time bubble book tag

I saw this tag on thrice read and thought I would give a couple of cheeky answers to it myself!

What book have you been meaning to read for a long time but haven’t got around to reading? 

Going back through my Goodreads, there are a TON of books that I want to read, but haven’t yet had the time to pick up. One of them is The Star Side of Bird Hill:

After their mother can no longer care for them, young Phaedra and her older sister, Dionne, are exiled from Brooklyn to Bird Hill in Barbados to live with their grandmother Hyacinth, a midwife and practitioner of the local spiritual practice of obeah.

Dionne spends the summer in search of love, testing her grandmother’s limits, and wanting to go home. Phaedra explores Bird Hill, where her family has lived for generations, accompanies her grandmother in her role as a midwife, and investigates their mother’s mysterious life.

When the father they barely know comes to Bird Hill to reclaim his daughters, and both Phaedra and Dionne must choose between the Brooklyn they once knew and loved or the Barbados of their family.

A book you have been meaning to reread, but haven’t. 

I don’t actually tend to re-read series, but I’d like to re-read the His Dark Materials series because I reckon a lot of the religious aspects went over my head when I read it as a kid, and I’d like to read the new book in the series, The Book of Dust.

A book from a genre you don’t normally read, but have been meaning to try and give it a chance. 

I don’t tend to read a lot of historical fiction, but I’d like to read Yiddish for Pirates.

Set in the years around 1492, Yiddish for Pirates recounts the compelling story of Moishe, a Bar Mitzvah boy who leaves home to join a ship’s crew, where he meets Aaron, the polyglot parrot who becomes his near-constant companion.

From a present-day Florida nursing home, this wisecracking yet poetic bird guides us through a world of pirate ships, Yiddish jokes and treasure maps. But Inquisition Spain is a dangerous time to be Jewish and Moishe joins a band of hidden Jews trying to preserve some forbidden books. He falls in love with a young woman, Sarah; though they are separated by circumstance, Moishe’s wanderings are motivated as much by their connection as by his quest for loot and freedom. When all Jews are expelled from Spain, Moishe travels to the Caribbean with the ambitious Christopher Columbus, a self-made man who loves his creator. Moishe eventually becomes a pirate and seeks revenge on the Spanish while seeking the ultimate booty: the Fountain of Youth.

This outstanding New Face of Fiction is filled with Jewish takes on classic pirate tales–fights, prison escapes, and exploits on the high seas–but it’s also a tender love story, between Moishe and Sarah, and between Aaron and his “shoulder,” Moishe. Rich with puns, colourful language, post-colonial satire and Kabbalistic hijinks, Yiddish for Pirates is also a compelling examination of mortality, memory, identity and persecution from one of this country’s most talented writers.

A series you’ve been waiting to read, but haven’t because of how long it is. 

I’m going to go with the obvious answer here – A Song of Ice and Fire. At SOME point I will read this series. I’ve just got so many other things to read at the moment!

A book you wish you could go back in time and read for the first time.

I wish I could read the Inkheart series again for the first time. This was the first series that I read that really emphasised the power of words and writing, and I remember being utterly absorbed in it.

A book recommendation you have been putting off. 

I’ve been recommended I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson quite a few times, but I’ve been putting it off recently. I don’t know why!

If you’re interested in doing this tag, I tag you!