Sometimes you just want to mix it up and do a tag. Well, when one of the tags is about books it gets me excited because there's so many makeup/life tags around but this is the first book tag I've seen, on a blog at least. Thanks Emma for doing this as it made me really want to do this post. It was fun too. Anyway, for more book banter keep reading...

Is there a book on your nightstand right now? *There are several, see photographic evidence down below. The two bigger coffee table-esque books are there mainly for aesthetic purposes but also because I want to read them. Otherwise there is currently Woolgathering x Patti Smith, Everyday Sexism x Laura Bates and How To Be A Woman x Caitlin Moran.

What was the last truly great book you read? *I've read a few goodies lately but the one that springs to mind, because I finished it this morning that I'm writing was Hour of the Bees by Lindsay Eagar. It was a freakin' kids book and it made me cry about as much as Me Before You did. That fact did wonders for my confidence. Seriously though, it's a brilliant read and I highly recommend it.

If you could meet any writer, dead or alive, who would it be and what would you want to know? *Caitlin Moran because I love her and all her writings. I feel like she'd be an amazing person to have coffee with/have at a dinner party and I'd want to know her feelings on everything. It'd be a really long but satisfying conversation basically. 

What books might we be surprised to find on your shelves? *Selfish by Kim Kardashian is the first that springs to mind here. Although, if you know me you'll know that I unashamedly love the Kardashians so that's maybe not the most surprising. After that I'd say maybe The Clique by Lisi Harrison. This may seem bizarre but I keep it around for a number of nostalgic purposes and also because I was obsessed with those books growing up. 

How do you organise your personal library? *Ah funny you should ask that dear tag. I am doing a post on this very, very soon as it has been requested. There really is no major logic to it. I keep magazines down the right hand side of each shelf, most of my non-fiction loves are on the lower shelves...I'll save this for my post though.

Is there a book you have always meant to read but haven't gotten around to yet? Anything you feel embarrassed never to have read? *Hmm, I guess I should be embarrassed to be such a lover of literature yet a reader of very few classics. Other than the ones I had to read for English Lit at school there's very few I've read outside of high school. So with that in mind, books I have been meaning to read but never get around to; Pride and Prejudice (no zombies thanks), The Catcher in the Rye, The Secret Garden and Atonement.

Disappointing, overrated, just not good; name a book you feel you were supposed to have liked but didn't? Do you remember the last book you put down without finishing? *This Is Where The World Ends. It reminded me too much of Looking For Alaska and that really frustrated me. It just didn't feel original at all. A book I put down without finishing...How To Be Both by Ali Smith. This was before I'd read any of Ali's other writing but I'm used to the way she structures her work and her writing style now so I will eventually try it again. I just got really baffled+annoyed by it initially.

What kind of stories are you drawn to? Anything you steer clear of? *I guess young-adult contemporary and contemporary fiction in general are what I am drawn to. I like stories that are as visually pleasing to imagine as they are to immerse yourself in.  I'm not a huge fan of science fiction, especially dystopian fiction. A lot of the massively hyped YA series and authors really don't appeal to me for that reason. 

If you could choose a book that the Prime Minister had to read, which would it be? *I'd say Moranifesto by Caitlin Moran. I know Emma suggested Everyday Sexism but I feel like he'd react better to a book with a bit more humour in it. I'd hope that some of the messages about misogyny and women in politics+the depiction of women would get through to him. Withholding political opinions in 5, 4, 3....

What do you plan to read next? *I'm going to start an ARC of a book that's being released in May. I was sent it back in January and have held off reading it until now for many reasons so I'm looking forward to it.