Rebecca from This Booky Place takes the Inside Out Challenge

Hello!

Please come in and excuse my excitement, because I am a bit excited.

Today on my blog I have Rebecca taking the Inside Out challenge. Rebecca is one of my fellow Northern Book Bloggers, and ever since I started my blog she's been really supportive of it. Her own blog is brilliant and she's been shortlisted for a UKYABA Best Newcomer Award! Rebecca has also set up her own candle making company. You may have spotted the Taken Moons logo in my side panel? That will take you to her online emporium of bewitching bookish candles that you can buy and she'll send you your very own pet flames. I'll be featuring some of her candles in an upcoming new series of posts. She's also a fellow Slytherin!

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

Hi! I’m Rebecca and I blog at This Booky Place (www.thisbookyplace.co.uk.) and you can find me on Twitter (@_rebeccastobart) and on Instagram (@thisbookyplace). I’m a nerdy girl who likes books, dogs and bad boys who turn out to be fluffy at heart.

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

I struggled with this book the most because books that make me cry are my favourite. It took a while to come to the conclusion that the book that brings me the most joy, also makes me sad. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien is quite possibly my favourite book, and I don’t know why I didn’t think of it straight away. I won’t explain the plot in detail, I’m sure if you haven’t read it you’ve seen the films (which I also love), but even with the loss of three of my favourite characters, a rampaging dragon, and a lot of struggle, The Hobbit is the story of leaving for a great adventure and getting to go home again. As a home bird who also loves to go to new places; I can relate to Bilbo Baggins (and I also eat second breakfast).

What about a book that filled you with sadness?

As I said above, I have a bit of a thing for books that make me cry, but the book that absolutely broke me most recently was They Both Die At The End by Adam Silvera (writer of another book that broke my heart earlier in the year). The book is about two teenage boys who have unfortunately been chosen by the Death Cast to die within the next twenty-four hours. They both turn to an app called Last Friend, which brings them together to experience a whole life in a day. It’s as upsetting as it sounds but it’s also so beautiful and I can feel a lump in the back of my throat as I try not to cry now remembering the last page. Please read this book, it’s worth the pain.

Have you read a book that made you feel angry?

A book that made me angry was Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu. This is an amazing example of the sorts of double standards that people experience, particularly in high school. The story follows a group of girls who are sick of getting dress code violations for being ‘distracting’ and for being made to feel like the ones in the wrong when they tell a boy no at a party. This book made me angry because it’s all so true, but it also made me incredibly proud to be a woman, reading about these young women who stood up for themselves gave me the desire to start singing I AM WOMAN HEAR ME ROAR. This book will inspire by making us angry first and then giving us hope.

Has a book ever disgusted you?

Yes. After The Fire by Will Hill was a very emotive read for me in general, but disgust was a prominent emotion since the book is based on things that are really going on in the world. Religion is always an iffy subject for me, as someone who has never been to church and would describe themselves as Agnostic (open minded but not convinced about a high power), reading about religion being used as an excuse to rule over people, or to justify the physical and sexual abuse of young children - it’s truly foul. Father John is one of the most despicable characters I have read about and knowing that there real people like him in the world, running these religious cults, it makes me feel ill. Brilliant book though, Will is a true genius.

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

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. My favourite classic. This book terrified me when I read it at far too young an age. Dorian Gray is described as being a beautiful young man, who is corrupted by the society that adopts him. Thanks to the guidance of his new friend basil, Dorian becomes obsessed with vanity and sin, not an appropriate book for a young person but I wasn’t allowed to watch the film so I read the book at eleven. The more Dorian sins, (sex, drugs, alcohol) the more monstrous his portrait becomes. He stays young and beautiful and his portrait is hidden, and honestly just the thought of it being locked away in the attic is giving me goosebumps because I’m still a little scared now.

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

The books I know inside out are definitely the Harry Potter series, I know it’s cliche and I usually do try to avoid saying Harry Potter when I answer questions like this but I can’t think of another book/series I can practically recite. Seven books worth of trivia has pushed out anything I learned in maths, that’s for sure. I could have picked a book in the for each emotion (probably not disgust -unless you count Umbridge in Order of the Phoenix). I hope you aren’t rolling your eyes at me right now.

Definitely no eye rolling here. We like Harry Potter here. I also love The Hobbit, Dorian Grey and second breakfasts. There's a few books there I really need to check out too! After the Fire has been pretty high on my To Be Read pile for far too long now!

Thanks for playing, Rebecca!