There I was!
I had plans for a celebratory post for NaNoWriMo.
But then, as I went through my email (which I hadn’t touched during November) I found a tag: the 12 Days of Christmas Book Tag.
And suddenly, I found that I wanted to do it. I mean, it’s Christmas. It’s books. It’s great.
So… um… sorry, celebration. *cough cough*
Note: there are links to each book I mention, so if you want to check them out, you can! But this post is in no way sponsored and I am not getting paid for this.
On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: a partridge in a pear tree.
The partridge stood alone in the pear tree. What is your favourite stand alone?
Oooooooh. I actually had 2 jump to mind for this. But I’m going to have to say Entwined by Heather Dixon.
On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: two turtle doves.
Love is in the air! Who is your one true pairing?
One that came to mind for me are from some books that my family and I have listened to many, many times on audio: Taran and Eilonwy from The Chronicles of Prydain.
On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: three French hens.
In the spirit of threes, what is the best trilogy you have read?
Two came to mind for me, but I haven’t read either for a while. So I’m mostly relying on old memories to attempt to decide which one was the better one (meaning there’s room for error)
But anyway! The one I thought of was Masterminds, by Gordon Korman.
On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: four calling birds.
Since series usually consist of four or more books, what is your favourite series?
After some consideration, I’ve decided to go with Five Kingdoms. It has such incredible world building, and although I haven’t gotten to hear the last book yet (my family has been listening to it on audio book, and it’s not available in North America yet after almost a year) I’ve enjoyed the first four.
On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: five golden rings.
One ring to rule them all! Who is your favourite villain/antagonist?
I personally like a villain with actual personality and internal conflict over their actions, and most of the people coming to me are from movies…
So instead, I’ll go with the best written villain. As in, the one I hated most:
Umbridge from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
On the sixth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: six geese a laying.
Creation is a beautiful thing. What is your favourite world/world-building?
Hands down, The Rithmatist. I found the world fascinating with their chalk. (basic premise if you haven’t read it yet: people in the world called Rithmatists draw things with chalk and they come to life)
On the seventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: seven swans a swimming.
Who needs seven swans when all it takes is one good animal sidekick? Who’s your favourite animal sidekick?
I don’t read many books where the main characters have animal sidekicks; most main characters that I could think of that had one were Disney princesses. 😂
However, I did find one! It’s from the second book in the series Tuesdays at the Castle: Wednesdays in the Tower. The sidekick – as you can probably tell from the cover – is a griffon!
On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: eight maids a milking.
Milk is so 18th century. Which book or series takes beverages/food to a whole new level?
I was thinking about Harry Potter, but I’d already mentioned it, so…
Keeper of the Lost Cites, by Shannon Messenger, includes a lot of foods that sound really good.
On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: nine ladies dancing.
Dancing is just one skill of a Lady! Who is your favourite epic female lead?
I was writing down all the leads I could think of so I could choose from them when I remembered that it was supposed to be a female lead. 😂
However, I would say that Spensa from Skyward by Brandon Sanderson fits the bill. She’s a pretty fierce character, and I like her even better because she has character development. *cheers*
On the tenth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: ten lords a leaping.
How about your favourite leading lad?
Suddenly wishing I hadn’t deleted all those male names on my list.
I do really like Owen from Story Thieves, so he gets the title.
On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: eleven pipers piping.
What is your favourite book or bookish thing with musical influence? (It can be about music, reference music a lot, etc.)
There was only one book containing music that I could think of, and that was 100 Days of Sunlight. If you’ve been around for the past couple of months, you’ll remember how I was part of her book launch tour, and got to review the book (in a way) and interview the authoress herself right here.
On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: twelve drummers drumming.
Drum roll please… what is your favourite read this year?
I actually read a lot of good books this year. There’s no way that I can choose one favourite. 😂
It’s been quite a while since I did a post entirely focused on books, instead of writing. I hope you enjoyed this! 😉
And since the next time I post, it will be December 30… Merry Christmas! 🤶
Have you read any of these books?
What were your favourite reads of the year?
-Julia
RITHMATIST
SKYWARD
ASDFGHJKL YOU’VE READ THEMMMM?!?!?!?! Sanderson’s books are like, my fAvOrite books EVER but it’s rare to find someone around the blogosphere who has read them!!!!! =DDDDD Have you read any other books from Sanderson?
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I actually picked up Skyward because I saw your huge recommendation for it 😛 And how I picked up The Rithmatist is a little bit of a funny story. 😂 I like to save pictures for inspiration for my books on Pinterest, and I happened to see this awesome one of a guy and girl drawing cool shapes with chalk on a board. I went save it, but accidentally clicked through the link instead. It led to a blog post that said that the picture was fan art for their favourite book ever: The Rithmatist, by Brandon Sanderson. The name of the author sounded vaguely familiar, and I went to find it on the library to put it on hold, and finally made the connection. 😂
I haven’t read any of his other books, but my sister, Mary, has read one of them. Of his other works, what would you recommend? 😃
Also, have you read book 2 of Skyward yet? I think it came out pretty recently. *looks around* *whispers conspiratorially* It’s actually in transit for me at the library. I’m so excited to read it!! 😁😁😁
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*gAAAaasPs* YOU DID?! I’M SO GLAADDDDD!!!!! =D My brother gave me Skyward a couple Christmases ago and told me that “Spensa reminds me of you” (which is like, to me, the greatest compliment EvEr XD). I absolutely loved it, as the entire world can probably tell from one glance at my blog XD lol.
