The Wanderlust Tag 🐚

Are you thinking of the summer yet? All it took for me was a little sunshine and warmer weather and now I can’t stop thinking about my summer break. Count it with me… 51 days to go.

So, to bring a little slice of the summer break to my blog today, I am doing The Wanderlust Tag! I saw Sara @ The Bibliophagist do it and decided to give it a shot. Anything for a little taste of no work and no school! 🐚

R U L E S:
🐚 Mention the creator of the tag and link back to the original post: Alexandra @ Reading by Starlight
🐚Thank the blogger who tagged you
🐚 Answer the 10 questions below
🐚 Tag 5+ friends

1.  Secrets and lies: a book set in a sleepy small town

I have just the book for this prompt! Miracle Creek is a book set in a small town during the duration of a criminal trial. The novel is told through multiple points of view and looks at the explosion of a “miracle submarine” (a pseudo-science pressurized oxygen chamber used to cure autism and other conditions) that killed Kitt and Henry, an autistic child.

This novel is mind-blowingly good. I couldn’t put it down and stop reading. Since Miracle Creek is a small town, rumors get around quickly. Not to mention that reputations are important and that the truth is hard to get to. I highly, highly recommend it!

2. Salt and sand: a book with a beach-side community

The first book that comes to mind when I think of the beach is Jenny Han’s The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy. Even though I didn’t end up loving it, it still makes me think of the summer and of beach houses all the time. Plus, the little town where Belly’s family has their beach house is so charming! I would love to vacation there…

3. Here there be dragons: a book with a voyage on the high seas

Okay, this is cheating, but I don’t think I have every read a novel set at high sea! So I’m going with an awaited release of mine, The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See. This novel follows a group of Korean women from the island of Jeju. Their job is to go out to sea and catch fish to feed their families and communities. I am so fascinated by these women, especially after I have heard that it’s based in a real community! I can’t wait to pick it up.

4. Tread lightly: a book set down a murky river or a jungle

Isabel Allende’s City of the Beasts was one of my favorites growing up. It’s a young adult novel following 15-year-old Alexander as he joins his fearless grandmother on an expedition to the Amazon in search for the mythical Yeti of the Amazon. I vividly remember being fascinated at the descriptions of the Amazonian jungle. Allende is such a terrific writer! I remember being so immersed in the story that I felt like I was there in the jungle!

5. Frozen wastes: a book with a frost bitten atmosphere

Names for the Sea: Strangers in Iceland is a book I’m dying to read. I have a fascination with Iceland, and apparently so does the author, Sarah Moss! This nonfiction account of her time living and working in Iceland in 2009 covers a bunch of things, from the eruption of an unpronounceable volcano to the crash of the economy. I’m really excited to see her descriptions of the winter and of the day-to-day. AHHHH!

6. The boonies: a book with ruff or isolated terrain

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang is one of the best fantasy books I’ve read in a loooong time. And some of my favorite parts were those set in the mountain (*ahem*). There’s such a wide variety of setting in this book. From the schools to the hills Rin has to scale with a pig on her back to the war-devastated provinces of the Empire. The sequel is coming out later this year and I’m crossing my fingers for a review copy!

7. Hinterlands and cowboys: a book with a western-esque setting

This is such a hard prompt! I’m not sure if this counts (probably doesn’t) but it came immediately to mind: Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis. I was talking with a friend today and mentioned how excited I am to pick this one up. I love nonfiction books, especially those looking in depth at communities I am not in the least familiar with. JD Vance, in this book, visits the impoverished Rust Belt towns throughout the Appalachian mountains. I’m excited to learn more!!

8. Look lively: a book set across sweeping desert sands

Hafsah Faizal’s upcoming We Hunt the Flame is set in a sandy desert, at least in part (I think!!!). It’s a young adult fantasy novel that has been everywhere even though it hasn’t come out yet! Most of the bloggers I follow the closest have either a) read and loved this novel, or b) preordered it and can’t wait to read it. According to the blurb, it’s inspired by Ancient Arabia, which is the part I’m the most excited about! Not only have I never read a book like this, I also want to see how the author integrated Arabic into the novel. Have you read this novel yet?

9. Wild and untamed: a book set the the heart of the woods

I have to talk about Pilu of the Woods and how good it is!!! I just finished reading a review copy a few days ago and I fell in love with the whole atmosphere of this cute little middle grade graphic novel. Willow, a human girl, runs away from home into the magnolia-tree-filled woods after a fight with her sister. There, she hears Pilu, a lost tree spirit who can’t find her way back home. The two embark on a short adventure woods to return Pilu home to her family. This story is so adorable and touching!!! If I had children, I’m sure they would love this story and that it would quickly become their favorite book!

10. Wildest dreams: a whimsical book shrouded in magic

To close off the tag, I’m leaving my current read, as it is very magical and whimsical: The Murmur of Bees by Sofía Segovia. I’m only a third into this chunky novel, but I’m already really liking it. I won’t lie, I’m a little confused over what’s happening right now, but that’s part of its appeal, I believe. In this novel, we follow a little disfigured boy who was found under an abandoned bridge, enveloped in a swarm of bees. As the boy grows up, the bees will forever accompany him, making him see the world in ways no one else can. It’s set in the 1910s and 1920s, right as the Spanish Influenza started ravaging through Mexico. If you’re looking for a whimsical read, then you need to pick up this novel when it comes out in a few weeks!

🐚 TAGGING TIME! 🐚

I’m not tagging anyone in specific, but if you want to do it, by all means do! I always love reading your answers to tags I do, so please link this post on your blog if you do it so I can show it some love!