Tag Archives: Top Ten Tuesday

April 25, 2023 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Audiobook Narrators I’d Love to Listen To

A white pair of headphones that have had their two ear pieces placed on either side of a blue hardback book. The plug in the headphones has been tucked between the book’s pages as if to magically absorb their words and turn them into an audiobook. It made me chuckle. I can’t say that I think about audiobook narrators too much when I’m listening to stories. So long as I can understand what they’re saying and they inflect appropriate emotions into a scene, I can adjust to just about any reading style.

It’s sort of like listening to someone tell a story. The way they tell it might be a little (or even very) different from how I’d do it, but that’s a good thing.

These discussions are often better when people do have strong opinions on the matter, so my fingers are crossed that some of you are much more opinionated on the matter.

Here are a few audiobook narrators I think it would be cool to listen to.

1) The Author Themself

They know exactly how that scene unfolded in their mind, so that might give the author an advantage when it comes to reading the audiobook and emphasizing (or not emphasizing) certain words.

2) Morgan Freeman

He has such a distinctive and recognizable voice!

3) Robin Williams (may he Rest in Peace)

What a great narrator he would have been for a children’s picture book or a comedic story.

4) Bilingual or Multilingual People

People who can speak two or more languages can sometimes have such memorable insight into the idiosyncrasies of a language. I love listening to their thoughts on idioms or how best to translate something when the literal translation doesn’t quite work for whatever reason.

5) Patrick Stewart

I could listen to him speak for hours.

6) James Earl Jones

I find his voice so soothing.

I wasn’t expecting this list to have so many men on it. Who are your favourite famous women out there who have amazing speaking voices?

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April 18, 2023 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: My Favourite Things

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

I look forward to getting to know all of you a little better and seeing what we may have in common! Here are ten of my favourite things.

Sunlight streaming through the trees in a forest that is lightly covered in green leaves. It looks like early to mid spring there, and the ground is still covered in brown leaves or dead grass from last year. 1. Nature

There’s nothing like taking a long, peaceful walk through the woods. I’d do it every day if the weather cooperated and if it were always safe for women to go tromping through the woods alone. (Some urban forests here are perfectly safe, of course, but others can be a little sketchy at certain times of the day or year when few people use them).

2. Dairy-Free Hot Chocolate

I don’t see it very often here in Toronto, so I buy it whenever I find a brand that’s safe for me. Luckily, a relative recently surprised me with a lot of dairy-free hot chocolate that will probably last a very long time.

3. Time Alone

I am deeply introverted. My spouse and I live in a small apartment and both work from home, so getting enough alone time has been a bit of a struggle since 2020. I relish all of the alone time I manage to get.

4. Rabbits

While I can’t have a rabbit of my own due to allergies, I love looking at photos, gifs, and videos of them online.

Four busts in a museum. Three are men and one is a woman. Three have curly hair and the woman has her straight hair in a pony tail. Each bust is facing a different way, so only the faces of one man and one woman can be seen. 5. Museums

Whether it’s about science, history, or art, I love learning new things at all of them.

6. The Anonymity of City Life

I was a preacher’s kid who lived in a small town when I was growing up. There are benefits to both of those things, of course, but the combination of small town culture, church culture, and my quiet, reserved personality made it a relief for me to move away somewhere and no longer be the centre of attention so often. Ha!

7. Food Festivals

One of the other cool things about living in a big city is how many food festivals exist here. I’ve had a lot of luck finding delicious food that’s safe for my milk allergy at certain ones.

8. Small Groups

My favourite type of socialization happens in small groups. There’s something magical about getting together with a few other people and going out to dinner or something. I like being able to hear everything that’s said and have a chance to jump into the conversation, too.

A closeup of a dumbbell sitting on a grey flat floor. Sunlight is streaming into the room and just barely reaching the end of the dumbbell. 9. Weightlifting

It makes me feel so strong and capable!

10. Love Songs

This might come as a little bit of a surprise since I don’t read or watch many romances, but I adore the optimism and joy that comes from songs about love. Any genre is cool, although I do tend to gravitate towards R&B and Adult Contemporary since it’s easier to find songs about this topic there.

