Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
Thank you to Cathy @ WhatCathyReadNext for submitting these theme! While my list of favourite books always evolves over time, these are titles that I enjoyed reading and still think about quite often.
Since TTT bloggers don’t always all share the same taste, I’ll briefly describe why I love all of these stories as well.
1. The Deep by Rivers Solomon
The world building in this novella was exquisite, but I can’t say much else about it without sharing spoilers. All you need to know going in is that mermaids exist in this universe and have very little in common with Ariel.
2.The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
There were so many fantastic subplots included here about topics like emotional abuse, the harm of strict gender roles, learning how to stand up for yourself, living with a chronic illness, etc. that this is something I tend to reread every year or two. I’d particularly recommend to people who are like me and generally don’t read much romance because while falling in love was part of the story, it was not at all the entirety of it.
3. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
Ms. Waters made her name writing lesbian romance novels, so some fans were disappointed to see her step away from that genre when The Little Stranger came out. I thought she did an excellent job of branching out and trying something new with this mystery that may or may not include paranormal elements depending on how you interpret certain scenes.
I love it when authors take risks with their work like this.
4.Remote Control by Nnedi Okorafor
This novella had excellent character development and would make an amazing film. Once again, I can’t share anything else for spoiler reasons or I’d be gushing with admiration for the protagonist.
5. Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy
The mystery and science fiction genres meld together in this novel about a woman who is either time travelling to save the future or who is having strong hallucinations while being treated by doctors who may be subconsciously allowing their sexist and racist beliefs to cloud their judgement.
I’ve had pretty good experiences with the medical establishment for the most part, but there have been a few times when I wondered if my symptoms weren’t being taken seriously due to my sex, disability, and/or sexual orientation. It can be hard to tell what’s actually going on in certain situations, especially given how overworked doctors and nurses often are, and I thought it was interesting that this ambiguity was explored so thoroughly in this book.
6. A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot, #1) by Becky Chambers
This is the epitome of a comfort read if you ask me. It’s such a peaceful and utopian setting.
7. A Thousand Mornings: Poems by Mary Oliver
Honestly, all of Ms. Oliver’s poetry is wonderful, especially for people who struggle to understand this genre. She had such a thoughtful and accessible writing style that anyone who has ever stepped foot into nature and liked it has a good chance of relating to something she wrote.
8.The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate Moore
This is a sobering story about corporate greed, the abuse of low-income workers, and how a few brave young women spoke out to improve things for future generations.
9.The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
I adored the magical realism in this book as well as the 1920s retelling of an old Russian fairy tale. It was creative and bittersweet.
10.Foster by Claire Keegan
This reads like a story a grandmother might tell her grandchildren about what life was like generations ago. I desperately want a sequel for it.
Learn to Solve an Integral (A Calculus Parody of One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful”)
Since you can’t do that, I’m going to give two answers.
This is what a typical day in my life looks like not counting the usual stuff like making breakfast or checking the mail:
I’ve read that public figures of all sorts were traditionally taught how to speak to the media early on in their careers. As in, shortly before they were signed to a record label, decided to run for office, chosen as a new player for a sports team, had their book approved for publication, or experienced something similarly life changing, they were given lessons on how to talk to reporters and how to steer a conversation away from matters they’d rather not discuss.
I’ve talked about living with a food allergy previously on my blog, so the topic I’m picking for this week’s prompt is migraines.