I Would Give Up the Internet For…
If I’m being honest, I wouldn’t give up the internet for much haha. Partly for the social media/fun/etc but also because it’s pretty much essential for my research/work lol. I know that many people in older generations think that we waste too much time on the internet (and sometimes it’s true) but I think I’ve just found a different community of people online that fill my life with good things! It’s not that much different than having a real life community.
Anyway! I’m rambling. I found this cool tag that was originally a BookTube tag, but Shelumiel @ Bookish and Awesome turned it into a blog tag so yay! I think it’s called the Extraordinary Means tag, because it originally is inspired by the book Extraordinary Means and is all about the crazy things you’d do for books/authors/etc.
1.) I would give up the internet for a month for a signed first edition of this book
A month?? You know, I think that’s doable. I made it through 2 weeks when I took a trip to Tanzania and went on safari, so I think I could make it a month. The more that I think about it, this isn’t even hard!! I’d totally do this.
Anyway, my choice would be for a signed first edition of the Lord of the Rings trilogy! I don’t even know what the first editions look like, they’re probably super rare. From my google search skills the image I have here is what showed up when looked for first editions so we’ll go with that haha. I love the designs on the covers!! Plus just imagine having Tolkien’s signature 😱. That would be crazy!!!
2.) I would give up pizza for a year if it meant I could sit next to this author on a long plane ride
If you knew me in real life you’d know how significant this is. Pizza is one of my favorite foods, mostly because I love anything with melty cheese on it. Or just melty cheese by itself. Also, I feel like this is a hard thing to choose! TBH plane rides are awful even if you have a great travel companion lol. So I feel like I wouldn’t want to make anyone suffer too badly.
But I think I’d choose Neil Gaiman! He’s super funny on Twitter, and I think he’d be fun to talk with about random stuff. Plus I think he’d be okay with just hanging out and not talking if we wanted to. I think I’d have to make sure it was the exit row or first class though since he has very long legs 😂.
Plus I’d get to join him when he goes into airport bookstores and stealth signs copies of his books!
3.) I would sit through a thousand hours of commercials if it would ensure Hollywood made this book into a movie
I’m allowed to make some stipulations right?? Because I would do this only if it meant a completely accurate, true to the book adaptation. Also, I’m gonna go with a tv show instead of a movie because this is my blog post and I can do what I want!!
I want a very detailed, true to the books adaptation of Tamora Pierce’s Tortall books. Surprise right? NOT. Of course I’d pick my favorite books, by my favorite author 🤷🏽♀️. In real life, I don’t think I’d actually want this to come true because I love it being in my head more, and I just don’t want anything about the adaptation to deter people from enjoying the books. I agree with I think it was V.E. Schwab or Leigh Bardugo who said that adaptations don’t ruin the books, because the books are still there and aren’t changed. But I just want it to ruin people’s perception. And I think personally it’s hard for me to separate the books and their adaptations. BUT in this perfect universe where I could actually make this choice, I think it would work out hahaha.
Here’s some lovely fan art with the covers of the respective book series below the art pieces 🙂
4.) I would never read a new book again if it meant I could live inside this book
I mean, that’s just downright cruel. I honestly don’t know if I’d ever do this, given the choice. But I guess I can choose the place that would come closest.
This is a massively underrated series, so I doubt any of you will have heard of it. If you have TELL ME so we can be best friends. Anyway, I would want to live inside the world of the Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica. This is basically a fantasy world that you can travel to via a portal from our world, and it has amazing literary allusions in all the lands that are there. From the Goodreads synopsis, “all the lands that have ever existed in myth and legend, fable and fairy tale.”
There are characters that are fictional (from books) such as King Arthur, Captain Nemo, and Peter Pan, and there are some that are real life authors, such as HG Wells, Edgar Allan Poe, and Sir James Barrie. Also there are DRAGONS and talking badgers and ghosts and a bunch of amazing creatures. And incredible literary allusions!! Ugh I always forget how much I love this series. Please check it out!!
But yeah I would honestly probably go live there. It’s like books come to life! (Also look at these covers!!! Dragons!!!)
5.) I would let my Google search history be made public if it meant I could be best friends with this author
TBH I don’t think my Google search history is that embarrassing 🤷🏽♀️so this is a pretty easy thing to do for me. It consists of a lot of astrophysics concepts and book related searches. And recently, places to eat in New York City haha.
