The Terror of Knowing

Welcome one, welcome all, to a festive edition of Tag Thursday! This week’s tag is the aptly named Christmas Cracker Book Tag and it was apparently originally created by Lucy from Queen of Contemporary but I think her original video has unfortunately been taken down now?? (If I can find the original video later, I’ll be sure to link it here!) I found this through my good friend Liz over at Travel In Retrospect so be sure to have a peek at her blog if you want to see her answers. Now, without further ado, let’s get right into the tag…

Pick a book with a wintry cover

Pick a book you’re likely buy as a present

If I were buying a book as a present I’d be likely to check a person’s wishlist out or their bookshelves to see what kind of novels they read. However, if I couldn’t do this and I was judging it blind then I’d probably buy them a nice edition of a classic – the Penguin Clothbounds, the Penguin Classic Deluxe Editions, and Penguin English Library paperbacks are beautiful books to gift, as are the Vintage Russians and Brontes series. Basically, there are some beautiful editions of classics out there specially designed for gifting to a book lover and I fall for them (hook, line, and sinker) every single time.

Pick a festive themed book

When I think ‘festive’ or ‘wintry’ I think of C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, mainly because of the film (which I used to adore), and because of how picturesque Narnia looks when the Pevensies first arrive there. I mean, what’s not festive about an allegorical story of temptation, betrayal, false promises, sacrifice, courage, and redemption?

Pick a book you can curl up with by the fireplace

My stock answer will always be the Harry Potter series because all of those books are such warm and comforting reads for me. There’s nothing like losing yourself in the many trials and tribulations of Potter and pals at Hogwarts on a cold, wintry night, especially now that the illustrated editions are a thing.

Pick a book you want to read over the festive period

I want to re-read Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol for sure, because it’s festive and because it fits with one of the challenges I have remaining on the Around the Year in 52 Books reading challenge. Also, last time I read it it was assigned reading for a Popular Victorian Literature course and we watched a bunch of different adaptations in class so I’d like to see what it’s like to re-read it without the classroom setting.

Pick a book that’s so good it gives you chills

In a truly unsurprising turn of events I’m going to say Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. One of my favourite books of all-time, I genuinely get goosebumps when I (re)read it because it’s so well-crafted and it manipulates its readers so well and it’s so suspenseful, even though I know exactly what’s going to happen because I’ve read it so many (read: too many) times. It’s just good though, guys, it really is!

Pick a book going on your Christmas wishlist

Well, I have many books on my wishlist but number one is probably the illustrated edition of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I already know that Santa is bringing me it, and I think he might also accidentally include the illustrated edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them if he thinks I’ve been a really good girl this year.

Well that’s all for now, folks, that was the Christmas Cracker Book Tag. Wasn’t that just a whole heap of festive fun? If you’re feeling in the holiday mood, please feel free to consider yourself tagged by me and be sure to link me to your tag below if you do it because I’d love to check out your responses!

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