Tag Archives: Top Ten Tuesday

August 1, 2023 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Forgotten Backlist Titles


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Two pretty black women are wearing sundresses and having a picnic on a blanket in the park. The one on the left is wearing a straw hat and reading a book to her companion while the other one sips a glass of wine and smiles. This is the time of year when Toronto is so hot and humid that I generally get a lot of reading done, from new releases to classics to backlist titles that I meant to read a year or two ago but never got around to it.

I don’t know about all of you, but I sure appreciate having books to fall back on as entertainment options while I wait for cooler days ahead.

Here are five backlist books I loved and five more I hope to maybe get started on over the next several weeks of summer.

The Backlist Books I Loved:

Book cover for A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. Image on cover shows a saint standing on a hill behind dazzling yellow light. He is clutching something and looking up expectedly at the sky.

1. A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller

Genre: Science Fiction, Post-apocalyptic

What It’s About: Cloistered monks who rebuilt society after a devastating nuclear war.

 

Book cover for The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. Image on cover shows a shadowy photo of a grand old house that is now decaying into ruin because the owners can no longer afford to maintain or repair it.

2. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

Genre: Historical Fiction, Gothic

What It’s About: An English physician who befriends a formerly-wealthy family in the mid-to-late 1940s. The family lives in a crumbling mansion that may be haunted.

Book cover for The Annals of a Country Doctor by Carl Matlock, MD. Image on cover shows a drawing of a red house. There are a few large trees growing next to it and a flock of geese flying in the sky above in a v formation.

 

3. The Annals of a Country Doctor by Carl Matlock, MD

Genre: Memoir, Medicine

What It’s About: The funny, touching, and sometimes bittersweet memories of a rural medicine physician in the 1970s.

 

Book cover for The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. Image on cover shows a painting of a young black girl sitting next to a window with her face half turned out to see the street. She is wearing an old-fashioned red sweater and a small hat.

4. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Genre: Fiction

What It’s About: Race, loneliness, and a young girl coming of age.

Book cover for Dracula by Bram Stoker. Image on cover is mostly in shadow, but in the top third you can see the frightening red face of a vampiric monster leering at you from the shadows.

5. Dracula by Bram Stoker

Genre: Science Fiction, Horror

What It’s About: An arrogant man named Jonathan who ignored countless warnings and travelled deep into Transylvania to help Count Dracula purchase a house. What Jonathan didn’t know was that Dracula was a vampire.

 

The Backlist Books I Hope I Will Love:

 

Book cover for Hey, Hun: Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and the Other Lies Behind Multilevel Marketing by Emily Lynn Paulson. The title and author are written in a 1970s font that is various shades of pink and red. On top of the title there is a tube of lipstick that has been digitally superimposed on top o an eye that is in the centre of three triangles of various sizes with the smallest one being inside of a bigger one, and the bigger one being inside of the biggest one. The triangles and lipstick are also superimposed on a red circle that has three little stars around it in roughly even spacing from one another.

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

Genre: Nonfiction

What It’s About: How multi-level marketing schemes deceive their customers.

Piñata (Hardcover) by Leopoldo Gout book cover. Image on cover shows a drawing of a creature wearing a hood and a hat that is comprised of about a dozen spikes coming out of what appears to be a human skull.

2. Piñata by Leopoldo Gout

Genre: Fantasy, Horror

What It’s About: A modern-day retelling of a classic piece of traditional Mexican lore.

 

After Sappho by Selby Wynn Schwartz book cover. Image on cover is a drawing of various Greek women sitting around a table reading, talking, and resting.

3. After Sappho by Selby Wynn Schwartz

Genre: Historical, LGBTQ+

What It’s About: The lives of queer women at various points in history.

 

This Is Not My Home by Vivienne Chang book cover. Image on cover shows a drawing of a young Chinese girl wearing a yellow blouse. She’s standing on a balcony and you can see other apartment buildings in the background. Her mouth is open, and inside of her mouth is the title of the book in yellow letters.

4. This Is Not My Home by Vivienne Chang

Genre: Children’s (picture book)

What It’s About:  The difficulties of moving to a new area and making new friends.

Meet Me in Mumbai by Sabina Khan book cover. Image on cover shows drawing of the heads of two Indian women facing away from each other as well as the ghostly face of a woman who is looking at neither of them.