My choice would be….Marie Lu! She seems like the SWEETEST! And so cool and I think she lives near my hometown! She’s a wonderful writer, artist, and human being. Plus she’s got such ADORABLE pups!!! And I’m sure her new baby is cute af too.
6.) I would donate everything I own to Goodwill if it meant I could date this book character in real life
This is the second most difficult one, after number 4. I mean, donate all my books?? My other possessions I could probably be okay with but parting with my books would be hard lol.
But you guys. I recently reread Graceling and oh my god do I love Prince Po. Literally, the best book boyfriend you could ever want. First of all, SUPER handsome with ear piercings and tattoos. And one gold eye and one silver eye. Just based on looks, DAMN SON.
Po is so much more than that though, obviously or I wouldn’t be donating all of my belongings for him lol. He’s the softest boy!! Man. I guess. WhATEVER. He is an amazingly caring friend, and a loving brother and son. He loves people for all of who they are, not just the good and happy parts. Po is so respectful of boundaries and other people’s wishes and it’s beautiful to actually see that really clearly in a book.
Here’s some fan art I found of Po, along with a few different covers of Graceling because I love them all!!!
What would be some of your choices for these questions? Do you think you could ever even make those choices? Some of them are REALLY hard haha.
My sister says she doesn’t think I could ever give up the Internet; she thinks I’m addicted to Instagram (which is probably true…!). While that is kind of bad, I love how it has brought me into contact with so many people I wouldn’t have had a chance to ‘meet’ otherwise, like you and Shari!
Ohhh, I totally had a chance to get a signed first edition of Assassin’s Apprentice when I met Robin Hobb, but I didn’t want to get too many books signed, so I stuck with Royal Assassin and the hardback of Assassin’s Fate that had just been released! In any case, a month isn’t a long time, so I’d gladly suffer through lack of Internet for Robin. 😉
I think I’d be too nervous to chat to an author on a long plane ride, haha. Even just having to chat with my friend or sister can be too much sometimes. 😛
Sometimes I think I’d love a Realm of the Elderlings adaptation, but then I think about everything that could go wrong and then I don’t think it’s a good idea, ahahaha. Like, I don’t think Nighteyes could be done well on screen. I’d be so interested to see who they’d cast in the various roles though. Looking up fan casts is so fascinating! Anyway, sorry for getting all sidetracked by Robin Hobb, oops. I LOVE the fan art covers for the Tortall books that you shared! If only they were the actual covers!
I would never read a new book again… So, rereads are OK? I’d be fine with that if so. 😉 It’s so cliché but I’d love to attend Hogwarts, so I’ll say Harry Potter for this one. All the magic and the fascinating subjects = awesome! But of course this is only if there are no bad people like Voldemort around, haha.
I don’t think I’ve searched for anything embarrassing either, haha. But I also have no idea what author I’d want to be best friends with! I don’t think I follow that many all that well, to be honest. How interesting that Marie Lu might live near you though. It must be weird to think you might have bumped into her in the past!
You and Sakina both make me want to try Graceling again! I ended up DNFing it when I was a teen – I think part of the problem was that I accidentally borrowed a large-print edition and I unfortunately found the size of the text quite distracting.
Haha I feel the same way about instagram! But at least this question wasn’t about giving it up forever – I don’t think I could ever do that.
There must be another chance for you to meet Robin Hobb! I always feel bad bringing too many books to signings, especially since the ones I’ve been to lately have been very popular authors.
Yes that’s exactly how I feel about adaptations! I feel like some things just don’t come across that well. You’re right, I don’t think they could do Nighteyes justice! Hahah oo yes I do love doing fancasts, those are a lot of fun.
Haha omg wait I didn’t even THINK of rereads. DUH. Hogwarts is a great choice no matter how cliche haha.
Oh I don’t think I’ve ever tried to read a large-print edition! But I can imagine it would be pretty distracting.
How else would I be able to talk to everyone?! I feel sad just at the thought of not being able to do that every day. 🙁
Ah, perhaps. She’s actually going to be in Dublin for WorldCon, but I think it’s kind of expensive to go, and probably all sold out now anyway…
Even though CGI is amazing these days, I still find it doesn’t work that well all the time. (Looking back at old CGI is pretty funny though, ahaha. Like, it’s always been a really cool thing, but things have improved so much!).
Sneaky loophole in that question, muahaha. 😉