Ugh, this is later than I wanted it to be. Oh well, this week is always busier than normal for me, because of the holiday and all. But I’m still doing it. Here we go – the books I’m thankful for! (Edit: I scheduled this post wrong. I have to pay more attention when I’m doing that – or maybe I just shouldn’t do it when I’m so tired I feel like crashing, haha. I fixed it now.)

If you’ve been following me for a while, you might know that I’m a huge Legend of Zelda fan. But for those who don’t know, I’m a huge Legend of Zelda fan. It’s one of my favorite things ever, and it’s probably one of the bigger reasons why I’m a fantasy fan, among other things. I actually did a post about Zelda a couple of years ago, the day before Tears of the Kingdom came out. Zelda is also special to me this time of the year in particular, because one of my earliest and most profound memories with it was watching my cousin play a little bit of Twilight Princess on Thanksgiving in 2006.

Now part of the reason this is late is because I wasn’t sure what Zelda books I wanted to do this year and what Zelda books I wanted to do next year. Just because there are too many, and they can also be easily divided into categories. It was between what you see here or the Zelda manga, and seeing as I haven’t read all of the manga yet (even though I own all of it), I decided I’d save that one for next year. And I really wanted to do a Books I’m Thankful For post regarding Zelda stuff next year in particular because the Legend of Zelda series’ 40th anniversary is next year. I thought it would be nice and stuff.

Anyway, I love Zelda – I’m not sure if I’ve been clear enough about that or not, lol. And I really like the literature involved with it as well. All of it – to be clear! – but I’m only gonna focus on the strategy guides, and the lore and art books this year. (I’ll do the manga next year – promise!)

Regarding the strategy guides… Well, they were basically my first exposure to the “literature” side of the Zelda series. I got the strategy guide for Twilight Princess for Christmas in 2007 from my grandmother, who noticed that I was really fixated on the game, which had come out the year before. I treasure it greatly, because my grandma was very precious to me. Not just because Twilight Princess was and is my favorite game in the series, haha. But it was an incredibly memorable gift, and one I read more than once, even though I was already on my way to having the game memorized.

But that sparked an interest in me. And a few weeks later, I acquired a strategy guide for Phantom Hourglass from Best Buy. And years later, I bought the rest of the set myself. Seeing those books and their different colored spines is always so nice, and I’m glad I finally have them all. (Except for maybe one. I might be missing one strategy guide. But if I am it didn’t come with the set so that’s why. And I’m gonna correct it eventually if I am.)

And these guides are what got me hooked on the extra stuff in the Legend of Zelda. So when the Hyrule Historia came out for the 25th anniversary, you better believe I was all over that… translation. Yeah, they didn’t release that one in the west right away – we had to wait like a year for that. But in 2013 I did get a copy, and I adored it. The lore it added and/or confirmed was amazing. And it was just so cool in general.

And in the years after Art & Artifacts and the Zelda Encyclopedia released, and I got ahold of those immediately as they came out. They were just as awesome, even if the Encyclopedia did outright contradict or retcon a few things. (Art & Artifacts just has art and stuff – it’s really cool and very inoffensive noncontributory. I don’t think anyone has any problems with it.) I love seeing the green, red, and blue spines all lined up together. It’s beautiful.

So yeah, these are the books that I love, that I’m thankful for, that have had an impact on me, and that I’m gonna gush about this year for Thanksgiving. Also, it’s a bit late (again), but Happy Thanksgiving 🦃🥧 to everyone and anyone who celebrates it! I hope you all enjoyed good food with the ones you love.

What books are you thankful for? What are your favorite novels?

Thank you for reading. I’m always so thankful that anyone reads or follows my little blog at all. I hope you have a wonderful day/night!

See ya ~Mar