Another Thursday. Another Book Tag. Maybe I should make this a Thursday thing (assuming I post regularly). Book tags are helping me discover amazing blogs by some truly amazing bookworms. Plus, they are really fun to do. This week, I’m tackling the Seven Deadly Sins.

GREED: What is The Most Expensive Book You Own?

Middlemarch by George Eliot.

As mentioned in my Stuck at Home book tag post, I bought this book to own all books in the Penguin Drop Cap series. This is a hardcopy and that’s why the price is eye-gougingly high. I bought it at a time when I was not financially stable. I spent 10% of my then-salary on this book alone (I sometimes still do). My mum was furious that I was spending my hard-earned money frivolously. But, I don’t regret buying this book at all. As a matter of fact, I haven’t regretted buying any book. Have you? 

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GLUTTONY: What Book(s) Have You Shamelessly Devoured Many Times?

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.

Say what you want about the book and Dan Brown’s writing, I frankly enjoyed this book. I haven’t read a Harry Potter book as many times I’ve read this one. And as I’m writing this, I’m surprised it is so. The captivating story and pace made me go back to this book again and again. Another reason I’ve read it multiple times is that I could finish the book within a day. Ah! Those were my glory days. Finishing book after book, devouring those words with such hunger. And now! I take 5 days to finish a 100-page book. Oh, gawd, am I getting old?

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SLOTH: What Book/Series Have You Neglected Over Sheer Laziness?

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.

After Harry Potter, I was really eager to get into another fantasy series and this was it. The hype of the movies was another motivation for me to buy the books. I have had the complete set, including The Hobbit, for over 5 years but I haven’t read them. I haven’t even watched the movies because I am one of those people who want to read the books first. I did read about 50 pages of The Hobbit and then abandoned it after that for reasons I cannot recollect. I haven’t gotten around to them yet.

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PRIDE: What Book(s) Do You Bring Up When You Want To Sound Like An Intelligent Reader?

1984 by George Orwell.

The reason I do this is not to sound intelligent or proud but to say how brilliant this book is. Not many people have read it, mainly because they feel it is too serious, too political, or simply because they think it’s too complicated. This was my very first foray into the “serious” genre and I was fascinated by its complexity. There are certain books that I consider being on the bottom end of the “intelligent” spectrum (and no, I’m not talking about Twilight.) and people proudly say they’ve read them a hundred times. But the same people will put down a brilliant piece of literature such as 1984. To each their own, I suppose. I will say this though, please read 1984. It’s a mind-blowing book that you’ll definitely relate to.

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LUST: What Attributes Do You Find Most Attractive In Characters?

I am a huge fan of grey characters. According to me, characters that are too good or too bad are products of lazy writing. Characters, like us, should be complex, should have good and bad sides, should make rash decisions, should cry, should be empathetic, should be ruthless, should fail, etc. These traits make them much more relatable than some over-the-top goody-two-shoes or a psychotic rage monster. The best example of such a character is Snape from Harry Potter. Sure he was rude and horrible, but he did risk his life to keep Harry safe. His was probably the most complex character in the entire series and spanned all through the seven books. Do you know any more such grey characters?   

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ENVY: What Books Would You Most Like To Receive As a Gift?

Books that the person gifting them to me like. I love buying my own books because I know what I want to read, but someone gifting me a book that they enjoyed and loved is them sharing a part of themselves with me. Imagine having to read a story that was part of someone else’s story. Doesn’t that sound like reading a book? I will ask them so many questions – why this book, what they loved about it, why are they giving it to me, why do they think I will like it. On top of it all, they chose me to share their world with. What an honour that is! To be chosen like that. Because they feel I will appreciate the book just as they did. Maybe even fall in love with it like they did. 

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WRATH: What Author(s) Do You Have a Love/Hate Relationship With?

Amish Tripathi.

When his Immortals of Meluha released, I didn’t understand the frenzy behind it. It was after I picked up the book did I understand its brilliance. The book was such a shift in the usual young adult genre that India was consuming. But he sadly went the Chetan Bhagat way. The “popularity” tag got to him. He started churning out drivel after drivel in hopes of making the cut to the big screen. Each of his books progressively became boring and trite. I really thought he was the answer to putting India on the literary map. I was a gullible fool. I still do enjoy The Immortals of Meluha. But his other books, not so much. 

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I dug deep to see who started this tag but hit a dead end. I used the Bacon Number method and saw that Danielle at The Introverted Book Nerd had done this. You can check out her post and other interesting thoughts on her blog. Shoutout to whoever started this tag. 

These are my Seven Deadly Sins. Which are yours? 

Want to do this?

Tag! You’re it.