Recently I was tagged by the lovely Raina Nightingale (entralledbylove.wordpress.com) to complete the Knitting Tag.
At first I was confused, because I don’t knit. But then I realized, it’s actually a tag about books! I love books, so I thought I’d join in the fun.
This tag was originally created by Cara (Wilde Book Garden) on her YouTube channel, so be sure to check out her video if you have a moment!
Let’s jump in and start talking about some books!
Cast On
The first section you check out in a bookstore.
Fantasy, 100%. I love fantasy so you’ll always find me in that section first.
Once I look through the fantasy books, I might head over to the graphic novels and manga section, and then the rest of the fiction.
Knit
A super hyped book that completely delivered for you.
In the last two years, I’ve found several books and series that totally lived up to the hype. One series like this is the Shades of Magic trilogy by V. E. Schwab.
The first book in this trilogy, “A Darker Shade of Magic,” took me a while to get into. But the second book was a whirlwind, and I just inhaled the third book.
And the best part? V.E. Schwab is writing a fourth book and turning this trilogy into a series!! I believe book 4 (The Fragile Threads of Power) is scheduled to come out in September of 2023. I’m very excited.
Purl
A character who deserves more love.
One character who I don’t see getting nearly enough attention is Bod (Nobody Owens) from “The Graveyard Book” by Neil Gaiman.
I’m reading this book right now, and it’s a really intriguing story. It’s a retelling of The Jungle Book, but instead of the jungle, it’s a graveyard, and instead of animals, it’s ghosts.
Nobody (who goes by Bod) is a very thoughtful and quiet character who spends his whole childhood hidden in a cemetery. He’s just a sweet boy who deserves more love.
Chart
A book that you’ve wanted to read for a while.
“Our Missing Hearts” by Celeste Ng.
I loved Celeste’s first two books, so I got a copy of her newest release, and now it’s been sitting on my shelf for a few months.
I’m excited to read it, but I keep putting it off to read new books that I just bought. Oh well. Maybe one of these days I’ll finally pick it up.
Double Pointed Needles
A book series you can read out of order, AND a book series you shouldn’t read out of order.
Who in the world reads a book series out of order? I could never. Honestly that would drive me crazy.
Having said that, I did read a duology out of order one time, but I only got about halfway through the first book before I realized, “you know, nothing makes sense here.” Then I figured out that I had skipped book one, and went back to read them in order.
Cables
A book that other people hated, but you loved.
This one’s tricky, because I had a bookstagram account for about a year, and if you’re on bookstagram long enough, you can always find a bad review for any book.
I feel like I always know someone who didn’t like a certain book or book series, but one that stands out to me is “Little Fires Everywhere” by Celeste Ng.
A couple of my Instagram friends did not like this book. They said it was slow and boring and made no sense.
However, I loved this book. It’s a bit like watching a documentary, in a good way. You get to really learn about the characters and what makes them tick.
Also, it’s one of the very few books that explores some politically charged subjects, without picking a side. Highly recommend this book, just so you can see how she writes about the themes in this story.
Skein
A trope you can’t stand.
Enemies to lovers is overrated.
Since the publishing companies found out that we like enemies to lovers, they’re starting to call everything enemies to lovers. And it’s just not right.
Enemies to lovers means two characters who hate each other, but over the course of the story, they slowly start to realize that maybe they don’t hate each other anymore. THEN they fall in love.
Think Darcy and Elizabeth from Pride and Prejudice.
Enemies to lovers is NOT:
- A woman who falls in love with a toxic, verbally abusive, emotionally distant man.
- Two people that hate each other, hook up, and still hate each other the next day.
- Unrequited love that’s shown as romantic (“she hates me, but I can change her mind” when in reality, she’s just not interested).
- Any relationship with abuse of any kind.
I don’t hate an actual enemies to lovers story, but I cannot STAND all of these fake enemies to lovers tropes that are just romanticizing toxic relationships.
They are enemies to lovers. Not enemies who bang occasionally. The “enemies” part is supposed to stop once they become lovers.
Gauge Switch
An author who’s always a good fit for you.
V.E. Schwab is my go-to author at the moment. I’d like to find more authors who have a lot of books that I enjoy, but I’m a pretty picky reader, so that’s tough to find.
Stitch Marker
A book scene that’s stuck with you. (No spoilers.)
In “The Poppy War” by R.F. Kuang, there’s a scene where Rin goes to the Phoenix (goddess of fire and destruction) and begs for her powers.
The Phoenix is driven by rage and destruction, and Rin is grieving the death of another major character, so when they join forces, the fire and destruction is unparalleled. In her fury, Rin burns an entire island to the ground.