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April 11, 2023 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Titles with Aquatic Animals In Them

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

I Dozens of orange, black, and black and white tropical fish swimming next to a coral reef. decided to narrow down this week’s prompt to aquatic animals.

They don’t seem to be featured in titles and book covers as often as cats or dogs are, so I thought this would provide an interesting spin to the topic.

I also love seeing how aquatic animals interact with their environments. Whether you’re looking at a goldfish, a shark, or something in-between them in size, they’re all fascinating if you ask me!

Oh, and I’m still having trouble leaving comments on Blogger sites. Here’s hoping it will work better today.

Book cover for Capyboppy by Bill Peet. Image on cover shows a drawing of a capybara sitting on an inner tube on a patch of grass.

1. Capyboppy by Bill Peet

Book cover for Trilobite! Eyewitness to Evolution by Richard Fortey. Image on cover shows a trilobite swimming against a blue background.

2. Trilobite! Eyewitness to Evolution by Richard Fortey

Book cover for Liō: Happiness is a Squishy Cephalopod by Mark Tatulli. Image on cover shows a drawing of a purple cephalopod looking at a mirror as a child peeks in the window in their room to see what they’re doing.

3. Liō: Happiness is a Squishy Cephalopod by Mark Tatulli

Book cover for The White Seal by Rudyard Kipling. Image on the cover is a drwaing of a black seal cradling a baby h white seal on his or her back as they lie on a grey beach next to a grassy field.

4. The White Seal by Rudyard Kipling

Book cover for Dolphin in the Deep by Lucy Daniels and Ben M. Baglio. Image on cover is a photorealistic painting of a dolphin poking it’s head out of the ocean.

5. Dolphin in the Deep by Lucy Daniels and Ben M. Baglio

Book cover for Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes by Thomas Cathcart. Image on cover shows a drawing of Plato next to a drawing of a platypus. The rest of the cover has a green binding and a dark orange front.

6. Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes by Thomas Cathcart

Book cover for Turtle Tears: A Play in Two Acts by J. Suthern Hicks. Image on cover shows a naked and very pale white adult curled in a fetal position and holding their head while they sit in a small round mirror. Four blue butterflies fly around the mirror.

7. Turtle Tears: A Play in Two Acts by J. Suthern Hicks

Book cover for One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss. Image on cover shows two green fish, one red fish, and one yellow fish swimming against a yellow background. All fish have been drawn in an exaggerated and whimsical style.

8. One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss

book cover for So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, #4) by Douglas Adams. Image on cover shows a drawing of a children’s dollhouse from the perspective of a set of binoculars. Each piece of the binocular shows about half of the image, but they don’t intersect and there does appear to be a little piece missing in the centre of the house.

9. So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, #4) by Douglas Adams

Book cover for The Salmon of Doubt (Dirk Gently, #3) by Douglas Adams. Image on cover shows a salmon swimming through outer space by the Milky Way.

10. The Salmon of Doubt (Dirk Gently, #3) by Douglas Adams

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April 4, 2023 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Self-Published Books I Will Be Reviewing

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

A closeup of a black ballpoint pen that has just finished writing the phrase “once upon a time” in black ink on a white unlined piece of paper. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, the majority of the books I review are self-published because I believe in supporting other indie/self-published authors as much as I possibly can.

Writing is hard work, and I am always respectful of the effort other authors put into what they publish.

All eight of these reviews have already been written and scheduled. If they’re marked as tentative, that means that there is a possibility that particular review might be pushed back if another book fits better into that slot. When that happens, the original review will be published a few week to a month later on average instead.

I only have the time, energy, and space to review about four or five books each month here, and it can be hard for me to write effectively if a migraine flairs up unexpectedly. Therefore I like to have about a month of posts ready to go while leaving space to rearrange the order of things if, say, I find an excellent book about an upcoming holiday like Mother’s Day that I want to publish that week instead.

At the moment, I’ve surpassed that goal by quite a bit. Planning ahead makes life so much easier when you can do it!

I’d love to hear how far in advance all of you write your posts and reviews on average. Do you prefer to have a cushion of work to fall back on or do you write everything right before it’s due to be published?

