1- The book you’ve read ages ago but can’t remember
Everyone has this problem. EVERYONE.
You have read a book ages ago. You vaguely remember it. Hey! This is quite normal, you read a LOT of books. You have some details in your mind, and the name of it should be something like.. errk! You can’t recall it. It’s like a curse..

For me this is luckily only a few books. I am quite good at remembering what I’ve read. But there is one I still cannot remember. It was a library loan so I don’t have it. A very poor muslim dad, sells his teenage son to a white man, hoping for a better future for him. This wasn’t the book’s story but I cried my eyes out in the mention of this part so that’s the only thing I remember. I hate sad books!
I probably have one or two I can’t remember, they’re deep in my brain ready when something stimulates the memory..
2- The book you delay reading because you know it’s gonna make you cry
I hate crying during reading and I am such an easy crier. I literally shat myself
crying in Harry Potter, Deathly Hollows. During reading last chapters of The Blind Assassin my nose became so red from crying I thought it will be mistaken with a tomato. Even scary Woman in Black I cried my eyes out … I avoid reading sad books in public as I can’t hold my tears and last thing you need on a train for example is sobbing and trembling lips. Crying passengers: Can British public transport get worse?
So I am quite shy about some books on my TBR… Such as : The Book Thief, Atonement, The Painted Veil, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Poisonwood Bible, God of Flies,
The Bluest Eye, The Book of Strange New Things; suspecting they can make me cry. (Let me know if they’re not sad, hey!)
3- The book scared you so much you won’t forget it
I get scared quite easily. Well. Aren’t I like a 3 year old? Feel free to roll your eyes, I cry, I got scared easily. And you know I have tantrums when I don’t like books. Yeah I am a toddler at heart. Can’t help it…
I can think of a lot of scary books but none of them scared the shit out of me like John Fowles’s The Collector. It’s a story of a captivity, and there is a psychopath in it. Fowles paints him so realistically that you kind of lost faith in humanity and imagining yourself as the victim there makes you want to evaporate from the world.
Also Stephen’s King The Shining and It deserves mentioning.
4- The book you gave to a friend and didn’t come back

Oh, that book. Or should I say books? God, I have had some terrible friends who never returned my books. I must be daft, I still see them. Well, maybe I still like them.
Last book I’ve said enough is enough, I am adopting the principle of NO LENDING was Perfume, The Story of a Murderer. I think it was 2010 or 11. I am quite a Gollum when it comes to my books people. They are my precious. Sick, I know, but it’s my obsession!
5- The Book you and Your Book Bestie absolutely enjoyed and became die hard fans
MERMAID AND MRS HANCOCK!!!!!!
My bestie and I may have very different tastes sometimes, but there are a few books we quite loved and became fans and this year this honour went the Mermaid and Mrs Hancock. It was a fabulous read and everytime we see it in a bookshop we stroke it sadly and say:I know, I know sweetie, you should have been on the Booker Longlist at least.
6- The Book with the lines you memorised and will never forget.
Ah, for me this is absolutely 2 books. (both of them on my top 5 )

