Category Archives: Blog Hops

March 12, 2019 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Standalone Books That Need a Sequel

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Last year, I wrote a (non-Top-Ten-Tuesday) post about books that need prequels. Today, I’ll be talking about some standalone books that need sequels. This list is shorter than usual because of how many authors and publishers are eager to publish sequels to stories that do well. There simply aren’t a lot of books that I wish had sequels. Hopefully, some of you will have longer lists.

1. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

While I loved the ending of this book, I couldn’t help but to hope we’d hear more from Starr again. The resolutions to her problems were incredibly realistic, but they also left a lot of room for speculating about how or if they might shift again in the future. What can I say? I wanted a happier ended than the one we got, and I’m still holding out home that it might happen someday. (The film is still on my to-be-watched list, so maybe it was different? Please don’t give me spoilers if they changed the ending!)

2. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Melinda, the main character, had been through something so awful she couldn’t even talk about it. I loved getting to know her sweet, creative personality and slowly uncovering the cause of her pain. She was a lovely person, and I sure would like to see what she was like a few years or decades after this terrible time in her life.

Skip the sentence below this paragraph if you want to avoid all spoilers. Keep reading if you prefer to know about potentially triggering subject matter ahead of time .

This book is about rape and the long-term traumatic effects of that crime. I was caught off-guard by that plot twist, so I feel obligated to let other potential readers know about it.

3. Bridge to Terabithia  by Katherine Paterson

The friendship between Jess (the main character) and his neighbour, Lesie is something I still think about to this day. While the ending to this tale was well done, I’d sure like to see what life was like for the characters decades later. There’s so much room for growth here.

4. Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman

Imagine what it would be like if your father tried to marry you off when you were fourteen! I was a kid when I read this book, so I knew very little about the cultural norms of the 1200s in Europe (or anywhere else for that matter). Birdy’s story is something that has stuck with me for years, and I’d love to find out what happened to her after the events of the final scenes.

5. 1984 by George Orwell

1984 was about a man living in a harsh, totalitarian society who tried to figure out a way to escape it. I had a lot of mixed feelings about the ending even though it fit the tone of this tale well. It would be so interesting to revisit this universe a few decades later to see what might have changed in it.

6. Coraline by Neil Gaiman

There were so many unanswered questions about the other flat Coraline discovered. How long has it existed? Why was it created? Will anyone else ever become endangered by it?

A sequel would be the perfect place to answer these questions.

What standalone books do you all wish would have sequels?

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March 6, 2019 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Favourite Hobby and Why

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

 I talk about my love of reading and writing all of the time this blog, so I’m going to branch out and talk about some of the other stuff in this world that makes me happy. Oh, and I’m bending the rules and talking about two different topics because it was impossible to pick between them.

Board, Video, and Role-Playing Games

If we were all sitting together in a room and didn’t have Internet access, I’d probably ask everyone if they wanted to play Clue, Scrabble, or Life. There’s something so relaxing to me about the simplicity and predictability of them. I see playing board games as a chance to bond with friends, so I’d much rather spend my time chatting between turns than trying to remember a complex set of rules.

When I was a kid, my favourite video game was Pharaoh. It was a city-building game set in various points of Egyptian history. I loved deciding where my characters should build a pyramid and planning out the designs of my cities.

These days, I spend my video game time building homes, digging mines, and fighting monsters in Minecraft. As long as no monsters sneak up on me while I’m working, it’s a very relaxing way to end a day.

A few months ago, I started playing Dungeons and Dragons occasionally, but I don’t know enough about that topic yet to go into much detail about it. It’s far more complicated than I ever would have imagined!

Why do I love games so much? Well, most of the ones I play ask you to use your imagination. There are very few things in this world that I find more interesting than needing to do that.

Fitness

I’m a weightlifter. It’s a form of exercise I first tried about four years ago, and it’s made me feel so good to grow stronger as a result of this hobby. I’m a short and petite woman, so every bit of strength I gain makes a huge difference in how I look, how I feel, and what I’m capable of doing.

Walking outdoors – preferably as close to nature as I can get to as a city person – is another fitness activity that I really enjoy. I originally tried to get into running, but I found that long, brisk walks were much more my speed. I like being able to take in my surroundings and notice that squirrel darting up a tree or a neighbour’s dog playing fetch in the distance.

Talking about this is making me very glad that spring is around the corner. I can’t wait to go to the park again.

