairy-tales with brave and resilient heroines. Tales of blood and intrigue, betrayal and enchantment from a leading Irish YA author. With 13 stunning black and white illustrations by new Irish illustrator Karen Vaughan.

Hardcover, 180 pages

Published September 7th 2017 by Little Island Books Ltd.

 
 2. What is the best book you have ever received for Christmas? 

The only one that gets me any books is me. I checked out my videos from last year & I found a book haul from November. In the video is a few books that I read this year & loved but I'll stick to mentioning one of them.


Interview with the vampire by Anne Rice (Vampire chronicles #1)

This is the story of Louis, as told in his own words, of his journey through mortal and immortal life. Louis recounts how he became a vampire at the hands of the radiant and sinister Lestat and how he became indoctrinated, unwillingly, into the vampire way of life. His story ebbs and flows through the streets of New Orleans, defining crucial moments such as his discovery of the exquisite lost young child Claudia, wanting not to hurt but to comfort her with the last breaths of humanity he has inside. Yet, he makes Claudia a vampire, trapping her womanly passion, will, and intelligence inside the body of a small child. Louis and Claudia form a seemingly unbreakable alliance and even "settle down" for a while in the opulent French Quarter. Louis remembers Claudia's struggle to understand herself and the hatred they both have for Lestat that sends them halfway across the world to seek others of their kind. Louis and Claudia are desperate to find somewhere they belong, to find others who understand, and someone who knows what and why they are.
Louis and Claudia travel Europe, eventually coming to Paris and the ragingly successful Theatre des Vampires - a theatre of vampires pretending to be mortals pretending to be vampires. Here they meet the magnetic and ethereal Armand, who brings them into a whole society of vampires. But Louis and Claudia find that finding others like themselves provides no easy answers and in fact presents dangers they scarcely imagined.

Mass Market Paperback, 342 pages

Published August 31st 2004 by Ballantine Books (first published April 12th 1976)

 3. What book gives you all the Christmas feels? 

 

A gift from Bob by James Bowen


From the day James rescued a street cat abandoned in the hallway of his sheltered accommodation, they began a friendship which has transformed both their lives and, through the bestselling books A STREET CAT NAMED BOB and THE WORLD ACCORDING TO BOB, touched millions around the world.
In this new story of their journey together, James looks back at the last Christmas they spent scraping a living on the streets and how Bob helped him through one of his toughest times - providing strength, friendship and inspiration but also teaching him important lessons about the true meaning of Christmas along the way.
Hardcover, 192 pages

Published October 13th 2015 by Thomas Dunne Books (first published 2014)

 
4. What book do you plan on reading to put you in the Christmas spirit this year? 

Sadly, the only Christmas book I have is A gift from Bob so that will be the one I'll be reading. 

5. What book have you read this year that you would like to throw out with the Christmas tree after the holidays? 
 

IT by Stephen King
To the children, the town was their whole world. To the adults, knowing better, Derry, Maine was just their home town: familiar, well-ordered, a good place to live. It was the children who saw – and felt – what made Derry so horribly different. In the storm drains, in the sewers, It lurked, taking on the shape of every nightmare, each person’s deepest dread. Sometimes It reached up, seizing, tearing, killing…The adults, knowing better, knew nothing. Time passed and the children grew up, moved away. The horror of It was deep-buried, wrapped in forgetfulness. Until the grown-up children were called back, once more to confront It as It stirred and coiled in the sullen depths of their memories, reaching up again to make their past nightmares a terrible present reality.
 
A real disappointment on so many levels. Rape, N*words, violence, abuse. Funny thing was that IT wasn't scary if you compared the monster to the humans. This wasn't worth my time & I will take a break from Stephen King. This was a real mess. It could've been 300 pages & a really good book. So far I've read 7 of his books & most of them have been Okay. I'm not impressed & I don't understand the hype.
 

 6. What is a book from this year that you would like to place under a friend's tree? 

 

Atonement by Ian Mcewan

Ian McEwan’s symphonic novel of love and war, childhood and class, guilt and forgiveness provides all the satisfaction of a brilliant narrative and the provocation we have come to expect from this master of English prose.
On a hot summer day in 1934, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis witnesses a moment’s flirtation between her older sister, Cecilia, and Robbie Turner, the son of a servant and Cecilia’s childhood friend. But Briony’s incomplete grasp of adult motives—together with her precocious literary gifts—brings about a crime that will change all their lives. As it follows that crime’s repercussions through the chaos and carnage of World War II and into the close of the twentieth century, Atonement engages the reader on every conceivable level, with an ease and authority that mark it as a genuine masterpiece.

Paperback, 351 pages

Published February 25th 2003 by Anchor Books (first published 2001)

 
 7. Challenge: Create a stack of books in which the spines alternate green and red! Share the titles. 
 
Nora Roberts - Blue Dahlia (In the garden trilogy)
Anne Rice - Interview with the vampire
Diana Gabaldon - An echo in the bone (Outlander #7)
Richelle Mead - Shadow kiss (Vampire Academy #3)
Joyce Carol Oates - My sister, my love
J.K Rowling - Harry Potter & the goblet & fire (Harry Potter #4)
M.J. Arlidge - Eeny meeny (Helen Grace #1)

8. The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear. Who do you tag? 

I tag everyone that has read this blog post. Please link your tags below so I can check them out.