Bookending Autumn: Candy Tag

I’m here to talk about candy.

And books.

But mostly candy.

Did you all know it was autumn?

Wasn’t sure if I’d mentioned that yet.

Haley @ The Caffeinated Reader made today’s tag and the graphics that go with it.

Her blog is BEAUTIFUL. The graphics and color scheme are gorgeous.

Just look at these cute banners!

Anyway, candy.

This is for Bookending Autumn! Happy 17th of Halloween!

 

Prompt Rules:
1. Tag me the creator, por favor.
2. Tag the person who tagged you
3. Feel free to switch up the names of candies
4. Tag whoever you want
5. Have fun. It’s a rule, it must be done.

I wait until autumn to read Jane books.

This includes Jane Eyre, My Lady Jane, My Plain Jane, and Jane, Unlimited.

 

All four of these books have a very strong fall-time feel.

Jane, Unlimited wasn’t on my fall TBR, but it SHOULD be.

 

“Enjoyed” is a strong word.

I HAD to read Eating Animals slowly. I couldn’t handle it in one sitting.

Jonathan Safran Foer gave me a lot to think about.

There are still discussions to be had about the validity of veganism.

This book is a great place to start.

 

This Savage Song is a TRULY creepy book.

The discomfort is strong.

Something bad happens in one of the final chapters that elicited a scream from me.

I wish I’d been ready.

 

(CW: graphic medical content)

I did NOT finish Cutting for Stone because it was GROSS.

There’s some questionable pregnancy stuff (including…immaculate conception?) Already not into it.

Then the mom gives birth and it doesn’t go well. DON’T LOVE IT.

(I should mention that any time a book describes a medical condition IN DETAIL, I imagine myself with that condition.)

A man comes in with a colon threatening to burst.

I read the entire surgery scene and almost vomited.

IT WAS SO GROSS.

AND THEN MY STOMACH HURT FOR THE REST OF THE DAY.

 

I wasn’t feeling Crooked Kingdom for a long time.

In particular, there was a ship I just didn’t get.

Friends…I get it now.

I’m on board.

The penultimate chapter left me wanting more.

I cried so many tears.

This is the official end of Haley’s tag.

I was having some candy cravings, so I added a few more prompts.

I did not make banners. I don’t have that skill.

 

Peanut Butter Cups

A book in your collection that your friends covet

My friends often express interest in The Signature of All Things.

And then they never read it!

Even after I lend it to them!

(No matter that I’ve done the same thing to them countless times.)

Oh well. This book is pretty and I’m proud of it, so I say it counts.

 

Swedish Fish

A book you couldn’t appreciate until you were older

For the record, I hate Swedish Fish.

I like them less than I did when I was a kid.

I like The Subtle Knife now.

Jury’s out on Will Parry, but I like the religious commentary and the metaphysical stuff more than I did in junior high.

 

Full-size Candy Bars

A beloved trope you rarely see

I recently found out one of my favorite tropes is NOT, in fact, called Intimate Healing.

That is the name of a completely different, MUCH more sexual trope.

The trope I like is called the Florence Nightingale Effect.

I feel like love interests playing nurse used to happen more often in books.

Either it doesn’t happen as often now or I stopped reading the books where it commonly occurs.

Writers! Bring it back!

This is how you do it:

Step 1: Injure Character.

Step 2: Send Love Interest to bind their wounds.

• I usually see a female character tending to a male character, but this is a gender-neutral trope! There are no rules! It’s hot no matter what!
• (Optional): sometimes the Injured Party will be ornery and try to refuse treatment. Think Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.

Step 3: Have Love Interest be surprisingly tender with Character.

• This will be extra meaningful if the two don’t like each other much and/or if the Love Interest is known for being brash or aggressive.

Step 4: Have Character realize, in a rush of confusing feelings, how gentle the Love Interest is being with them. It gives them a lot to think about.

• (Optional): they end up gazing into each others’ eyes, holding hands, or even kissing?? THE WORLD IS YOUR OYSTER.

 

Flavored Tootsie Rolls

A character combination that shouldn’t work but does

Girlfriend of Alexei Romanov falls in love with a Bolshevik. There’s magic and Fabergé eggs.

SOUNDS DUMB.

IT ISN’T.

IT’S REAL GOOD.

I STAND BY TSARINA.

 

Necco Wafers

A book that hasn’t aged well

ANYTHING AGATHA CHRISTIE HAS WRITTEN.

Though some of her stuff has surprisingly progressive themes, Christie also wrote a book that had to be retitled TWICE because the first two titles were so offensive.

I’m not going to tell you which one it was.

Let me distract you with a book by Orson Scott Card.

Don’t look into this.

Or into anything involving Orson Scott Card.

DON’T.

DON’T DO IT.

YOU’LL ONLY FIND DISAPPOINTMENT.

My office usually has a candy stash hidden somewhere, but it’s been EMPTY lately.

I’m CRAVING CANDY.

On the bright side, I had fun with this tag!

I’m tagging people by not tagging them.

I tag you.

Go forth.