Why do I love working out so much? Well, it makes me feel really good. I get an endorphin rush from cardiovascular exercise, and I really like the way weightlifting improves my life. There’s something thrilling about picking up a heavy laundry basket or bag of groceries and realizing that they feel a little lighter than they did the last time you needed to do that chore. It’s almost like gaining a superpower!

Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question. This is the list of upcoming prompts for this blog hop.

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March 5, 2019 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Characters I’d Like to Switch Places With

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

My list this week is going to include several characters from TV shows. All of these shows have had books or graphic novels written about them, though, so they still fit the criteria for Top Ten Tuesday.

1. Biff from Christopher Moore’s Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal.

I love the offbeat humour of Monty Python and Douglas Adams. Christopher Moore was an author I discovered when I went hunting for other examples of tongue-in-cheek storytelling, and his irreverent character Biff was the perfect fit for what I was looking for. It would be pretty amusing to see the world through Biff’s eyes for a day.

2. Buffy from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home and other graphic novels

Buffy wasn’t the first female superhero I ever watched or read about, but she has remained one of my favourite ones over the years. Unlike a lot of other superheroes, she had tight-knit relationships with her family, biological and chosen. I also loved the fact that she regularly dealt with problems that couldn’t be solved by super strength or fast healing. I’d sure be interested in finding out what it would be like to have those kinds of powers.

3. The Thirteenth Doctor Who

It wasn’t until I saw Jodie Whittaker’s take on the Doctor that I finally became a fan of this show. I love the creativity and practicality of the Thirteenth Doctor. Without giving away spoilers for those of you who haven’t seen her beginning yet, I was impressed with how good she was at getting herself out of a tough situation when she lost her sonic screwdriver. Her choice of companions has been top-notch so far, too, and I’d love to go on an adventure with them.

There is a graphic novel scheduled to be released about Doctor Who in May. I’m quite curious to read it.

4. Watson from the original Sherlock Holmes series

While Sherlock was a brilliant detective, I always found Watson more relatable because of his high emotional intelligence. He had impeccable manners and a desire to genuinely get to know others that I think would make him a very interesting person to switch places with.

Though this image is subject to copyright, its use is covered by the U.S. fair use laws because the image is used as the primary means of visual identification of the article topic.

5. Michael Burnham from Star Trek: Discovery novel.

Drastic Measures is the name of the first Star Trek novel about this show. Let’s see what I can tell you about Michael without giving away spoilers to anyone who hasn’t started Discovery yet. She’s an intelligent, hard-working woman who is excellent at reading and responding to other people’s emotions. I also love the fact that she is so quick to stick up for the underdog.

Also, who wouldn’t want to visit the Star Trek universe? That would be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

6. Jayne Cobb from the Firefly graphic novels

Firefly was another TV show that I was pretty sad to see end, but luckily it was given new life in the graphic novel format. This story followed a group of rag-tag space travellers as they visited various planets and tried to find enough paying customers to make their space flights at least somewhat profitable. Jayne was the mercenary of the group, but as we got to know him we discovered parts of his personality that you’d never expect to find in someone as tough and aggressive as he generally was.

I loved discovering the hidden parts of his life and think it would be quite interesting to see what else might be quietly going on with him.

7. The mysterious old woman from the traditional fairy tale, The Child Who Came from an Egg.

I’m guessing that a lot of you haven’t heard of this legend, so I included a link to a site where you can read it for free in the line above. The most interesting to me about the mysterious old woman is that we know nothing about her, including her name. She has powers that she uses for good, but where she came from and how she acquired those powers is a mystery. I’d love to be her long enough to figure out the answers to those questions.

(Someday I hope we’ll have a Top Ten Tuesday prompt that I can use to talk about nothing but fairy tales. I love this topic and will talk all of your ears off about it if Jana ever gives me the opportunity to do so. Ha!)

8. Yorick Brown from Y: The Last Man

The premise of Y: The Last Man is simple. After a worldwide plague kills off all of the men in the world except for a guy named Yorick, he must travel halfway across the world to make amends with his ex-girlfriend.

I’m fascinated by the thought of living in a world full of women, and I thought this series did a good job of showing how society might adapt to that sort of massive change.

9. Lyra Belacqua from Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy.

Lyra was such an inquisitive girl. There’s no doubt in my mind that temporarily being her would bring a lot of adventure my way.

