Birthday Book Tag

Tomorrow is my birthday (yay!), so I thought it would be fitting to do a birthday book tag. I found this one at Portobello Book Blog, and it was originally created by Antonia at Always Books.

All covers are linked to Goodreads.

– BIRTHDAY CAKE – 

a book with a plot that seems cliché but you adore it anyway

I love this series, but it has three gigantic tropes I can think of off the top of my head: hidden world, magical school, and chosen one. But Shannon Messenger delivers these tropes in such a new way that they come across as fresh and interesting!

– PARTY GUESTS –

your most anticipated book release this year

My Friends came out in May, so I've added an upcoming one here as well: The Last Tiger, by Julia Riew!

– BIRTHDAY PRESENTS –

a book that surprised you with how much you loved it

I know I keep putting this on tags, but seriously, how could a book about rabbits be so good?!

– THE HAPPY BIRTHDAY SONG –

a book that certainly deserved all the hype it got

I don't know if the Happy Birthday song "deserves" all the "hype" it gets (most people sing it like a dirge, in my experience), and I don't tend to read that many hyped books. The first book I thought of was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, but I wanted something a little newer, so I googled "most hyped books 2025" and the only book on the list that I've read was Three Days in June, by Anne Tyler. So I guess those two would be my picks for the sake of this tag!

– HAPPY MUSIC –

a book with some very beautiful and truly memorable quotes

The Silver Chair is my favorite book from The Chronicles of Narnia, and Puddleglum's speech to the Lady of the Green Kirtle at the end will always be one of my favorite quotes.

"Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things–trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that's a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We're just babies making up a game, if you're right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That's why I'm going to stand by the play world. I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia. So, thanking you kindly for our supper, if these two gentlemen and the young lady are ready, we're leaving your court at once and setting out in the dark to spend our lives looking for Overland. Not that our lives will be very long, I should think; but that's a small loss if the world's as dull a place as you say."

To me, it recalls John 6:68: "Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.'"

– GETTING OLDER –

a book that you read a long time ago, but you think that you would appreciate it more if you read it as a more mature reader

Ooh, this is a good one! My problem is that a lot of the books I would have put here are ones I already have reread, and which I did appreciate more the second time around (e.g. Tolkien's Middle Earth trilogy, which I first read when I was 12 and revisited when I was 18). But I think some of the humor in Northanger Abbey went over my head (I was 13 when I read it), so it's probably one I should reread at some point.

– SWEET BIRTHDAY MEMORIES –

a book that kept you incredibly happy during a sad or demanding period of your life

My mid-teens were tough–not because of anything particularly horrible that was going on in my life, but just because I was going through the obligatory angsty teenager stuff, struggling with disordered eating, etc. Thank goodness I had Diana Wynne Jones to help take the edge off! Howl's Moving Castle is still one of my favorite books, but her Chronicles of Chrestomanci series kept me busy for longer.

And that's the birthday book tag! Do you think the Happy Birthday song deserves all the hype it gets? What is a book you think you'd appreciate more if you reread it now?

Next week I'll be linking up with Top Ten Tuesday!