I’ve been getting more and more into yoga recently, and I wanted to find a way to combine my newfound love for yoga with my love for books. I was going to create my own yoga tag, but I did a quick Google search to make sure it didn’t already exist—and it turns out that not only does it exist, there are actually two different versions created by different people!
The questions in the two versions are very different, but I thought they were both interesting, so I decided to combine them all into one post (though I left a couple of the prompts out). That’s why some of these will have multiple prompts, while some only have one (and also why this post might be very long). Credit goes to Heather from the BookTube channel The Minimalist Reader (who apparently doesn’t make videos anymore) and book blogger Lauren from Narrative Paradise for the questions.
Tadasana (Mountain Pose)
A book that empowered you / A book that you want to shout from the mountaintops
For a book that empowered me, I’m going with Little Do We Know by Tamara Ireland Stone. There are few, if any, book characters that I related to more than Hannah and Emory, our two perspective characters. I related to both of them, for different reasons. I read it over two years ago at this point, and it’s still stuck with me. It’s a book about friendship and love and figuring out what you believe, and watching these characters go through so much helped me feel more prepared to face my own struggles. Little Do We Know is just a beautiful novel.
I suppose I could also use it for the second prompt here, a book I would shout from the rooftops, but instead, I’m going to switch it up and say The Crown’s Game by Evelyn Skye. This book is the first in a YA historical fantasy duology set in Russia, and it follows our two main characters Vika and Nikolai. They are the country’s only two enchanters—but the thing is, there can only be one. This book follows the two of them as they compete in the Crown’s Game to become the tsar’s Imperial Enchanter, and only one of them will come out alive. The book is romance-heavy and a pretty trope-y in its romance, which is something I’m not usually into, but something about the chemistry between the two of them really drew me in. The book is beautiful, atmospheric, and heartbreaking—and I haven’t seen enough people talk about it.
Sukhasana (Easy Pose)
A book that centered you
For me, one of the best ways to calm down and center myself is to reread an old favorite, so while this pick isn’t particularly calming in terms of subject matter, I’m going with the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan. The Battle of the Labyrinth, the fourth book, is my favorite in the series, but they’re all wonderful, and every time I read them it feels like coming home.
Utkatasana (Chair Pose)
A book that made you uncomfortable / Your preferred reading position
My answer for the first prompt is a book I read recently: The Deep by Rivers Solomon. The book was okay overall, but there was one part with a detailed discussion of a merperson’s (in this book they’re called wajinru) sexual organs and how they went about having sex that I really didn’t need (and also didn’t serve much purpose for the plot, at least that I could tell).
For the second prompt, my favorite place to read is in bed, leaning against the headboard. I also occasionally read lying on my stomach, but I can’t stay there for long without getting a crick in my neck.
Garudasana (Eagle Pose)
A book that opened your mind
White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson. I read it last month as part of the Black Out Buddy Read, and I was shocked at how much about my own country’s history I didn’t know. I mean, I knew that racism has always been and still is a problem, but I didn’t realize just how deep it ran, and how much the American education system has hidden.
Savasana (Corpse Pose)
A book you gave up on / a palate cleanser
For the first prompt, Eon by Alison Goodman. I’ve tried to read this book a few times now, and every time I try, I end up putting it down after a few chapters and never picking it back up again. The writing style just doesn’t click with me at all; it’s really bland. It’s a shame because the book’s concept sounds super cool, and it seems like almost everyone likes it. I still have the book on my shelf, out of a vain hope that maybe the next time I try it, I’ll like it. But at this point, I should probably just cut my losses and get rid of it. Will I, though? Who knows.
Now, a book that’s a palate cleanser. For this, I need a book that’s lighthearted and fun, so I’m picking Save the Date by Morgan Matson. Obviously, no book in the world is completely devoid of emotional scenes. If a book is really nothing but fluff, no one will care enough to read it. But while Save the Date does deal with some more serious stuff, it’s mostly a lighthearted comedy about family as the youngest daughter in a big family frantically tries to prep for her sister’s wedding, and basically everything that can go wrong does. There’re hijinks, hints of romance, and family drama galore.
Vajrasana (Thunderbolt Pose/Diamond Pose)
A book that required your full attention
110% The Black Prism, the first book in the Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks. It’s an epic fantasy series, so you can probably guess that there’s a lot going on. The world in this book is complex, and the author’s method of delivering information and revealing plot twists is to reference them briefly and then not explain them until pages and pages later. It took a lot of getting used to, and honestly, even by the end of the book I still didn’t feel like I really understood everything. Which maybe just means I’m dumb.
Balasana (Child’s Pose)
A book you needed a break from / A book that makes you nostalgic for childhood
Honestly? The books in the Stormlight Archive books by Brandon Sanderson. Not because they were bad—they’re some of my favorite books of all time. They’re just all really long, over a thousand pages, and I needed to read them in bursts with breaks in between (except for the second book—for some reason I binge-read that one).
