10. A book that belongs to a specific time in your mind, caught in amber

I’m a re-reader, so if I like a book I will read it again, so it’s difficult to remember a particular book this way. But I do have reading experiences that feel like that.

Christmas, when I was 11, for example, when I was given Susan Cooper’s the Dark, Is Rising. I vividly remember spending Christmas Day (In Sweden the main day is Christmas Eve) on our old blue sofa, just beside the Christmas tree, reading, and eating candy. It really was the perfect book for Christmas as it takes place during that period, and Will was 11, just like me. It had the perfect balance of intrigue and scariness, but also coziness and family life. Just thinking of the book also almost makes me taste the old-fashioned sugar candies in a pretty box that I had also got that Christmas. I just adored the book, and I remember drawing lots of pictures, especially of the Signs.

I read all the books in the series, but though I quite liked Greenwitch, I never really warmed to the rest. I don't’ know why, really, because the only thing I know I actively disliked was the ending in Silver In the Tree. I really don’t like the trope of children having wonderful magical adventures, and then are made to forget all about them.

All the questions:

1. A book that haunts you

2. A book that was an interesting failure

3. A book where you really wanted to be reading the "shadow" version of the book (as in, there are traces of a different book in the work and you would have much preferred to read that one)

4. A book with a worldbuilding detail that has stuck with you

5. A book where you loved the premise but the execution left you cold

6. A book where you were dubious about the premise but loved the work

7. The most imaginative book you've seen lately

8. A book that feels like it was written just for you

9. A book that reminds you of someone

10. A book that belongs to a specific time in your mind, caught in amber

11. A book that came to you at exactly the right time

12. A book that came to you at the wrong time

13. A book with a premise you'd never seen before quite like that

14. A book balanced on a knife edge

15. A snuffed candle of a book

16. The one you'd take with you while you were being ferried on dark underground rivers

17. The one that taught you something about yourself

18. A book that went after its premise like an explosion

19. A book that started a pilgrimage

20. A frigid ice bath of a book

21. A book written into your psyche

22. A warm blanket of a book

23. A book that made you bleed

24. A book that asked a question you've never had an answer to

25. A book that answered a question you never asked

26. A book you recommend but cannot love

27. A book you love but cannot recommend

28. A book you adore that people are surprised by

29. A book that led you home

30. A book you detest that people are surprised by