Book Chat

This was a tag created by the Youtube Channel padfootandprongs07, and talks about books that affect our emotions. I saw it on the blog Pocketful of Books, and several books immediately jumped to mind, so I'm going to give it a try. Here we go.

What Book Makes You Feel...

1. Happy: Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Although there were some emotional moments in this book, overall, it was such an uplifting and inspiring story about love, friendship, and kindness. It wasn't without its sad moments, but thinking of this book, especially the ending, makes me smile. 

2. Sad: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

This was the last book I read that I truly cried over. Other books have come close, but this is the only one since The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe to leave me with actual tears, not just slightly watery eyes. It was incredible, but I was bawling at the end. 

3. Angry: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Even thinking of this book, more than a year after I first read it, makes me incredibly frustrated with Suzanne Collins. Because everyone DIES. Or is emotionally scarred. Or leaves. Or their characters change and become dislikable. I'll stop now before I give something away for those who haven't read it, but this book just made me mad. 

4. Nostalgic: Tales of the Frog Princess by E.D. Baker

This was one of my absolute favorite series when I was younger, and definitely shaped me as a reader, a writer, and a person. I have strong memories associated with every book, especially No Place for Magic, the last in the series; I got it for my twelfth birthday, which was one of my best birthdays ever, and it was kind of the end of an era for these books. A year or two later, I discovered that E.D. Baker had begun a second series about the characters' children, and I bought it but realized I had outgrown the series too much to finish it. The characters had grown up, and so had I. 

5. Scared: The Crowfield Curse and The Crowfield Demon by Pat Walsh

The creep factor of these books is perfectly written. Thinking of the stories leaves me shuddering. All those strange supernatural things, at the old monastery in the middle of the woods...these are the kind of books that make you want to sleep with the light on. 

6. Surprised: The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry

I never, ever, ever would have seen the ending of this one coming. It completely caught me off guard. It  was a perfect twist, and I loved it. The plot of the book in general was different (and much better) than I expected, too. 

7. Disappointed: The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

I love Rick Riordan. I loved Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and when I started reading The Kane Chronicles I loved those too. I wasn't exactly jumping up and down when I found out he was writing another Percy Jackson series, since I like it when authors know when to end a series, but I read The Lost Hero and while it wasn't as great as the original series, it was still pretty good. Okay, I thought, I'll keep reading these. But The Son of Neptune was just awful. There was some good humor, but I hated the plot and the characters. I barely managed to finish the book and completely abandoned the series. It was awful to read something so bad from an author I really love, in a series I thought I'd like. 

8. Distressed: 1984 by George Orwell

This book seriously messed with my thoughts and emotions. Big Brother's DoubleThink screwed with my head. When O'Brien started talking about how reality didn't exist, I started freaking out, and when he explained how the government stayed in power, I was really worried by how brilliant I found it. I knew there was something wrong with all of this, but I couldn't figure out what, which really distressed me. 

9. Confused: The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper

I started this book and never finished it. It wasn't because I didn't like the plot or the characters. And the writing wasn't bad. I just - I never had any idea what was going on because I couldn't keep people straight. There were too many characters and they all had, like, six names, and I just never knew who was where or what they were doing. This is one of my dad's favorites and I felt bad for not finishing it, but when he asked me about the characters, it went something like this: "Well, there's one guy who I think is an Indian, and he had two names; and then there was the one guy who hung around with him who wasn't an Indian, and a third guy who might have been the same person as the second guy, and a fourth who wasn't the second guy but might have been the third, too, and there were two girls. And their father, who I think was a general and wasn't the first or the third guy but might have been the second. And one of the guys who wasn't the girls' father was kind of flirting with the older girl, but I don't remember which one was older. And one of these people spoke French." 

~blackandwhitedreamer