{"id":2783,"date":"2023-05-29T14:47:35","date_gmt":"2023-05-29T18:47:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.library.mcgill.ca\/hsslibrary\/?p=2783"},"modified":"2023-05-29T14:47:35","modified_gmt":"2023-05-29T18:47:35","slug":"the-eras-tour-a-taylor-swift-retrospective-in-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.mcgill.ca\/hsslibrary\/the-eras-tour-a-taylor-swift-retrospective-in-books\/","title":{"rendered":"The Eras Tour: a Taylor Swift Retrospective in Books"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Written by Marianne Lezeau<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In honour of The Eras Tour ™, here is a retrospective of Taylor Swift\u2019s discography through books, one for each album. Taylor Swift is known for storytelling in her music, for creating narratives and being inspired by literature (The Great Gatsby<\/em>! Pride and Prejudice<\/em>! Romeo and Juliet<\/em>!). What better way to celebrate that than to select some items from our catalogue that reflect her discography\u2019s vibes?<\/p>\n\n\n

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Taylor Swift (Debut): <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

An album that is about discovering yourself and being on the cusp of adulthood, while still being a child. This album, to me, sounds like Stardust,<\/em> by the one and only Neil Gaiman. It\u2019s a twist on fairy tales \u2013 a fantasy novel for when you\u2019re too old for the Grimms brothers, but you still want to read about love, loyalty, and magic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Featured quote: <\/em><\/strong>\u201cAnyone who believes what a cat tells him deserves all he gets.\u201d
<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Listen to: <\/em><\/strong>Mary\u2019s Song (Oh My My My).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fearless (Taylor\u2019s Version): <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Fearless \u00a0is about running into things headfirst, the euphoria and pain of growing up, and discovering what you want from love and life. That\u2019s what The Sun is Also a Star<\/em>, by Nicola Yoon, is all about. It\u2019s the story of a single day in a big city, with two lives overflowing into each other and the steady sense of time running out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Featured quote:<\/em><\/strong> \u201cI don’t believe in love.”
“It’s not a religion,” he says. “It exists whether you believe in it or not.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Listen to: Jump then Fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speak Now:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This album is a dreamy, escapist fantasy about past, present and future: what maybe happened, what could be happening now, and what could maybe happen tomorrow. Dreamy escapist fantasies are a dime a dozen, it\u2019s true, but one of the best is The Night Circus<\/em>, by Erin Morgenstern. It\u2019s a story about stories, dreams, swirling music and tragically beautiful encounters. When you finish it, you\u2019ll never look at a red scarf in the same way again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Featured quote:<\/em><\/strong> \u201cand there are never really endings, happy or otherwise. Things keep going on, they overlap and blur, your story is part of your sister’s story is part of many other stories, and there is no telling where any of them may lead.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Listen to: Enchanted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Red (Taylor\u2019s Version):<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Red is the coming-of-age album, the one with the heartbreak and the exhilaration and the rollercoaster of emotions. Normal People<\/em>, by Sally Rooney, is that ordinary heartbreak that you feel when you\u2019re stuck in a rut of the same mistakes, over and over again \u2013 but hoping for the best, and working towards it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Featured quote:<\/em><\/strong> \u201c… the snow keeps falling, like a ceaseless repetition of the same infinitesimally small mistake.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Listen to: All Too Well (10 min version)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1989:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This album is chaotic young adulthood in a nutshell. It\u2019s the feeling of being under pressure but at the top of the world, living it up in a big city. The City We Became<\/em>, by NK Jemisin, is a similarly fast-paced urban fantasy novel, full of Lovecraftian horror and a found family trope to warm your heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Featured quote:<\/em><\/strong> \u201cthese people are always gonna tell themselves that a little fascism is okay as long as they can still get unlimited drinks with brunch!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Listen to: \u201cOut of the Woods\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reputation: <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Rep is angry, sarcastic, and vengeful. It\u2019s also about stepping into your own power, and learning to let yourself love after being hurt. Both of those conflicting directions permeate The Count of Monte Cristo<\/em>, by Alexandre Dumas, a massive adventure epic about betrayal, hope, revenge, and mercy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Featured quote:<\/em><\/strong> \u201cLife is a storm, my young friend. You will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes. You must look into that storm and shout as you did in Rome. Do your worst, for I will do mine! Then the fates will know you as we know you\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Listen to: I Did Something Bad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lover:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s about love (surprise!), about adulthood, fighting for peace and being afraid of losing it. The Priory of the Orange Tree,<\/em> by Samantha Shannon, is also a massive epic that has all of these themes and more. War! Sapphics! Witchcraft! Friendship! Dragons!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Featured quote:<\/em><\/strong> \u201cMy evening star. If the sun burned out tomorrow, your flame would light the world.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Listen to: The Archer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Folklore:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The first part of the pandemic, full of cottagecore warmth, whimsy, and fantasies about escaping into nature. The Anne of Green Gables<\/em> series, by LM Montgomery, is an escapist and comforting read about found family in the countryside, and a young girl dreaming big.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Featured quote:<\/em><\/strong> \u201cDear old world’, she murmured, ‘you are very lovely, and I am glad to be alive in you.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Listen to: Seven<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evermore:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The second half of the pandemic, once we all got cabin fever. If I had to put a label on it, it would be sad, yearning, dark academia.\u00a0 It pairs perfectly with rainy days and On Earch We\u2019re Briefly Gorgeous<\/em>, by Ocean Vuong; a devastatingly beautiful work that covers trauma, class and racial dynamics and asks what it means to look for joy and healing in darkness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Featured quote:<\/em><\/strong> \u201cIn Vietnamese, the word for missing someone and remembering them is the same: nh\u1edb. Sometimes, when you ask me over the phone, C\u00f3 nh\u1edb m\u1eb9 kh\u00f4ng? I flinch, thinking you meant, Do you remember me?
I miss you more than I remember you.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Listen to: Tolerate It.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Midnights:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A retrospective montage about trying to find closure and ascribe different meanings to our past. In the same vein, The Midnight Library<\/em> by Matt Haig is a short read that combines a slice-of-life style, the multiverse, and all the ways in which our small daily decisions combine to make our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Featured quote:<\/em><\/strong> \u201cIs happiness the aim?”
“I don’t know. I suppose I want my life to mean something. I want to do something good,\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Listen to: \u201cWould Have, Could Have, Should Have\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Written by Marianne Lezeau In honour of The Eras Tour ™, here is a retrospective of Taylor Swift\u2019s discography through books, one for each album. Taylor Swift is known for storytelling in her music, for creating narratives and being inspired … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1151,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[383,178,382,130,69,70,194,98,179,380],"class_list":["post-2783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-displays","tag-eras-tour","tag-hssl","tag-libby","tag-library","tag-mcgill","tag-mcgill-library","tag-mcgill-university","tag-mclennan-library","tag-redpath-library","tag-taylor-swift"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.mcgill.ca\/hsslibrary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.mcgill.ca\/hsslibrary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.mcgill.ca\/hsslibrary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.mcgill.ca\/hsslibrary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1151"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.mcgill.ca\/hsslibrary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2783"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.mcgill.ca\/hsslibrary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2815,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.mcgill.ca\/hsslibrary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2783\/revisions\/2815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.mcgill.ca\/hsslibrary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.mcgill.ca\/hsslibrary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.mcgill.ca\/hsslibrary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}