Carrie takes the Inside Out Challenge

Greetings and Salutations, readers.

Wednesdays in the Book Worm Hole are Inside Out days. So I am very pleased to be able to bring you Miss Carrie, who has a really lovely blog, Cat on the Bookshelf. She talks about graphic novels a lot there, as well as books, which is something I'm thinking about doing here too.
Anyway, that's enough of me. Over to Carrie.


First, please introduce yourself, including any blog addresses or twitter handles you
like.

I'm Carrie. I'm a book blogger who talks about mostly YA novels, graphic novels, and book covers. You can find my blog at www.catonthebookshelf.wordpress.com. I tweet at @MissCarrieLA and post pictures of books on Instagram at @catonthebookshelf.

Can you tell me about a book you have read that made you feel joy?

Ouran High School Host Club by Bisco Hatori, a shoujo manga, fills me with joy. The main story arc is that an honor's student at this rich kids' school accidentally broke a priceless vase, so the only way she can pay it off is to pretend to be a boy and become a member of the host club. The antics of these friends are what makes this funny. I've only read the first five volumes, but they're hilarious. I love rereading it for this too.

What about a book that filled you with sadness?

Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher, made me cry a lot. Long story short, a girl that Clay likes committed suicide and left behind tapes, explaining why she did. Clay is one of those reasons. Each reason that put her more on the path toward suicide and the terrible things that happened broke my heart.

Have you read a book that made you feel angry?

I was angry through most of Krystyne F. Aleksandr's A Secret Star, a memoir about the abuse she suffered as a child in foster care. I wasn't mad at the book itself, but I was mad at the injustices and horrible things that happened to the author. I shouted through most of the book, but I still think it's worth reading.

Has a book ever disgusted you?

Few books truly disgust me, which makes this hard. I think The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, fits the bill. There are scenes where father and son do their best to avoid cannibals. One of the scenes describes a man's eaten and burned body. That's gruesome enough, but mentioning the smell makes it more disgusting. I still love the book, but those scenes....

Can you tell me about a book that made you afraid?

Mind you, I don't read a lot of horror. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood, gave me the creeps. It's a futuristic United States that has been taken over by a religious group, and now certain women who can have children are forced to produce children for higher up men and their wives. Because these events happen when the adults can remember what America was like before, it feels like it could happen in my lifetime. It made me afraid of how easily this could happen, especially since some events from the last year have been reminiscent of the book. That's what makes it great speculative fiction.

And finally, can you tell me a little bit about a book that you know inside out?

My knee-jerk reaction is Harry Potter, but I think I know Neil Gaiman's Coraline better at the moment. I blame that on studying it inside out for two classes in the same semester. A little British girl is exploring her new flat and finds a locked door that leads to a brick wall. One day she unlocks it and finds a passage to a flat that looks like hers. Everything is better. The Other people give her more attention than her family, but they want her to stay there forever.



Thanks Carrie, that was great. It's the first time anyone's included any Manga, and you get extra points for not only talking about Neil Gaiman, but also studying him! I totally agree with your choice of books that make you afraid. What really scares us isn't the fantastical nature of horror stories,but the ones that feel so much more real, and The Handmaid's Tale is currently feeling all too accurate!

Join us next time when someone else will take the challenge, and let me know if you'd like to do so yourself!