The Good Intentions Book Tag
Last year, about this time, I came up with my Good Intentions Book Tag. Put bluntly I’m not very good at sticking to resolutions so instead decided to come up with a tag based around the most popular ‘resolutions for this time of year. Today I’m going to look back at that list and also come up with some new intentions for the next twelve months. This is my Good Intentions Book Tag – after all you can have good intentions at any point in the year:
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Exercise more : This is a book that is a real chunkster, in fact you will need help to even pick this book up:
Last year I came up with a great chunky book for this prompt. Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff – and unfortunately I still haven’t got round to picking this one up. Whoops. I did squeeze in a backlist read that was also something of a chunkster though so I’m going to say that things even out. Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky. Guess I’ll have to make Empire of the Vampire this year’s book.
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Lose weight : A book that is not a chunkster; a short story or novella. A book you could probably read in one sitting:
Last year I read Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M Valente. This year I’m going to go with a book that I really enjoyed by an author that I really like. Western inspired with demons and angels. Tread of Angels by Rebecca Roanhorse. I would be overjoyed if this is a world that the author decides to revisit.
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Eat healthy : A book that is good for you. This is a book that made you feel so happy that you wanted to give it a big hug:
The book I highlighted last year for this prompt was The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E Harrow which I will say, one more time at least, is a beautiful book. This year, one of my reads that gave me all the gooey vibes (well I did have more than one but have decided to go for just the one) Miss Percy’s Pocket Guide to the Care and Feeding of British Dragons by Quenby Olson
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Fulfill your ambitions : A book that has a lot going on. Plenty of different threads, points of views and action but everything eventually comes together in a very satisfactory fashion:
For this prompt last year I went with The Empire’s Ruin by Brian Staveley (#1 Ashes of the Unhewn Thrown). Which was a fantastic read and on my ‘best of‘ list and likewise the book I’ve chosen this year was also one of my favourite reads of 2022. Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandell
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Spend more time with the family : A series of books that you love and that has developed more than you ever anticipated:
I used the Mercy Thompson books by Patricia Briggs for this prompt. It’s a series that I’m loving although I need to check and see if I’m uptodate or not. The latest series that has a great ‘found’ family feel and I just love it is the Stranger Times Series by CK McDonnell. I am adoring this series and can’t get enough of it.
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Tick off an item from your bucket list : Reduce the tbr. Choose a book from Mount TBR that you would like to read this year:
Well, I admit I failed with this particular prompt. Last year I highlight two books – and to be perfectly honest I’m going to choose the same two books. I’m absolutely determined to read both of these. T
These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant. I’ve seen some excellent reviews for this one and I’m excited to read it.
And, December Park by Ronald Malfi because I read and loved his latest book Come With Me (in fact it’s on my ‘Best of’ list this year and so I wanted to check out some of his earlier books.
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Save money : A book that was an absolute bargain – you would have to be crazy in fact not to have bought this book:
I bought The Hollow Places by T Kingfisher last year for the bargain price of £1.99 for kindle. I’m loving this author and so would like to pick this one up this year.
This year I managed to snag a few bargains and one that I’m very keen to pick up is Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
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Get Organised : A book with a glossary, maps, useful words, lists of people – this book is one helpful book, it wants you to know ALL the things and it’s not afraid to use footnotes and other devices to help you do so:
I choose a great book for this last year and one that I heartily recommend Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke. This year I’ve gone for the second in series. The Hunger of the Gods by John Gwynne – not only a fantastic second instalment but it also includes a list of characters and a map.
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Start a new hobby : A book that is outside your comfort zone. Perhaps everyone was raving about this book, maybe it was over-hyped, you hesitated to pick it up in fact, but when you did – you loved it:
Finally, a book that is outside of my comfort zone. To clarify, for the most part I read SFF, I also like to read a little crime/thriller/horror and also some history. So, I’m not really going to include those in books that fall outside my usual reading zone. I’ve gone for romance. Last year I chose The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons. I loved this book when I read it and still have lovely memories of it – it would be interesting to reread it actually to see if I still feel the same way.
This year I chose a lovely book, A Restless Truth by Freya Marske. I loved this, and whilst I’ve chosen it for the romance elements it also has fantasy and murder mystery with it’s pages.
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That’s my top ten Good Intentions Book Tag which compares last year to this.
The ‘Good Intentions’ Book Tag
3 January 2022
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Book Tags, Good Intentions Book Tag, Resolutions
Today I thought that instead of making a lot of resolutions that I have no intention of keeping (I just know I won’t so there’s no point in denial) I’d make a book tag based on some of the most popular best intentions. I googled the top ten resolutions and the following tag is based upon those. This is my Good Intentions Book Tag – after all you can have good intentions at any point in the year:
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Exercise more : This is a book that is a real chunkster, in fact you will need help to even pick this book up:
For my first good intention I’ve chosen a book that I haven’t read yet but would love to pick up soon because it’s all about vampires and I feel hungry for a book with fangs. Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff – I’m looking at you. This book (the hardcover at least), weighs in at a lovely 752 pages – the gauntlet is down. I must read this book. For this particular choice there are two covers – do you have a favourite. I’m partial to the first in this case although what’s not to love about a dishy hunk with his shirt off?:
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Lose weight : A book that is not a chunkster; a short story or novella. A book you could probably read in one sitting:
In this instance I’ve gone for a book that I just managed to squeeze in towards the end of 2021. Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M Valente. This is such an unusual book. I struggled at first to write a review because I didn’t want to give away spoilers – here is a snippet of my tangled thoughts ‘This is a strange tale that is strangely compelling. I had no idea what to expect and yet it managed to defy any expectations that my subconscious had secretly formed and it’s the sort of book that makes you want to read it again, and probably again after that, I mean a fourth read would probably help to pick up those few pesky clues you missed in your haste to reach the end.’ This is an author who manages to charm and delight with her evocative and fairytale-style writing and at just over 100 pages this definitely fits the brief for this particular ‘good intention’.