Book cover for MARiiMO by Tyrel Pinnegar. Image on cover shows a drawing of a grey robot with blobby arms and legs and a white head. The bottom portion of the head is filled with a blue liquid, an the rest of the head is white and blank.

MARiiMO by Tyrel Pinnegar

My Review Publication Date: April 6

Blurb: This is the journal of Tammy Maheswaran, a reclusive roboticist living with undiagnosed autism. It documents the creation of Mariimo, a developmental robotics platform through which Tammy subconsciously externalizes her issues with isolation, anxiety, and touch. Upon the machine’s activation, Tammy gradually begins to realize that in the act of constructing Mariimo, she’s been unknowingly deconstructing herself.

Book cover for The Sword and the Kestrel by Shawna Reppert. Image on cover is a photograph of a Kestrel being held by the gloved hand of their handler out in a forest where the leaves on the trees and bushes are just beginning to grow in spring.

The Sword and the Kestral by Shawna Reppert

My Review Publication Date: April 13

Blurb: Can a Renn-Faire falconer break an ancient family curse and make peace with the Lord of Forests?

Book cover for The Trip to Nowhere by Stephanie Shaw. Image on cover is a photograph of someone walking alone down an incredibly foggy road lined with trees at either dusk or dawn. Only weak light can filter through the dense fog, and everything looks blurry and out of focus because of how much fog there is. Even the trees are just bare outlines of trees due to it.

The Trip to Nowhere by Stephanie Shaw

My Review Publication Date: April 20

Blurb: A broken marriage,
A lost love,
And nothing to lose.
When his wife confesses that she’s pregnant for Cole’s business rival, the news throws him into a downward spiral. Unable to face his life, he decides to go on a road trip alone. In the process, he uncovers the truth about a missing woman, an unborn child and a shocking family secret. He realizes too late that sometimes the past needs to be left in the past.

Book cover for The Old Mountain Biker by Robert Adamson. Image on cover shows a bike rider sitting on their bike on the edge of a cliff at sunset. They are looking over the edge of the cliff at the ground far below them. There is a pine forest in the distance.

My Review Publication Date: April 27

Blurb: In this SciFi short story, an old mountain biker encounters aliens from another planet that rescue him after a fall. They cure his injuries but also restore his youth.Then they offer a similar gift to the entire planet, but with conditions.

Building Beauty by Rachel Eliason

My Review Publication Date: May 4 (tentatively)

Blurb: In the waning days of World War One, Alejandro Faidosky is sent to serve the Tsar in a distant corner of the Russian Empire. In the industrial center of Chelyabinsk, deep in southern Siberia Alejandro discovers a factory producing “automatons”, clockwork robots. His job is to sculpt a robotic prostitute for the common soldier. “Of all the men in Mother Russia I must be the most ill equipped for this assignment” Alejandro moans to himself, but he must not let Major Dmitri know, and he must somehow build beauty.

Building Beauty is a coming out story set in Tsarist Russia and tinged with elements of science fiction. It is typical of Rachel Eliason’s writing; an evocative and imaginative blend of reality and fiction.

Book cover for Come in the Weater by K.C. Hastings. image on cover shows the sun setting over a lake. There is a pool of water on the beach and a portion of the sand that shows marks from something heavy being dragged into the water. In the distance, you can see something tentacle-like poking out of the water.

Come in the Water by K.C. Hastings

My Review Publication Date: May 11 (tentatively)

Blurb: There’s something in the lake, and I don’t mean the giant catfish.

Book cover for The Life and Lies of Danny Diaz by Andy Paine. Image on cover shows the title written in a font that’s orange on the left and gradually fades to yellow as you move further to the right of the page. This was all written against a black background.

The Life and Lies of Danny Diaz by Andy Paine

My Review Publication Date: May 18 (tentatively)

Blurb: An ageing rocker, a journalist, and a small, seemingly inconsequential object. This is the tale of the greatest musical theft in history.

Such a small, seemingly inconsequential object. Yet for ageing rocker Danny Diaz, journalist Henry Lapthorne, and indeed the entire population, it is an object that has aided in the greatest musical theft in history, forever altering the historical landscape of music as we know it.