10. Michonne from Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead graphic novels

Survivor is the first word I think of when I think of Michonne. She lived in an incredibly dangerous world, and yet she figured out ways to survive even the most dangerous situations without losing her humanity or will to survive. Without giving away spoilers, this is something that became pretty rare in this universe by the time I stopped reading the graphic novels.

I know that Rick Grimes is technically the main character of this story, but I’ve always felt like that honour should have been given to Michonne instead. She’s more than earned it.

What characters would you all like to switch places with?

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February 27, 2019 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Fictional Worlds I’d Rather Not Visit

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Now that you all know about the fictional places I would like to visit, it’s time to take the opposite approach to this question. Here is my list of places I’ve read about in stories but would never want to see for myself. To see how everyone else responded to this question, click here.

1. Neverland.

This world’s dark side was something to be reckoned with. As much as I’d like to meet (some of) the Lost Boys and get to know fairies, I’d have to give this trip a hard pass. It seems like there would be far too many ways for things to go terribly wrong during it.

2. The Town of Stepford from “The Stepford Wives.”

I’ve never read the book, but I somehow managed to start watching the movie version of this tale without realizing the twist ending. Figuring out why all of the women in Stepford were perfect was terrifying! I legitimately had a nightmare or two about the same thing happening to me that happened to them. (And I’m purposefully being a little vague here in case any of you aren’t familiar with this story).

So, no thank you. I’d never want to visit Stepford, not even for an afternoon.

3. Community.

More specifically, I’m referring to the seemingly-perfect place Jonas lived in Lois Lowry’s “The Giver.” She did an excellent job of making it sound like a utopia in the beginning, but the price people had to pay to live in a society where there was no hunger, war, or pain was far too steep for me.

4. Azkaban.

There are loads of places in the Harry Potter universe I’d love to visit. A prison filled with Death-Eaters is definitely not one of them.

5. Mordor. 

Honestly, why would anyone actually want to go to Mordor if they didn’t have to? Just reading the descriptions of this barren, volcanic wasteland in the Lord of the Rings was more than enough for me.

6. Anywhere in, near, or within shouting distance of Game of Thrones. 

I tried to read the first book in this series once. The first scene introduced characters who were then killed off a few pages later if my memory is correct. Based on what I’ve heard about the rest of this series, that is par for the course for this universe.

As much as I enjoy dragons and the fantasy genre in general, I truly wouldn’t want to visit a place where people die so regularly.

7. The Overlook Hotel. 

One of the first horror novels I ever read was Stephen King’s “The Shining.” Let’s just say that I’ve been a little frightened of hotels ever since then, especially when you’re walking down their corridors late at night and alone even if their architecture is beautiful.

I can’t wait to see how all of you answered this question! Here’s the list of upcoming prompts for anyone who is curious.

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February 26, 2019 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Places Mentioned in Books That I’d Like to Visit

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

One of the coolest things about this week’s prompt is how nicely it complements tomorrow’s prompt for the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge. Today I’m going to be talking about places mentioned in books that I would like to visit, and then tomorrow I’ll get to talk about fictional places I definitely would not want to visit.

I have a lot to say on this topic today. Oh, this is going to be fun!

1. Honeydukes, the sweets shop in Hogsmeade.

Honestly, what Harry Potter fan wouldn’t want to eat a chocolate frog or a sherbet lemon from that shop or one like it? Who knows what other magical treats have been introduced to the wizarding world in the last couple of decades.

Some of you might even be brave enough to try Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans. I tried the muggle version of it one time, and now I know what grass tastes like.

2. Wonderland. 

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland blew my mind when I was a kid. I loved all of the riddles she was given and how delightfully odd all of the creatures in that world were. This is a place I’d visit in a heartbeat, especially if I could bring a few snacks from Honeydukes with me.

3. Xavier’s Academy.

One of the things I like the most about the X-Men universe is how Xavier’s Academy is generally described in it. I get the impression it was a fairly casual and welcoming school where everyone was welcomed. I’d sure love to tour this facility.

4. The Hundred Acre Woods. 

I will never be too old to stop wishing that Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends were somehow real. Wouldn’t it be fun to go have an adventure with them for a day? Or, better yet, to take them on a tour of modern society?

5. Cair Paravel. 

If you want to see Narnia without being turned into a stone or otherwise vexed by certain antagonists, I’d argue that the best time to do so was when Cair Paravel was ruled by the Pevensie children. It would be incredible to have a conversation with the talking animals who lived back then and see what their world was like during those peaceful years.