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Eat healthy : A book that is good for you. This is a book that made you feel so happy that you wanted to give it a big hug:
Now this was a struggle because I could have gone for a number of books for this particular intention. There are a lot of books over the years that I may have waxed lyrical about (*ahem, Lord of the Rings*) so I thought I’d choose something unexpected. Unexpected because although I loved this book I don’t think I’ve banged on about it anywhere near enough. The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E Harrow is a beautiful book. It’s a book that overwhelmed me with feelings. The writing is lush – I kid you not – and it gave me that feeling, I’m sure you all know what I mean, where it felt like the author had written this especially for little old moi! (Also, talking recently of ‘cover catnip’ – will you just take a look at this gorgeous cover:
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Fulfill your ambitions : A book that has a lot going on. Plenty of different threads, points of views and action but everything eventually comes together in a very satisfactory fashion:
Again, I had a few books that I could have used for this one. Books that feel so busy that at first they feel like they’re going to overwhelm you with their ‘busyness’. The book I’ve eventually chosen is a book I loved. There is plenty going on here but it’s all so good and the imagination on display is absolutely outstanding. The Empire’s Ruin by Brian Staveley (#1 Ashes of the Unhewn Thrown). This was already on my ‘best of‘ list but I couldn’t help using it for this particular prompt because it has a slew of wonderful characters, a fantastic plot and it really does take the reader on a voyage of discovery.
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Spend more time with the family : A series of books that you love and that has developed more than you ever anticipated:
I had a few series of books that I could have used for this. Series where you come to love the characters over the course of time. Good examples are the Harry Potter series of books where the characters literally went through school as the series progressed, The Toby Daye books are another fine example as are the Sookie Stackhouse books but eventually, I couldn’t help myself. I had to go for the Mercy Thompson books by Patricia Briggs which I’m now waiting for the next release (#13)(I’ve not listed all the covers for this one but below are a small selection:
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Tick off an item from your bucket list : Reduce the tbr. Choose a book from Mount TBR that you would like to read this year:
This is an easy one – well, I say that but I’m actually going to include two books here that I’m really keen to read –
These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant. I’ve seen some excellent reviews for this one and I’m excited to read it.
And, December Park by Ronald Malfi because I read and loved his latest book Come With Me (in fact it’s on my ‘Best of’ list this year and so I wanted to check out some of his earlier books.
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Save money : A book that was an absolute bargain – you would have to be crazy in fact not to have bought this book:
The Hollow Places by T Kingfisher is the last bargain I bought for Kindle at only £1.99. It sounds amazing and I can’t wait to pick it up. Here’s the blurb:
A young woman discovers a strange portal in her uncle’s house, leading to madness and terror in this gripping new novel.
Pray they are hungry.
Kara finds these words in the mysterious bunker that she’s discovered behind a hole in the wall of her uncle’s house. Freshly divorced and living back at home, Kara now becomes obsessed with these cryptic words and starts exploring the peculiar bunker—only to discover that it holds portals to countless alternate realities. But these places are haunted by creatures that seem to hear thoughts…and the more you fear them, the stronger they become.
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Get Organised : A book with a glossary, maps, useful words, lists of people – this book is one helpful book, it wants you to know ALL the things and it’s not afraid to use footnotes and other devices to help you do so:
Again, I could easily have used Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings here because he certainly provides a lot of additional information. However, I’ve used another book that I read a few years ago and that really stood out to me because of its use of footnotes. I confess that this method of writing doesn’t always work for me but on this occasion I just went with it and the additional information added a perfect extra level of detail to the story – although I confess I didn’t read all the footnotes *hangs head with abject shame*. My book is Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke.
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Start a new hobby : A book that is outside your comfort zone. Perhaps everyone was raving about this book, maybe it was over-hyped, you hesitated to pick it up in fact, but when you did – you loved it:
Finally, a book that is outside of my comfort zone. To clarify, for the most part I read SFF, I also like to read a little crime/thriller/horror and also some history. So, I’m not really going to include those in books that fall outside my usual reading zone. I’ve gone for romance. I could have actually kept this within the fantasy genre and opted for the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon but I’ve decided to go for something different. The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons. I loved this book when I read it and still have lovely memories of it – it would be interesting to reread it actually to see if I still feel the same way.
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That’s my top ten Good Intentions Book Tag.
I’m going to tag a few bloggers but, obviously, no pressure at all to take part. Also, if you’re not tagged but would like to take part please feel free to join in and drop me a link so I can check out your answers. Here’s to good intentions for 2022.
Books and travelling with Lynn 