Books as Songs from Lover by Taylor Swift

Hi, guys. The best album of 2019 came out into the world to bless our existences almost a month ago, and I was honestly so in awe. Taylor Swift always comes through as my favourite songwriter ever. Her songs just seem like poems to me, and for this reason I decided to associate eighteen (18! Ms. Swift is serving us good) songs to eighteen different books. … Are you ready for it? (Sorry, wrong album).

1. I Forgot That You Existed

“I forgot that you existed and I thought that it would kill me, but it didn’t.
And it was so nice, so peaceful and quiet
I forgot that you existed. It isn’t love, it isn’t hate.
It’s just indifference.”

Book: To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han.
Let’s face it. This song is so fitting for Lara Jean and her biggest crush on Josh, the guy who dates her older sister. She would have done everything to try and get his attention, but then Peter K came in and she was just sold (like the rest of us, to be honest with you).
Josh who? Sorry hun, we totally forgot that you existed.

2. Cruel Summer

“And I, snuck in through the garden gate every night that summer just to seal my fate.
And I screamed for whatever it’s worth: I love you, ain’t that the worst thing you ever heard?”

Book: The Wicked King by Holly Black.

I mean, you listen to this song and you just see Jude and Cardan in your head. The Fae setting, the fact that they want to love each other but they also “hate” each other so much. And it all unfolds in a place where summer is just all year long. I can’t wait to read the next installment.

 

3. Lover

“And there’s a dazzling haze, a mysterious way about you dear. Have I known you 20 seconds or 20 years?”

Book: Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare (all The Infernal Devices trilogy to be honest).

Dazzling haze and mysterious way? Taylor darling have you ever met Will Herondale? Cause you’re surely talking about him here. And this song really sums up the whole Will/Tessa relationship in my eyes. A love so pure that could beat almost everything in the world. Now I’m crying again for that damn book.

4. The Man.

“I’m so sick of running as fast as I can, wondering if I’d get there quicker if I was a man.”

Book: The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed.

This was the first book that came to my mind to associate with this beautiful, beautiful song. And also one of the most important ones in this album. The way in which this book shows the theme of feminism is just simple but complex at the same time, just like Taylor does in this song.
Cause we’re sick of running as fast as we can. And maybe we’d get there quicker if we were men.

5. The Archer.

“I’ve been the archer, I’ve been the prey.
Screaming, who could ever leave me, darling?
But who could stay?”

Book: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

This song just screams Katniss Everdeen to me since day one. Maybe it was because the image of archery for me will always be associated with her character, but I’m also thinking about her vulnerable side and her insecurities. The fear of never being loved is always strong in her, so yeah. She’s been both the archer and the prey.

 

6. I Think He Knows.

“He got my heartbeat skipping down 16th Avenue.
Got that, oh! I mean, wanna see what’s under that attitude.
Like, I want you, bless my soul. And I ain’t gotta tell him,
I think he knows.”

Book: What If It’s US by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera.

This song just reminds me of this book. Maybe it’s because of the references to NYC, and the way your heart feels like skipping out of your chest when you meet your first love. Or maybe it’s because the two main characters have big conversation issues. No, like seriously. They think the other knows, and I’ve got a secret for these two naive seventeen-year-old boys. THE OTHER DOES NOT KNOW. They do not, I can assure you that.

7. Miss Americana and The Heartbreak Prince.

“It’s you and me. There’s nothing like this.
Miss Americana and The Heartbreak Prince.
We’re so sad, we paint the town blue.
Voted most likely to run away with you.”

Book: One Of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus

I was a little on edge for this one cause I wasn’t sure of what I was going to choose, but then I suddenly remembered about this book and without any spoilers I just want to say that two of these characters were really a kind of opposite version of the prom queen and king. I loved how the author was able to really turn the tropes upside down. I was so rooting for them, I maybe want to re-read this book not even kidding.

8. Paper Rings

“I like shiny things, but I’d marry you with paper rings.
Uh huh, that’s right.
Darling, you’re the one I want, and
I hate accidents except when we went from friends (enemies in this case, sorry Taylor darling) to this.”

Book: Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Let’s be completely honest. Baz totally likes shiny things, but Baz would totally marry Simon with paper rings. They never went to friends to “this”, but they surely went to enemies to something way bigger. I always cry when I read that scene. You know which one. I mean the scenes. There are a lot of scenes. To sum up, the boy is so gone for Simon. They would totally marry with paper, rock, quartz, diamond rings, whatever would be good. Baz would prefer the diamond, though.

9. Cornelia Street

“I hope I never lose you, hope it never ends.
I’d never walk Cornelia Street again.
That’s the kind of heartbreak time could never mend.
I’d never walk Cornelia Street again.”

Book: Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman.

I cry thinking about this, but I think Elio will never ever come back to the places he used to go to with Oliver. Maybe “Find Me” will shatter all of my theories, but I mean Rome will always be Rome for them (ROME, dear movie adaptation) and I can’t honestly see Elio coming back there after everything that went through with them. And I also think that every time he’ll come back to Italy his heart will always be shattered, cause he found the stars there, and this happens only once (damn, it hurts).

