The 12 Days of Christmas Book Tag

I saw this fun, seasonal Book Tag from Ruth @ A Great Book Study and straight away wanted to have a try. The aim is to match each of the gifts from 'my true love' with a suitable book. Here goes. 

1) A Partridge in a Pear Tree - Book that involves Agriculture

Anna Karenina! I'm thinking of the scene in which the wealthy young land-owner, Konstantin Levin, really wants to help mow his own grass for the satisfaction of a job well done. He gets down and dirty with his hired peasants, who laugh at him for bothering, as do his fellow gentry friends. But Levin doesn't care, since the appeal of the great outdoors and using his muscles is so strong for him.

2) Turtle Doves - Book about a long-lasting relationship.

I'll choose West From Home by Laura Ingalls Wilder for this one, but we must draw from her whole Little House series for the full effect. Laura and Almanzo go through so many hardships, and experience far more downs than ups, yet they stick together through thick and thin and live well into their nineties. These books are always a pleasure to read.

3) French Hens - Book that takes place in France.

I highly recommend Little by Edward Carey. It's an amazingly creative novel in which Marie Curie of waxworks fame tells her own life story, and brings the crazy days of revolutionary Paris to life. 

4) Calling Birds - Book where people talk on the phone.

OK, it's James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small series about those awesome Yorkshire vets. I'm thinking specifically of the hilarious incidents when Tristan keeps phone-pranking James, imitating local farmers with horrendous jobs that urgently need to be done. But James gets back at him in a vulnerable moment with the phone prank to beat all that came before.

5) Golden Rings - Book with multiple romances.

Jane Austen's Emma! There are many perfectly unexpected pairings by the time we turn the final page, and none are the matches Emma Woodhouse initially expects, least of all her own. I approve of Emma and Knightley, and also Frank and Jane, but most of all I'm glad about Harriet and Robert Martin. I'm also pleased that smarmy Mr Elton gets the woman he truly deserves. 

6) Geese a Laying - Book with a birth or featuring babies.

It's fresh on my mind because I re-read it just recently. Anne's House of Dreams, by Lucy Maud Montgomery. It's the book in which Anne and Gilbert finally get married. After the heartache of losing their first baby, they welcome a healthy son, little Jem, into their family. His birth takes place toward the end of the story, which makes a wonderful, uplifting culmination to the novel. 

7) Swans a Swimming - Book where someone goes swimming.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It's that second task of the Triwizard Tournament where the competitors have to retrieve something of great value from the bottom of the Hogwarts Lake. Harry, Cedric, Fleur and Krum must all get their thinking caps on to figure out how to do their best and most effective swim. And Harry's use of gillyweed is quite ingenius, even though he doesn't come up with it alone. Harry rarely does, and we discover why. 

8) Maids a Milking - Book with cows.

 Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons. The Starkadder cows are like extensions of the family, especially because their names suit the grim, melancholic tone of the place. They are Feckless, Graceless, Pointless and Aimless, not to mention the bull, Big Business. 

9) Ladies Dancing - Book with a Dance Scene.

I'm going to draw from the brilliant Jane Austen again, with Pride and Prejudice this time. It's the ballroom scene that sets off a whole lot of friction, when Elizabeth overhears grumpy Mr Darcy refusing to dance with her, because she's not pretty enough to suit him. What a face palm. I would have taken at least as long as Elizabeth to forgive him for that. 

10) Lords a Leaping - Book with Athletes.

I hope it's not a cop-out to go with the Harry Potter series again, and all the wonderful quidditch playing. It was quite as exciting to read about the Quidditch World Cup at the start of The Goblet of Fire as it must have been to actually attend. Harry becomes quite a champion seeker himself throughout the series, and deserves a mention.

11) Pipers Piping - Book with Someone Playing a Musical Instrument.

I'll highlight the work of Louisa May Alcott this time. When Jo March and Professor Bhaer get married, they open a school for boys. One of their students is an orphan named Nat Blake who has a great gift playing the violin. Throughout Little Men and Jo's Boys, they are able to help him hone his skills and make his way in the world as a musician. 

12) Drummers Drumming - Book with Characters in the Military. 

My first impulse is to choose Rilla of Ingleside when Anne and Gilbert's sons go off to fight in World War One. But there's enough doubling up, so I'll go with Vanity Fair, in which the main men of the story, George Osborne, William Dobbin and Rawdon Crawley are all brave soldiers fighting in the Napoleonic War. (See what I did there, squeezing in two for the price of one.)   

There we have it. I'd love for anyone else to take up the baton, so I can read your answers. Please let me know if you do in the comments. And I wish you all a blessed and merry Christmas.