5. Meet Me in Mumbai by Sabina Khan

Genre: Young Adult

What It’s About: The main character’s transracial adoption, queer family, and coming of age experiences.

 

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July 25, 2023 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: The Most Recent Books I Did Not Finish


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

A photo of scrabble tiles against a salmon background. The tiles have been arranged to spell out the words “yes” and “no.”When Jana released the summer topics for Top Ten Tuesday, she suggested we include reasons why we didn’t finish the books in this week’s list if we can do so kindly.

I’m going to take her up on that idea, but please don’t let me stop you from checking these titles out for yourself if you’re interested in them.

My literary pet peeves and dislikes might be exactly what you look for in a story and vice versa. Everyone is different, after all, and all of these books had good bones so to speak. I wouldn’t have included them this week if I thought otherwise!

Book cover for Pageboy by Elliot Page. Image on cover is a photo of Mr. Page wearing a white tank top and a pair of blue jeans. He is sitting in a room with a red wall and staring ahead at the camera with a serious expression on his face.

Pageboy by Elliot Page
Why I Stopped Reading It: While I liked Mr. Page’s writing style and was quite interested in his story, I struggled to adjust to how non-linearly he wrote this memoir and how many details about his sex life were included. It is totally fine for people who enjoy that topic to discuss about it amongst themselves so long as all of their sexual partners have consented to it, by the way! I’m simply bored by such talk and would have much rather read something that was written chronologically and focused on the author’s many professional accomplishments instead.
Book cover for The Annual Migration of Clouds by Premee Mohamed. Image on cover shows a drawing of a grey and white bird that has a green fungus of some sort growing on it’s feathers and body.
Why I Stopped Reading It: I enjoyed the science fiction elements of the first few chapters, but the literary fiction elements of it were too slow and meandering for my tastes. I generally prefer stronger plot and character development than what was featured here, but I can also see how this could be a great introduction to science fiction for people who love more ambiguous writing styles.
Book cover for Wonder Drug: The Secret History of Thalidomide in America and Its Hidden Victims by Jennifer Vanderbes. Image on cover is a black and white photo of a white toddler who is wearing a white dress and placing blocks into the correct holes in a wooden sorting toy. The little girl does not have arms due to prenatal exposure to thalidomide.
Vanderbes
Why I Stopped Reading It: There wasn’t much here that I hadn’t already read elsewhere, although it could be a great read for people who aren’t already aware of the tragic, unintended consequences of thalidomide on embryos and fetuses.
Book cover for Such Kindness by Andre Dubus III. Image on cover shows a photo of a bald old man walking gingerly down an otherwise deserted road on a partly cloudy winter day.
Such Kindness by Andre Dubus III
Why I Stopped Reading It: The main character had been in constant, severe pain since a work accident a decade ago that destroyed his health, marriage, finances, ability to work, and more.  One reviewer said the storyline remained dark and depressing for the first hundred pages before it improved. I read a little past that point but then could not take any more of his suffering. It was too much for me.
Book cover for Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Image on cover shows the eyes of a woman who is deeply frightened. There is a red shade to the image that makes it seem even scarier because everything is washed in red, and that made me think of blood.
Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Why I Stopped Reading It: It was too scary. My brain needs calmer stuff at the moment.

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July 18, 2023 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Books With One-Word Titles


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

An Asian woman smiling slightly as she holds a hardback book over the lower half of her face and peeks out above it at the viewer. The book has a white cover with no title or author printed on it, and the woman is standing in a similarly white and barren room. There’s nothing like a compelling title to grab my attention and make me yearn to see if the blurb is just as good.

While I tend to prefer longer titles to shorter ones, you definitely can come up with a catchy title that only has one word in it.

Here are ten books that caught my eye that have one-word titles.

1. Othello by William Shakespeare

2. Becoming by Michelle Obama

3. Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

4. Internment by Samira Ahmed

5. Beloved by Toni Morrison

6. Redshirts by John Scalzi

7. Affinity by Sarah Waters

8. Sula by Toni Morrison

9. Pride by Ibi Zoboi

10. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

 

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July 11, 2023 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Neanderthal Stories I’ve Enjoyed


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Close-up photo of prehistoric art that has been carved into a large rocky cliff. The images carved into it appear to be various animals that resemble, among other species, cattle. It’s hard to tell what other animals are, but they have four legs and sometimes have tails and horns as well. Maybe they are goats? Those of you who have followed me for a while might remember how fascinated I am by Neanderthals, prehistory, hunter gatherers, anthropology, archeology, other extinct hominid species, and similar topics.

