Tag Archives: Top Ten Tuesday

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While trying to decide what to blog about for this year’s Valentine’s Day freebie post, I took a look back at the topics I selected for it in previous years: Bookish Romantic Quotes, Conversation Hearts on Book Covers, Helpful Nonfiction Books About Relationships, and Books I Liked About Asexual Characters.

Yeah, so I am not exactly the most romantic person in the world.

What I do like about Valentine’s Day, though, are the chocolates and the sales of leftover Valentine’s Day chocolates that will be happening in about two days.

There is nothing like getting a little package of sweets for 50% off the day after the holiday! They somehow taste just a little better that way if you ask me.

Here are some books about chocolate that would make me hungry.

1. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Charlie Bucket, #1) by Roald Dahl

2. The Healthy Chocoholic: Over 60 healthy chocolate recipes free of gluten & dairy by Dawn J. Parker

3. Decadent Cake Ball Recipes: Pretty Little Treats for Many Occasions by April Blomgren

4. Chocolate Wars: The 150-Year Rivalry Between the World’s Greatest Chocolate Makers by Deborah Cadbury

5. Sweet Invention: A History of Dessert by Michael Krondl

6. Chocolate: A Global History by Sarah Moss

7. S’more Cookbook: Tasty Creative S’more Recipes by Stephanie Sharp

8. Best-Ever Book Of Chocolate by Christine McFadden

9. Chocolate-Covered Katie: Over 80 Delicious Recipes That Are Secretly Good for You by Katie Higgins

10. Chocolate Cookbooks for You 50 Valentine Chocolate Recipes Valentine Cookbook by Victoria Braze

11. Vegan Desserts: Make your own vegan desserts at home by Stephanie Sharp

12. Chicken Soup for the Chocolate Lover’s Soul: Indulging Our Sweetest Moments by Mark Victor Hansen

13. Hot Chocolate: Rich and Indulgent Winter Drinks by Hannah Miles

14.The Diabetic Chocolate Cookbook by Mary Jane Finsand

 

Yes, I had more than ten answers this week. This will help to balance out the weeks when I only have four or five answers. That’s how it works, right? Jana combs through all of our posts and averages out how many replies we come up with for her secret database or something? Ha!

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What a great topic idea, Jennifer @ FunkNFiction.com and Angela @ Reading Frenzy. 

I love short stories, novellas, and other short reads! They always seem to float to the top of my TBR list and comprise most of what I review on this blog because I don’t think they always get as much attention as they should have.

My first few answers will be of some of my recent reviews and the rest will be of older short works that I thought were well done.

Whenever possible, I have included a link to the full text stories I’m discussing here so that you can all enjoy them, too.

1. Is Neurocide the Same As Genocide? And Other Dangerous Ideas (Spiral Worlds) by Alexandra Almeida

What I Liked About It: The ethical dilemma it introduced was interesting and did not have any easy answers. If only the brain mapping technology described in this tale actually existed.

 

2. The Girls in Red by BB Wrenne (My review for this one is scheduled for February 15)

What I Liked About It:  It retold a classic fairy tale that I have seen very few recent retellings of. It’s always nice when that happens.

 

3. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

What I Liked About It:  The main character was sympathetic and the message is something modern audiences still need to take heed of.

 

4. The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin

What I Liked About It: The surprise at the end. Some of you may already be aware of why Omelas is such a peaceful city, but anyone who does not will be in for quite the read. I still daydream about this tale sometimes and wonder what happened to the main character after the final scene.

 

5. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

What I Liked About It: Goodness, how do I describe this one without giving away spoilers? Let’s just say that it’s not quite the idyllic setting it might first appear to be and it can be excellent fodder for a spirited discussion after you finish it if you like that sort of thing.

 

6. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

What I Liked About It: There was a strong sense of justice woven into the main character, and I admired his willingness to help others even when it put his own reputation and livelihood on the line.

 

7. A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

What I Liked About It: Someday I will stop gushing about the Monk & Robot series, but today is not that day. I adore how peaceful it is and how well most of the people in this universe get along not with each other but with nature and animals as well. Wouldn’t it be incredible to create such a harmonious society in real life?

 

8. Foster by Claire Keegan

What I Liked About It: The realism and honesty of it all. This read like it could be been based on real events that were written down by the main character many decades after her experience living with childless relatives for a few months while her mother recovered from giving birth. I didn’t want this one to end.

 

9. A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams

What I Liked About It: This picture book (which reads more like a short story) was so encouraging and kind. I’d love to read a novel about these characters a few decades later when the little girl is grown up.

 

10. Ramona’s World by Beverly Cleary

What I Liked About It: I read some of the books in this series as a kid but outgrew them before the last ones came out. It was wonderful to finally go back and finish it a couple of years ago. Ramona was as creative and impulsive as ever!

I can’t wait to see everyone else’s answers.

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I’m narrowing this list down a little to new-to-me authors I read in 2023 that I have opinions about.

Sometimes I’ll finish a book with a completely neutral opinion about the author and his or her writing style. There’s not much to criticize or compliment them about, at least for my first experience reading them.

