90’s Book Tag!

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I have not participated in a book tag yet, but I saw this book tag over on The Book Dutchesses and I just had to do it! I am definitely a 90’s kid and remember all of these things. Hello nostalgia! Give me my hair scrunchies, Lisa Frank trapper keeper, and big fuzzy pen!

the rules

1. Please, please, please steal this tag and spread it around!  I only ask that you link it back to The Literary Phoenix so that I can see everyone’s answers!
2. Freeze tag was all the rage in the 90s.  Tag someone (or many) you think would have fun with this!
3. Have fun!

pokemon

A GBA game and trading card game where you battled pocket monsters and strived to catch them all.  Back in the day, there were only 150 Pokemon.

The author you need every book from.

Lately it’s been V.E. Schwab. I loved the Shades of Magic series, it was one of my favorite adult fantasy series. I do like some of her YA books too. I also am a sucker for Ruth Ware and Fredrik Backman books.

aim

AOL Instant Messaging – how 90s kids communicated with their friends after school before everyone had a cell phone.

Book that connected you with your best friend.

My best friend reads a lot of romance books that I don’t read. But I do remember bonding over our love of Lord of the Rings, and also swapping A Series of Unfortunate Events books that we borrowed from a friend.

furby

Creepy needy robots you could teach to talk and were probably demon possessed.  Somehow these made a comeback?

Book that seemed like a good idea but was actually a monster.

Wicked. Not to be confused with the musical, which I understand is completely different (I haven’t seen it yet, although I love the music from it). I wanted to like it, I really did. But I just could not get into it. I didn’t like or connect with any of the characters, the plot was a mess, and I just didn’t like the writing style. I do still want to see the musical though!

n’sync

90s quintessential boy band.  You may have heard of Justin Timberlake?

A book you hated to say Bye, Bye, Bye to.

The Last Unicorn has always been one of my favorite books, I love how beautifully it is written. The world, the metaphors, the prose.. I didn’t want the journey to end and will always be a little misty-eyed at the end.

slimed!

Getting green slime thrown on you, courtesy of the show Figure it Out.  Also apparently still a thing at the Kid’s Choice Awards?

A book everyone loved but you hated.

Twilight. Sorry, not sorry. I just could not enjoy it. Besides having vampires that sparkle, the book was not well written. The writing was terribly juvenile and I didn’t care about any of the characters. I thought Bella was a terrible protagonist and the climax was underwhelming, and it seemed like most of the book was talking about how beautiful Edward was. I’m also a big vampire fan and hated how they were depicted as sparkly, misunderstood creatures. Vomit.

oregon trail

A book that made you wish you died of dysentery.

Fifty Shades of Grey. Again, sorry, not sorry. I picked this book up because I saw so many people with it in their hands, and I didn’t really know anything about it going into it. I should have done more research. At first it seemed like a poorly written cutesy romance story. Then…ahem…wow! I have already stated I don’t do many romance novels, and I can do without the racy sex scenes (I always skim through them). But I can get behind a romance novel if it’s well written, has a good plot, and well developed characters. This had none of that. It was so badly written, the book seems to change its mind every 2 seconds, Ana can’t stop talking about her “inner goddess,” and there was no plot.

mixtape/cd

Back before everyone had music on their phones (remember, we didn’t have cell phones!) folks would rip their CDs and make mixes for each other.

3 books you recommend to anyone, anywhere, no matter what.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – This will always be a favorite. It’s such a fun, quirky sci-fi comedy that’s read and loved by readers everywhere.

And Then There Were None – This is my favorite of Agatha Christie’s mysteries. It’s clever, full of mystery and suspense, and a fun whodunit.

A Man Called Ove – I have loved all of the books by Fredrik Backman I have read, but this was my favorite. This was the first book of his I read and I absolutely loved it. It made me laugh, it made me cry, it was such a touching story and I loved every bit of it.

dial-up internet

You know how it’s annoying when you aren’t on LTE?  IMAGING WAITING 10 MINUTES FOR INTERNET TO START AND ANOTHER 20 MINUTES FOR GOOGLE TO LOAD!

A book that took FOR FREAKING EVER to read.

House of Leaves. I’m still working on this one. I love it, but I have had to take breaks from it. It is a haunting read, but it can be an overwhelming read to some because some people don’t know exactly how to read it. There are footnotes, footnotes within the footnotes, pages that are upside down, pages that you need a mirror to read, it’s wild. I do love this book so far but because of all of the footnotes and not wanting to miss out on anything it is taking me ages to get through.

kenan thompson

He’s that guy who’s been on SNL forever.  Also Mighty Ducks.  Good Burger.  Keenan and Kel.  All That.  Everything.

That book you see referenced everywhere and is in everything, but that’s okay because it’s awesome.

I’ll say it, Harry Potter. It’s just so good and will always be everywhere. After all this time. Always.

thumbs up, seven up

A game where most the class closed their eyes and seven people tapped someone’s thumb and you had to guess who did it without peeking.

Book where you peeked just REAL quick at the ending because you don’t like guessing games.

I don’t really think I’ve done this with any books. I try not to skim ahead as much as I can muster controlling my eyes from landing on catchable words or phrases on the page. I think I remember maybe looking at the last few pages of a Goosebumps book or two when I was a kid.

dunkaroos

These were basically just Teddy Grahams dipped in frosting, which is still a wonderful snack idea.

Your ideal bookish snack.

I usually like to settle down with a glass of red wine while reading in the evening, or maybe a bubble tea if my husband wanted to order some that night. I am not much of a snacker, but I guess it’s usually some Skinny-pop popcorn.

scary stories to tell in the dark

Collections of short stories that would scare any sensible kid!  Plus, there were illustrations…

A book that kept you up all night.

I absolutely love a good Horror, and the last one that had me up at night was the upcoming Sundial by Catriona Ward. This book was just so dark, twisted, freaky, and unsettling. It was such a wild and disturbing ride that I had to know the ending to.

bill nye the science guy

Basically the coolest thing you got to do in science class was watch Bill Nye.  He has a Netflix show again!

A book that taught you something new.

Euphoria – not to be confused with the show, it’s quite different. This was loosely based on the anthropologist Margaret Mead. This was a book club pick and I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did. Even though the tribes in the book are fictional, I felt like I learned a lot about the field of anthropology in itself and the study of other cultures.

That’s it for the 90’s book tag! Feel free to take this tag and run with it, let me know in the comments if you participate as well!!