Welcome to #Febookary, which starts in just four days (1st February) and which will take place during the whole of February!  For those that don’t know, #Febookary is a reading challenge I created two years ago trying to encourage everyone to face their reading ‘fears’ and read something you never would have tried before.  The challenge is a flexible one, I don’t have any specific challenge board or mini goals to reach, the goal is simply try reading a book in a genre you’ve never read before, a book you’d never normally pick up but which sounds interesting, and for those who are reluctant readers, just try to read anything at all. 🙂

Last year I struggled to get people involved in #Febookary, I suffered a family death right before Febookary started and I just couldn’t keep up.  Now this year isn’t going to be a perfect for me either, last year’s events have caused me to be behind in all my books so I do want to spend every month trying to catch up with all the books and ARCs I’ve had for far to long.  But I do want to try and do #Febookary anyway and I hope to encourage everyone else to have a go too.  To find out more about #Febookary and how to take part please click here to see the Febookary page.

I hope you’ll all want to try and take part and get any children who are reluctant to read involved too.  You can read as little as one book for the whole month, but you might discover a new author and genre you’ve never tried before, or even a love of reading if you’ve never enjoyed it beofore. 🙂  Below is a new #Febookary tag I’ve created, based on the old one from last year, but with some newer questions which I feel are easier to come back to year after year.  Hope you enjoy my answers and the whole of #Febookary! 😀

 

1. What books, if any, did you dislike reading when you were younger?

I’ve mentioned it before but I’ll say it again because it’s the book that caused me the biggest block for the longest time…The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien.  I don’t think the book is one that I’d hate reading now (although I have yet to be brave enough to try reading it again!) but I was gifted this book by someone when I was quite young and I was already someone who struggled to read.  The size of the book was intimidating and the first page was so lost on me that it made me so frustrated and really put me off reading big books and even enjoying anything (books, games, films, etc.) high fantasy for years!

2. What books, if any, did you like to read when you were younger?

I’m going to mention a book I haven’t mentioned before although it came out as a sort of unintended audiobook rather than me reading it.  It was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl.  My mum read this to me when I was young, and also Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.  She did a bunch of different voices for all the different characters (until she got a sore throat 😮 ) and it was a book I really enjoyed ‘listening to’. Of course what kid doesn’t like a story featuring chocolate and sweets? 😀

3. What fiction genres, if any, do you enjoy reading?

I enjoy almost anything but have a true love of fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction and thrillers.  I also enjoy romances and contemporary, but the first three are my ultimate favourites, and interestingly, historical fiction has only become a favourite in the last few years after I’ve read so much of it! 🙂

4. What non-fiction genres, if any, do you like to read?

Memoirs, history, anything to do with animals and who knows?  I do like learning all sorts of things and am obsessed with history more than anything, and memoirs, but there’s more genres out there and I just can’t think if there’s any others I like.🤔

 5. What is the last book you DNF (Did Not Finish) and why?

I DNF books very rarely, which might be why I struggled to get into reading for a long time.  Even today I can’t bear not finishing a book as once I’ve started I feel like I want to find out what happens, even if it’s bad!  There is one book I have DNFed right before Christmas and it’s a non-fiction book that I got a while ago from NetGalley.  I won’t say the title yet but let’s just say it’s a book about books (or an important part of books – the index).  The book itself is good and very interesting in parts, but I’m struggling with some of the writing which feels a little academic, and which pulls me away from what I’m reading.  Also NetGalley formatting sucks and so it’s a bit of a struggle to read it.  I will power through eventually but for now it’s my most recent DNF (though not a real DNF as I WILL finish it soon🤞)

6. Are there any genres/books you just don’t like or have never tried reading?

I haven’t really tried Christian fiction before (apart from a picture book) and haven’t given graphic novels especially mangas a proper try before.  I’m not into erotica or very steamy romances, I prefer the cutesy more vanilla style romances, but that is definitely a genre I don’t really want to read and probably never will on Febookary.  I haven’t given crime and mysteries a decent try either, having only read very few books in that genre compared to others.  There’s probably so many more genres I haven’t tried but those are the main ones I can think of right now. 🙂

7. What book(s) are you going to try reading for #Febookary this year?

I’m going to try and complete what I didn’t manage last year and that is to really try and read as many graphic novels as I can.  I’ve already got a graphic novel I won in a competition last year, as well as some having downloaded a couple already from NetGally.  I want to really give them a go, especially manga style ones which I have never ever tried before.  I do like Japanese animation so hopefully I’ll enjoy them.

8. Any other goals for this month?

I have a few blog tours in February, in fact next week I have three blog tours in one week! 😮 Most books for those tours, though are read or almost read so that’s good though and I do want to try and read at least one book out of my very overdue pile of ARCs and books that I got from publishers last year, in order to catch up.

Are you taking part in #Febookary this year?  What books are you looking forward to reading next month?  Let me know what you think in the comments below 🙂

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