Retaking the A to Z Bookish Survey [10th Blogiversary Celebration]

I originally completed this survey in September 2014, so I thought it would be a good fit for my 10th blogiversary celebrations! Survey created by Jamie @ Perpetual Page Turner, which I found via Adam @ Roof Beam Reader. Links to my reviews where available. I have copied my answers from 2014 so we can compare how things have changed over the past ten years.

• Author You’ve Read the Most Books From
  • 2014: Lemony Snicket – he’s an easy winner, having penned a 13 book series. I’ve read 17 books by Snicket.
  • 2024: Lemony Snicket – still in the lead though books read has crept up to 20. Neil Gaiman now ties Snicket’s 2013 record at 17 books read. Hopefuly I can leave those authors names’ out of this post in 2034… Honourable mentions: 15 books by J.R.R. Tolkien, 15 books by David A. Robertson, 12 books by Seanan McGuire.
• Best Sequel Ever
  • 2014: Inkspell by Cornelia Funke (book two in the Inkworld trilogy) – I adored the first book but love this one even more. My favourite novel by Funke.
  • 2024: Inkspell – I don’t think I’ve even reread Inkspell in the past 10 years but it’s going to be hard to top that! Honourable mention: Redemptor (Raybearer #2) by Jordan Ifueko.
• Currently Reading
  • 2014: The Swallow: A Ghost Story by Charis Cotter
  • 2024: The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (2d ed) ed by Humphrey Carpenter, Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell

• Drink of Choice While Reading
  • 2014: Hot chocolate or Coke
  • 2024: Earl Grey tea with Luxardo amaretto, a drink that I fondly call ‘teamarretto’
• E-reader or Physical Book
  • 2014: Physical book! Though, now I’ve moved overseas and will have to start relying on e-books… I don’t mind reading non-fiction, YA, or comics on an e-reader because they feel like they fit the medium, but heaven forbid I have to read Tolkien digitally.
  • 2024: Physical, thank you very much
• Fictional Character You Probably Would Have Eventually Dated in High School
  •  2014: Tough question – I don’t think there’s any! There’s never been a character I thought I would have dated, let alone one I even had a crush on.
  • 2024: Ew, dating.
• Glad You Gave This Book a Chance
  • 2014: The Great Gatsby – I did not have to read it in school, but I knew many people did and that it was the ‘great American novel’. I didn’t think such a book could be truly interesting to me, but vlogbrothers convinced me to finally give it a shot once I realized it was a small book. I read Gatsby for the first time in August 2012 and loved it!
  • 2024: Hannah Kent’s Burial Rites always come to mind, even though I read it not long after completing this survey back in 2014!
• Hidden Gem Book
  • 2014: White is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi – one of my all-time favourite books. I’m sometimes reluctant to share it, but if the description appeals to you definitely check it out.
  • 2024: I’ll shout out a few middle grade titles here: Monsters in the Mist by Juliana Brandt (horror), The Best Liars in Riverview by Lin Thompson (contemporary), The Green Children of Woolpit by J. Anderson Coats (fantasy), That’s What Friends Do by Cathleen Barnhart (contemporary)

• Important Moment in Your Reading Life
  • 2014: Finishing LotR for the first time. I fell in love with the story when I was 12 after seeing the films. I devoured The Hobbit and parts of LotR but it was a long time before I felt I ready to tackle the entire thing. Now I plan to read it once every year (finished the third read-through this year!)
  • 2024: Ahhh I am sure there have been some good moments over the past ten years but it’s hard to think of anything that would top the one mentioned above haja.
• Just Finished
  • 2014: The Word Changers by Ashlee Willis
  • 2024: A Sweet Sting of Salt by Rose Sutherland
• Kinds of Books You Won’t Read
  • 2014: Books that have romance (esp. unhealthy romance or love triangles) front and center, detective mysteries (nothing against them, just no interest). There are probably more books you might suggest I read but that I would refuse, but it’s difficult to think of them off the top of my head.
  • 2024: I now maintain a list of these on my ‘about me’ page lol. It states: “High fantasy a la Tolkien (Tolkien is my favourite, none can match him), urban fantasy, straight up detective/mystery novels, romance-centric tales.”
• Longest Book You’ve Read
  • 2014:
    • 50th anniversary one-volume edition of The Lord of the Rings  – 1,178 pages
    • Since LotR is more commonly counted as three books, the next longest I’ve read is The History of the Hobbit by John D. Rateliff – 938 pages
    • The longest novel is 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami – 925 pages (I’m continually amazed I ever made it through this one =.=)
  • 2024: Same titles as above! I cannot imagine anything that would compel me to pick up a book longer than 900 pages at this time, lol.
• Major Book Hangover Because Of
  • 2014: The Lord of the Rings – you can read about the first time I finished the book here.
  • 2024: Middlegame by Seanan McGuire. Dare I say this actually gave me an even bigger ‘hangover’ than The Lord of the Rings? With LotR, I already knew the story so I assume that somewhat mitigated the hangover effect.
• Number of Bookcases You Own
  • 2014: As I live at home with two parents and a sibling, I only technically own the one bookshelf in my room. But, I’ve taken over the bookshelf in the upstairs hallway and the bookshelf in the den. 
    • In 2017, I posted a tour of my bookcase.
  • 2024: Now here is a big change 😄 I have two bookcases in my main living area, and I have actually just assembled a third shelving unit for my office to hold ‘overflow’ books. You can find a tour of my main bookcases here.
  • Comparions photos further down!
• One Book You Have Read Multiple Times
  • 2014: The Hobbit – I’ve read it at least once every year since my first reading 11 years ago.
  • 2024: The Hobbit is certainly still up there, though I’ve only reread it six times since 2014. Honourable mention: Middlegame with four reads in five years.
• Preferred Place to Read
  • 2014: My reading corner by the window in my room. This space will be sorely missed while in Japan!
  • 2024: My red reading chair. I had dreamt of a chair like this for many years. When I moved back to my hometown, I finally had the space for it.

