the folklore book tag // sweet, sad, and sympathetic books, & my thoughts on the songs

Like everyone else, I am a Taylor Swift stan.

So of course I freaked when I heard Taylor was dropping a new surprise album!!! I really love the vibes of folklore! It’s definitely what I’m obsessively listening to right now. So far my favorite songs are cardigan, exile, and illicit affairs (the bridge!!!), but it’s definitely constantly changing as I listen more.

Anyways, when Ilsa @ A Whisper of Ink made a folklore book tag, of course I had to do it lol I tagged myself shamelessly. Also the Ilsa made all the beautiful graphics that I will be using!

Rules:

• Link to the original creator: Ilsa @ A Whisper Of Ink
• Tag at least 3 people.
• Declare the rules and list of prompts in your post
• Thank whoever who tagged you and link to their post.

I don’t think anyone can argue that the ending to The Mark of Athena didn’t leave them speechless. I mean… a literal cliffhanger, ya know what I mean. I’m just glad I was late to the party and read this after the whole series was out because I could not wait.

This is a pretty good song. It’s not one I’ve come back to though. Pretty catchy. 3.5/5

Words In Deep Blue is a beautiful happy sad book. It’s a simple contemporary with sweet friendships and relationships, but it also deals with grief and death and if I wasn’t smiling through teary eyes the whole time.

I love cardigan! It’s one of my favorites so far. I’m in absolute love with the dreamy whimsical vibes of the music video! Also the scene where she’s literally drowning but clings to her piano (nevermind why it’s not sinking lol) is so powerful music literally saves her. I felt that. 4.5/5

Sorcery of Thorns is absolutely a fascinating and extremely well told story. It’s just such an amazing books that can blow you away, and the magic and fantasy and everything is woven so well together. And how can you not be fascinated by magical libraries and grimoires???

I feel like a lot of people really like this one but I don’t like it that much lol. I mean, compared to the other songs. I guess the story of it is pretty nice though. 3/5

I honestly wish I had never read Leah of the Offbeat because I hated this book but I loved Simon Vs. The Homo sapiens Agenda, and honestly Leah ruined Simon for me. It destroyed characters and relationships (romantic and friendships) I loved and I can’t see my babies the same!! I just pretend it doesn’t exist in my head cannon lol.

I absolutely love this song! Bon Iver and Taylor blend their voices together so nicely and wow this song makes me feel things. And the lyrics are crazy incredible. You’re not my homeland anymore… so what am I offending now? 5/5

Five Feet Apart is a wonderful book but it’s also so sad. Brings me back to the sicklit days. Honestly I basically never cry while reading books but this one was so moving that I almost did, I got a little teary eyed!! In the book and the movie! I just wanted my poor babies who have gone through so much to be okay!!

This is such a deep moving song that really resonated with me. Because… my tears have been ricocheting lately. The lyrics and way they fit in the melody are just… really moving. 4/5

Harley in the Sky. Akemi Dawn Bowman really went there and she said Kay, I see you and I hear you and I love you. She really said yes you’ve been struggling your whole life never fitting in to one group or another but that’s okay because you’re beautiful and valid as you are. You’ve always felt sad and scared and anxious around people but that’s okay we’re all just trying. Nobody understands, and you’ve always felt sidelined, but I understand and I love you.

Anyways, it’s a shame that this prompt has my favorite book but this isn’t my favorite song it didn’t feel like it was written just for me lol. It’s pretty nice, but it’s kind of a skip song for me. 3/5

Ella Enchanted is my childhood favorite and I’ve read it so many times it’s falling apart and I love it to bits. I always reread it and I always get nostalgic when I do. I wish I could go back to the simple days of Ella Enchanted.

This is another song that I felt pretty meh about, kind of a skip. It does make me feel a bit nostalgic though so I appreciate that. 3/5

Ilsa said bonus points if the book is sad so what better book than Second Chance Summer? All the summer vibes, of a summer spent hanging out beachside with friends! But also casually ripping out my heart because it’s her last summer with her dad dying of cancer okay I’m crying.