6. Avonlea. 

I’m a lifelong fan of the Anne of Green Gables series. While I know it isn’t actually possible to meet the descendants of a fictional character, a small part of me would love to somehow be able to visit Avonlea. I’d hope to run into Anne Shirley’s descendants and hear what the younger generations have been up to since the last story was written about Anne and Gilbert’s lives in the early days of World War II.

7. Rivendell.

By far my favourite part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy were the numerous scenes that showed how the elves lived, especially since they spent so much of their lives doing things like eating delicious food and learning for the sheer joy of it. As much as I’d miss the Internet, I think being surrounded by the beauty and peace of an Elvish city would more than make up for it.

8. The Ingalls Homestead. 

Anyone reading this who has met me in real life is probably chuckling now. I both loved the Little House on the Prairie books and am arguably the least rugged person in Canada, if not all of North America. The thought of me living on a totally non-magical homestead that also obviously wouldn’t have any modern conveniences like air conditioning or wifi is, well, hilarious. I think I would last about half an hour there before trying to call an Uber to take me back to the comforts of city life and away from all of the mosquitoes and mud the Ingalls dealt with so often.

Still, though, I would enjoy that very short visit quite a bit. Laura Ingalls Wilder’s childhood definitely was an interesting one!

9. Avalon. 

For those of you who aren’t too familiar with the various legends of King Arthur, Avalon is the magical island where King Arthur was taken to recuperate after he was wounded in battle.

There was a book called “The Mists of Avalon” that came out a couple of decades ago that retold this legend from the perspective of his half-sister that described this island as an oasis for women. Ever since then, I’ve wished I could visit it for real.

10. Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. 

Have you all noticed the slightly sugary pattern in my answers yet? I’m trying to stick to a low-sugar diet in real life for health reasons, so maybe that’s part of the reason why I spend so much time dreaming about worlds where dietary restrictions aren’t a thing and where there are no negative consequences from eating sweets every day.

How many of these places would you also like to visit?

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February 20, 2019 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: What to Read to Learn About Canadian History

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

To the best of my knowledge, I’m currently the only Canadian who participates in the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge. (If I’m wrong about that, please do speak up!)  I thought it would be interesting to share some of my favourite books about our history with everyone else. Let’s begin with the serious titles and end with the lighthearted ones.

The Serious Titles

Check out these books if learning about history is a hobby of yours or if history was your favourite subject in school.

Canada: Canadian History: From Aboriginals to Modern Society – The People, Places and Events That Shaped The History of Canada and North America by William D. Willis.

The Blacks in Canada: A History, Second Edition by Robin W. Winks.

Your Country, My Country: A Unified History of the United States and Canada by Robert Bothwell.

Through Feminist Eyes: Essays On Canadian Women’s History by Joan Sangster.

On a Lighter Note

I regularly read nonfiction books about history, but they’re generally not about the sorts of topics you’d learn in a formal class on this topic. Instead, I tend to be drawn to descriptions of things like the food or social customs of people who weren’t wealthy or famous. There’s something incredibly interesting to me about learning about what the daily lives of ordinary people were like a few or many generations ago

The Donut: A Canadian History by Steve Penfold

What’s to Eat?: Entrées in Canadian Food History by Nathalie Cooke (Editor)

Snacks: A Canadian Food History by Janis Thiessen

Brew North: How Canadians Made Beer and Beer Made Canada by Ian Coutts.

Does anyone else here like to read about history? If so, what parts of it do you find most appealing?

 

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February 19, 2019 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Loved with Fewer Than 2,000 Ratings on Goodreads

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

It took a lot of digging for me to come up with enough books for this week’s list. I read several these titles when I was in high school or middle school. Many of the other titles are pretty far back in my already-read queue, too. So I sadly don’t remember specific details about what I loved about these books anymore or if I’d feel the same way about them today. All I know is that at some point I thought they were the bee’s knees. Now I’m wondering if I should give some of these titles a reread!

Since I can’t rightfully gush about any of them like I normally would for a Top Ten Tuesday post, I’ll tell you how many ratings they have on Goodreads instead. The list-maker in me insists on sharing them in order from the biggest to the smallest number of ratings.

