Features | Taylor Swift Book Recs
To celebrate the release of Taylor Swift's newest album (and because I will take any excuse to recommend books to you, dear readers) I am going to recommend an excellent book that I'm sure you'll love based only on your favourite T. Swift album. So take a quick pause from listening to Taylor's new songs and scroll down to find your favourite album and your new favourite book.
Taylor Swift - Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Just a boy in a Chevy truck
That had a tendency of gettin' stuck
On back roads at night
And I was right there beside him all summer long
And then the time we woke up to find that summer gone
If the sweet romanticism and young heartbreak of Taylor Swift makes Taylor's debut your favourite of her albums, I recommend Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. Benjamin Alire Sáenz's novel about two teenage boys grappling with identity, friendship, love, and growing up, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is every bit as lyrical and optimistic as Taylor's earliest work.
Fearless - Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
'Cause I can't help it if you look like an angel
Can't help it if I wanna kiss you in the rain
So come feel this magic I've been feeling since I met you
Can't help it if there's no one else
I can't help myself
If the more confident Fearless is your favourite album then I recommend Anna and the French Kiss. Anna's love story with Étienne (and with Paris) is as full of romance, jealousy, and occasional teenage melancholy as this album. Just like Fearless, Anna and the French Kiss is upbeat and fun but doesn't completely do away with the inevitable heartbreak of being young and in love.
Speak Now - To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han
Do you remember, we were sitting there by the water?
You put your arm around me for the first time
You made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter
You are the best thing that's ever been mine
Just like Speak Now, Jenny Han's To All the Boys I've Loved Before trilogy is all about young love, growing up, and drama the protagonist never wanted. If Speak Now is your favourite Taylor album I'm sure you'll enjoy the sweet, joyful story of Lara Jean dealing with her sisters, high school, and finding love in the most unexpected way.
Red - Just One Day by Gayle Forman
All I knew this morning when I woke
Is I know something now, know something now I didn't before
And all I've seen since eighteen hours ago
Is green eyes and freckles and your smile
In the back of my mind
Moving into pop territory but with one foot still firmly in the country music world, if the more mature and quietly experimental Red is your favourite era of Swift then I recommend Gayle Forman's Just One Day. Just One Day has all the same vibes of a young girl on the cusp of adulthood, figuring out who she is, and how, or if, her new experiences can fit into her old world.
1989 - The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith
Everybody here
Wanted something more
Searching for a sound we hadn't
Heard before
And if Taylor's total shedding of her country roots in 1989 means this is your favourite album, try The Geography of You and Me. Starting in New York, just like 1989, but taking the characters and the reader to all sorts of different places, The Geography of You and Me has the same feeling of exploration and discovery that is infused in every track of 1989.
Okay, you can go back to listening to the new album now.
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