I’ll be totally honest with you. I’m in the middle of three books, halfway through the 2014-15 season of One Chicago, and I have two stories I’m almost done with. There’s just a lot going on. Oh, and I just learned how to cook a leg of lamb on our little grill. It’s been a day.
To take a quick break, I jumped on Youtube and discovered the Truth or Dare book tag. The concept is simple, there are two options per question. One is “Truth” and one is “Dare”. You flip a coin to determine which option to answer. I’ll be using a coin flip website I found for the coin, mostly because I’ve been dropping things all day (the latest being an ice cream scoop on my foot). To designate with option I’m answering, I’m going to only bold that option. It’ll make sense. I’m not looking ahead at the questions also. Since some of the answers are more visual, I will do by best to be honest. (But I will do them! I promise! Just no video.)
This tag was created by Butterflies On My Bookshelf on Youtube if you want to watch the original video!
Here we go!
1. Truth: What is one of your bookish unpopular opinions? Dare: Do one of your bookish pet peeves (ex: dogear a page, write in a book, crack the spine, etc.)
A lot of the popular books that are touted as amazing within the book community are just popular because a bunch of Booktubers hyped them. They’re not that good. (We Were Liars.)
2. Truth: Who are your favorite booktubers? Dare: Rearrange one of your shelves and leave it for the remainder of the video.
The booktuber that I’ve been continuily watching is Hailey in Bookland. She has a good style to her videos, and she also admits biases to certain series and genres.
3. Truth: What are your guilty pleasure reads? Dare: See how many books you can hold at one time.
The answer is 17. The last 17 Owlcrate books. And yes, those also fell on my toe. It’s been a bad day for my feet… (On a normal day, that would probably be higher.)
4. Truth: You have to delete one of your bookish social media. Which do you pick? Dare: Explain the entire plot of your favorite book to someone you know (this can be done over video chat if needed.)
… My mother has declared that she hates me, and I’m apparently grounded (I’m 30!). And she swore to never listen to me talk about The Light Between Worlds again. (She’s not into Narnia retellings. Whoops?)
5. Truth: What’s the weirdest thing you’ve used as a bookmark? Dare: Balance a book on your head for 30 seconds. (It’s okay if you can’t, the attempt is all that matters haha.)
I once used a Lego game disc as a bookmark for a week. I think it was Lego Marvel Superheroes, and I just didn’t have anything handy. It worked out better then you would think! (I’ve also used notebooks, pens, and on one fun equation, a flattened pocky box. There were mistakes made.)
6. Truth: If you had to burn one book, which would it be? Dare: Build a stack of books as tall as you are. This is your new friend. Feel free to name it. Leave it there for the rest of the video.
There are so many! Okay that’s a lie. Honestly though, I hate the thought of burning books, even poorly written ones or ones that I detest. But I guess if I had to choose… The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. One of the worst books I read last year. And of course it’s getting a movie.
7. Truth: Grab a book from your shelf. Open it to a random page. Find a question on that page and answer it honestly. Dare: Write yourself a note and stick it in a book you haven’t read yet. (This can be whatever you want: inspirational, positive, funny, etc.) Now when you read the book, you’ll find the note!
The book I chose is one of my current reads, The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. I flipped to the page I stopped on (page 108) and found a question. “Does ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’ mean anything to you?” The answer is, a lot. I have to remind myself of that whenever I go book shopping. Sure, the cover may look stupid or plain or just horrible, but the book inside might be amazing. That thought has saved me a time or two.
8. Truth: What’s one bookish thing that scares you? (For me, it’s getting “too old” to read YA.) Dare: Grab a random book and sing a little song about it using the title in the song.
I actually have had this booking thing come true before. I’m always worried that I’m going to look out of place looking for YA books. Even in Barnes and Noble, it’s a fear that I’ve had. Two years ago before the pandemic, I was in my local library, and I was kicked out of the YA section because I was too old. It didn’t matter that it was noontime on a weekday, meaning that teens were in school. Because I looked too old and I didn’t have a teenager with me, I was not allowed to look are or be in the teen section. (For the record, I left the library and haven’t returned. I was just trying to find one book off the shelf, but that’s not allowed. I just use and basically abuse their ebook collection instead.)
9. Truth: Pick one of your bookshelf decorations and tell us the story or meaning behind it. Dare: Try to name a book for every letter in the alphabet off the top of your head. Good luck!
… I blanked. So, I’m gonna cheat a little, and do what books I can see from my desk. This will not work well.
Ace of Spades
Blood and Honey
Cemetary Boys
Defy the Stars
E
(The) Falling in Love Montage
Good Girl, Bad Blood
Hold Still
I Think I Love You
J
Keeper of the Lost Cities
Lore
M
Ninth House
Once and Future
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Q
Reverie
Seven Deadly Shadows
The Loneliest Girl in the Universe
U
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (novelization)
Warcross
X
Yolk
Z
… and because I technically cheated, I’ll also answer the Truth question. Above my bookcase is about the only true decoration I have for my shelves. There’s two that stick out to me. One is a Care Bear in a Cloud Car Funko. I grew up with Care Bears, and Dad and I used to watch the show together. When he passed, Mom and I made the joke that Heaven needed him to build cloud cars. The other item is also a tribute to my dad. One of the things he and I shared was Batman. We watched Batman Beyond every time it came on. In October 2019, there was a Limited Edition release of Batman Beyond on Blu-ray, with a metallic Batman Beyond Funko included. I haven’t opened either box. They will probably remain sealed for a long time yet.
10. Truth: What are two characters from different books that you would ship? Dare: Close your eyes. Grab a random book from your shelf. Try to guess what book it is based on how it feels.
Okay, this dare is impossible. I picked up a manga. Yeah, not happening. As for doing the truth option, I’m not really into cross shipping. It’s somewhat uncomfortable to me.
And there you have it, another tag in the bag. An easy, non-stressful one at that. I’m off to finish some of these books, before they come alive and eat me.
Until next time!