1. The Eye of the Heron by Ursula K. LeGuin 

# of ratings on Goodreads as of February 7: 1688

2. The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Writings by Charlotte Perkins Gillman 

# of ratings on Goodreads as of February 7: 1520

3. The Margarets by Sheri S. Tepper. 

# of ratings on Goodreads as of February 7: 1512

4. Shame of Man (Geodyssey #2) by Piers Anthony

# of ratings on Goodreads as of February 7: 1057

5. The Meaning of Wife: A Provocative Look at Women and Marriage in the Twenty-First Century by Anne Kingston

# of ratings on Goodreads as of February 7: 1018

6. Collected Sonnets by Edna St. Vincent Millay 

# of ratings on Goodreads as of February 7: 858

7. Eutopia: A Novel of Terrible Optimism by David Nickel

# of ratings on Goodreads as of February 7: 728

8. Hope of Earth (Geodyssey #3) by Piers Anthony

# of ratings on Goodreads as of February 7: 698

9. The Dark Beyond the Stars by Frank M. Robinson 

# of ratings on Goodreads as of February 7: 61

10. Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community by Andrea Weiss

# of ratings on Goodreads as of February 7: 10

It will be interesting to see how many of you, if anyone, will share your lists beginning with the title that had the biggest number of Goodreads ratings and ending with the smallest one.

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February 13, 2019 · 1:00 am

Weekly Wednesday Blogging Challenge: Most Romantic Memory

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s Top Ten Tuesday post, I am not a very romantic person. For example, my wonderful spouse and I have been together for going on 15 years now, yet we have never once celebrated Valentine’s Day. It’s simply not a holiday that appeals to either of us.

So you might not be surprised to hear that my most romantic memory has nothing to do with chocolates, jewelry, roses, or whispering sweet nothings into anyone’s ears.

Instead, it’s about wisdom teeth and what happens after you’ve had all four of them extracted in the same surgery. Let’s just say that I was swollen, in pain, dreaming about bizarre things, and loopy from the medications I’d been prescribed for the recovery process. At one point, I was convinced that I’d just seen a terse news broadcast about how Canada had stolen Alaska from the United States and refused to give it back again.

So along with typical, post-surgical tasks like making sure I took my pills at the right time and had soft food to eat until the stitches in my mouth could be removed, my spouse got to have what must have been a pretty funny conversation with me about how our country would definitely be returning Alaska to the Americans. I was not convinced at first that our government was going to be willing to do that, but he reassured me that all would be well in North America the next time I woke up. And it was.

The rest of my memories from those first few days after that surgery are pretty hazy. As soon as the latest dose of medicine finally kicked in, I’d slip in and out of sleep for hours. When the meds started wearing off and the pain grew stronger, I’d wake up enough to eat or drink something. At one point, I do remember being spoon-fed applesauce. It was more delicious than any applesauce I’ve had before or since then. I was so grateful to not have to do complicated stuff like hold the spoon or guide it into my mouth without spilling.

Falling in love is amazing, but long term relationships are about so much more than the butterflies you feel in the beginning. I think it’s a beautiful, romantic thing when people take good care of their spouses/life partners every day of the year, especially when it involves eating applesauce and convincing Canada to give up her thieving ways. 😉

How about all of you?

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February 12, 2019 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Favourite Couples in Books

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

I’m not a romantic person in real life, and I don’t generally find myself that interested in romance novels or stories spend a lot of time talking about characters falling in love. (Y’all, how on Earth did I ever manage to get married? Ha!)

So this week’s list required some thought, and I was a little short of the full 10 books we were supposed to come up with once I finished it.  Honestly, I like it when blog hops make you think, though. It’s nice when you can automically come up with a dozen or more books to fit a Top Ten Tuesday theme, but there’s also something to be said for digging deeply to get one of these posts put together.

You’re going to see several friends-turned-lovers on today’s list. On the rare occasions that I get excited about a fictional romance, a friendship evolving into something more than that is often the biggest reason why I’m thrilled. Most of the people I’ve developed crushes on or fallen in love with have started out as friends first, so it’s always nice to see characters have that same wonderful experience.

1. Jo and Laurie from Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women.”

I really like it when characters who have similar personalities end up in flirtatious or romantic situations. Jo and Laurie not only acted a lot alike, they had some of the same flaws. That can be a good thing for certain couples! If you both struggle with the same bad habit, it can be easier to show empathy when your partner messes up in that area.

2. Alice and her partner in Claire Kann’s “Let’s Talk About Love.”

To the best of my knowledge, this was the first book about an asexual character I ever read. (I’m purposefully not mentioning her partner’s name for spoiler purposes). While there were parts of the plot I didn’t find so interesting, I was fascinated by the idea of someone having a romantic relationship without ever wanting to have sex with them. It’s not something that’s talked about very often in mainstream fiction, and I don’t know anyone in real life who is asexual to the best of my knowledge, so it’s nice to see an example of how these types of relationships work.

