Coffee and… Ice-Lolly Book Tag

It’s summer! And, whilst I’m usually one of the “Argh! Daylight! It burns!” people, I am very partial to a nice summery ice-lolly or (tub of) ice-cream whilst reading. Amy (of Golden Books Girl), Louise (of Book Murmuration) and I got chatting about which books we would match with each ice-lolly. I’m taking a lot of credit here – Amy and Louise did a lot of the thinking and I chirped in my 20p worth at the end! But still, one random bookish conversation and this tag was born. So that’s this week’s Coffee and…

The Coffee: I’m drinking a Kenyan filter coffee from Steampunk with a side-order of Ben and Jerry’s Caramel Chew Chew. Don’t even talk to me about not having coffee in the summer. My dark heart needs it.

The Books: 

If you’re tagged, please tag four other bloggers to do this and link back to Amy, Louise and me as we’d love to see what you’re all posting and if you enjoyed doing this tag as much as we did! Feel free to use our graphics (header by Amy and naff ice-cream drawings by me, with some editing help from Louise!)

Fruit Ice Lolly- Left on the Shelf

I think the basic fruit ice lolly gets a bad rep. I love one of these on a sunny day, but am the first to admit that I leave them in the freezer when there’s something more exciting around. My left-on-the-shelf book is Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Like every avid Potter fan, I rushed to get a copy when it first came out, but I haven’t got around to reading it yet. Partly because I’ve heard so many mixed-reviews about it, but also I just haven’t gotten round to picking it up amongst all the other books I’ve read.

Calippo – Work Hard to Get the Good Stuff Out

We’ve all been there with the ice-lolly: it tastes good but it takes a lot of effort to eat. I’m pairing this with A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving . This was a book that a trusted friend lent me and for about half of it, I thought she’d lost her marbles. It was a hard slog, but then something changed and it became one of the best books I’ve ever read. I’m pleased I persisted to the end because it was so rewarding to get there.

Rocket – More Exciting From The Outside

I almost hate to do this, but for me it was When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon. My feelings for the humble rocket ice-lolly are that it’s good, but never as great as you expect it to be, and that was this book for me: it was lovely, sweet, and summery but somehow just didn’t live up to the hype. I liked it, but I didn’t love it.  

Rainbow – Favourite LGBTQIA Read 

It has to be Noah Can’t Even by Simon James Green because this book kept me up until the early hours, laughing until the very end. I loved it!

Crunchie Blast – A Great Spin-Off or Re-telling

I don’t often (knowingly) read spin-offs or re-tellings, and I don’t know why that is. My pairing for this is Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman which is a brilliant and, at times hilarious, retelling of Norse Myths. I loved this one.

Nobbly Bobbly- A Gritty Subject With a Sweet Message

Release by Patrick Ness takes this ice-lolly. It’s a story with an important subject and a lot to sink your teeth into, but with a lovely, sweet and hopeful message that sometimes people are genuine and wonderful, and that you can be truly happy if you surround yourself with the right ones.

Fab – A Weak Ending

I hate doing the negative ones. I don’t want to hurt any of my books! I’m probably interpreting this a little differently to others but I’m going with the new (and supposedly exciting) ending to the Divergent trilogy which was released earlier this year: We Can Be Mended by Veronica Roth. Because, no. No. No. No. That’s just not an okay ending to the trilogy: it was disappointing and it didn’t add anything. For me, it took the shine off a little, so I am now in a state of refusal to acknowledge its existence.

Cornetto – A Hidden Surprise at the End

Personally, I’ve never been a fan of a Cornetto, but I do love a surprise ending to a book. The one that I’ve been thinking of since we discussed this tag is Ask No Questions by Lisa Hartley because that ending just blew me away and left me begging for the next in the series.

Ben and Jerry’s – Most Versatile Author

I’m giving this to the fabulous Alice Hoffman whose writing I loved so much the first time I encountered it, that I ordered almost her entire back catalogue in one go. I don’t know many other authors who can go from magical YA books (The Foretelling) to magical adult books (Practical Magic) and gritty realism (Blue Diary) and be amazing at them all.

Boss Double Strawberry – Book by an International Author

I’d never even heard of this ice-lolly until Louise mentioned it, which is probably fitting for my international author tag. This one is 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami. Not a book for the faint-hearted or those that like their books short and easy to follow, but it is a fantastic epic fantasy and I love it.

Magnum – A Classic

I struggled to think of this one, so I’m going with one of my all time favourite classics Jane Eyre by Charlote Bronte. I read this for the first time aged 7 (when I thought reading classics was the height of cleverness, if not coolness) and I have adored it ever since. Every re-read I get something new out of it, but Helen always breaks my heart and I am always on edge wanting Jane to find her way back to Edward.

Choc Ice – The Book You Don’t Want to Admit You Love

My choice for this is slightly inspired by the recent spin off #SundayYA where a group of us got to discussing unpopular book opinions. Mine is Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. It’s one that most people hate: other readers turn their noses up at you when you tell them you enjoyed it and every one seems to enjoy pointing out all the problems with it. I love it.

Mint Choc Chip- Either Love it or Hate it

I love mint choc chip ice-cream, so long as it’s not green. Ironically, the cover of my book choice for this is green. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde which has divided opinion amongst everyone I’ve ever recommended it to. People either love it or just don’t get it at all. I’m in the love it camp.

Magnum Tub – Weird but Good

I’m giving this to Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor because it is weird (a girl who screams moths that feedback what they can see to her brain, yeah, that’s weird) but is is also exquisite and wonderful. Everyone should read it.

Mini Milk – Short and Sweet

Mini milks always remind me of being young and eating ice-cream at my Grandparents’ House. My book choice for this is a short and sweet book I enjoyed reading when I was little Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter a lovely story about a girl who tries to find the happiness in every situation and encourages a whole town of people to do the same.

Solero – Light and Fluffy

We’ve established that I am dark and twisty, yes? So light and fluffy reads do not come easily (or often) to me. I scrolled back to last year in my Goodreads list trying to find something. This one is going to the not-yet-published To Provence, With Love by T. A. Williams which I will be reviewing here on the blog on 27th July.

Phew! That was harder work than I thought it would be! I’m tagging in some of my favourite and newly discovered bloggers: Rebecca from This Booky Place , Liv from That Fiction Life, Rachel from Rachey Ragdoll and, because I would love to see her answers to this (and whether she can survive sunshine), Cait from Paper Fury

 

 

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