• Quote that Inspires You/Gives You All the Feels from a Book You’ve Read
  • 2014: Gosh, I’m not really a quote collector, as odd as that sounds…I always write down passages in books but I’ve never had one that really really stuck to me, or that inspires me. One extremely moving quote that comes to mind, though, is Frodo speaking to Sam near the end of Lord of the Rings: “‘Poor Sam! It will feel like that, I am afraid,’ said Frodo. ‘But you will be healed. You were meant to be solid and whole, and you will be.'”
    • 2024: Still not a quote collector and certainly not a ‘inspirational’ quote collector, but I do hae a handful of quotes saved. Here is one from Daniel Pennac’s The Rights of the Reader: “The question isn’t whether I have time to read or not (time that nobody will ever give me, by the way), but whether I’ll allow myself the pleasure of being a reader.”
  • Honourable mention from Merilyn Simonds Gutenberg’s Fingerprint: A Book Lover Bridges the Digital Divide: “My books are my brain and my heart made visible.”
• Reading Regret
  • 2014: Hm, I don’t really have too much reading regret. Sometimes I regret not reading a great-sounding book right when it’s released (has Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore really been out for two years already?!) but I’m always reading something so I don’t mind too much. Not finishing LotR at speed this year is also a bit of a regret, but I hate having the story end!
  • 2024: I will say I definitely no longer regret not reading new books when they are new! The closest thing I can think of to a ‘regret’ is simply not reading more, but one only has so much time. (Then again, see above quote…)
• Series You Started and Need to Finish
  • 2014: None (I rarely read series. Two I am reading currently are ongoing – Unwind dystology by Neal Shusterman and Fairyland by Catherynne M. Valente)
  • 2024: I could name a few middle grade series here but I don’t feel the need to finish any of them… perhaps one day I’ll get through Katherine Arden’s Small Spaces quartet.
• Three of Your All-Time Favourite Books
  • 2014: Here are three I haven’t mentioned yet: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman, Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami, The Orphan’s Tales: In the Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente
  • 2024: Again I will go with three titles I haven’t mentioned yet, and limit myself to those read in the past ten years: Uprooted by Naomi Novik, Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend, When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore
• Unapologetic Fangirl For
  • 2014: Tolkien (surprise, surprise ;))
  • 2024: Still Tolkien for sure, but I can also add Seanan McGuire’s Alchemical Journeys series now
• Very Excited for This Release More Than All the Others
  • 2014: Undivided by Neal Shusterman (October 2014), the final book in the Unwind dystology. I never expected more than one book set in the Unwind universe (I think Unwind was originally meant to stand alone) but each book has totally blown me away, no disappointments here.
  • 2024: It will have to be Silverborn by Jessica Townsend, which is currently due April 2025 (delayed from Oct 2022 🥹)
• Worst Bookish Habit
  • 2014: Probably signing out lots of library books, only reading a few, then renewing the other (sometimes for months!) only to return them without reading. Also, for someone who likes to keep her books as pristine as possible (I want them to have long lives), I sometimes take big risks with them while bathing or eating.
  • 2024: Not making a note of thoughts I have while reading? This is not exactly a ‘bad habit’ but it would be helpful to my review process if I did it more consistently…
• X Marks the Spot: Start at the top left of your shelf and pick the 27th book
  • 2014: Hitching Rides with Buddha by Will Ferguson
  • 2024: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
• Your Latest Book Purchase
  • 2014: Colourless Tsukuru Takazaki and His Year of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami – I finally purchased the ebook last week. Can’t wait to read it once I’m finished catching up on ARCs! I keep hearing about an edition with stickers? Want!
  • 2024: The Sleeping Giant (Misewa Saga #5) by David A. Robertson. I attended a book launch for this book last week!
• ZZZ-Snatcher Book (last book that kept you up WAY late)
  • 2014:  The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton – I got in late one night and just had to finish reading this book.
  • 2024: This doesn’t happen often but I did actually stay up a little bit late two nights ago to finish Rose Sutherland’s A Sweet Sting of Salt.

I would love to see the A to Z Bookish Survey making its way around the blogosphere again (especially if like me you once completed it many years ago!). Link your post below if you decide to try it.