Time and Place Book Tag

I stumbled upon this tag online a little while ago and thought it was one of the most interesting and unique book tags i’ve found. It was created by Jen Campbell (i’ll link her video HERE) and the idea is that you find ten books that you associate with a time and place and talk about them. I love this idea, it’s so often associated with music and never really is translated in to books, so keep reading for my ten books that i associate with a time and place.

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green
I very much associate this book with Christmas 2012. I received TFIOS as a Christmas present that year, and automatically started reading it. I especially remember staying at my then girlfriend’s house one night between Christmas and New Year, making up and excuse to leave early and getting in to bed with this book when i got home. It was cold and frosty outside and felt like the perfect weather to be reading about Hazel and Gus’ adventures in Amsterdam. I will now forever think of Christmas when i think of this book.

Flawed by Cecelia Ahern
At the end of my time at University, a cafe popped up in the town centre. Your bog standard tea room but i absolutely loved it. It was the most lovely place to sit and read or spend a few hours with friends. It was 9am in April 2016 and i’d handed in my final written assignment for University, i had work at 10am, how did i treat myself? Of course i took my book and ordered myself a hot chocolate and toast and sat reading for an hour in this tea room. I remember reading Flawed at the time, feeling so free, like so much weight had been lifted off me and i was so close to enjoying my time. It’s one of my most memorable books because of that, i’ll never forget it was the book that i was reading as Uni ended.

Harry Potter and The Goblet Of Fire by J.K. Rowling
This memory is very recent, much more recent then you’d imagine a Harry Potter association to be. Last year when i was on my way to work, i took to re-reading Harry Potter to try and re-read the whole series before The Cursed Child (surprise surprise, didn’t happen). A few stops in to my tram journey, a lady got on, sitting beside me with a baby in a pram. We smiled at each other and that was the end of our pleasantries and i continued reading. Once we were getting close to the final stop and i started to put my book away, she turned to me and said ‘first time or re-reading?’ This lead to a very animated exchange about Harry Potter, i told her about The Cursed Child and we discussed how many times she’d re-read the books to date. Whenever i pick up The Goblet Of Fire i always think of hot summer days on a tram and that very wonderful exchange with a fellow Harry Potter fan.

Me Before You by JoJo Moyes
I read Me Before You in the summer of 2016 so i could see the movie right afterwards. There was one particularly day in which it was quite hot, so i gathered together a blanket, made myself lunch and put it in a box, and took myself to the local park. I lay my blanket out on the grass, ate my lunch and read my book in that spot for about four hours. It was wonderful weather and i always remember thinking in that moment that my life was great, i was happy, i was reading under the sun with snacks and i couldn’t have been happier. So Me Before You will always remind me of the smell of grass and hot weather and the sound of children on a playground.

A Street Cat Named Bob by James Bowen
This is an odd one for me, because this book reminds me more of a feeling. When i’m stressed, worked up or whatever, my favourite thing is to have family days at home. This means that all my family are in the house, probably doing their own thing, but it’s comforting to me. I’d returned home from Uni for a weekend (after a particularly stressful week) and requested we have a day to just sit in the house. On this day, my parents were watching TV and my dad handed me a copy of A Street Cat Named Bob because he’d just read it and thought i’d like it. I spent the whole day curled up with a blanket on a chair in the living room and read the book cover to cover. I felt so content after that, that this book will always remind me of that feeling of content and happiness.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
It was almost six years ago now that i started reading The Hunger Games, and i managed to ruin the first book in the series’ front cover. ‘How?’ you may ask. Well, I had planned a sleepover with one of my close friends, and we met in the town centre to go and see The Hunger Games for the second time with some other friends. We ended up stood out in the rain for a considerable amount of time, and my book was at the top of my very cloth and very not water-proof bag. So now whenever i see that water soaked cover, i’m reminded of that day with my friends.

The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
I feel like a lot of my answers for these are something to do with summer or a similar theme, however i remember a lot of my time and place books from moments when i’m happy. The Evolution of Mara Dyer is definitely one of those times. At University, i was always very content on a weekend when i knew my flatmates were wandering around the flat, things were going on but i could take myself away from that. One Spring Sunday morning in my second year, i took myself off to my room, having finished all my assignments for the most part and decided to have a day of reading. I’d been so excited to continue with the Mara Dyer trilogy, and at this perfect moment, the sun was shining so warm on my comfy bed, i had blankets, tea, and i sat and curled up for hours reading that book.

Rebel Of The Sands by Alwyn Hamilton 
When we were travelling to YALC in the Summer of 2016, i frantically tried to finish this book on the train. Surrounded by drunk party go-ers coming home from a night out, in a haze of tiredness and constantly feeling dizzy from lack of sleep, i gave up and accepted i would have to meet the lady herself whilst only half way through the story. Every time i look at the book on my shelf a little wave of dizziness hits me and i feel tired.

The Next Together by Lauren James
I didn’t like this book, that’s mainly what i remember of it. But also it has some important memories for me about joining the big bad world. When i finished University and started my first ‘proper full time in the big wide world’ job, this was the book i was reading. I remember reading it on the bus to work on my first day, on my breaks, in the town centre whilst i waited for work and desperately trying to read pages in street light late at night when i finished. I will always associate this YA novel with the job i was in and those late nights, falling asleep on the bus as i was reading.

My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick
In 2015 when my parents went away for a few nights, i had my best friend stay with me. I was reading My Life Next Door at the time, and i remember waiting for her to come, curled up on the sofa with the book and on her second night here, me curled up in my parents bed as i desperately tried to finish it by the lamp at 2am. We had an absolutely incredible weekend of sleeping, eating, baking and watching eleven (!) Disney movies. I always remember that weekend as one of my favourites with my best pal, and the thought of My Life Next Door will always make me remember the amount of fun i had.

If you liked this tag, i’ve tagged you to do it! I’d love to read more about books that have a meaning of a time and place for everyone. I really liked doing this tag and reminding myself of the nice memories i have associated with stories.

Happy reading