The Ultimate Recommendations Book Tag!

Hello friends! Today we’re bringing you ALL THE RECOMMENDATIONS! Ellyn @ Allonsythornraxx created and tagged us to do this while we were on hiatus in November, and we loved all the questions, so better late than never! The two of us took very different approaches to how we answered these prompts. Malka took the chance to recommend her ultimate favorites, whereas Chana chose to promote her most recent favorite reads. Regardless of the method we chose, we hope that you leave with at least a recommendation or two! All covers link to Goodreads in case you need more convincing to pick up any of these books!

That you read any of these books

• Thank the person who nominated you
• Answer all the questions down below
• Pingback to the creator: Ellyn @ Allonsythornraxx
• Nominate 5+ bloggers to do this tag

1. Recommend a book from one of your favourite genres

Malka: This question actually took me the longest time to answer because I mention so many favorites in other questions below. I have a variety of genres that I love, but I realized that the common denominator between all of them is just cuteness. If a book is light and fluffy and makes me happy, I don’t care about the actual genre at all. So I’m recommending The Cardboard Kingdom.  I love graphic novels and  it makes sense that a lot of the graphic novels I read tend to be filled with cuteness! This graphic novel follows several neighborhood kids transforming a boring summer into one filled with adventures with just their imagination and some cardboard. There are many little stories that all overlap and I had such a wonderful time reading this! It’s one I’d definitely recommend!

 

Chana: High fantasy is one of my favorite genres. I don’t always read so many books of this genre at once since they tend to be suuuuper long, but a recent one that I really enjoyed was Jade City! I know I’m behind on this, and so many amazing bloggers have been recommending this book. But if you haven’t picked it up, I highly suggest that you do!

2. Recommend a short book

Malka: I’m going to recommend Calvin for this one. I had a few other ones in mind that I’ve mentioned in other tags,  but I wanted to choose something different. So when this popped up on Goodreads as one of the shortest books I’ve read, I immediately picked it as my answer. This book follows a boy named Calvin who has schizophrenia, and believes he is the Calvin from the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. It was a really great read, and I think that if you liked Made You Up by Francesca Zappia (which is another amazing book) you’d also love this one.

 

Chana: This tag seems to just be me recommending books that I’ve recently read, but this book fits really well with this question! Turtle Under Ice is a wonderful book that’s told in verse that beautifully portrays themes of grief and shows how different people deal with it. It’s about 270 pages, but it’s told in verse so it feels even shorter than that.

 

3. Recommend a book-to-screen adaptation

Malka: I just rewatched Scott Pilgrim vs. the World a few weeks ago and I was reminded how amazing both the book series and the movie are!

These graphic novels are weird. The movie reflects that weirdness and is also hilarious. I recommend both formats! I’d try giving a synopsis for this series/movie, but I feel like that would take the fun away. The one thing I’ll say to keep in mind while reading/watching Scott Pilgrim is that while the world it takes place in seems pretty normal at first, it actually has its own rules and you just have to go with it and enjoy yourself. But otherwise, if you plan on picking this one up or watching it, I’d recommend you go in blind! (And let me know if you enjoy the experience.)

 

Chana: Am I allowed to suggest a movie that’s based on a book I haven’t read? I say yes. I’m going to go with JoJo Rabbit which is based on the book Caging Skies. I’ve heard that the script changed quite a bit from the book, but JoJo Rabbit is a fantastic movie that ya’ll should watch!

 

4. Recommend a book out of your comfort zone

Malka: I enjoy classics so very much, but because I so rarely read them I’d say they’re out of my comfort zone. And because of that I’m going to recommend a classic that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed, but that doesn’t get the attention that some other classics do. ( * cough * Pride and Prejudice *cough* * cough * ) I actually read this book for school, but I enjoyed it so much that I’d definitely recommend it.

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy follows the adventures of a mysterious hero known as the Scarlet pimpernel who saves people from the guillotine during the French Revolution. It’s full of mystery and romance, and was quite a fun read during high school, even as required reading, which is quite the feat for a book to manage!

Chana: I’ve never been the biggest mystery, but recently I’ve started reading a few books in the genre, and wowww there are some great ones! Most recently I read Sadie, and it was fantastic! One thing I loved about Sadie was the multi-media way that the story was told. It alternates chapters between Sadie, a girl who has gone missing following the death of her sister, and a true-crime podcast that is investigating Sadie’s disappearance.

 

5. Recommend a book series

Malka: I have come to realize that I really do not like series all that much. I had a few graphic novel series answers in mind, but then I realized that I could use this opportunity to mention a severely underhyped series.

The Book of Ivy is a dystopian duology that I read a few years ago. I remember how refreshing it felt to read a dystopian that wasn’t super depressing, but still was intriguing and kept my attention. Plus, this has a really great romance, which is always a great addition in my opinion.

