The Birthday Book Tag (2021 edition)

IT’S MY BIRTHDAYYYYY!!! This tag is from Antonia @ Always Books, and I actually did it last year on my birthday (find it here). I figured, why not do it again and see how my answers differ this year! So let’s get started!

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1) Birthday Cake (A book with a plot that seems cliché but you adore it anyway)

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Okay hmmm I guess I’ll say These Violent Delights. At the very basic level, it’s a Romeo and Juliet retelling – so cliché right? No. No it is not. It’s set in Shanghai and it’s about rival gangs and just. Idk it’s amazing and everyone needs to read it. It’s one of my favorite young adult novels for sure. I’ve been reading more adult books lately, but these new YA books (I’ll mention a few more in later questions) are really drawing me back.

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2) Party Guests (Your most anticipated book release for this year)

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Oh goodness, I’m so bad at keeping track of releases. Like, I know there are tons that I’m excited for but I just don’t write them down anywhere haha. But here are a few:

• Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells (April 27th)
• The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo (June 1st)
• A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (July 13th)
• The Crystal Kingdom by the McElroy family and Carey Pietsch (July 13th)
• Redemptor by Jordan Ifueko (August 17th)
• When Sorrows Come by Seanan McGuire (September 14th)

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3) Birthday Presents (A book that surprised you with how much you loved it)

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This was tough since I feel like nowadays I mainly pick up books that I’m super excited about, so I’m not really surprised when I love them haha. BUT!! Last year I did read two poetry collections by Nikita Gill (Fierce Fairytales and Great Goddesses). I don’t read much poetry at all, and was definitely surprised just how much I loved both of these. Mythology and folktales are some of my favorite things, and Nikita Gill just has some really beautiful poetry. I highly recommend both collections!!!

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4) “Happy Birthday” Song (A book that certainly deserved all the hype it got)

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Legendborn and Raybearer!!!! Legendborn is a modern day Arthurian retelling centering a Black girl as the main protagonist. It is AMAZING. I could have easily used this one for the previous question haha. I wrote a review for it here that you can read if you want. BUT YEAH GO GET IT. And!! While you’re out buying that one you gotta get Raybearer too. It is a West-African inspired fantasy debut, and whew. It’s super magical and amazing and I CAN’T WAIT FOR THE SEQUEL.

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5) Happy Music (A book with some very beautiful and truly memorable quotes)

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I’ve read a ton of books with amazing prose lately, but I’m gonna give this one to This is How You Lose the Time War. This is a f/f enemies to lovers novella told partially in letters, about two people on opposing sides of a time war. I mean, that premise alone right? But get a load of these quotes!

Books are letters in bottles, cast into the waves of time, from one person trying to save the world to another.

Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, This is How You Lose the Time War

There’s a kind of time travel in letters, isn’t there? I imagine you laughing at my small joke, I imagine you groaning; I imagine you throwing my words away. Do I have you still? Do I address empty air and the flies that will eat this carcass? You could leave me for five years, you could return never—and I have to write the rest of this not knowing.

Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, This is How You Lose the Time War

Hunger, Red—to sate a hunger or to stoke it, to feel hunger as a furnace, to trace its edges like teeth—is this a thing you, singly, know? Have you ever had a hunger that whetted itself on what you fed it, sharpened so keen and bright that it might split you open, break a new thing out? Sometimes I think that’s what I have instead of friends.

Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, This is How You Lose the Time War

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6) Getting Older (A book that you read a long time ago, but you think you would appreciate more if you read it as a more mature reader)

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I mentioned this in last year’s post, but I think a lot of the books that we (in the US) are required to read in high school are much better suited for older readers. You have a lot more life experience to appreciate and understand the nuances of these books. So I think for this question, I’ll go with The Bluest Eye. And actually just anything else by Toni Morrison (I’ve also read Beloved by her a long time ago).

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7) Sweet Birthday Memories (A book that kept you incredibly happy during a sad or demanding period of your life)

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A Killing Frost, and more specifically the whole October Daye series. I wrote a post in December 2019 (here) about how much I love Seanan McGuire, and this was before I even caught up with the October Daye series. This is probably like, one of my top 2 or 3 favorite series of all time. The world is amazing, the characters are wonderful, and the DEPTH of the story!!! With each book my mind is blown even more. This series has been such an escape, and such a comfort for me during this wild and crazy pandemic time. I am so grateful to Seanan for creating this this series.

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Thanks for celebrating my birthday with me by listening to me push my favorite books on you all hahaha. Have you read anything I mentioned here? I would love to hear any of you share your answers to these questions!!