For a book that makes me nostalgic for childhood, I’m going to go with one of my favorite books from when I was a kid: Savvy by Ingrid Law. I’ve talked about this book before, but in case you don’t know, it’s about this girl named Mibs Beaumont (short for Mississippi). Mibs comes from a family where, when a member turns thirteen, they get a “savvy,” a supernatural power, like the ability to control the weather or turn invisible. Mibs’s own thirteenth birthday is fast approaching, but two days before the big day, the family gets a call: Mibs’s father has been in an accident. Mibs is convinced that her savvy is what will save her father, so she sneaks on a bus to hitch a ride to the hospital where her father waits. A wild adventure begins.
I haven’t read it in forever, but every time I look at it on my shelf, I have such fond memories of reading it when I was a kid.
Vrikshasana (Tree Pose)
A book that balanced genres, plot threads, or perspectives / How do you balance reading with responsibilities?
We’re gonna go with an easy choice for the first prompt and pick a book that’s told from multiple perspectives. Legend by Marie Lu is a good one for that, because it “balances” perspectives by alternating back and forth between the two POV characters. Also, the two characters come from wildly different backgrounds and so have very different perspectives on the world, especially at the beginning of the book. (See what I did there?)
For the second prompt, the short answer is that I don’t. Whenever my life gets busy and I have a whole bunch of real-life responsibilities to deal with, reading is one of the first things to go. Several times, I’ve tried to get myself into a habit of reading a little bit every day or at least reading regularly, but they have all mostly failed (I haven’t picked up a book in like two weeks at the time I’m writing this, so do with that information what you will). Sorry if you were looking for some advice to help you balance your own reading life.
Chaturanga Dandasana (Four-Limbed Staff Pose/Low Plank)
A book you are determined to finish / A book you powered through that made you stronger
Right now? The readings that I have to complete before my summer program starts. Those are really the only things on my mind.
As for a book I powered through that made me stronger, I’m not sure how to answer this question. I guess I’ll go with any of the books I’ve read for my French classes over the years. I’m still not that great at reading in French, but every book I push through helps me get a little closer to the level I want to be at.
Virabhadrasana (Warrior Pose)
Favorite protagonist
This question might be worse than asking what my favorite book is. I can’t pick just one, so instead, here’s a list of some of my faves:
Kaladin (from the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson)
Iseult det Midenzi (from the Witchlands series by Susan Dennard)
Vin (from Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson)
Percy Jackson (from Rick Riordan’s multiple Greek mythology-inspired series)
Cress (from the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer)
Charlie Grant (from Save the Date by Morgan Matson)
Anjaneyasana (Crescent Lunge)
Favorite time of day to read
I don’t really have a preference. Sometimes I read first thing in the morning, sometimes I read at night before I go to bed, sometimes I read in the middle of the day. It really just depends on how I’m feeling that day.
Hanumanasana (Monkey Pose/The Splits)
Book you read that was out of your comfort zone
A read a volume of manga recently—volume one of Fullmetal Alchemist—which was definitely out of my comfort zone. I keep intending to try to get into manga and graphic novels, but I still don’t read very many of them.
Vinyasa
Favorite read to flow through
I’m gonna be honest: I don’t really understand what this question is asking, but I’m going to interpret it as “what’s your favorite quick read?” For that, my answer is almost any old favorite that I’m rereading. I find that when I’m rereading books, especially middle grade books I loved as a kid, I tend to tear through them. And no matter how many times I’ve read them, I always enjoy them, and I always get something new out of them.
Kakasana (Crow Pose)
Book you complain about
The only book I can think of that I really complain about often is The Blood of Olympus, the final book in Rick Riordan’s Heroes of Olympus series. Without getting into any spoilers, let’s just say that among other problems I had with the book, the way the final battle was handled in that book was…not great, in my opinion (though it’s been a while since I read it—who knows, maybe my opinion would change if I read it again).
But I also complain about pretty much any book that had a great premise or a lot of great build-up, but the execution was not there for me. Some examples of that include Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman, Part of Your World by Liz Braswell, and the entire Poison Study trilogy by Maria V. Snyder (honestly, why I made myself read that whole series, I’ll never understand).
Vrischikasana (Scorpion Pose)
Book with a sting; deals with a difficult topic
Eliza and Her Monsters deals a lot with anxiety, as it’s about a girl named Eliza Mirk, who is shy and reserved in her real life, but online, she goes by the pseudonym LadyConstellation and is the creator of a hugely popular webcomic called Monstrous Sea. When her secret is accidentally revealed to the world, Eliza’s life takes a turn for the worse.
Whew! That was a long one! I hope you enjoyed. If you’re interested in doing this yourself, consider yourself tagged. Or, if you’d rather do a less extensive version, check out the original creators’ posts, which I linked at the beginning of the post, and pick which one you like best to do.
That’s all from me today. See you next time!
-Ariel