WOW that’s so cool! What would we do without Pinterest? =D I’ve read the Rithmatist, though I wasn’t really impressed with the book overall (it’s one of Sanderson’s first books so he was still learning, he’s improved SO MUCH since then), BUT then…I got to the end. And that twist. THAT TWIST I TELL YOU. It redeemed the book for me. I literally stood there in the hallway in shock and wondering HOW IN THE WORLD DID I MISS THAT? –for like, forever (and in the background my brother grins evilly because he knew, HE KNEW it was that awesome) (every book I tell him I probably won’t like, I end up loving lol).
As to what I would recommend reading next…Definitely Starsight (Skyward 2), Elantris (one of his first published but still super good), and the Way of Kings (ok, this BOOK, this is by far my favorite book EVER, literally! When you look it up don’t let the size intimidate you — every second of it is hooking and you never get bored and just asdfghjkl it’s SO SO GOOD and WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE, no joke). Oh, also, if you like superheroes, look into reading his Reckoners trilogy.
PS. yEsssssss I’ve read Starsight! And IT IS AWESOME!!! No spoilers here, but I think it’s probably my favorite between Skyward and it. It’s really, really cool (specially Spensa’s character arc and the themes–I ADORE THE THEMES). So basically, JUST GO READ IT SO WE CAN TALK ABOUT IT OKAYYYY?????
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Yes! After seeing you talk about it on a couple different occasions, I was like, “I’ve got to read this thing.” 😂 That’s a super epic compliment! (I love her character arc in that first book too; it was really nice) 😆 Yeah I notice it in a lot of different places on your blog.
Hmmmm probably get school done faster. 😝 I think I was caught in it because of that world building. The first thing I say to any of my sisters when I talk about it is, “It has great world building.” YES the ending was just so incredible! I’m glaring at Brandon Sanderson until he comes out with book 2. I needs it. 😂
Cool! Thanks! I’ll have to check them all out one at a time I guess 😛 Oooooh I like super heroes! *rubs hands together* I’m going to be doing quite a bit of reading of his stuff then it seems.
OOOOOH THERE’S ANOTHER CHARACTER ARC?! (I just love character arcs; not many authors do them, and even less do them well, so when I see a good one I’m like GIMME GIMME GIMME) Ughhhhh my mom went to the library yesterday but it wasn’t there! *pouts* Still in transit. *pauses* *goes and checks library* DARN IT’S THERE NOW. 😂 I’ll tell you what I think after I read it! (whenever I get it, that is 😛 )
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Haha, well I’m glad my constant raving over it has accomplished something XD
AND RIGHT?!!!?! I’m dying for book 2, though WHO KNOWS when he’ll write it, he seems to be preoccupied with his other projects… But I totally agree, it has awesome world-building! IN fact, world-building is kinda what Sanderson is known for (since he does it so amazingly well), and if you like good fantasy worlds — YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO READ THE WAY OF KINGS, its world feels So R E A L (and yet, it’s SO MUCH DIFFERENT FROM OURS) o.0
(yess there’s another character arc! In fact, in my opinion it’s WAY BIGGER than her first one. I think you’re going to really like it ;D)
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I finished book 2! Personally, I liked book 1 better, but there definitely were things I liked about it. And UGH I have to WAIT for the next book?! 😫 After THAT ending?? *sobs in a corner*
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I KNOW RIGHT!?!?!?! And it’s going to be like, TWO YEARS BEFORE HE CAN PUBLISH THE NEXT ONE :”(
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Wait it’s TWO YEARS?? 😱 😵 *nervous laughter* Um I didn’t realize that 😂 Well, it was nice knowing you, sanity. 😛
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RIGHT!?!?!! Yeah, so far it says book 3 is expected sometime in 2021 (and then book 4 in 2022). Though hey! Look on the bright side! You can spend that time reading The Stormlight Archive and his other books. 😉
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I graduate in 2021; apparently, it’s going to be a very eventful year for me, then. 😛 Oooooh, good point! I’ll have to check those out! 😃
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Ooh such a cool tag!
LOL the Edna GIF describes everything…😂
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I know, right?! 😃 Maybe I should make this an annual thing… 🤔
Yes! I’ve been waiting for the perfect time to use it. 😆
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This is a fun tag. 😉 I’m reading Entwined right now! I haven’t read a lot of the others, except for Harry Potter of course, but they sound interesting!
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Yeah! I had fun listening to Christmas music and looking at books 😄 Really? I really want to reread that book; I loved it so much. When I first read it, I was too young to understand everything, so the next time I read it, I finally understood it but remembered all the plot twists! 😂 Yes a lot of them are really great 😃
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a keeper is present. *DUHN DUHN duhn*
Like my profile image? XD It’s a lodestar.
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Woo! You’re a fan too? 😃 Which is your favourite book in the series so far? (Mine is Lodestar; just like your profile! 😆)
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Yasss! Oh my…. I think its Neverseen. Or Legacy. Have you read Legacy? Yay! It used to be a conjuror ability pin, but I recently changed it.
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Cool! There’s so many to choose from 😂 Yep! I finished it last week on the weekend. 😃 Oooooh, cool!
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IKR?? Cool!! Thanks!
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