3. Ron and Hermione from the Harry Potter series. 

Most people seemed to think Hermione would end up with Harry. I personally assumed she’d end up with Ron’s wickedly intelligent older brother, Percy, because they were both so bookish in the very best sense of that term.

I do see the logic in Ron and Hermione ending up together, though, and I like the thought of them raising a couple of bright and probably terribly mischievous kids.

4. Annie and Liza from Nancy Garden’s “Annie on My Mind.”

There’s something about young love that’s always interesting to read. I developed crushes on others so rarely when I was in school that my dating history was almost non-existent until I was in my 20s. It was nice to read about girls who had a totally different adolescence than mine.

5. Anne and Gilbert from L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables series. 

I did not like the thought of Anne and Gilbert dating when they were teenagers because of how fiercely competitive they were, but my opinion changed once they’d both had a chance to grow up and experience life a little more. They were both smart, compassionate, and very kind. I don’t know about all of you, but I always cheer at the thought of these sorts of folks ending up together.

6.Valancy and her partner in L.M. Montgomery’s “The Blue Castle.”

Once again, I can’t say who the main character ended up with for spoiler reasons, but I thought Valancy and her lover made a wonderful couple. Valancy’s life had been so drab, strictly controlled, and sometimes even peppered with emotional abuse when we first met her that this twist in her fate was a true breath of fresh air.

7. Josh and Emma from Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler’s “The Future of Us.”

Imagine getting glimpses of your possible futures through the Internet! I loved this premise just as much as I did trying to figure out if these two friends were actually going to one day end up together. The fact that it was set in the 90’s only made it better. There haven’t been too many contemporary stories set in that decade yet, so I’m happy whenever I find one.

8. Jane and Mr. Rochester from Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre.” 

The romantic subplot wasn’t one I knew about in advance because I read this book on my own for the sheer joy of it instead of  for a class assignment. Due to this, Jane’s relationship with Mr. Rochester came as a huge surprise to me. Her neglectful childhood was oddly a nice match for all of the troubles Mr. Rochester had been through. I hope they’d find some happiness in each other after all of the hard times they’d both know. There’s something so emotionally satisfying about that, don’t you think?

9. Ennis and Jack from Annie Proulx’s “Brokeback Mountain.”

I saw the film version of this tale long before reading the short story it was based on. Ennis and Jack’s gruff and pragmatic personalities worked so well together. They were perfect for each other. If only they’d live in a time and place where it was easier for two people of the same gender to share a life together.

What would you recommend I add to my list to bring it to up to 10 books? I tried so hard to think of one final couple, but I just couldn’t do it.

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February 6, 2019 · 1:00 am

Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Favorite Movies of All Time and Why

Hosted by Long and Short Reviews.

Oh, this week’s topic is a tough one. How can I possible narrow it down to a list that won’t take half an hour to read? I think I’m going to accomplish that goal by choosing films off the top of my head that I’ve already seen multiple times and would happily rewatch over and over again in the future. There is something to be said for enjoying a film as much the fifth or tenth time you’ve seen it as you did the very first.

  • The Princess Bride
  • The Matrix
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
  • The Babadook
  • Pan’s Labyrinth
  • Dead Poets Society
  • The Wizard of Oz
  • Selma

I find it interesting that Selma is the only piece of nonfiction on this list. Normally, I watch a lot of documentaries and films based on historical events, but this was the only one from those genres I could think of that I’ve watched over and over again without wanting to move on and see something else. There is something about the battle for civil rights in the 1960s that always feels relevant and timely to me.

Dead Poets Society originally struck my fancy because I was pretty young when I first watched it and it showed me a side of being wealthy that i’d never considered before. Not everyone who has access to wealth and power also has love or attention from their parents and other relatives.  Money can do a lot of things for other parts of your life, but it can’t make up for emotional neglect or growing up knowing you were unwanted.

The rest of the titles on this list are among the best that the (modern-ish) science fiction and fantasy genres have to offer. I’d happily show any or all of them to someone who was curious about these genres and wanted to learn more about them.

How did you decide what to put on your lists? Did any of the titles I select make your cuts?

I’ll end this post with a stock photo that reminds me of The Matrix and makes me want to rewatch that film right this second:

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