TAG: The Bookish Bucket List

I saw this tag over at Drizzle and Hurricane Books, which was created by Madison’s Inkwell, and it looked like a lot of fun, which is what I think I say with literally every tag ever, but what can you do, I’m an excitable person. I have a lot of hopes and dreams when it comes to books because that’s what we do!

What books or series that intimidate you (because of length, density, subject) would feel like an accomplishment to finish?

Okay, honestly, I felt this way about the An Ember in the Ashes series by Sabaa Tahir, but I finally got my butt in gear and read it (spoiler: it was AMAZING, I’m going to die when the new one comes out), so if I had to pick another one, it would be:

295654

I don’t know that I’ve ever talked about the LA Meyer books, but Curse of the Blue Tattoo is the second book of TWELVE, and I think that speaks for itself. My friend gifted me the first six, and I’ve only read the first one, and every time I think about reading the second one, I just run in the other direction because it’s so many. This is probably why it took me five years to read A Series of Unfortunate Events.

What author would you like to coauthor a book with?

I think this answer is probably going to surprise everyone because you’re all expecting me to say Maggie Stiefvater, but

I think Amanda Foody and I would really get along. We have really similar character tropes that we love, and her books are always exactly what I hoped they would be. She’s literally smashed every expectation out of the park with every single book, and I think that’s because she always does exactly what I’m hoping she will because we tell stories in similar ways. That, and she’s super cool.

If you could interview any author for your blog, who would it be? What’s one question you would ask?

Shea Ernshaw, in a heartbeat.

In case you were wondering if I’ve been enjoying Winterwood by @sheaernshaw this week, that’s a solid HECK YES. I love it so much that I read the first part of the first chapter in my savasana tonight and then pistol squatted with it after. . It’s...

We would barely talk about books. It would just be about her philosophy on mirrors/cameras, what it’s like to have a minimalist social media presence that still promotes her work, the magic of the natural world, the very real magic in our everyday lives, and then, at the end of all of it, if I had to actually formulate a question, it would be: What season are you writing in next, and what is your favorite season to write in?

As a writer, what genre is out of your comfort zone that you’d like to conquer someday and write within?

Thriller/horror. I’ve written contemporary adult romance, I mostly hang out in adult & young adult urban fantasy, I’ve done a few adult high fantasies, but thriller/horror? Man, that’s so hard for me to figure out. I’ve got one idea that I’d really like to write someday, and I’ve started it, but it’s going to take some serious effort to actually write it.

the ones we left behind is about a bunch of dumbass teenagers in their senior year of college going on “one last grand adventure” before graduation, but they plan it all wrong and end up stuck on a mountain lost and running out of supplies. I know all of the pieces, too. I know the characters, the route they’re going to take, and the basic shape of the story, but the actual writing of it scares me.

What specific edition of a book would you like to own someday? It could be rare, a first edition, an anniversary edition, signed, or one with a cover special to you, etc.

HA, this will definitely come as no surprise, but what I would love more than anything is a first edition of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I have a first edition of both The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales, but only second editions of LOTR.

I’ve already started thinking about my Top 10 for the year, and The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien is definitely in there. I was gifted this absolutely stunning (and first edition!!!) by @haydensister and I honestly cannot stop thinking about this...

I also have no cool editions of The Hobbit, so that’d be a pretty chill score, but I would just honestly frame first editions of LOTR and only take them out to hug them.

Are there any books or bookish items that you’d like to collect?

Haha, see above? In all seriousness, I’m always on the hunt for Tolkien books, and while I do have a lot, there are so many more that I want. Once upon a time, I also wanted to collect a bunch of Frances Hodgson Burnett books, but I have first editions of pretty much everything, so I’m happy with that, and the only thing left is to make my Tolkien collection enviable.

I honestly don’t collect a lot of books or bookish items. I have Funko Pops, but I’m not crazy about getting them, and Tolkien is the only person I buy multiple editions for.

Name one bookish place you’d like to visit. (Not somewhere you’d like to visit because of a book and not a fictional place within a book. A library, bookstore, etc.)

Okay, I know that we’re mad at The Strand’s owner right now, but twice people have forced me to walk past it and keep going, and I’m not in NY that often, so I feel like I’ve got to seize the opportunity when it presents itself, you know? And yet, here I am, still without ever having gone.

Strand Books

Their slogan is literally 18 Miles of Books, WHY WILL NO ONE LET ME GO???

Name one bookish event you’d like to attend.
(A festival, a signing, a book fair, etc.)

Okay, now it’s time for Maggie Stiefvater! She was supposed to be hosting a writing retreat before all the insanity of the world happened, and I really wanted to go. I seriously considered it and was trying to figure out how to make it happen when it sold out, but if it ever happens again, count me in.

