’90s Kid Book Tag

My book tags of late have all been ’90s focused. I guess I’m in a ’90s mood. I’ve even been listening mostly to music from the 1990s lately — some Tupac and Biggie and 112 and Mary J. Blige….good stuff. The ’90s, well the late ’90s, were my childhood years (born at the end of the ’80s), so I guess I’m just reminiscing.

I found this tag over on Kristin Kraves Books. I highly recommend you check out her awesome blog!

Rules:

1. Please, please, please steal this tag and spread it around! I only ask that you link it back to The Literary Phoenix so that I can see everyone’s answers!
2. Freeze tag was all the rage in the 90s. Tag someone (or many) you think would have fun with this!
3. Have fun!

Pokemon

A GBA game and trading card game where you battled pocket monsters and strived to catch them all. Back in the day, there were only 150 Pokemon.

Pokemon was fun. I enjoyed watching the show as a kid and these days I’ll rewatch an episode every now and then.

The author you need every book from

Robin Hobb

At the moment, that’s Robin Hobb. I NEED to get and read every single book in her Realm of the Elderlings series, which is an epic fantasy series that contains several trilogies and series in it. The Realm of the Elderlings series begins with Assassin’s Apprentice, which is the first novel in the Farseer trilogy. It’s about the bastard child of a prince who becomes an apprentice to an assassin. It’s so good! And the story gets better and more interesting as the story progresses.

AIM

AOL Instant Messaging – how ’90s kids communicated with their friends after school before everyone had a cell phone.

Book that connected you with your best friend

The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah

The majority of my friends weren’t readers but in high school, I bonded with a friend over Sister Souljah’s novel The Coldest Winter Ever, which is an urban contemporary novel about a teenage girl named Winter whose father is a drug kingpin. Winter’s life is upended when her father gets arrested and she has to use her street skills to survive.

It’s been a long time since I’ve read this novel, but I still think it’s good and still consider it a favorite. My friend and I would read this as well as books by Omar Tyree, Mary B. Morrison, and Zane.

Furby

Creepy needy robots you could teach to talk and were probably demon possessed. Somehow these made a comeback?

Ugh! Hated Furby. They were so creepy. For some reason, they made me think of gremlins.

Book that seemed like a good idea but was actually a monster

The Iliad by Homer, trans. by Robert Fagles

At the moment, it’s The Iliad. The stories in it deeply interest me. Plus, I read Jason and the Argonauts by Apollonius of Rhodes, trans. by Aaron Poochigian, and enjoyed it so I thought I’d enjoy The Iliad too, but this edition is a bore and a slog to get through. I haven’t picked it up since putting it down couple months ago.

N’SYNC

’90s quintessential boy band. You may have heard of Justin Timberlake?

Yup! 🙂 I was an N’sync fan. Not a big fan though. I just liked the music.

A book you hated to say Bye, Bye, Bye to

The Book of Hidden Things by Francesco Dimitri (trans.)

Dimitri is an Italian author and The Book of Hidden Things is his first novel in English. He translated it himself. It’s a fantasy novel about four friends who meet in the same place in their hometown every year but on one of the meetings, one of the friends don’t show up so the others look for him and learn much more than they wanted.

This was a really good read. I was hooked on the story the entire time and I loved the writing. Considering how it ends, I definitely didn’t want to say Bye, Bye, Bye to it. I would have liked it to continue for a few more pages.

Slimed!

Getting green slime thrown on you, courtesy of the show Figure it Out. Also apparently still a thing at the Kid’s Choice Awards?

SLIMED!! 😀 😀 I still want to do this. I thought it was so fun as a kid (still do).

A book everyone loved but you hated

Caraval by Stephanie Garber

Caraval is a YA fantasy novel about a girl who runs off to a magical circus-like event to save her sister. I didn’t like the story and I think a major reason why is because it was marketed as the next Night Circus, which it isn’t. Also, the protagonist annoyed me and I didn’t like how manipulative the sisters are toward each other.

Oregon Trail

’90s computer game you could usually play at school, which was great. It taught us people used to die a lot of gruesome, messy deaths.