It almost feels like looking at a blank page. It’s not a bad thing by any means, just an unfinished one for now in my mind.

In those cases, I think it’s best to say nothing at all until or unless I try them again and have something more substantial to say about their work.

Here are some authors that I did think were worth mentioning this week.

1. Lynn Curlee

What I Read From Them: “The Other Pandemic: An AIDS Memoir”

Would I Read Them Again: Probably. This was written for a young adult audience, so I’d be most interested in seeing how the author writes for an adult audience next time.

 

2. Naira de Gracia 

What I Read From Them: “The Last Cold Place: A Field Season Studying Penguins in Antarctica”

Would I Read Them Again: Yes. She had a conversational writing style that worked well for readers who are not scientists but who are interested in reading about science. (If any of you are scientists, I’d sure like to hear what you thought of this book).

 

3. Hannah Wunsch

What I Read From Them: “The Autumn Ghost: How the Battle Against a Polio Epidemic Revolutionized Modern Medical Care”

Would I Read Them Again: Maybe. She seemed to be very knowledgeable on this topic, but sometimes I felt a little overwhelmed by the sheer amount of detail that was included. (This is something I’d like to revisit someday. I had a cold when I read it so it could have just been a Right Book at the Wrong Time sort of issue).

 

4. Delilah S. Dawson

What I Read From Them: “Bloom”

Would I Read Them Again: No. It’s a me problem, though! This was a good example of what the gory side of horror can have to say about the world, but I’m simply too easily scared these days to enjoy such things anymore. If you love this sort of horror, please don’t let my squeamishness keep you from reading this. The writing itself was gorgeous.

 

5. Susan Albers

What I Read From Them: “50 Ways to Soothe Yourself Without Food”

Would I Read Them Again: Maybe. Self-help is honestly not a genre I visit very often, but this book did have a lot of thoughtful suggestions for self-soothing techniques that don’t involve food.

 

6. Daniel Black

What I Read From Them: “Don’t Cry for Me”

Would I Read Them Again: Yes. I need a sequel to this book written from the estranged son’s perspective immediately! Mr. Black, please make your fans ridiculously happy and show us what happens next in this family. (Hehe).

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My list of answers is short this week, but I did have more than two books this time which is a nice change from the winter TBR theme from a few weeks ago that was a struggle for me.

Here’s hoping some of you mention some other books that will help flesh it out. That has happened for me on multiple occasions in the past!

If not, there are always plenty of older library books to look forward to.

This isn’t my cat or my photo. (It is a public domain image, though).

I simply like the thought of a cat feeling comfortable enough to rest or maybe even snooze a little while humans hunt for new books to read. It’s so wholesome.

Aren’t animals the best?

 

 

 

Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase

Release Date: January 23

Why I’m Interested: The world-building sounds fantastic. My fingers are crossed it will be.

 

 

My Side of the River: A Memoir by Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez

Release Date: February 13

Why I’m Interested:  This memoir sounds super interesting.  I can’t imagine being responsible for raising a younger sibling as a teenager. Wow, that’s a lot to ask of someone that age! One of the benefits of reading is learning about the lives of people whose life experiences can be wildly different from your own in all sorts of ways.

 

The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden

Release Date: February 14

Why I’m Interested: I love ghost stories, and I haven’t read many of them set during World War I. This could be good.

 

Who’s Afraid of Gender? by Judith Butler

Release Date: March 19

Why I’m Interested: I’m curious to learn more about the link between transphobia and authoritarianism as I am completely confused and dismayed by the hatred of and vitriol against transgender people that is being stirred up by some folks. Why not love and accept everyone for who they are instead?  That seems like such a better option to me.

 

I look forward to reading all of your responses.

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2023 was a wonderful reading year for me. Kudos to Berthold Gambrel for recommending two of them to me. You know my taste in books so well. Or maybe we simply have very similar tastes in books.

Here are my favourite stories of this past year.

Links to my reviews have also been included as all of my answers this time also happened to belong to the genres and even the specific titles I discuss on this blog.

Isn’t it funny how that works sometimes?

Most years I would include at least a few other sorts of books I haven’t previously discussed here, but none of them struck me as favourites this time around. They weren’t bad reads or anything, just not top of the shelf ones.

There’s always next year, though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz (My review)

Why I Loved It: The storyline had such a hopeful take on what the future could be like.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Autumn Moon by J.T. McCallum (My review)

Why I Loved It: The last sentence of it clinched everything together beautifully. Yes, I know this is vague, but I’m trying to avoid spoilers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Memoirs of a Snowflake by Joe Vasicek (My review)

Why I Loved It: I mean, the protagonist was a sentient snowflake. That sort of creativity and risk-taking are both huge pluses in my opinion!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Hellf on the Shelf by Rumer Haven (My review)

Why I Loved It: It captures Elf on the Shelf culture perfectly!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. War Bunny by Christopher St. John (My review)

Why I Loved It: I adore rabbits and books featuring them as characters even more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Only the Living Feel Remorse – A Ghost Story by Ash Dena (My review)

Why I Loved It: Most ghost stories don’t scare me at all, but this one did. The protagonist was such a complex, deeply flawed, and memorable individual.