After years of wilful deceit, Danny’s life has come full circle as he reaches out to the one man who forever doubted him, intent on telling his story, and finding peace with his past. For Henry, it is the story of a lifetime, an unbelievable tale of addiction, regret, and redemption. But can it possibly be true? Or is it just another ruse? Is this tale the fulfilment of Henry’s career, or yet another deception in the decades long animosity between two men who know each other so well, and yet not at all.

Book cover for Take Care of Your Body by Elton Gahr. Image on cover shows two mostly-leafless trees that have been trimmed to look like two faces looking at each other. A few leaves are flowing from one tree to the next against a cloudy winter sky.

Take Care of Your Body by Elton Gahr

My Review Publication Date: May 25 (tentatively)

Blurb: Frank is a new kind of personal trainer. The kind that switches bodies with the ultra rich so they can get the benefits of working out without the effort. But his new client has done the unthinkable, escaping with Frank’s body while leaving Frank to answer for his crimes.
Now Frank has to track down his own body and force his client to return it before the FBI can catch him.

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March 28, 2023 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Books for People Who Liked Shel Silverstein

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

A gigantic evergreen bush that has been trimmed into the shape of a question mark. It’s sitting on a grassy field under a clear blue sky. This image looks computer generated, not real. I struggled with this week’s prompt because I haven’t had a lot of luck finding new favourites through online articles or bookstore displays that use this method of grouping similar authors together.

What I ended up doing is looking up books for people who enjoyed the lighthearted poetry of Shel Silverstein. While I haven’t read any of them yet, they do sound fun and I’d love to hear your thoughts on them if you are familiar with them.

Book cover for Beautiful Things and How to Ignore Them by Sam Kuban. The image on the cover shows the title arranged to look like a plant growing in the soil of the author’s name. There are little green leaves at the bottom of the title and roots growing all around it. The colours of the cover are red, green, and beige.

1. Beautiful Things and How to Ignore Them by Sam Kuban

An Elephant Is On My House: And Other Poems by Othen Donald Dale Cummings book cover. Image on cover shows a drawing of an elephant wearing a pink shirt who is standing on a house with a red roof.

2. An Elephant Is On My House: And Other Poems by Othen Donald Dale Cummings

Book cover for There's Only One Ewe. by Pete Longname. Image on cover shows a drawing a white sheep against a pale blue background.

3. There’s Only One Ewe. by Pete Longname

Book cover for Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich by Adam Rex. Image on cover shows a drawing of Frankenstein sitting at a table with a red and white checkered tablecloth on it. He’s looking contentedly at a gigantic sandwich that has about 20 different ingredients in it ranging from lettuce to cheese to various types of meat.

4. Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich by Adam Rex

Book cover for Slice of Moon by Kim Dower. Image on cover shows a drawing of a brown-skinned woman wearing a beige dress jumping up gracefully next to a dark blue sky and a big, fluffy white cloud. Someone else’s brown arm is reaching down to her. Or maybe she’s falling and the other person is trying to catch her? It’s hard to tell, but she looks happy either way.

5. Slice of Moon by Kim Dower

Book cover for If You're Not Here, Please Raise Your Hand: Poems About School by Kalli Dakos. Image on cover shows a drawing of a black-haired kid with pale skin siting at a desk in a classroom. They are wearing a blue sweater and raising their hand with a thought bubble above their head. There is a green tree growing in the back of the classroom.

6. If You’re Not Here, Please Raise Your Hand: Poems About School by Kalli Dakos

Book cover for Barking Spiders and Other Such Stuff by C.J. Heck. Image on cover shows a drawing of a red and purple spider sitting on top of the title.

7. Barking Spiders and Other Such Stuff by C.J. Heck

Book cover for Poem Depot: Aisles of Smiles by Douglas Florian. Image on cover shows a drawing of a brown-skinned kid wearing jeans and a striped orange and black sweater carrying a comically large cardboard box filled with smiles that are comprised of nothing but teeth and lips.

