Tag: reading

Birthday Book Tag

Since this week is my birthday week, I have decided to add the Birthday Book Tag to my website. This tag is very popular on book blogs; I discovered it by chance on The Bibliophile Girl and have often seen it recurring on other blogs dedicated to the love of reading. According to The Bibliophile Girl, the original creator of this tag is Antonia over at Always Books. 

In my free time I am watching a lot of videos from the BookTube community and looking for new reading recommendations (although I still have countless books to read), so reading is always a meaningful part of my life. Before I start the tag I will leave you with a sentence I just found on Goodreads: 

“Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.” – Margaret Fuller, American journalist 

Image Credits: Will Clayton

1 – BIRTHDAY CAKE – a book with a plot that seems cliché but you adore it anyway.

Home Before Dark by Riley Sager: this is the only book by Riley Sager that I have read so far and I loved it. I don’t think the plot is cliché, but the book is considered “a reimagining of the classic haunted house tale” so some elements might seem familiar to the reader, especially if they are fans of horror books and movies. 

Nonetheless, I found it very suspenseful and full of thriller overtones and interesting details that make it different from the classic haunted house story. In addition to the plot, I enjoyed both the writing style and the character development so I am looking forward to reading more books by Riley Sager. 

2 – PARTY GUESTS – your most anticipated book release this year. 

Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang: I have some 2023 most anticipated book releases on my radar but the first one that comes to mind is Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang, a debut novel that explores many relevant themes such as race, consumerism, and self-appreciation. 

3 – BIRTHDAY PRESENTS – a book that surprised you with how much you loved it.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt: I remember buying Donna Tartt’s latest book at the time of its release about ten years ago. Reading it was a fantastic experience because the novel was unlike anything I had read before and I found it incredibly compelling. I remember my parents also read it and they both loved it. It moved me in a thousand different ways and I have reread it twice more over the years; it was the first Donna Tartt book I read and I am particularly fond of it. I own it in both the English and Italian editions!

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A Little Life – Hanya Yanagihara

Image Credits: Doubleday

“You won’t understand what I mean now, but someday you will: the only trick of friendship, I think, is to find people who are better than you are—not smarter, not cooler, but kinder, and more generous, and more forgiving—and then to appreciate them for what they can teach you, and to try to listen to them when they tell you something about yourself, no matter how bad—or good—it might be, and to trust them, which is the hardest thing of all. But the best, as well.”

One of my friends on Goodreads wrote the following sentence in her review of Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life: “Is there life after A Little Life?” and this pretty much sums up the way I feel after finishing this book. It’s been almost a month and I often find myself coming back to it; I keep thinking about the story and the characters that inhabit Yanagihara’s novel, feeling as if I were friends with these people and truly missing them.

It is overall a sad book and I found myself struggling with it at times because I couldn’t handle all the terrible things that happen to one of the four main characters; reading about it broke my heart on so many different levels but I fell in love with this novel and I am afraid my review won’t do it justice because it is quite difficult to discuss it without spoilering some parts of the plot.

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