I saw someone say on twitter that people who like august are people who like Cruel Summer (lover) and Getaway Car (reputation) and those are my two favorite songs off those albums lmao accurate I like this one too. 4/5

Up To This Pointe really deals with sadness of someone who realizes that her life dream isn’t going to happen, gets betrayed by a friend, and just feels awful, feels her whole world crashing around her, as everything she worked for ends up meaning nothing, . And my situation isn’t as dire as hers but damn if I didn’t feel that in my sadness of plans and goals I worked hard for getting cancelled thanks to covid.

This is another song that the lyrics and message of it really resonated with me. I’m… I’m a mess, okay, but I’m trying. Also I really like how it feels echoy and ethereal. 4/5

The Queen of Nothing gave me a major book hangover. I was pretty much inconsolable for a week after reading it. In fact my whole family can probably tell you the plot of this book even though they never read it because I rambled about nothing else.

Also it’s not the prompt and it didn’t give me a book hangover but I want to take a moment to share that this song, illicit affairs, is literally the book Anna K.

All I have to say is the bridge of this song is incredible. I blast it on repeat and I’ve been singing it all day every day and it’s not physically possible to listen to the bridge of this song without getting up and twirling and leaping I don’t make the rules just saying. Don’t call me kid, don’t call me baby, look at this godforsaken mess that you made me… 5/5

Loveboat, Taipei is a book I read really recently, last month, and it’s also another book that really speaks to me, feels like it was written for me (not as much as Harley though lol). I read it while I probably would have been in Taipei myself if not for covid. It reminded me how wonderful it is to be Taiwanese and inspired me to bake tai yang bing (Taiwanese sun cake). Ever is also a dancer who was on color guard like me, and reading how much she loved dance reminded me that I was like that too and inspired me to pull out my old rifle and start spinning again. So basically it got my sad self off my butt in quarantine and got be doing what I love, baking cultural foods and dancing, again.

I really do like the idea and imagery of an invisible string! I really do! But this song just feels so… skip! 3/5

I just adore Lara Jean from To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before so much! She and I are so similar, from both being half Asian, to both being introverts, to both loving baking, to both loving reading romance books, to both loving our families, to both loving scrapbooking/yearbook, to… anyways, I absolutely adore her and want to be her best friend.

This song is honestly a jam. I really like the lyrics and the instrumentals too. 4/5

The Wicked Deep is very haunting. It has all the spooky vibes, small beachside town where kids are lured to a watery death. This book was so haunting and atmospheric and also I loved it so much and also it shook me because the ending was so crazy and low-key creepy and I didn’t see it coming and it’s been a long time since I read this book but thinking about it now still has me shook.

This song is so beautiful and wow is it moving. It seems to be a wonderful tribute to all the healthcare workers working so hard during this pandemic and feels all sad and lonely and haunting I love it so much. 4.5/5

Is there a single couple with more yearning than Kaz and Inej? They have touch aversion, they’re never even kiss, but they are just y e a r n i n g for each other and there is so much slow burn angst and aklsdjfoisafjd. They’re just both like in love with each other and they’ll support each other no matter what but they have so many obstacles in their way but they’re still aklsjf aklsfj alkjfdklj

This song is such a bop I love it. It’s so much fun to jam out to, and yes I love how it feels sapphic. 4.5/5

There are a lot of characters I adore! One that comes to mind right now is Cinder because I love my badass cyborg lunar queen! She literally starts a revolution against her crazy aunt and you can bet I’d be there fighting along side her, pls use my body as a shield before killing Levana.

This is maybe the only song I don’t really like on this album lmao skip. 2/5

I’m still angry at Frankly In Love because I wanted to love that book so much and I’d heard such good things about it, such amazing glowing reviews… and then I hated it lmao. Frank is a piece of trash I hate him and how he treats everyone, and also this book tried to cover so much and actually covered nothing and everyone who loved it lied to me.

I like the lyrics of this song, and it feels like a nice way to end the album. I don’t like the melody as much though, it’s okay. 3/5

I’m not tagging anyone because I low-key feel like I’m late and everyone who is a swiftie has already done this tag lmao but I had so much fun doing it so if you want to, I tag you!

Let’s Chat

Are you obsessed with folklore too? What’s your favorite song off the album? Do you like any of these books I’ve mentioned? I’d love to chat in the comments below!