I love this trilogy because it’s so intriguing to watch a main character who is fueled by revenge. It’s so refreshing to see a main character who lets her rage consume her (sometimes literally).
- I’m still reading this trilogy, and I’ve enjoyed it for the most part. However, be careful reading this one if you’re sensitive to violence and gore. This trilogy is not for everyone!
Yarn Weight
Other people who share your taste in books.
… Nobody. At least, not that I know of. But that’s okay, because I’m giving myself the freedom to find out what I like, apart from what other people think I should like.
Novelty Yarn
A book that sounded great, but wasn’t.
I have two.
First is “Malice” by Heather Walter.
The whole thing was full of typos and grammar errors, the story was sloppy, and it was badly edited. It felt like I was reading a self-published eBook that was never proofread. It wasn’t worth my $17.
Another book that I didn’t like is “The Night Country” by Melissa Albert.
Now, I loved the first book in this series, “The Hazel Wood.” I highly recommend it.
But the second book was not my favorite at all. It kept cutting away to Finch’s point of view, which felt unnecessary. The ending felt rushed as well. I got frustrated and stopped reading the series.
However, I recently bought the next book in the series, so hopefully I can get back into it. I loved “The Hazel Wood,” and I don’t want to give up on the whole series.
Scarf
A book to get someone into a genre.
To get into fantasy, I would recommend “The Princess Bride” by William Goldman.
How could I write a post full of book recommendations and not mention The Princess Bride?
If you haven’t read the book yet, you need to go out and find a copy of it right now. If you liked the movie, you’ll love the book, because William Goldman wrote both the book and the screenplay. The book is basically the same as the movie, with some extra backstory and added content.
To get into speculative horror, I recommend “Mexican Gothic” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
This book is weird and spooky and creepy, and at first, I almost didn’t finish it. But when I picked it back up, the plot suddenly got intense and I couldn’t put it down. Now, it’s been over a year and I can’t stop thinking about this book.
- Of course, this book isn’t typical horror. It’s more spooky than scary. But if you plan on reading this one, be careful of the trigger warnings, since this book is still considered horror and has a couple of startling scenes.
Socks
An underrated author who deserves more hype.
Again, not too sure about this one. I don’t really follow a lot of unknown authors.
I’d love to start reading more indie/self published books in the future, but right now, it’s enough of a struggle to read the books by authors I already know.
Cast-Off
A weirdly specific thing you love in a book.
Mind control.
Any book with mind control, I am in.
You might have noticed by my previous blog posts, I’m a bit obsessed with this trope, so any books that contain a character who is mind controlled, I will like it.
The last book I remember reading with this trope is the Shades of Magic trilogy by V.E. Schwab (which I mentioned earlier in this post).
Some other books with similar tropes include “The Maze Runner” by James Dashner, “Vicious” by V.E. Schwab, and “Ella Enchanted” by Gail Carson Levine. I recommend all of these books!
Crafting Party
Tag other people!
This is an open tag, so I’m inviting anyone to join if you want to! Specifically, I’m tagging:
Emily Elizabeth Teixeira (https://emilyteixeiracom.wordpress.com/)
The Orang-utan Librarian (https://theorangutanlibrarian.wordpress.com/)
Teen Writer’s Nook (https://www.teenwritersnook.com/)
And YOU, if you want to join in!
Have you read any of these books? Which ones sound interesting to you? Let me know in the comments!
Thanks so much for reading, and I’ll see you guys next time!
It was so fun to read your answers! It seems we are similar in a few ways — I did not know that about “Enemies to Lovers” though! I guess because I low-key avoid romance (I still read books with romance in them, but it’s more likely to push me away than attract me), and I also read rather little traditional books: it is harder for me to find new traditional authors or books I like than indie! But when I think of “Enemies to Lovers” I think of these two books I read, where the main characters come from different backgrounds that cause them to consider each other enemies, but there’s some attraction between them, that helps them to either break out of the chains their position in life has bound with them, or to see past their prejudices.
Thanks for the comment! Yeah it is a pet peeve of mine, but I haven’t found too many people who feel the same way. I’m glad you found some books with a well-written enemies to lovers trope!
Oh my gosh this tag seems so fun (especially because I have recently been learning knitting lol)! I graduate college in a few weeks (internal screaming), so I’ll be busy for a while, but as soon as I’m free I can’t wait to participate!
I do enjoy well-written enemies to lovers (Pride and Prejudice as you mentioned, or Nina and Matthias from Six of Crows), but I agree that the market currently seems to be saturated with books that claim to be enemies to lovers for the sake of sales, and books that romanticize toxic relationships in general, which is kind of frustrating.
Thanks for the comment!! 😀 Whenever you get a chance to join the tag, let me know and I’d love to see your answers!