These are the sorts of things I love exploring, especially when new details are discovered about that era that upend our previous assumptions about it.

For this week’s Freebie post, I’ll be sharing some of the books about Neanderthals and early modern humans that I’ve enjoyed.

The site I found this photo on didn’t say for sure who carved these images, but there has been Neanderthal cave art found in certain caves that was created long before Homo Sapiens showed up in Europe. It amazes me to think about how similar they were to us!

Let’s dig into my list.  It’s mostly fiction because of how quickly new ideas can replace older ones in the nonfiction genre.  If you know of other wonderful fiction or nonfiction titles on this subject, I’d love to hear about them.

1. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Earth’s Children, #1) by Jean M. Auel

Genre: Fiction

Why I Loved It: This was my first introduction to fiction about Neanderthals. It was such a detailed and creative interpretation of what scientists knew about this subject in the 1980s.

 

2. The Inheritors by William Golding

Genre: Fiction

Why I Loved It: It was written from the perspective of Neanderthals. The 1950s assumptions about the differences between them and us  are quite different from modern assumptions, but the writing was crisp and clear.

 

3. Ember from the Sun by Mark Canter

Genre: Fiction, Science Fiction

Why I Loved It: Without giving away too many spoilers, this is about a scientist who finds a perfectly preserved Neanderthal embryo and decides to implant it into a human volunteer. This isn’t something that could ever actually happen, but the ethical and societal repercussions of bringing back an extinct human species made this a must-read for me.

 

4. Hominids (Neanderthal Parallax, #1) by Robert J. Sawyer

Genre: Science Fiction

Why I Loved It: I’ve often wondered what Earth would be like if Neanderthals had become the only surviving human species instead of us. This series does an excellent job of exploring that question in depth.

 

5. Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art by Rebecca Wragg Sykes

Genre: Nonfiction

Why I Loved It: There’s something to be said for conversational books about the latest scientific discoveries on a topic. I found this easy to read and was surprised by how much more we’ve learned about Neanderthals over the last decade or so.

 

6. The Ugly Little Boy by Isaac Asimov

Genre: Science Fiction

Why I Loved It: Well, I don’t know that love is the right word here. The antagonist’s decision to kidnap a Neanderthal child and bring him to the 1990s in order to be studied was a terribly unethical and dangerous one. I did love the way Asimov dove into all of ramifications of this choice, though.

 

7. Shaman by Kim Stanley Robinson

Genre: Science Fiction

Why I Loved It: I’m still reading it, but the writing is exquisite.

 

8. Neanderthal Man: In Search of Lost Genomes by  Svante Pääbo

Genre: Nonfiction

Why I Loved It: Every era seems to bring a new understanding of what the differences were between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. I thought this was a well-rounded look at the topic as it was understood in the 2010s, but I haven’t gone back yet to reread it and compare to what scientists think in the 2020s.

 

 

 

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July 4, 2023 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Canadian Books I Haven’t Read Yet


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

A white lighthouse sitting on a massive stone outcrop near the ocean. The top of the lighthouse is reflected in a clear pool of water in the sand below the stone. The sky is blue, calm, and only has a few wispy clouds floating through it. This week’s original theme was “Book Covers In the Colors of My Country’s Flag.”

I had trouble finding covers that fit it, so instead I’ll be talking about Canadian books I still need to read.

If you’ve read any of these books, I’d like to hear what you thought of them.

1. The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill

2. The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy

3. The Cure for Death by Lightning by Gail Anderson-Dargatz

4. Ru by Kim Thúy

5. Anil’s Ghost by Michael Ondaatje

6. Life of Pi by Yann Martel

7. Cat’s Eye by Margaret Atwood

8. Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese

9. Who Has Seen the Wind by W.O. Mitchell

10. Bride of New France by Suzanne Desrochers

 

What famous books from your country have you not read yet?

