The Bookshelf Tag

Reality, Meet Fiction will resume next week. In the meantime, here's a blog tag!

Liz over at Out of Coffee, Out of Mind nominated me for this tag. I'm glad I finally got around to it!

A Short but Powerful Book

The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis

GoodReads says it's 272 Pages, but I don't recall it being nearly that long. (We'll call it short, okay? Regardless of whether it is or not).

Although it's in an entirely different vein than The Chronicles of Narnia, this book really re-shaped my outlook on spiritual warfare. I'd highly recommend it. And I need to add it to my re-read list.

A Good, Long Book

Eragon, by Christopher Paolini.

I'm really not hitting the mark with Christian Speculative here, but this is one of my favorite long books. I'm (slowly) making my way back through this series. I try to re-read it every summer.

This would be a good choice for people who don't mind magic and love an epic fantasy with a little grit here and there.

Favorite Classic

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, by Lew Wallace

If this doesn't count as a classic, it should. They're making a movie, which both excites and terrifies me. If it doesn't live up to the one with Charleston Heston in it, I will be disappointed--but not surprised.

A Relatively Obscure Book

*Laughs* How many obscure books have I featured on this blog?

Hero, Second Class, by Mitchell Bonds

We'll put this one down because it made me laugh my socks off.

An Underrated Book

Auralia's Colors, by Jeffrey Overstreet

It only has a 3.65/5 star rating on GoodReads, which is surprising to me. Granted, the writing style is a lot to get used to. However, I really adore this book (if you haven't figured that out already).

An Overrated Book

Waterfall, by Lisa Tawn Bergren

This was recommended to me by a friend and it had a 4 star rating on GoodReads, so I decided to give it a try when the ebook was cheap. If you follow me on Goodreads, you know I didn't finish it. Maybe someone else would like it, but it was too much of a love story for me, there were too many coincidences, and I couldn't stand the main character.

Most Reread Book

The Ruins of Gorlan, by John Flanagan.

Ack, I need to re-read this. Not sure my current copy will handle it, though. They have a really nice cover design out now...

I'm not positive that this is my most re-read book, but it probably comes close, other than perhaps A Wrinkle in Time. 

Of all the books you own, how many have you not read?

If we only look at print books, about 10-15. Adding in e-book copies would probably push the number toward 25-30, just because I'm a sucker for a sale.

A Book You Haven't Read

The Shock of Night, by Patrick W. Carr

I just picked this up at the bookstore last week, but I have some other books that I need to finish first.

A Short Story Collection

I actually don't own any, unless you count All Creatures Great and Small and James Herriot's other books.

A Non-Fiction Book

Broken: 7 Christian Rules Every Christian Should Break as Often as Possible, by Jonathan Fisk

An interesting read that combines theology, Star Wars references, and rabbit trails. Not for the faint of heart.

A Physical Book with an Interesting Backstory 

The Lance Mackey Story, by Lance Mackey

One of my other interests is long-distance mushing. Lance won the Iditarod (one of the most famous, prestigious races) 4 years in a row after fighting off cancer, addiction, and other personal problems. While I don't agree with all of his life choices, even after getting better, his passion for the sport and his survival against all odds is something else.

This is the only signed book I own. One of the couples from my church visited Alaska on their anniversary and got to meet Lance. They surprised me by bringing me back this book. The signature reads, "To R---, a great Iditarod Fan, L Mack."

Well, Liz already tagged pretty much everyone that I know in the blogging world, but feel free to steal the tag!