Last book tag of the year!! Abi of Pellinor tagged me in the Dead Famous Readalong Tag (click here to watch her video) and since I’m enjoying the Skulduggery Pleasant series, I decided to answer the tag! The video is embedded in this post, but if you prefer to read my answers, read on!

The Dead Famous Readalong Tag

Valkyrie Cain: A Book Featuring an AntiHeroine, or an Unlikeable Female Protagonist: The Nakano Thrift Shop by Hiromi Kawakami – I didn’t hate the heroine but I found her rather bland and forgettable and that was the closest I could get to “unlikeable female protagonist” (review here).

Skulduggery Pleasant: Your Favourite Mystery/Thriller: I had two books for this!

• Tokyo Zodiac Murders by Shimada Soji – The first book in the Detective Mitarai series, this mystery is kind of disturbing but also an excellent puzzle mystery (review here).
• The Wife Stalker by Liv Constantine – This was so good I couldn’t put it down and when I recommend it to my friend, she couldn’t put it down either! I can’t say too much or it will ruin the book and although I’m linking to my review of every other book, I’m not going to link to my review of this book because I feel like some of my feelings were spoilery and I don’t want to do that to you!

China Sorrows: A Beautiful yet Intimidating Read: Once Iron Girls edited by Hui Wu – This collection of essays felt so intimidating I didn’t read it for a few years, but I regret waiting. The Chinese essay form isn’t quite what I’m used to, but this translation is beautiful and I loved so many of the essays! (my review)

Tanith Low: A Book with Great Fight Scenes: Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia – To be honest, fight scenes are not things I remember so the closest book I could think of was Gods of Jade and Shadow because I thought the final race was really good! (my review)

Ghastly Bespoke: A Well-Written Book: Another prompt where I thought of two books

• Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell – The prose in Hamnet could have been overdone and purple but instead it’s lyrical and immersive and I loved it so much! (my review)
• Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier – I reread this again recently and while I love how I always find something new to appreciate in this book, that’s not why I chose it. I thought of this book because the prose is so beautiful and I love how du Maurier evokes a gothic atmosphere (my review).

Vaurien Scapegrace: A Book that Missed the Mark: The Dire King by William Ritter – I loved the first few books of the Jackaby series, but there were quite a few things that I was not convinced by here and basically the book let me down. The main plot was fine, but everything else was too much and not convincing enough (my review).

Fletcher Renn: A Book with Lots of Settings: Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett – Where else can you find witches, wizards, the Watch, books about poo, and a city with a dictator? The Discworld series is just so fun and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a laugh (my reviews).

Davina Marr: A Book with a Controversial Topic: I wish feminism wasn’t a controversial topic but it seems like it still is one, so here are two great books I read recently that deal with the issue

• Women and Power by Mary Beard – This is a short book (just two essays) but so hard hitting! Beard looks at the past to discover why even in the present, women tend to be kept out of power and the public sphere (my review).
• Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez – If you ever need data on how women are overlooked and the world is planned for the “default male”, look no further. I got so angry reading this, because of how awful the consequences can be for women when we are overlooked, such as in the fields of medicine and peace negotiations (my review).

And these are my books! I’m not a tagger so I’m not going to tag anyone, but if you do decide to do this, please let me know! And if you’re interested in following Abi, you can also find her blog here.