First comes from Time’s Arrow
“Probably human cruelty is fixed and eternal. Only styles change.”
And of course, Slaughterhouse 5
“But she did look back, and I love her for that, because it was so human. So she was turned to a pillar of salt. So it goes. People aren’t supposed to look back. I’m certainly not going to do it anymore.”
Oh, those two books. You need to read them if you haven’t already.
7- The Book You Hated So Much That You Wanted to Throw it to the Wall
Oh I am very catty when it comes to books I don’t like. If you’re a frequent visitor of this blog you’ll see! I particularly feel angry when I’ve been fooled by the blurb, one example was The Luckiest Girl Alive, it said ‘For fans of Gone Girl’ and I was so naive to believe it. Or if the book is too upsetting, I get furious. If I want to read gross details of rape and abuse, I’ll go pick up a tabloid newspaper guys. Literature should be more elegant, it shouldn’t be cheap. A recent example was ‘Cross Her Heart’ as the amount of upset content and abuse in that book caused my brain cells to burn. I wanted to finish the book as I was in 80% but I wasn’t able to stand it. Here I explained why I didn’t like it if you fancy reading a tantrum.
Now there’s my 7 types of books…Do you have any memorable types of books? Or can you recall any books in these categories yourself?
P.S- I miss Alan Rickman…
The scariest book I’ve read was Dead Scared by Sharon Bolton, and the book that made me really sob was A Mother’s Confession by Kelly Rimmer.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh better for me to stay away from the latter 😀
LikeLike
Could be! 😀
LikeLike
Ben Sezgin Kaymaz’ın “Bugün Bize Kim Geldi?” kitabını okurken metroda hüngür hüngür ağlamıştım :). Bir de Türk yazar olsun dedim 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ay ondan da uzak durayim ben 🙂 Sagol Elif
LikeLike
I’m suck at remembering details in books! Ugh, it’s only months and then I’ll started to forget the details, even the major plot sometimes!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh no, maybe that books didn’t really made a difference for you then?
LikeLike
No, some of them are actually really good and I enjoyed them. Things are just slipped from my brain pretty easily! 😂
LikeLike
You must have a busy life then 🙂
LikeLike
Love the abundance of Alan Rickman gifs in this post ❤ I definitely have those books I remember reading but totally forgot who the author or what the title is… especially the ones I read before I discovered Goodreads.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes!!! The one I forgot was way before Goodreads or internet really!
Alan Rickman…Isn’t he the BEST.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love this post! Although I like to cry in my books, but I don’t read in public, I’d think otherwise if I did! And I never trust the blurb anymore, they are often very misleading! Seriously how many books have been compared to Gone Girl? LOL
LikeLiked by 1 person
It must be at least a few hundred books compared to it since Gone Gorl 😂😂
LikeLiked by 1 person
At least!🙄
LikeLike
OH MY GOD YES to this entire list!
I actually just went through my Goodreads list today browsing books I’ve read and I’m ashamed at how many I looked at and thought, “Holy crap I read that?” LOL
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haha!!! There are some books I wish I could wipe from my memory and re-read. But I am quite good at remembering what i’ve read. Still every now and then there’s a book I forget!
LikeLike
I wanted to throw The Luckiest Girl Alive into a wall as well and still don’t get the whole Gone Girl comparison. Also excellent use of Alan Rickman gifts 🙂
LikeLike
Atonement is…yeah I can’t even watch the movie because reading the book affected me so much I don’t want to go through it again. The Book Thief is okay though, I think. I cried but I was okay in the end, if I remember correctly. I haven’t read The Lovely Bones because of number 2, I’m just not sure I can deal with how heavy it seems to be.
LikeLike
The name says it all! I really like McEwans work though and hoping maybe I can read it in my 50ies when life makes my heart a bit tougher 🙃
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh my gosh I have seen lovely bones movie and since then I always spy on my neighbours for weird behaviour. These thinga effect me, i am such a softie!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh I can’t wait for MERMAID AND MRS HANCOCK!!!!!!
LikeLike
What a fun post! Let’s see: Scariest: The Shining! I don’t think any other book will top it. Mermaid and Mrs Hancock it is! 😉 Throw to the wall: Something In The Water lately. The book I delay, The English Patient. I just don’t think I can ever take the hit.
LikeLike
Guilty of all of these for SURE! Especially forgetting what a book (or tv show) is about like 4 hours after finishing it. I have the memory of a goldfish and it is so annoying!
LikeLike
Pick one of those sad books, go on public transport and cry.. show what it means to be a human in a meddle of busy/boring/gray/soulless city life .. wave that book and blame it with pride! 😀 hahaha… yeah, no.. too dramatic!
I love it when a book makes me cry, or anxious or any other strong emotion… if a book can make me feel utterly out of my skin then I love it… I love it so hard!
Great list! 🙂
LikeLike
Thanks Liz! A lot of books are sad so good for you that you don’t mind teary reads 🙂
Also I quite like the idea of showing off emotions, some cities/societies really need that!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, when real life expects me to be strong, I easily bawl over books and movies just to release the pent up emotions 😀 haha…
It is kind of sad thought that if you were to laugh or indeed cry over a read whilst on a train some people would look at you weird? It’s like- a normal thing so yeah, make emotions cool again! 🙂
LikeLike
Haha, what a fun post!
I defo postponed a bunch of books cuz i thought they will be depressing 😀
Also read a book with my bestie and we are still fangirling about it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh Norrie, I wouldn’t have thought you’d put books aside for that reason. You look like a though cookie when it comes to books 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hahaha, you know, i can handle blood and guts, and psychopaths, but emotions??? That’s hard! 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
A child or a dog should NEVER die. I am such a softie!
And yeah, can handle blood and guts and all sorts of violance, but please don’t kill innocent things and tell it in details. How could you imagine it?? (starts screaming)
LikeLiked by 2 people
❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great
LikeLike
[…] – Alan Johnson – In My Life Henley Literature Festival 2018 Excuse My Reading – 7 Types of Books Book Obsessed People Deal With CrimeBookJunkie – Do You Want To Know My Secret?! The Shelf of Unread Books – The […]
LikeLike
I will delay reading ANY book where I suspect that a dog might die; so I’ll probably never read Marley and Me 😂 and I am so clingy with my books, I can never bring myself to lend them to anyone – I’m more likely to offer to buy them a copy than lend them one of my own. Loved this list, great answers!!
LikeLike
Sheree, your comment made me laugh, yes, a dog dying, is one of the no-no’s in a book. you want to scream at the author: why are you doing this to me!!!!
Also love your response for borrowing requests: yeah go buy one! 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I clicked on the Blog title…but these are all sooo true! Thanks for the entertainment!
LikeLike
Thank you! So glad you enjoyed it!
LikeLike