Twas the Night Before Christmas Book Tag

Merry Christmas Eve Eve! A late, last minute blog post as tomorrow is my “Year in Review” post which I hope isn’t that depressing for you guys to read. 

Anyway, I discovered this tag on YouTube a few days ago and I loved it.The “Twas the Night Before Christmas Book Tag” was created by Fred Weasley Died Laughing (WHY?! WHY CALL YOURSELF THAT!? MY HEART!!!) and I discovered it via Mikayla Eve Reads (who pushed me into doing this - will show tweet below!). I will link both their videos now:

So, in case you don’t understand it, The tag is asking bookish related questions based on lines from Twas the Night Before Christmas. And I really liked this idea - I always like a tag video which is a little off centre! So, I tweeted the video this morning (to get more people to view it! Plus, tweeting it made me very nearly late, FYI) and Mikayla tweeted me back with this challenge! 

@PewterWolf13 Why not now? Do it now! DM me your answers & include television show answers for triple points!

— Mikayla (@MikaylaEveReads) December 23, 2015

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED! So, my answers will be both book and TV related. This is gonna be a long post, so let’s get started!!! 

“Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse,” A book/TV that kept you up so late, everyone else was asleep. 

I would have to go with my last read and last TV obsession. The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket. Why this book? Am just crawling out of a reading slump and I wanted to blitz this very quickly before Christmas (so why have I started The Wide Window is anyone’s guess?). For TV, The Blacklist. It’s rare my other half and I find TV shows we watch together but we discovered this via fluke and we have devoured seasons 1 & 2. We need to get the first few episode of season 3 and we’re on it! 

“And Mama in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap,” A book/TV that made you fall asleep. 

Books rarely make me tired. Am trying to think. I think I fell asleep during my reread of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Not because I don’t like the book. I do (it’s not my fave but I respect it) but I was SO TIRED!!!

TV - I think I was very ill and I think it was either an episode of Qi or some football match. Am sure it was a football match as it was 0-0 at one point and then I woke up and it was 2-0 (was snoring for nearly 20 minutes). Let’s say the footie as I’m not much of a sport fan. 

“When out on the roof there arose such a clatter,I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter,” A book, or a book scene that made your heart race 

With me, it’s usually when a character I love is in danger that makes me sit on the edge of my seat and panic for them! 

I’m currently listening to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows audiobook and that’s putting me through the ringer at the moment. Am currently in the Battle of Hogwarts chapter and… yep… 

In TV world, the last time my heart raced was when I was watching the season 2 finale of The Blacklist. But I watch way too many shows that have so many twists and turns. 

“when, what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer,” An object in a book/TV that was utterly magical/or a magical book 

I wanna say a time turner from the Harry Potter series (come on! wouldn’t you?!), but am going to restrain myself and say The Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix. I adore this world - am hoping to reread the series next year. If not, Clariel & maybe Lirael - but I love Abhorsen’s bells. I find them fasanating. I would be a useless Abhorsen and if I lived in the Old Kingdom, I would be dead within a few minutes! 

I weirdly don’t watch my fantasy-based TV. I know, how very odd of me. So this one’s a bit hard to answer. But I can’t help but thing of a few gadgets from Agent Carter just because!

“With a little old driver, so lively and quick, I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick,” A twinkle-eyed book/TV character that made you happy. 

I have a load of characters that make me smile when I read. Some are old faves - Luna Lovegood, Mogget, Hermione, etc - and some are new - Simon and Baz, Levi, etc - but am going to go really left-field (aka not YA) in my answer and say Mog from Judith Kerr’s Mog the Forgetful Cat. This and The Tiger Who Came To Tea was my stable of my childhood and as someone who has very young family members, I want to share the love. Plus, the advert featuring Mog is beyond wonderful. 

TV-wise, am going to go Friends and say Phoebe. I love Phoebe. I can’t explain why, but I love her. She’s just goes with the flow and that’s something I wish I could be. Plus, why hasn’t there been a book about her life?! I’m also going to say Agent Peggy Carter from Agent Carter, because not only does she kick butt but she is a strong, kind person who knows who is she and knows her own worth, even when others around her don’t because she’s a woman. Stupid sexist characters.  

“so up to the house-top the coursers they flew, with the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too,” A book/TV that made you fly to another land. 

HOGWARTS! (Sorry, but am going to say nothing else but Hogwarts!)

“And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof, the prancing and pawing of each little hoof,” A book/TV creature you love. 

I am a huge fan of mythology creatures so anything in fantasy gets me very excited and very happy. I love daemons from His Dark Materials as I found them interesting to read and people’s opinions on whether they are the person’s soul or not. Although, any animal in Harry Potter holds my heart a little. 

TV is hard as it’s rare for animals to get attention on TV. But am gonna say Jess the Cat from Postman Pat. Not sure why, but Jess the cat. (although the theme song for James the Cat has popped into my head…)

“He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot, and his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot,” A character that proves to more than his/her first impression 

That’s a hard question.There are so many characters in books that are so much more than their first impression. Not sure how to answer that! Let me have a think about that and will answer on Twitter at a later date. 

Any character from a Shonda Rhimes TV programme comes under this question! My TV obsession is How to Get Away with Murder (winter finale airing in the UK tonight! SO EXCITED OVER WHO SHOT ANNALISE!) so am going to say Annalise as she is such a complex character…

“He had a broad face and a little round belly, that shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly,” A book or book character that made you laugh 

I find reading humour in books a bit hard. But I love reading either Magnus Bane from the first 3 Mortal Instruments books and the Infernal Devices and Mogget from The Old Kingdom series. Both make me smile over their humour and how they don’t honestly care about what other people think of them. They know their own self-importance and that is a very important for readers to know. 

I was going to say Friends but that’s my fail-safe answer. But last week, I howled with laughter over Modern Family and a random episode of Undateables. But I always like finding new comedies that actually make me laugh. 

“A wink of his eye and a twist of his head, soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread,” A book/TV that makes you feel safe. 

Harry Potter is my safe series. I always read them when I feel low. And if I ever get into a reading slump, I always go to Sabriel by Garth Nix. It really depends on what kind of safe I need. 

With TV, I love a good comfort TV. So Friends is usually on when I want comfort. But a comedy makes me happy. Although, I loved The Great British Bake Off and that was a safe show for me. Though it made me tension as heck (what if the cake didn’t rise?!)

“He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, and filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk,” A book/TB that put you to work (a book/TV that you felt you really needed to concentrate on)

I love a good mystery so am going down that route with this answer. The one that jumps to mind is We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. I remember reading it going “What on earth?!” and it was only after the reveal where I thought over everything and went “How could I have not thought of that?!”

I can’t say Blacklist for this answer. So, am going to say Mr Robot instead. I really liked it but you had to pay so much attention to it. I could only do 2 or 3 episodes as I would get myself into a state over what the hell was happening! 

"Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!" A book/TV with a magnificent ending. 

Ooooh! That’s an interesting question. Endings are very hit and miss with me. Either they are so spot on or so off the mark… You can’t please everyone. 

I want to say Harry Potter up to a point as I agree with that the fight of Hogwarts is needed (bloodbath!), but there are one or two things that make me quite upset. With TV, I want to say Miranda but even now, it doesn’t hit all the mark. I loved that Miranda finally grew up and realised that she didn’t need Gary to complete her, but I’m annoyed as heck that her and Gary got together and married.