The ‘Never Have I Ever’ Book Tag

A big thanks to Cherry over at Letters To The Lost for nominating me for this tag! You can find her gorgeous site here. ‘Never Have I Ever’ was a staple birthday party game and this is such a fun take on it. What would your answers be? Let me know in the comments!

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Rules:

1. Link back to the original creator: Madame Writer
2. Link back to the person who tagged you.
3. Answer all prompts.
4. Add one more prompt of your own.
5. Tag at least five people.
6. Don’t lie!
7. Have fun.

The Prompts

NEVER HAVE I EVER: Read a later book in a series before the first
Something I try and avoid, but the order in which to read a series can be so confusing sometimes. I need nothing short of those massive numbers on the spines of the books to direct me. I read Carry On by Rainbow Rowell before Fangirl, which I’m told is a faux pas, but I think it’s the better order for plot twists and character development.

Or I just don’t want to admit I read them in the wrong order.

NEVER HAVE I EVER: Burned a book
I’ve never been so disappointed in a book that I felt the need to physically destroy it, but I’ve definitely come close before (Truly Madly Awkward anyone?). If it counts, I was always a big fan of the ‘tea stained pages and singed edges’ look to primary school history homework.

NEVER HAVE I EVER: Gone into a shop to buy one book and come out with many more…
So. Many. Times. I think I’m incapable of buying just one thing in a bookshop (aren’t we all?).

NEVER HAVE I EVER: Loved a book when I was younger and hated it when I was older
As for quite a lot of these, no! I did read Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell ages ago and I’d be interested to revisit it to try and pick up on some of the underlying racial stereotypes I’ve seen it get hate for. Whilst I wasn’t aware of it, I didn’t really recognise anything when I first tried it.

NEVER HAVE I EVER: Read a book I knew I’d hate
I was pleasantly surprised by how much better From Blood And Ash was than I’d expected. I still had some problems (and we don’t talk about Kingdom Of Flesh And Fire) but you can find my review of the former here and the latter here 🙂

NEVER HAVE I EVER: Wrote a fanfiction about my favourite book
Read? Too many times to count. But I’ve never written one.

NEVER HAVE I EVER: Dressed up as my favourite literary characters
Cosplay scares me. Some cosplayers are incredibly cool and I love that I’ve made it to Marauders/ Harry Potter Tik Tok buttttt I’ve seen some cosplay that have ruined characters and scared the living daylights out of me. They weren’t even supposed to be creepy!

So, other than World Book Days many many years ago, no.

NEVER HAVE I EVER: Hated a book by an author I love
Luckily, this hasn’t happened to me… yet. I’m slightly horrified by the thought.

NEVER HAVE I EVER: Skim read a book
Not the entire book, but I stopped trying about 80% of the way through Crier’s War. It wasn’t terrible, but you know when a book is such a let down you want to get read it quickly to get out of the way? Yeah.

Find my review here!

NEVER HAVE I EVER: Pretended to read a book when I haven’t
What can I say – books are a great conversation starters!

NEVER HAVE I EVER: Read a book without a dust cover
As I’ve started to buy fancier books, this has become something I find myself doing. I used to be confused why you’d pay so much money for a dust jacket and not look at it whilst reading, but now I understand the joys of looking back at a dust jacket without any stains or tears or random bits of food on it. I was particularly careful when reading How The King Of Elfhame Learned To Hate Stories by Holly Black – it was the black Waterstones edition and one of the prettiest books I own.

Find my review, and some of my favourite artwork, here.

NEVER HAVE I EVER: Had a book boyfriend/girlfriend
I – is this calling me out for liking fictional characters, or asking if I’ve ever dated someone who likes to read? I think some people take it a bit far (I’m sorry to do this to you, but Draco Malfoy is a racist ) and I still don’t really understand shifting. Not to say I’ve never pictured meeting a fictional character…

NEVER HAVE I EVER: Picked up a book based on the cover alone
I had no clue what happened in The Language Of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo (I still don’t to be honest) but LOOK AT THE COVER! How could you not want to read it.

Find my review here.

NEVER HAVE I EVER: Read the end of a book before the beginning
WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS? I can’t think of anything you’d gain from reading the end first, other than some major spoilers. Although, I once saw someone who’d read the end of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows first by mistake, seen Ginny kissing someone called Albus and been very confused.

NEVER HAVE I EVER: Read a history or anthropology book for fun
Not me having to google what anthropology means – I can now confirm that I’ve never read a book about the scientific study of people. But it sounds very interesting! If it counts, I want read The Illiad by Homer one day. Otherwise, I much prefer fiction.

NEVER HAVE I EVER: Participated in a readathon
I’ve always been too intimidated by the year long ones, but I hosted by own last summer.

NEVER HAVE I EVER: Bought multiple books in a series before starting it
Biggest mistakes of my life: buying the entire Mortal Instruments series with no prior knowledge other than that ‘they had pretty spines’. This also ties into the last prompt: Never have I ever kept reading a series even if I didn’t love the first book. I’d bought all the books and kind of had to read them to get the pretty spines on my shelf.

It wasn’t a fun summer.

Cherry’s Question

NEVER HAVE I EVER: Written in a book
I really want to try tabbing a book; using stickers to mark down my favourite parts and make notes on the sides of the pages. It’s probably too much effort than it’s worth, but I might try it with an old favourite one day.

My Question

NEVER HAVE I EVER: Filled up an entire bookshelf and had to have stacks of books balanced precariously throughout various rooms
What an oddly specific question!

I Nominate:

• Stephen Writes
• The Bookworm Shelf
• The Doodle Crafter
• Lost In Neverland
• Notes From A Paper Plane Nomad
• Lit For Queers
• Wacky Words
• Inkish Kingdoms
• Naty’s Bookshelf
• Meg’s Magical Musings
• The Sassy Library Fox

And you! If this is a tag you like the look of, let me know in the comments and I’ll ad your site to the list.