8. Poem Depot: Aisles of Smiles by Douglas Florian

9. Silas and Opal Meet by Grannie Snow

Book cover for The Alliday Poem Book of Silly Celebrations by S.M. Westerlie. Image on cover shows eight lit rainbow striped candles on a birthday cake that has white frosting that is covered in rainbow sprinkles. The background of this image is orange, possibly meant to be bright wallpaper?

10. The Alliday Poem Book of Silly Celebrations by S.M. Westerlie

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March 21, 2023 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Things I’ve Quit Doing

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

This prompt was shared on October 6, 2015. I wasn’t aware of Top Ten Tuesday back then, so today I will reach back into time so I can borrow this idea and talk about bookish things I have quit doing.

Edit: Blogger/blogspot is once again being really finicky about letting me comment. A few of my comments are randomly going through, but most are being denied. I will keep trying but wanted to let everyone know what’s going on.

The word goodbye is written in white chalk on a black chalkboard. The chalkboard is sitting in a black mesh container on a wooden shelf. There is a plant growing out of a green drinking glass next to the chalkboard.

1. Setting Lofty Reading Goals

I purposefully pick reading goals involving pages or books finished that I can easily accomplish so that this hobby continues to feel fun for me. I never want to feel stressed out by how much I have (or haven’t) been reading.

2. Giving Unsolicited Book Recommendations

That is to say, I only give out recommendations to people who have either directly asked for one or who are close enough to me that I feel like I know their tastes in books quite well and who have told me it’s okay to share books I think they might like.

I never gave out a lot of unsolicited book recommendations in the past, but now even those occasional recommendations feel a little too close to unsolicited advice to me.

I’d rather gush about the books I love and let others decide for themselves if they want to read them in the vast majority of cases.

3. Accepting Unsolicited Book Recommendations

Likewise, I’ve also become more cautious about accepting unsolicited book recommendations unless the person giving them is in my inner circle and knows my tastes well.

There are so many books in this world and such limited time to find the best ones. I will listen politely, of course, but I will only actually read a recommendation if the blurb sounds right up my alley.

4. Reading (Most) Bestsellers

My reading tastes so rarely coincide with the bestseller list that I generally pay it no mind at all when deciding what to read next. (This is no way a commentary on people who do like really popular stuff or the books themselves. It’s simply an acknowledgement that I usually prefer other sorts of stories).

5. Entertaining Nonsense

For example, I will stop reading a book if it promotes racist, sexist, homophobic, or other hateful beliefs.

(There’s a difference between writing about a character who says those things and promoting the ideas themselves to the audience as something admirable. I will read about the former but not the latter).

I also shake my head and ignore advertising that assumes that your membership in a specific group should mean you like X but not Y instead of encouraging everyone read whatever appeals most to them. <glares at Instagram and the sometimes weirdly narrow little boxes their ads try to put people in>.

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March 14, 2023 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on My Spring 2023 To-Read List

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

There is an opened hardback book. Four white tulips with pink streaks in their petals are lying on top of the book. The flowers have just begun to open and have not yet reached their full bloom. You can see their green stems and leaves on the bottom left hand side of the image. I know that not every Top Ten Tuesday participant lives in the Northern Hemisphere or in a part of the world that has similar seasons to Ontario, but some of us are inching closer to spring with every passing day.

I cannot wait for spring so I can go outside and enjoy some warmer and non-soggy nature time. (It can get pretty muddy here in March and April after the ice and snow begins to melt but the soil hasn’t absorbed all of that water yet).

Who else is counting down the days until the change of the seasons?

My answers to this week’s prompt are going to be the usual random assortment of topics. I love jumping around between nonfiction and fiction as well as zooming between all sorts of genres within the fiction label as well.

Let’s see what will hopefully be capturing my attention this spring.

In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune

Publication Date: April 25

Why I’m Interested: T.J. Klune is one of those authors I keep meaning to read but never quite get around to it. I love robot stories, though, so this one might convince me to take the plunge.

Book cover for The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise by Colleen Oakley. Image on cover is a drawing of a senior citizen and a young dark-haired person driving off into the sunset in a green car that doesn’t have a top on it.

