I liked this one straight off the bat, so I sent out a curious text message to my friends and family to see what books jumped to mind. And then I got super emotional because my family started telling me cute anecdotes so thanks for warming my heart with this one. Steph created the Six For Sunday challenge, and this quarter’s prompts are here! In order of how quickly people texted me back:

Macbeth, by William Shakespeare

My friend, Sam, got back to me first with Macbeth, which I totally should have predicted would be somewhere on this list. I love Macbeth. It’s my favourite play, and for a long time it was my favourite classic (usurped by The Picture of Dorian Gray, which was usurped in turn by The Count of Monte Cristo). I love everything about Macbeth, a psychological thriller packed with horror, and I’m a complete sucker for Macbeth retellings too (read Foul is Fair by Hannah Capin if this sounds like you, just saying). Macbeth is a totally great pick from Sam, who is fully my guide into horror film and books as I’ve been trying to grow in the last year from a total scaredy cat into a horror connoisseur.

Crooked Kingdom, by Leigh Bardugo

My best friend, Jo, picked Crooked Kingdom. Which, fair. I’m pretty sure that Six of Crows was one of the first books I forced her to read. While we were at uni, I actually palmed my kindle off on her until she read both books, the first of many times I’ve aggressively… encouraged… her to read books that I’ve loved – but in my defence I’m usually right about whether she’ll like them or not, and Crooked Kingdom was a much quicker read than me recently making her read Priory of the Orange Tree. The SoC series can be a little controversial, but it’s definitely one of our favourite series. I need to reread Crooked Kingdom, because Wylan Van Eck? He’s my boy.

The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, by Dr. Seuss

My dad gave me The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, and honestly? That’s not a surprise to me at all. The Grinch is our book. When I was younger, my dad would sit with me and read me the Grinch. I still know a lot of it off by heart, and hearing it will always make me think of my dad. He used to read me it ‘funny’, because I knew all the words, and he’d change lines or read it wrong to make me laugh and tell him off for getting it wrong. I can’t wait for my nieces to get the same experience from their grandad.

Guess How Much I Love You, by Sam McBratney

My mum answered by just sending me a photo of our twenty year old battered copy of this one. Guess How Much I Love You is as sentimental to me as The Grinch. Little Nutbrown Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare were definitely my mum and dad and me, and I love this story still. I’m 22 and I still, every time I see anything with ‘to the moon and back’ on it send pictures of it to my parents. One day I plan to get a tattoo with ‘to the moon and back’ to represent me and my family.

Eragon, by Christopher Paolini

I texted my big sister to ask her if she associated any books with me, with no idea what to expect if she thought of any at all. I wasn’t expecting her to come up with Eragon. When I was younger I was obsessed with Eragon, and the first novel I ever wrote was heavily inspired by the Inheritance Cycle. According to my sister, it was the first book I ever made her read that she loved, and she went on to read the whole series. My sister doesn’t really read much, asking me for book recs very rarely (which puts the pressure on to make sure I pick her the best of the best books) so it was actually really heartwarming to realise that she’d been listening to my reading suggestions even when we were young. It’s also made me want to reread the Inheritance Cycle even more than I already did.

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, by Holly Jackson

Amy, my friend and mystery buddy-reader, gave me A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. Totally justifiable, as it was the first of hopefully many books we read together. I recommended her One of Us is Lying when she wanted to get back into reading more, and she picked up Good Girls too. I had it waiting on my shelf so obviously we should read it together. It was so much fun and has totally sold me on buddy reading. There’s nothing like sending midnight texts over plot twists or definitely scaring customers on the shop floor as we gossip over murder suspects. I’ll always associate this series with Amy too, and I can’t wait for us to get our hands on Good Girl, Bad Blood in April.

See you next week for the next Six For Sunday!