The Birthday Book Tag (2022 edition)

Yes, it is in fact my birthday! Happy birthday me! I’ve decided to make a tradition of doing this tag each year, to see how my answers change. This tag is from Antonia @ Always Books, and you can find my 2021 edition (here) and my 2020 edition (here).

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

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Are murder mystery stories cliché? If they are, then I’d choose Fugitive Telemetry, the latest Murderbot Diaries novella. Murderbot needs to solve a murder in this one, and it’s a pretty classic storyline. But I just love these books. Murderbot is such a great character, and Martha Wells infuses the stories with so much heart and humor in a short page span.

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

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Oh this one is pretty easy. You all know how much I love Middlegame, right? Like, I wrote this whole gushing review of it. It totally blew my mind. It also prompted me to read more of Seanan McGuire, and she became one of my favorite authors. Which I talk about here. Anyway the point is, she announced that she was doing a SEQUEL!!! To Middlegame!! I lost my fucking mind at the news. I have been absolutely shaking with excitement ever since the announcement happened. It’s called Seasonal Fears, and it comes out May 3rd. TorDotCom sent me an ARC and I swear I almost cried when I opened it. I’m gonna reread Middlegame soon and then dive in to Seasonal Fears! AND LOOK HOW PERFECT THESE COVERS ARE!!!! I’M IN LOVE!

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

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

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I’m gonna go with two picks for this one. Iron Widow, which was SUPER hyped on all social media channels, and A Memory Called Empire, which was hyped and also won a Hugo award. Two sci-fi books, one YA and one adult. I just love sci-fi!! Iron Widow was full of the rage of women, queer characters, polyamory, mecha suits akin to Pacific Rim, Chinese-inspired world, and just. It was such a blast – and you can read my review for it here!

A Memory Called Empire is an ENTIRELY different kind of sci-fi. It’s all political scheming and extremely intricate world building. Though it also has queer characters! It took me a while to read because it’s quite dense, but oh man was it worth it. I was blown away by the little details that the author built in. The nuances of language!!! Stunning. Seriously if you’re into political and character driven books, you must read this.

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

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Becky Chambers really knows how to write the most comforting sci-fi out there. Cozy, soft sci-fi! Her most recent novella, A Psalm for the Wild-Built, is full of beautiful lines and a beautiful message in general. I’ll highlight some quotes for you, and I definitely recommend you go read it.

You keep asking why your work is not enough, and I don’t know how to answer that, because it is enough to exist in the world and marvel at it. You don’t need to justify that, or earn it. You are allowed to just live.

Becky Chambers, A Psalm for the Wild-Built

We don’t have to fall into the same category to be of equal value.

Becky Chambers, A Psalm for the Wild-Built

Do you not find consciousness alone to be the most exhilarating thing? Here we are, in this incomprehensibly large universe, on this one tiny moon around this one incidental planet, and in all the time this entire scenario has existed, every component has been recycled over and over and over again into infinitely incredible configurations, and sometimes, those configurations are special enough to be able to see the world around them. You and I—we’re just atoms that arranged themselves the right way, and we can understand that about ourselves. Is that not amazing?

Becky Chambers, A Psalm for the Wild-Built

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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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Maybe this seems grim, but I think that 1984 deserves a reread in this day and age. It was pretty impactful when I read it in high school, but that was *coughtoomanycough* years ago now. I think that I would have a much better perspective reading it now, and I would pick up on a lot of things that I probably missed as a teen.

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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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Can I say all of them? Haha. I’ve been going through a pretty rough patch in my life lately. Books have always been there for me, and everything I’ve been reading helps me. But I guess if I had to pick ONE…. then I would choose The Crystal Kingdom. It’s the fourth book in a graphic novel series based on my favorite podcast, which is called The Adventure Zone. I just love this story so much.