Your WIP is getting published and designing the cover is solely up to you. What does it look like?

lolllllllllllllllll

I have ZERO art skills. Absolutely zero. I can barely draw a stick figure, and I have no desire to learn and create art skills. I like writing just fine. I also don’t really have an eye for art. I love pretty much everything.

But, if I absolutely have to design my own cover, the one thing across the board that it definitely cannot have is a real person. Drawn people are different. I don’t mind those. They suit the mood a lot of the time. But, and I’m not knocking contemporaries, but y’all know it’s true, every single hetero romance that has two teens all tangled up on it make me want to gag. However, the cover of Emergency Contact with the sketched Sam and Penny? Or Strange Birds, with artistic renderings of the four girls? Yes to those.

Honestly, I have such a varied taste in covers, and it all depends on what’s inside the book. Bookstore boys would probably be an aesthetic sweater thrown over a pile of books or something. Saintsverse would very likely include a cathedral. Sister witches is something I struggle with imagining a lot, so I’m not even going to try, and honestly, this is all you’re getting out of me for this one.

What’s one thing you’d like to accomplish within the bookish world? As a writer, reader, blogger, whatever you want.

I want people to feel represented by sister witches. By all of my books, yes, but by that one most of all. It’s the closest to my heart, and it represents me more than any of my other ones do, so, at the end of the day, if just one confused Latinx witch feels a little bit seen, I’ll be happy.

And here, since I’ve already given you an aesthetic for one books, here’s another.

I’m tagging Margaret @ Weird Zeal, Kim @ Traveling in Books, and Caro @ Bookcheshirecat for this one!


18 responses to “TAG: The Bookish Bucket List”

  1. evelynreads1 Avatar
    evelynreads1

    Loved reading this!
    I totally feel you on the An ember in the ashes series, it took me forever to pick it up, but it turned out amazing!

    (www.evelynreads.com)

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Holly Avatar

    Love that edition of The Silmarillion!!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. marydrover Avatar

      It’s a first! My friend found it in her grandfather’s things, and she doesn’t like LOTR, so she just handed it over and I was like DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT THIS?!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Holly Avatar

        THAT’S AMAZING!!

        Liked by 1 person

  3. Margaret @ Weird Zeal Avatar

    Ooh thanks so much for tagging me – this looks so fun! 😀 Omg the idea of having a first edition LOTR book…that would be SO COOL. I would probably also spend a lot of time hugging them haha. Also I really hope you get to go to The Strand someday – it’s an incredible bookstore with some of the coolest merch and a great ambience 😀 And I love your answer for that last question. That seems like a wonderful thing to aspire to!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. marydrover Avatar

      I’m determined to, it’s just a matter of time, haha. Thank you! They’ve inspired me a lot, so sending all my hope out there that they do the same for others.

      Like

  4. Eustacia | Eustea Reads Avatar

    I actually really enjoyed the first few (like three or four) Bloody Jack books and then…. somehow never got around to finishing it. Curse of the long book series, I guess!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. marydrover Avatar

      I also enjoyed the first one, just keep not picking up the next one for whatever reason, ugh!

      Liked by 1 person

  5. waytoofantasy Avatar

    Nice tag! I love that you’d want to try your hand at thriller/horror–I think that and mystery must be one of the toughest genres to conquer. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. marydrover Avatar

      Seriously, though! They follow a lot more rules than most other genres, one that help shape the story into their specific genre, so it’d be neat to try to stay within those guidelines while still having fun pushing the boundaries.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. waytoofantasy Avatar

        Yeah, it could be neat to try and do something fresh with it.

        Like

  6. Marie Avatar

    Ahh I’m so happy you did this tag, it’s such a fun one 🙂 and ahhhhhhhhhhhhh but the ones we left behind this sounds like such an INCREDIBLE STORY?? I hope you’ll get to write it someday, I’m rooting for you! ❤

    Liked by 1 person

    1. marydrover Avatar

      Oh my gosh, thank you!! The characters are so fun, and I want to see what they do lost in the woods so bad!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Marie Avatar

        WELL ME TOO!! I’m so excited about it ahha. I hope you can get to it someday ❤

        Liked by 1 person

  7. theorangutanlibrarian Avatar

    oh gosh the strand looks incredible!!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. marydrover Avatar

      Right! I want to go there so bad!

      Liked by 1 person

  8. Caro @ bookcheshirecat Avatar

    Thank you so much for tagging me! 🥰 I would love to co-author a book with Amanda Foody as well, I love her Ace of Shades Series soo much 😊 The book that most intimidates is probably The Lies of Locke Lamora, but I’m tackling it right now 📚

    Liked by 1 person

    1. marydrover Avatar

      She’s absolutely fantastic! Ooh, I’ve heard so many good things about that one, I hope you love it!

      Liked by 1 person

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