The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise by Colleen Oakley

Publication Date: March 28

Why I’m Interested: I love stories about cross-generational friendships. It’s also nice to see more protagonists who are senior citizens.

A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Timothy Egan

Publication Date: April 4

Why I’m Interested: I’d never heard of Madge Oberholtzer before, but she sounds like she was a courageous and incredible human being.

Hey, Hun: Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and the Other Lies Behind Multilevel Marketing by Emily Lynn Paulson

Publication Date: May 30

Why I’m Interested: It’s really sad to see people being taken advantage of by pyramid schemes and other “job” offers that promise wealth but often put one deeply into debt instead.

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March 7, 2023 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish People I’d Like To Meet

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Ten people standing on top of a hill just as the sun has slipped below the horizon and darkness covers three quarters of the land. You can see the silhouettes of their bodies as they all leap for joy with their knees bent and their arms outstretched above them. While I currently have no plans to meet any of these bookish people, it would be cool if that changed someday.

My prediction is that a lot of answers will probably be of famous authors and such. While there will be a few of those authors on my list, most of my answers will be of non-famous people I know whose online personas are kind and intelligent.

Honestly, who wouldn’t want to spend time with someone like that? (I’m sure they’re just as wonderful in person, too!)

1. Top Ten Tuesday Bloggers

It would be fun to meet some of the friendly Top Ten Tuesday bloggers I chat with throughout the week. I don’t want to put anyone on the spot or make anyone feel overlooked by mentioning specific names, but let me know in advance if you’re open to this and have plans to visit Toronto in the future. We could snack on Beaver Tails* or check out the free bookish museum at the Toronto Reference Library or something.

*This is a Canadian pastry that is large and flat like a beaver’s tale. They have several delicious vegan options, too, for plant-based friends.

2. Berthold Gambrel

He’s a fellow author and book reviewer I met on Twitter (before it imploded, of course). This will be a pattern for my next several answers because I am a creature of habit, so assume someone is a writer friend and kindred spirit from social media until I say otherwise.

Berthold and I have remarkably similar tastes in science fiction and he has a great sense of humour.

3. Hebah Amin-Headley

I’d love to talk about books and knitting with her among many other topics.

4. Richard Pastore

He’s the sort of person you can talk about anything with. I can be a little shy sometimes, but I never feel shy around him. He’s so warm and welcoming to everyone.

5. Shykia Bell

She’s only online in spurts, but I love her creativity and calm personality. Those are both excellent character traits.

6. Patrick Prescott

Here is where I break the Writer Friends of Twitter (TM) streak. Yes, he’s a writer friend, but I met him through Berthold Gambrel.

Patrick has a deep and methodical love for books. I’ve enjoyed his recommendations over the years and hearing stories about how he’s filling his time with all sorts of cool volunteer and writing projects now that he’s retired.

7. Rivers Solomon

I still think about her characters in “The Deep” and would love to ask her all about them.

8. Neil Gaiman

He seems like a cool guy.

9. Andy Weir

I want to hear about what science fiction adventure he’ll be writing next!

10. <Insert People I’ve Missed Here>

Every time I make one of these lists, I worry about accidentally leaving folks out whom I would have happily otherwise included. Therefore, I will leave a space for them at the end of this post. You are included.

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February 28, 2023 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Xenofiction I’ve Enjoyed

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

The first layer on this picture is a computer screen where dozens of lines of code has been written. This code is overlaid on the face of a robot that looks like a caucasian woman with very short light brown hair. She is staring blankly ahead as if to wait for instructions from the viewer…or perhaps she is reading the code. Xenofiction is written from the perspective of a non-human protagonist.

The protagonist could be all sorts of different things: an animal, a mythological creature, an intelligent robot, an alien, a microbe, or some other living (or robotic but sentient) being.

The possibilities are endless.

I enjoyed all of these stories and would recommend any them to someone who wants to read something from a non-human perspective.

Book cover for Memoirs of a Snowflake by Joe Vasicek. The cover is a pretty light purple colour, and it has four large snowflakes, four medium sized snowflakes, and dozens of tiny little snowflakes falling down on what I presume is a night sky on it. It gives the feeling of standing outside and feeling the snow fall onto your face and hands during an early morning or sunset snowstorm.