10. Death by A Thousand Cuts.

“It’s death by a thousand cuts.
Just tryna find a part of me that you didn’t touch.
My body, my love, my trust (it’s death by a thousand cuts).”

Book: Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett

Easily one of the best books that I’ve read in 2019. It contained all of my favourite tropes: best friends to lovers who tried to be something more but then it all went down. And I think that for them, that time apart was like death by a thousand cuts. In the book they often talk about how they were devastated when they were apart so yeah.

11. London Boy.

“I saw the dimples first and then I heard the accent. They say home is where the heart is
but that’s not where mine lives.”

Book: Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

You knew that one was coming. It seems like Alex could have easily co-wrote this song. Taylor, wanna share something with us? It’s so fitting, I can’t even. I can already see Alex at the Lover Tour with a T-Shirt that says “Home is where the heart is, but God I love the English.” I just cry at the idea. I’m in love with that book. I can’t re-read it soon enough.

12. Soon You’ll Get Better

“The buttons of my coat were tangled in my hair.
In doctor’s-office-lighting, I didn’t tell you I was scared.
That was the first time we were there.”

Book: 100 Days of Sunlight by Abbie Emmons.

This song really hits me in the feelings every time, and I’m aware that what the song is about has nothing to do with the book, but I get the feeling that everyone who is fighting for who they love shares the same anxieties and the same fears. And in this book we have two teens who really are not okay, but who fight with all their heart for each other. If someone close to you is fighting and is not feeling well, I send you all my love. We are all scared, we will all pretend it isn’t real, but soon we’ll all get better and they with us. I give you all my love.

13. False God

“We might just get away with it.
The altar is my hips. Even if it’s a false god.
We’d still worship this love.”

Book: Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan

What better song than this one? Sinful love with a lot of metaphors about a blasphemous relationship and religion? This book has it all. I would have liked a little bit more sinful love, but I have high hopes for the next book. Malachiasz, boy, I’m all about you.

14. You need to calm down.

“You just need to take several seats and then try to restore the peace and control your urges to scream about all the people you hate.
‘Cause shade never made anybody less gay.”

Book: Simon Vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli.

High school really is a b***h, right? And life basically is nothing but high school all over again, so imagine having to come out during that time! Simon really has all my heart. This book is so important in so many ways, it’s one of the first ever rom-coms in YA with an LGBTQ+ theme, but it also deals amazingly with the bullying theme and in general with people “being too loud.”
I can’t recommend it enough.

15. Afterglow.

“Hey. It’s all me in my head.
I’m the one who burned us down.
But it’s not what I meant.
I’m sorry that I hurt you.”

Book: We Contain Multitudes by Sarah Henstra.

I loved loved loved this book, but the boys really have to say sorry to each other for a lot of different reasons I can’t even begin to list them. They really should take this song as a mantra, cause sometimes saying sorry to the ones you love is the best option even if it’s never easy. This book is just so raw and real that it deals with the all apologize theme in a very mature way, but sometimes these words are just not spoken and it hurts.

16. Me!

“Livin’ in winter, I am your summer.
Baby doll, when it comes to a lover I promise that you’ll never find another like me.”

Book: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell.

Fangirl, sweetie, I’m so sorry to do this to you, I really am. If I had the chance to erase a song from the masterpiece that is this album, this song would be it, I swear. But I like the meaning, we’re all different and amazing in our own way, and I would like to say that to Cath, the main character of this book. At the beginning she really is afraid she will never fit in because of who she is, but at the end she ends up finding amazing people, as we all do at some point in life. Or so I hope. Cath did, I did, I hope you do too.

17. It’s nice to have a friend.

“Light pink sky up on the roof.
Sun sinks down, no curfew. Twenty questions, we tell the truth.
You’ve been stressed out lately? Yeah, me too.
Something gave you the nerve to touch my hand.
It’s nice to have a friend.”

Book: Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare.

If this does not scream Emma and Julian to you I don’t know what will. Best friends to lovers is so my jam. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I cried reading this book for the first time when it originally came out. The purest of them all, like for real.

18. Daylight

“I don’t wanna think of anything else now that I thought of you.
I’ve been sleepin’ so long in a twenty-year dark night.
And now I see daylight (I see daylight).”

Book: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller.

I won’t cry writing this, I swear, but do you ever think about how Patroclus would always think about Achilles as daylight? As pure golden? Just by looking at his hair? Cause I do, like a lot. Do you ever think about how one morning he woke up to find his best friend was the light of his life? CAUSE I DO. Oh, my God, I said I was not going to cry. You all know the drill, you all know it’s tragedy, but what if now they will always have that daylight? Guys, I can’t.

Okay, we’re done for this album. Be sure I will make another one of these as soon as Taylor will bless us with another record. I hope you enjoyed this one, though.
Let me know if you agree with my picks.
Bye until next time.