Happy Friday!
And happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Today, I’m breaking my month-long, unintended hiatus (update post coming Sunday) with a a fun book tag. This one was co-created by Merie Shen of Imperial Scribis, and I found it on Quote, Unquote, run by the lovely Liesl Brunner. Thanks for the open tag!
The Rules
– thank the person who tagged you
– use the tag graphic above (optional)
– name a book for each of the following 12 categories
– tag as many people as you would like
And now for the categories!
“Cinderella,” a book that changed your life
Heaven by Randy Alcorn. Like the featured review on the cover says, besides the Bible, I think this book is at least one of the ones that has changed my spiritual life the most. Obviously we can’t know exactly how Heaven will be until we’re there, but the study, wisdom, and explained Scriptures in this book have been very helpful and encouraging to me. I look forward to Heaven even more, and can’t wait to see all that God has planned!
“Sleeping Beauty,” a book that took you forever to finish
The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis. These are phenomenally written, so they didn’t take forever to finish due to lack of quality, but simply because they’re so deep! I can see why Lewis said writing this book made him feel unclean, as the spiritual weight and truths embedded in the letters are so honest and raw. I think it’s an almost necessary read for any Christian, to get a vivid idea of what we’re battling on a day to day basis.
“A Thousand and One Nights,” a book you couldn’t stop
reading
Fairest by Gail Carson Levine. It always surprises me how hard this book is to put down. I love the original fairy tale, and all the depth and surprising plot twists there are for a middle-grade story. The characters have stuck with me ever since first reading it in middle school years ago, and so have the themes of love, courage, and true beauty.
“Little Red Riding Hood,” a book you recently read in an unfamiliar genre
The Nine Lessons by Kevin Alan Milne. This is a contemporary, very introspective book with heavy focus on golf, romance, and a shaky relationship between estranged father and son. I don’t typically read books with much of any of those, so it was a new experience! Though it was a bit slow at times, and still not quite my style, I did end up enjoying it, thanks to the thoughtful writing, solid themes, and hopeful ending.
“The Wild Swans,” a book with your favorite sibling relationships
The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis (again). What kind of Christian homeschooler would I be if these books didn’t make the list, haha? I’ve always enjoyed the relationships that the Pevensie siblings have with each other. They’re not always perfect, but they’re real – good or bad. And combining that with the deep spiritual aspects of the story, and their characters, makes it even better. Oh, and even if he’s not a sibling, Eustace is an honorary mention here.
“Snow White,” a book filled with beautiful prose
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. There may come a day when I stop gushing about how beautiful the prose is in this book . . . but today is not that day. It’s a fantastic, engaging, and unique story, and I could gush about a lot of its elements, but the prose is the top thing that continues to stick out to me. In addition to being flowing and beautiful, it reminded me of my own writing style – just ten times better. So not only is it a great book, but it’s an inspiration for my own writing as well! I definitely recommend reading it.
“Rapunzel,” a book that you procrastinated on reading after buying
Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. Technically, I didn’t procrastinate reading it after my family purchased it, but I procrastinated buying it myself for a long time, due to the subject matter. Despite my hesitations though, it was very engaging and powerful book. Definitely not for young readers, but the topics were handled tactfully, and used to convey some deep spiritual themes. I’m glad I finally did read it.
(And no, I haven’t seen the movie, so I can’t speak on that at all.)
“The Little Mermaid,” a book that took you on a magical journey
Wishtress by Nadine Brandes. Nadine is one of my favorite authors, and I have yet to find a book of hers that I didn’t enjoy. This one might be my very favorite though! It very literally takes the reader on a magical journey, with intriguing elemental-esque magic, relatable and nuanced characters, an expansive fantasy world, crazy plot twists, and beautiful themes. If that sounds at all like your kind of book, I encourage you to read it!
“The Frog Prince,” a book that you’d like to turn into a frog because you hated it so much
The River at Night by Erica Ferencik. This was a random thrift store find and I made the rookie mistake of only judging it by the intriguing cover and blurb. I ended up skimming through a lot of this one. The survival plot was decent, but hard to enjoy around the constant sprinkling of expletives and other mature content. I started marking Sharpie over all the swears, and gave up about one chapter in. It isn’t one I recommend or will reread.
“Peter Pan,” a book that reminds you of your childhood
Jedi Apprentice: The Rising Force by Dave Wolterton (and the rest of the series by Jude Watson). My brother and I read this entire series from the library when I was much younger, and loved it. In fact, it was a huge influence in my own writing and interest in Star Wars stories. I don’t remember the quality of the writing at this point, but I just remember being completely sucked into each book, and vividly “seeing” and experiencing everything.
“The Goose Girl,” a book you had low expectations for but ended up loving
Beyond the Bright Sea by Lauren Wolk. This is another one I picked up thanks to the gorgeous cover. As sad as it is, nowadays I’m always slightly wary of award-winning mainstream books, but this pleasantly surprised me! It was such a sweet, poignant, and bittersweet middle grade story with real and likable characters, and timeless themes. I plan to reread this, and have recommended it often.
“Hansel and Gretel,” a book that made you hungry
Hunger by Jill Williamson. I don’t have much to say in my defense for this one, but I couldn’t resist, haha. I was . . . hungry for the story resolution? After reading it for hours? Yeah, we’ll go with those.
The Tags
As I’ve done the past few blog tags, I’m going to leave this one open! So if you’re reading this and want to hop in, please do – either in the comments, or on your own blog. I’d love to learn about some of your favorite books!
Thank you for joining me today, and thank you again for the open tag, Liesl! Until Sunday!
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I adore Wishtress by Nadine Brandes!!! It’s also probably my favorite book by her! XD
Hey, Wishtress buddies!! xD It’s such a fantastic story!
Thank you for doing this tag! I loved your answers. The Screwtape Letters was AWESOME (it took me quite a while to finish it too!), and of course who could forget the wonderful nostalgic Pevensie sibling dynamics. Some of these books sound really interesting; I gotta look more into them!
Aw, I’m so glad you enjoyed reading this! It was a lot of fun to do 🙂 If you end up reading any new books from here, I’d love to know what you thought!
I read Beyond the Bright Sea by your recommendation and even though I was skeptical, I really enjoyed it too. 🙂 It’s a sweet book. So, thank you for recommending it to me. <3
Oh, I’m so glad to hear that you enjoyed it too! <3 It really is such a cute, quaint story. Thank you for letting me know what you thought :)
I think I am going to try to get to this one one of these days!
I look forward to reading your answers! 🙂
This looks really fun! I’d love to do this, if you don’t mind (:
Not at all! I’d love to read your answers 🙂
Sweet! I will let you know if I do it! <3
Wonderful, thank you! <3