90s Music Book Tag

I’ve seen this on various blogs, but can’t seem to find the creator, so I can’t credit them. I’d like to if anyone knows who did it. I saw this first at Read to Ramble, put it on my “do this tag list,” and promptly forgot about it. Then I was reminded of it on Witty and Sarcastic Book Blog—and it took me over a year to get around to it. I liked the category she added so I used it, and seconds before hitting “Publish” decided to add one of my own.

Also, just for fun, I added the music videos. Might as well sample a bit of the tunes we’re talking about, right?

What’s My Age Again – Blink 182

At what age did you discover your love of reading?

I’ve talked here before about the family vacation where I was such a pain in the keister that my parents had to stop and find a place to get me a couple of books so I’d be tolerable to be in the car with (Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective and Sugar Creek Gang: Screams in the Night—unleashing my Mystery/Detective obsession), which is when I was 7. But I’d been reading like crazy before then, I just didn’t think about it as a thing.

All Star – Smash Mouth

What is your favorite genre?

Is anyone expecting me to say anything but Mystery/Detective/Crime? It’s no contest, really, as it’s never less than a third of what I read in any given month.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Deep Blue Something

What’s your go-to reading snack/drink?

I don’t think I typically snack while reading—probably occasionally, but not enough to have a go-to snack (if this were a TV Tag, on the other hand…). A go-to drink? Probably water, I guess, really just whatever is witin reach. Coffee, hot tea, even a beer or a single-malt.

I did a post a few years ago, Pairing Potent Potables with your Perusals of Prose, where I talked about matching what you drink with what you read. Maybe I should revisit that sometime.

Give It Away – Red Hot Chili Peppers

What book do you ALWAYS recommend to people?

I don’t know that there’s one book that I’d always recommend—not in a “one book to rule them all” sense, anyway. It varies based on who I’m talking to, their interests, and the genre we’re talking about.

But…I guess Jane Eyre, The Golden Spiders, Early Autumn, The Name of the Wind*, Ender’s Game, Red Rising, Dead Beat, The Rook, Dawn Patrol, Kings of the Wyld would likely top the list of fiction. On the non-fiction front, it’d likely be How the Irish Saved Civilization, Christianity & Liberalism, The Bruised Reed, How to Think, or The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction.

* Unless I think they’re going to be someone who whines about book 3.

I’ve never understood the appeal of RHCP—so I used “Bedrock Anthem” instead.

…Baby One More Time – Britney Spears

A book or series you have read more than once?

If I actually responded to this prompt, it’d turn this tag into the longest post I’ve ever done. Every title I listed after the last prompt would work here.

Tearin’ Up My Heart – N’Sync:

A book that broke your heart to finish?

Marley and Me: Life and Love With the World’s Worst Dog by John Grogan. Nothing else needs to be said.

Crush – Jennifer Paige

Who was your first bookish crush?

I don’t know, really. This is a topic I always stumble on in these tags. Maybe Sally Kimball? Turtle Wexler or Eilonwy, daughter of Angharad (and so on) would be likely candidates, too. Yeah…Eilonwy is probably it.

Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana

A book that you read as a teen that you still love today?

Well, there are just so many. I’m not sure if that says that my tastes are adolescent. It just might. Jane Eyre again, the Gideon Oliver series, The Oathbound Wizard, Magic Kingdom For Sale-Sold!, I think I was a teen when I read the bulk of the Fletch and Flynn novels. I’m sure I could go on, but who’s paying attention at this point?

Hurt – Nine Inch Nails

What book do you love that deals with heavier subjects?

This is another question that could end up with too many answers. I’m going to limit it to Dennis Lehane’s Gone, Baby, Gone. This was my introduction to Lehane and the series and it hit me like a ton of bricks—I distinctly remember a couple of years after it was released my wife and I renting the audiobook for a road trip from a truck stop (a practice I’d all but forgotten about until I started this sentence), and both of us were on the verge of tears and laughing at each other for being self-conscious about it. There’s child abandonment, addiction, child abduction, police corruption, and while dealing with those topics (and others) honestly—it’s exciting, gripping, and frequently fun.

Superman’s Song – Crash Test Dummies

What’s your favorite superhero book?

It’s Superman! by Tom De Haven. This version of Superman’s origins, set in the 1930s, felt like the perfect modern take on the classic version of the hero. It felt 100% Golden Age Superman and completely fresh at the same time.

As usual, I’m not tagging anyone in this—but I’d like to see what you all have to come up with.