I saw this post on Rachel’s blog, and I’ve been meaning to take a go!

THE RULES:

• Randomly choose 3 books
• For each group, decide which book to burn, which one to rewrite, and which to reread (like Marry, Boff, Kill).
• Repeat until you completed three rounds (or six) (or however many you want to do).

REREAD: A Chalice of Wind.  While Balefire is not my favorite of Cate Tiernan’s works (I think I got bored halfway through the second book), I recall enjoying it somewhat. It also had some interesting plot points about witchcraft in New Orleans!

REWRITE: Poison’s Kiss was a book with such enormous potential! It’s about a young girl trained to be a poison maiden – or a “Visha Kanya” as they were called in Ancient India.  The Visha Kanya allegedly had blood and bodily fluids that was poison to others, but in Poison’s Kiss the protagonist (Lord, I can’t even remember her name!) just has to kiss someone in order to kill them. There’s a boring and predictable romance and the protagonist herself is just so boring. This is the sort of book I’d rewrite as an adult novel, because it really needs more violence and sex to make it interesting.

BURN: Sharp Objects. Sorry, Gillian Flynn. I did actually like this book, but alas.

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REREAD: Kissing the Witch, for sure! I read this book such a long time ago that I don’t remember any of the stories. I think I would appreciate it more now.

REWRITE: The Sea of Monsters, I guess? I loved the Percy Jackson series, but I really hated the portrayal of Hades and Persephone, so I’d rewrite it and change that.

BURN: Neverwhere. I’m not a fan of Neil Gaiman, though I do think this book was one of his more palatable works.

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REREAD: The Final Empire.  I don’t know if I’ll ever re-read this entire series one day, but I really want to. I remember upon finishing it being absolutely floored by the genius of the plot. Everything came together so brilliantly in the end.

REWRITE: Rebecca. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Rebecca, but I could definitely see myself writing a different version of it. The main plotline is pretty straightforward, but with different characters and different settings the story itself could radically change.  I could set it in Cairo or something and have some fun with it.

BURN: The Mysterious Benedict Society. I had to read this for a Children’s Literature class in college and I didn’t like it. It was touted as “the next Harry Potter” or something, but it is…not. It’s really boring and basic.

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REREAD: Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth is always a treat.

REWRITE: The Blind Assassin. I kind of want to re-read this too because I’ve forgotten a lot of it (I read this like…six years ago?), but I remember I really loved the fantasy aspects of it. The realistic aspects of it were fine, but I wasn’t as into them. I would rewrite it to be entirely fantasy, probably.

BURN: Living Dolls. There was nothing particularly wrong with this book, but it’s just so basic. If you’re at all familiar with advanced feminist theory, this book isn’t going to tell you anything you don’t already know.

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REREAD: Dreams of Shreds and Tatters. This book is so good and so creepy. It’s inspired by the tale of the Yellow King, which is a vaguely Lovecraftian tale that was actually written before Lovecraft and served as his inspiration (yes, I know calling it Lovecraftian is anachronistic and makes no sense).

REWRITE: The Penelopiad. I like this book a lot, but it’s not particularly great at its representation of women, oddly enough! I’d definitely rewrite it and portray the women in more complex and humanizing ways.

BURN: The Kingdom of Gods.  This is the only thing I’ve read by Jemisin that I did not like. It just feels so messy, going from subplot to subplot without anything really connecting them. And the main character was super annoying.

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REREAD: The Diviners, for sure. Y’all, it was such a good book. I don’t even remember anything but little snippets of it, but it was creepy and funny and thrilling and gave me Jazz Age goodness with a side of Great Awakening conspiracies.  Now that the whole series is out and finished, I’m definitely planning to read the whole thing! Probably some time next year.

REWRITE: Monstress. I love this graphic novel, but if I were to rewrite it, first off, it would be a regular old novel, since I can’t draw to save my life, and second, I’d rewrite it to suit my tastes more. Which means, no talking animals or whatever they are.

BURN: Dreams From the Witch House. This book is a collection of Lovecraftian short stories by women.  It was fine, but unfortunately most of the tales were forgettable. Also, I don’t know why I’m so drawn to Lovecraftian things when I know I get frustrated by weird fiction. It’s always so vague! I hate vague endings!

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This was so fun! I’m not going to tag anyone but do link back to me if you do this!