A book that made you wish you died of dysentery

The Sheepfarmer’s Daughter by Elizabeth Moon

I can’t think of a book that would make me want to die of dysentry. That’s a horrible way to go. But The Sheepfarmer’s Daughter is a fantasy novel I attempted to read a couple months ago but struggled with. It started out interesting but became a bore as the writing and storytelling faltered. It seems to be about a girl who becomes a soldier of sorts and maybe a hero.

Mixtape/CD

Back before everyone had music on their phones (remember, we didn’t have cell phones!) folks would rip their CDs and make mixes for each other.

Oh, I was all about mixtapes, well CDs. I made so many mixes and had friends make them for me too. I downloaded so much music that it slowed my computer. I had so much!

3 books you recommend to anyone, anywhere, no matter what

Umm…

I tend to mention these quite often to folks. I tell them about Saga if they’re new to comics and don’t mind graphic content, Assassin’s Apprentice is mentioned if they ask about fantasy novels, and I just always tell people about Marlon James’s Book of Night Women, which is historical fiction set in Jamaica on a slave plantation. All are good reads.

Dial-Up Internet

You know how it’s annoying when you aren’t on LTE? IMAGINE WAITING 10 MINUTES FOR INTERNET TO START AND ANOTHER 20 MINUTES FOR GOOGLE TO LOAD!

Oh. MY. GAWD!! Including this as a category immediately makes this one of my fav tags. Lol! Dial up was so damn annoying! I wouldn’t be able to handle it now. I would go crazy.

A book that took FOR FREAKING EVER to read

Dracula by Bram Stoker, illus. by Becky Cloonan

I’m currently reading this, actually, in honor of Halloween. My plan is to read mostly horror or thriller novels this month, but since I’m a mood reader, that plan might not pan out how I want it to. Anyway, I can tell that Dracula will take forever to get through. The writing style tells me that I’ll have to take it slow. I’ve read the story before, but it was such a long time ago that I can’t remember how long it took to complete it back then.

Kenan Thompson

He’s that guy who’s been on SNL forever. Also Mighty Ducks. Good Burger. Keenan and Kel. All That. Everything.

That’s so true! I liked the dude.

That book you see referenced everywhere and is in everything, but that’s okay because it’s awesome

The Arrival by Shaun Tan (illus.)

A silent graphic novel about a man seeking a safe place for his family to live. I love this graphic novel and plan to get myself a copy of it. There are no words in it so readers understand the story by paying attention to the nonverbal communication between the characters. It’s a touching story and well worth the read.

It was very popular when it was published a couple years ago, and I was glad to learn the hype was worth it.

Thumbs Up, Seven Up

A game where most the class closed their eyes and seven people tapped someone’s thumb and you had to guess who did it without peeking.

Book where you peeked just REAL quick at the ending because you don’t like guessing games

I do that with almost every book I read because I’m impatient and often the suspense is too much for me to handle. Most recently, I did that with The Book of Hidden Things and Dragon Keeper, both of which I mentioned above.

Dunkaroos

These were basically just Teddy Grahams dipped in frosting, which is still a wonderful snack idea.

Your ideal bookish snack

Grapes

I realized that I’m not crazy about eating while reading because it can get messy and I hate messy pages. But grapes aren’t too bad, preferably crunchy, seedless ones.

Scary Stories to Tell In The Dark

Collections of short stories that would scare any sensible kid!  Plus, there were illustrations…

A book that kept you up all night

Providence by Caroline Kepnes

Oh man! Providence kept me up, not because it’s scary, but because it was so gripping that I kept reading it through the night. It was so good! It’s a mystery thriller novel with a hint of paranormal that’s about a teenage boy who’s kidnapped by his crazy teacher. When he returns home, the boy believes he has gained abilities that hurts those closest to him. The story is about how the kidnapping and these abilities affects those he love. The story is inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s work.

Bill Nye the Science Guy

Basically the coolest thing you got to do in science class was watch Bill Nye. He has a Netflix show again!

Lol! I remember watching this guy’s videos in my science classes.

A book that taught you something new

Thunder & Lightning: Weather Past, Present, Future by Lauren Redniss (illus.)

I learned loads of new things from this book and would love to get myself a copy. It’s an illustrated nonfiction book about the weather. It’s a very interesting read, and I highly recommend it.

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And that’s the end of this tag! 😀

I won’t tag anyone specific, but I think you all should do it.

For other ’90s-themed tags, check out:

’90s Movies Book Tag

’90s Cartoons Book Tag

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