Tripping Over Books

Burrito Bowl Book Tag

Guys, when I saw this on Hannah’s blog, I knew I HAD to do it. I love books, I love burritos, and I love Chipotle. It all fits. ALL THE LOVE. The idea behind this is incredibly fun, and I love the way the organizers–Joey from Thoughts and Afterthoughts and Cristina from Girl in the Pages–have equated bookish things to food, specifically Chipotle, speaks to me on a deep level as a lover of both things.

As with any list or post of this kind, I could probably come up with a second set of answers that might strike me as more relevant on any given day, but for now, these are the books that make up my burrito bowl.

First up: the Rice. Blogging is something I’ve only started pretty recently, in the grand scheme of things, so I wanted to go waaaay back to the book that really got me into reading. Or one of them at least. When I was young, I adored Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie books. Like, devoured them. I still have my copies. One of these days I’m going to reread them, but I’m always afraid that they’ll lose their magic if I read them as an adult. I do miss them, though. They ignited not only my love for reading, but also my obsession with pioneers.

So don’t kill me, guys, for using CODE NAME VERITY as my Beans. This was one of the most boring books I’ve ever read. The only reason I didn’t DNF it is because I wanted to see what everyone was going on about, and by the time I got to the part that was actually really interesting, I could barely summon up any energy to care. Needless to say, this one was not a book that I enjoyed the way lots of other people did, mostly because I was bored nearly out of my mind.

I recently discovered this quote from LETTERS TO A YOUNG POET by Rainer Marie Rilke, and I love it so much that I’m using it for my Protein. Because how amazing is this? I especially love the last line: “Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.” I mean, THIS. It speaks to me about fears and bravery and nurturing the scared parts of ourselves and others until they aren’t afraid anymore.

There are very few series that could be better Fajitas than A Song of Ice and Fire. The world-building in this series is spot-on. It’s got details, it’s got history, it’s got maps, religions, cultures, languages. There are so many details in the world-building that it’s sometimes hard to keep things straight, but that’s why I love it.

ALSO KNOWN AS is my Salsa pretty much because of Roux. She’s Maggie’s–the main character–best friend and she’s funny, feisty, and my favorite. One of the best BFFs around. She, along with the spy shenanigans Maggie and her family get into, definitely kept me on my toes and flipping the pages super fast.

It was pretty easy, actually, for me to pick my Corn, although it could really be a million other scenes in two million other books, but the scene that immediately jumped out to me when I read the description of this layer was from ISLA AND THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER. It involves paint. And kissing. And butterflies (mostly mine). I love this book, guys. I think about it all the time. (Secret? I sometimes pretend that Lola just…didn’t happen and that this companion series is just Anna and Isla. EEEP!)

First of all, we’re getting to the good layers of my burrito bowl, if I’m being honest. The Cheese is so clutch. I’ve actually also thought about this before and am pretty happy with my “characters from different books who should be BFFs.” Can you imagine all the ASS-KICKING that would go on if Katsa and any/all of the girls from His Fair Assassin were friends? OMG. I would also throw Karou into this group. GOOD LORD that’s one badass group of ladies. They should start a gang together. Or like a clan of warrior women. AHH THIS IS AWESOME CHEESE IS THE BEST.

I still have one more book in this series to read, but I’m kind of holding off until I need a real mood-lifter. This series is hysterical and clever, and one of the reasons for that is my Sour Cream, Prince Duncan. Prince Duncan is Snow White’s prince and you guys, he’s absurd and hilarious. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read his scenes or lines and laughed out loud. He’s so weird!
I CANNOT have Chipotle without Guacamole. It’s the best extra $1.80 I’ve ever spent. That being said, I don’t really believe there’s such a thing as spending too much money on a book, but I’m going to go with THE FLOATING ISLANDS, and that’s only because I’ve never read it but I’ve somehow managed to buy it twice. This is a prime example of why I need a better organization system for my books.

FAIRYTALES FOR WILDE GIRLS was a pretty unique experience and perfect, I think, for my Lettuce. It’s not an easy book to describe, although it sounds paranormal-ish or magical realism-ish. There’s some fairytale elements and some ghosty elements, and things are weird all around, but in a really imaginative way.

Guys, I hope my Chips doesn’t come as a surprise to any of you. THE SCORPIO RACES is one of my all-time favorite books. There is nothing about it that I don’t like, except Mutt Malvern, and we’re supposed to hate him. The setting is so vintage and kind of ramshackle, the horses are terrifying and magnificent (Dove is just magnificent, though), and the characters…THE CHARACTERS. Sean Kendrick and Puck Connolly are my OTP. I adore them. I consistently push this book on everyone, and if I’m sending books to people as gifts and they have this one on their TBRs, you’re getting it from me.

As the story of an assassin with special gifts, GRACELING has lots of action sequences, but the one that I’m picking for my Tabasco happens in the first chapter. When Katsa first “meets” Po, but doesn’t realize it’s him yet, they get into this amazing fight. Katsa, unused to being bested or anything close to it, is totally taken aback when a mysterious foe puts up such a great fight. Once Katsa and Po become more familiar with each other, their fighting continues as a means of practice for Katsa, and it has all the meaning, guys. This is one of my favorite books, not only because of the fights, but because of what they afford our main characters: peers.