1. Memoirs of a Snowflake by Joe Vasicek (My Review)

The protagonist is a: snowflake.

Book cover for Watership Down (Watership Down, #1) by Richard Adams. Image on cover is a sketch of a little brown bunny sitting in a field of wheat (or some similar ripe yellow grass) with his ears turned back as he solemnly surveys the landscape. You can see a forest in the distance.

2. Watership Down (Watership Down, #1) by Richard Adams

The protagonist is a: rabbit.

Book cover for A Dog's Purpose (A Dog's Purpose, #1) by W. Bruce Cameron. Image on cover shows a black Labrador retriever looking up from the bottom of the cover as he stands against a light blue background. A thought bubble above his head includes the title of the book.

3. A Dog’s Purpose (A Dog’s Purpose, #1) by W. Bruce Cameron

The protagonist is a: dog.

Book cover for Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. Image on cover shows a drawing of Pinocchio after he’s lied. His nose is about two feet long and two little leaves have sprouted from the tip of it, one yellow and one orange.

4. Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi

The protagonist is a: a wooden puppet who is magically brought to life.

Book cover for Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott. Image on cover shows a repeating pattern of yellow and black lines that fold in on each other at the centre of the cover as if they all originated from that point.

5. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott

The protagonist is a: a two-dimensional being who travels to three-dimensional, one-dimensional, and no-dimensional worlds and must try to make sense of them.

Book cover for Raptor Red by Robert T. Bakker. Image on cover shows a raptor and her baby standing on top of a large flat stone where one spindly plant is growing. The setting sun behind the raptors and plant is casting deep shadows on everything, but the raptors appear to be watching the sunset together.

6. Raptor Red by Robert T. Bakker

The protagonist is a: raptor.

If you’ve read xenofiction before, what are some of your favourite books from this genre?

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February 21, 2023 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Character Traits for Heroines

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

I’m tweaking this week’s prompt a little bit so I can take a meta approach to the topic. Heroines come in all shapes and sizes, of course, but the reader’s expectations of how she should behave probably wouldn’t be the same in the historical romance genre as in a contemporary horror novel or a cozy mystery set on a lunar space station 500 years in the future.

With that being said, here are some character traits I love to see in heroines across many different genres and settings.

Black and white photo of a white woman wearing a black one-piece bathing suit. She’s crouching on a barren rock that’s surrounded by water and placing a black flag on the rock. The waves around her are gentle, and it appears to be a nice day outside although the sky is not visible. 1. Healthy Boundaries

Here in North America, girls and women tend to be socialized to be peacemakers and endlessly accommodating to other people’s needs and wishes. This can encourage some of us to have trouble setting and recognizing appropriate boundaries, so I love seeing examples of characters who can both set boundaries and respect other people’s limits, too.

2. Meaningful Flaws

No one is perfect. I like it when heroines have flaws that make a meaningful difference to the plot and to their daily lives. That is to say, I prefer realistic protagonists who procrastinate too much, or who have a bad temper, or who give too much unsolicited advice (or what have you) over ones whose biggest problem is that they’re a clumsy dancer but are otherwise pretty perfect.

3. Common Sense and Street Smarts

I prefer heroines who remain aware of their surroundings and take reasonable precautions before rushing into an unknown situation. It’s one thing to be caught off guard after doing everything right but quite another for a heroine (or a hero) to ignore multiple red flags for the sake of plot development.

4. Frugal

As much fun as it can be to read about characters with limitless budgets, I find it easier to relate to the ones who know that they only have so much money to last until the end of the month. There’s something comforting about seeing characters juggle bills and figure out how to afford what they need when the plot requires it.

5. Calm and Quiet

This is not to say I expect characters to behave this way all of the time, only that I think we need more characters who have easygoing personalities and aren’t the life of the party. Think of all of the interesting things that happen in the corners of a room and out of the attention range of the loudest and flashiest partygoers. There are so many folks hanging out quietly on the perimeter who are worth getting to know, and I’d love to have more stories about their lives.

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