Studio Ghibli Book Tag

Hello bookish friends! I hope you are having a wonderful Thursday. It’s almost the weekend. Cheer Up! For today’s tag I went searching through the interwebs and found a Studio Ghibli Tag!!!!! Now I don’t know who the originator of this tag was, but I watched Spiccy Cullen. Warning though, it’s all in Japanese. I actually had to pull out my good ole google translate for the questions. And then I added a few because two of my favorites weren’t in the original ten questions.  But I’m so excited to do this tag because I LOVE Studio Ghibli. After I answer the book part of the question I’ll mention if I loved , liked, or haven’t seen the movie. Let’s begin.

1. Castle in the Sky: A book that speaks of an exciting and wonderful journey.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien is about a wonderful adventure that I can never get enough of. Whether it’s watching the movies or rereading the book, this fantasy novel makes me laugh and warms my heart. In case you live under a rock, The Hobbit is about a hobbit who gets roped into leaving his home and going on an adventure with thirteen dwarves and a wizard. They trek into the heart of the mountain to get the dwarves’ land back. Great book. Highly recommend.

I loved this movie. So cute and adorable.

2. Grave of Fireflies: A book that left you shaken and emotional

The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks. If you’ve ever read one of his books you know that someone always dies at the end. He basically writes tragedy porn. When I used to be into that sort of thing, The Guardians had me sobbing. Because it was the first time the love interest didn’t die. Oh No. The main character’s dogs die protecting him. Look authors… You can kill any person you want. But you can’t kill the animals. It hurts me!

I actually haven’t seen this one yet. But I do have it in my Studio Ghibli collection I recently received.

3. Kiki’s Delivery Service: A book with a particularly courageous female lead

Miera from Snow Like Ashes is pretty courageous. She does what ever needs to be done to protect her country Winter and fight for what is right.  This is about a land that is split into countries based on seasons. Due to a magical incident, each country only has one season. Our main character is from Winter, which was attacked and lost all their power. Now this band of rebels, the last Winterians left must make an allegiance or lose all that is left of their beloved country. But Meira won’t go down without a fight. Love this book!

I liked this movie. Compared to the hype I didn’t love it. I’m not really sure why.

4. Spirited Away: A book set in a space time parallel to ours

A Treachery of Beautiful Things by Ruth Frances Long. This is about a girl whose brother was taken by the trees. Years later she visits that same forest to say goodbye and instead is lured into the forest. She sets out on this adventure to find her brother and bring him home. The forest has other ideas however. It was pretty good and definitely weird.

This movie was also pretty good and yet weird. I did love it though.

5. Howl’s Moving Castle: A book full of magic

The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco. This is about a girl who finds out she has the magic of necromancy when she accidentally raises her brother from the dead. I won’t lie this book is mostly world building and setting the story up. But the characters were pretty cool in my opinion and I’m excited for the next book when the action can move forward.

This was my first Studio Ghibli movie. So it holds a special place in my heart. Loved it!

6. Tales from Earthsea: A book that had high expectations and let you down.

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare. Everyone goes on and on about how great this series is. And since I finished The Mortal Instruments I had to try it out. Well book one fell completely flat for me. I thought Tessa was boring. Will was annoying. And Jessamine needed a punch in the face. I was basically reading for Jem. Thank goodness book two was better. Another series you probably know all about. But just in case, it’s a steampunk novel about Jane Austen’s London. Tessa Gray finds out she has the power to shapeshift and is taken in by the shadow hunters of London while they search for her brother.

I’ve never seen this particular movie. Though I own a copy of the book and mean to read it.

7..Ponyo: A book from your childhood that you cannot NOT reread

I don’t have a lot of time to reread books. But I’ve mentioned before that I used to reread The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton frequently in high school. As an adult I reread the children’s books my parents read to me frequently. My favorite is You Are Special by Max Lucado.

Little Mermaid retelling? Of course I’m going to like this movie. Super cute.

8. From Up On Poppy Hill: A book full of mystery and love

The May Queen Murders by Sarah Jude. I went with the literal definition of mystery and picked a YA Mystery Thriller that I loved. It is full of these urban legend vibes. And the love story within is sweet. It’s about this group of people that live in community with a small town who live off the grid. If you can’t make it yourself, grow it, or recycle it then they don’t use it. The main character’s cousin goes missing and it causes a witch hunt within the community. Super good.

I have never seen this movie either but my husband recently got it for me. So I need to get on that.

9. The Wind Rises: A book with a protagonist with a drawer full of dreams

How could I NOT pick Rhys from the A Court of Thorns and Roses series. He’s literally from the Court of Dreams. He dreams of world where humans and lesser fae aren’t belittled and abused by high fae. He dreams of a world filled with music, art, and good food. He’s a dreamer. This is a series about a human girl who falls in with the fae and must fight to protect her people.

I haven’t seen this movie either but it’s because my brother’s selling point was, “It’s so sad!” And I hate when you want me to watch something BECAUSE it’s sad. Nope.

10. When Marnie Was There: a book that talks about a special friendship

Truthwitch by Susan Dennard has one of my favorite female female friendships in it. Safiya and Isuelt are thread sisters. Their bond is deeper than just friends. They would do anything for the other. Truthwitch is about what happens after one of Safi and Isuelt’s schemes goes terribly wrong. Great book!

I liked this movie alot. I guessed the ending. But it was still really heart warming.

11. My Neighbor Totoro: A good “haunted house” story

My favorite haunted house series is the Mediator series by Meg Cabot. It’s about a girl named Suze who finds out she can talk to ghosts. Her job as mediator is to help them move on, whether they like it or not. It’s very early 2000’s. But I loved this series.

I thought this movie was cute. I can’t help it. I love Totoro.

12. Whispers of the Heart: A geeky love story you can’t get enough of

There are quite a few to choose from. I think I’m going to go with Elle and Car from Geekerella by Ashley Poston. I loved this modern day retelling of Cinderlla complete with geeky shoutouts and references. This book made me smile from open to close. And I can’t stop blabbing about it.

I thought this movie was very cute and I really liked it.

13. Princess Monoke: A book with a great plot but brutal/bloody imagery

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir. This book has such an interesting plot and great world building. But part of that great world building was talking about the brutality of the warriors. One of the main characters is abused and beaten. The bloodshed is described vividly. For me personally it was hard to read. An Ember in the Ashes is a fantasy world similar to ancient Rome. Laia is a slave. And Elias is a warrior. They’re worlds intertwine as they both work towards escaping.

I’ve never seen this movie and don’t plan to watch it because I can’t handle a lot of blood and brutality.

14. The Cat Returns: A story with a talking animal/creature

One of my favorite middle grade series is The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia Wrede. Talking Dragons. Need I say more?? It’s about a princess named Cimerone who doesn’t want to be ladylike. She’d rather be outdoors running around. One day she meets a talking dragon and adventures ensue.

This movie was cute and funny and I loved it.

I hope you guys liked this tag and maybe a few of you will do it on your own blogs. Let me know in the comments down below what your favorite Studio Ghibli movies are. Hope you’re having a thrilling Thursday! TTYL TTFN