 

Chana: The Curse Workers! I also just read this series and it was so good!! I love the magic system in this world, and obviously we always stan criminal families.

 

6. Recommend a standalone

Malka: I’m SO excited because I just finished an amazing book and I want everyone to read it! And this prompt gives me the chance to get all you people reading this post to do just that!

What I Carry follows a girl that’s just about to age out of the foster care system. It’s a really wonderful look into foster care and adoption, where foster care isn’t a horrific experience, and adoption isn’t the ultimate dream. This book had so much nuance and heart, and the title plays beautifully into the way the story is told, which is always wonderful. Plus, just look at that beautiful cover!

 

Chana: Dig by A. S. King is absolutely fantastic. This book took me by surprise, and once I started reading it I couldn’t put it down! I can’t really describe the book because I think that I may by mistake end up spoiling it, so I just need everyone to trust me and check this book out.

 

7. Recommend a book you don’t talk about enough

Malka: Sick Kids in Love. It’s one of my unofficial 2020 goals to get as many people as I can to read this gem of a book. So far I haven’t talked about it enough, but soon I’ll have to use this book to answer the prompt “Book you won’t stop talking about. (Please stop).”

This book is cuteness and fluff, but at its core it’s a discussion of chronic illness and the different experiences one can have with it. There’s the most adorable romance, yes, but the conversations that Isabel and Sasha have throughout the book was what really made this book such a win for me. I’m so sad that so few people have read it because I think it’s something that so many people would absolutely LOVE if they just knew it was out there.

 

Chana: I feel like I talk about all books a little too much, but one book I don’t think I’ve mentioned on the blog yet is The Unspoken Name! It’s a really cool fantasy with a strong female lead, and very likeable characters. As well as some pretty cool worldbuilding, so if you’re a fantasy fan I’d recommend that one 100% .

 

8. Recommend your ‘staple’ book

Malka: Everyone say it with me now. On three. One! Two! Three!

Fangirl!

But since that’s an obvious answer, I’m going to give a second one. Soppy is one of my go to books when I’m feeling down. It’s this cute little comic bind-up about the author and her boyfriend and it never fails to brighten my mood! It’s the definition of 😍

 

Chana: I don’t really think I have a ‘staple’ book because I’m always changing what I recommend based on who I’m recommending to and my most recent reads. I have started trying to force a bunch of my IRL friends to read Steel Crow Saga, and I’ve mentioned it on the blog once or twice. So let’s go with that.

9. Recommend the book/s that got you into reading

Malka: I could go with a classic, Harry Potter, but instead I’ll talk about some other books I read as a kid. I remember reading lots of Roald Dahl books, The City of Ember, and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. These are each such different books, but they each captured my attention for different reasons, and I believe I’ve reread them all a few times each. But this prompt reminded me of so many books and series that I read when I was younger! This is only a small selection!

Chana: I don’t really remember what book ‘got me into’ reading, but some books I remember loving early on were Fablehaven, Magyk, and The Mysterious Benedict Society.

10. Recommend 3+ bloggers who recommend great books

Malka: It’s super difficult for me to find book recommendations because I have such specific reading tastes, but I’ve read books because of these 3 bloggers and really enjoyed them! What I love is that for each of these bloggers, it was the first time I’d heard of the books they recommended! So I found some wonderful hidden gems based on just their posts alone!

Olivia @ Purely Olivia 

Cait @ Paper Fury 

Stacee @ Eleven Thirteen PM 

Chana: My favorite way to find new books is through blogger recommendations, and I get the best recommendations from these three! I love all the books that Caitlin, Tiffany, and Marie recommend because I can always count on the books to be well written, interesting, and diverse reads!

Caitlin @ Caitlin Althea 

Tiffany @ Read by Tiffany

Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane Books

The Questions

1. Recommend a book from one of your favourite genres
2. Recommend a short book
3. Recommend a book-to-screen adaptation
4. Recommend a book out of your comfort zone
5. Recommend a book series
6. Recommend a standalone
7. Recommend a book you don’t talk about enough
8. Recommend your ‘staple’ book
9. Recommend the book/s that got you into reading
10. Recommend 3+ bloggers who recommend great books

We’re going to tag all the bloggers who have given us such great recommendations! After all, this tag is all about the ULTIMATE recommendations, so who better to recommend books to us than the bloggers whose opinions we already love! If we didn’t tag you and you’d like to do this tag, go for it! We can’t wait to see what you’ll recommend! Endless TBRs are what we live for after all!

 What book do you not talk about enough? Do you plan on reading any of our recommendations? Which bloggers do you find have great recommendations?