Book Scavenger Hunt Tag

I’m always a little late to the party in most things in life: music, TV shows, even books. I admit, it’s shameful; so please don’t hate me for being shamelessly late to the BookTube Book Tag party.

My lovely friend, Dani on Books, got me hooked on BookTube and I’ve been watching videos ever since. Funnily enough, from the moment I started watching videos, my TBR list has drastically increased, a connection I’m not sure whether I’m happy about quite yet.

Anyways – I saw this Book Tag on YouTube and couldn’t help but wonder what answers I’d come up with. So I went for it, in a non-BookTube, old-school blog kind of way. The original tag was created by Sarah, of Library of Sarah; to whom I must give a shout out, I had a lot of fun running around all my bookshelves looking for these books! A lot of these are actually on my TBR list, so they’ve been pushed up to the top of the list.

1. Find an author’s name or title with the letter Z in it: A lot of the responses I watched went for the obvious ‘Book Thief – by Markus Zusak’ option. I’m going to go a bit different and use a Z in the title: ‘Amazons of Black Sparta – by Stanley B. Alpern’. I actually found out about this book through a reference in the last book of the Millenium Trilogy ‘The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest’. It’s a non-fiction book describing the first historically documented female warriors. Awesome read.

2. Find a classic: I have a pretty decent selection of classics lining my bookshelves. As you can see, I’m a little bit in love with Penguin Clothbound Classics. I’ve chosen ‘Dracula – by Bram Stoker’ as I’ve been told to read this about 15 times by different people. It’s the next classic on my TBR, promise!

3. Find a book with a key on it: Strangely, I only have one book with a Key on it. I read a lot of Fantasy/Fiction and would have assumed I’d have a lot more. My pick is ‘The Lost Symbol – by Dan Brown’. This is a great read if you like a bit of puzzle-solving, mystery and thrillers.  I’ve not actually read any of his other books, as I watched the films first and couldn’t be bothered to start the books.

4. Find something on your bookshelf that’s not a book: Easy, my antique genie lamp; purchased this year from an Aladdin’s cave of an antique shop in the heart of Stone Town, Zanzibar. I saw it, fell in love and haggled my ass off for it.  It sits pride of place on the shelf with the pretty clothbound classics.

5. Find the oldest book on your shelf: My books aren’t that old, simply because I’ve only recently gotten addicted to buying books. The oldest oneI have is ‘The King’s English – by Fowler and Fowler’, published in the 1940’s.

6. Find a book with a girl on the cover: Going to go with ‘Poison Study – by Maria V. Snyder’, the first book of the Study Trilogy. Great book. Great series, in fact; definitely something to put on your TBR list if you haven’t done so already.

7. Find a book that has an animal in it: Depends on your definition of animal – are mythical beasts allowed? I think they are, which is why I’m going for ‘The Mad Ship – by Robin Hobb’, book two of Liveship Traders Trilogy. If you haven’t read Robin Hobb before,  I don’t think we can be friends – she is incredible.

8. Find a book with a male protagonist: This has got to be ‘Lords of the Bow – by Conn Iggulden’, second book in the Conqueror Series. This is an incredible book that follows the growth of the dynasty of Genghis Khan. This was the first book of his that I read and I’ve been hooked ever since.

9. Find a book with only words on it: This may be cheating but I’m going for the ‘Compact Oxford English Dictionary’. It’s got words on it, in it – it’s full of words. And everyone needs a dictionary in their house right?

10. Find a book with illustrations in it: My beautiful Folio Society Edition of ‘The Hobbit – by J.R.R. Tolkien’. Just look at how pretty it is.

11. Find a book with gold lettering: ‘Wolf Hall – by Hilary Mantel’. Twice Man Booker Prize winner, both this and ‘Bringing up the Bodies’ is on my TBR list. I’m ashamed that I haven’t read it yet.

12. Find a diary (true or fictional): Would have to be ‘The Lost Diaries – edited by Craig Brown’, a wide-ranging anthology of the world’s greatest diarists. Another book on my TBR; the amount of books I haven’t read on my shelves is starting to get embarrassing.

13. Find a book written by someone with a common name (like Smith): Apparently I like authors with exotic/unique names! The only one I could find was ‘The Song of Achilles – by Madeline Miller’. One of the best books I’ve read so far this year.

14.  Find a book that has a closeup of something on it: How about a face? ‘The Passage – by Justin Cronin’, yet another one on the TBR. Watch this space – I’ll get round to reading it one day!

15. Find a book on your shelf that takes place in the earliest time period: The only one I can think of is ‘The Persians – by Homa Katouzian’, which describes the rise and fall of the Persian Empire. Being Iranian, I bought this to learn about my nation’s history… I haven’t started it yet! I’m a terrible Iranian.

16. Find a hardcover book without a jacket: Again – any of my Penguin Clothboud Classics would work here, but I’m going to go for ‘Wuthering Heights – by Emily Bronte’ – another favourite so far this year.

17. Find a teal/turquoise coloured book: ‘The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye – by A.S. Byatt’. This is my second book by Byatt, I really enjoyed Ragnarok, so couldn’t help but pick this one up from the bookstall under the bridge at South Bank, London.

18. Find a book with stars on it: Again I thought I’d have more books with stars on it, but could only find one with a star on the spine: ‘The Lies of Locke Lamora – by Scott Lynch’ – another TBR … this is starting to get ridiculous.

19. Find a non-YA book: Going to have to go for ‘Things Fall Apart – by Chinua Achebe’, a novel I read as a teenager but am planning to read again, if I ever get through my TBR list.