The Book Courtship Tag

Happy Valentine's Day ^^ Okay, so I'm not actually celebrating it this year or anything but I still thought it would be fun to do something a little special for today's post. So I'm doing the Book Courtship Tag. This tag is really cool in that it's broken into 10 phases to represent an actual courtship.  

This tag was created by YouTuber Leah and you can check out her channel by clicking here. And now, let's start!

Phase 1 - Initial Attraction: A book that you bought because of the cover

My bind-up edition of His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. The books are great but honestly, it was the beautiful cover that gave me the push to actually buy them in this edition.

Phase 2 - First Impressions: A book that you got because of the summary 

After Alice by Gregory Maguire. While I'm a huge fan of Maguire and his books now, back around the time After Alice was first published, I had no idea who he was. What got my attention was the blurb on this particular book which pretty much promised an Alice in Wonderland retelling. And frankly, you don't really need much more to hook me in. 

Phase 3 - Sweet Talk: A book with great writing 

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter. Actually, anything by Angela Carter. This is a collection of adult fairy tale retellings, all with a dark and often violent twist. Her prose is very poetic and often contains different layers of meaning. Her books often carry magical realism elements or whimsical elements spun into hard realism scenarios. Her books are really beautiful and I would highly recommend you check them out.

Phase 4 - First Date: A first book of a series which made you want to pursue the rest of the series

Cinder by Marissa Meyer. It is the first book in the Lunar Chronicles series and is basically a Cinderella retelling set in a futuristic world full or galactic action, androids and really, really good world building. This and all the other books in the series are simply great and you should definitely check them out if you aren't already a fan.

Phase 5 - Late night phone calls: A book that kept you up all night long

Winter by Marissa Meyer, which is the last book in the Lunar Chronicles. As far as series finale go, this book was simply perfection. It was action packed and superbly written. It's the kind of book that keeps you on the edge of your seat and I couldn't help staying up all night to read it.

Phase 6 - Always on my mind: A book that you could not stop thinking about

Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson. This is a very unique Peter Pan retelling with Tiger Lily as the main character and narrated by a very unique version of Tinker Bell. It follows the love story between Tiger Lily and Peter, long before Wendy's arrival at Neverland. It's one of the most poignant YA novels I've ever read and it stuck with me long after I finished it. I highly recommend it. See the quote in the picture below? Gives me the feels every time *sigh*

Phase 7 - Getting Physical: A book in which you love the way it feels

I'm going with my copy of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall in the Penguin English Libary edition. Not only does the cover had a nice, smooth texture, but the inside, the pages are bound in such a way that they get crinkly when you turn them. I love it when books have crinkly pages.

Phase 8 - Meeting the Parents: A book in which you would recommend to your friends and family

A Haruki Murakami book, especially Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his years of pilgrimage. All of the Murakami books I read so far were great but I feel Colorless Tsukuru is a good place to start when you've never read his books before. It's one of the least weird of his books but at the same time, it still carries the unique and beautiful writing that is characteristic of his books.

Phase 9 - Thinking about the future: A book or series that you know you'll re-read many times in the future 

I'll definitely re-read The Lunar Chronicles and the Harry Potter books again and again in the future. Can you see how worn out my Harry Potter books are? That's the sign of a well beloved book right there. And if you were wondering, those Harry Potter books are in French, which is actually my main language. I also want to re-read Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus, both by Rick Riordan, at some point. And of course, I absolutely need to re-read Tiger Lily.

Phase 10 - Share the love!!! Who would you like to tag?

If you wish to do this tag too, feel free to do so 'cause I'm tagging you, yes, you reading this ^^ If you decide to do, don't forget to link it back to my post and leave me a link to your post so that I can read it.

And if you're celebrating this year, Happy Valentine's Day ^^