 

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June 27, 2023 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Books Releasing During the Second Half of 2023


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

A metal statue of a woman sitting on a stone ledge. She’s holding a book and looking up at the land. There is a metal statue of a dog looking in the same direction she is. The dog is sitting on it’s haunches but has it’s front legs touching the land as if it’s about to stand up fully and run away.

Happy Pride to everyone celebrating it!

Between Pride festivities, other summer festivals, time spent in nature, and the hot, humid days of summer, it feels a little hard to believe that autumn is only a few months away.

At this time of year, summer seems it will last forever…but all seasons end eventually.

I thought it would be interesting to look ahead at some books that have been scheduled to come out this autumn. There were more to add to this list than I thought there would be!

As much as I relish the long, sunny days of summer, there are things to look forward to as the temperatures drop and the days become terribly short, too.

 

Book cover for Wednesday’s Child: Stories by Yiyun Li. Image on cover shows a painting of a large white poodle-like dog that is standing in front of a green summer forest. There is a large light brown patch on the left that covers whatever was next to the dog.

Wednesday’s Child: Stories by Yiyun Li

 

Release Date: September 5

I Want to Read It Because: It sounds like this collection has a little bit of everything in it. I admire writers who can do that.

 

Book cover for The Vaster Wild by Lauren Groff. Image on cover shows a drawing of a tree that has spindly branches that are only half filled with green leaves.

The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff
Release Date: September 12
I Want to Read It Because: Survival fiction is interesting.
Book cover for North Woods by Daniel Mason. Image on cover is a painting of a mountain lion lying on a grassy meadow and staring at something or something that is just out of the viewer’s range.
North Woods by Daniel Mason
Release Date: September 19
I Want to Read It Because: Houses generally aren’t the main characters of stories, and I love the idea of following a house through all of the various inhabitants it has had.
Book cover for “You Are My Sunshine and Other Stories” by Octavia Cade. Image on cover shows about a dozen wilting sunflowers that are falling down or have already fallen down onto a wooden desk.
Release Date: September 21
I Want to Read It Because: It sounds like a possibly excellent Halloween read.  Yes, I know it’s June, but I always relish the opportunity to plan ahead for my favourite holiday of the year.

Book cover for Furies by Margaret Atwood. Image on cover shows a medieval-style drawing of a dragon who has pink wings, a green neck, a red chest, purple arms and tail, and a face that includes all of these colours in stripes down it.

Furies by Margaret Atwood

 

Release Date: September 26

I Want to Read It Because: Ms. Atwood is a must-read author for me. I don’t necessarily like everything she writes, but I give it all a shot because of how often I do enjoy her work.

 

 

Book cover for The Mysteries by Bill Watterson. Image on cover is a black and white drawing of a person wearing a cloak as they stand outside of a cottage in a dark winter forest. The person has a frightened expression on their face.

The Mysteries by Bill Watterson

 

Release Date: October 10

I Want to Read It Because: I was a huge fan of his Calvin & Hobbes comic strips back in the day and can’t wait to see what he’s come up with now.

 

Book cover for Green Fuse Burning by Tiffany Morris. Image on cover shows a black-haired woman with glowing eyes leaning her head back slightly and opening her mouth as red string (or maybe blood vessels?) wind their way out of her mouth, possibly in search of their next victim. The woman’s head is surrounded by a sickly green halo that is reminiscent of the white or yellow halos painted around the heads of saints in Medieval paintings.

Green Fuse Burning by Tiffany Morris

Release Date: October of this year (but no specific publication date has been chosen yet)

I Want to Read It Because: 1) I love eco horror, 2) the blurb sounds deliciously scary and possibly perfect for Halloween, and 3) I have not read many Indigenous authors recently and want to change that.

 

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June 20, 2023 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on My Summer 2023 to-Read List


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

There are three yellow lounges on a wooden deck by the sea or a large lake. The lounge closest to the viewer also has a white and grey beach towel, a pair of sunglasses, and an opened hardback book on it.

As usual, my summer to-read list isn’t going to be a very long one.

I like to leave plenty of space for mood reading and to take breaks from reading to enjoy the nice, warm weather and the various Pride events that happen every June here.

Once the cloying humidity and heatwaves of July, August, and September arrive in Toronto, I will settle down again and spend more time reading.

Here are some of the books that will be close to the top of my to-read list as June melts into July. Pageboy is already out, but I’ve listed the publication dates for the rest.

 

 

 

Book cover for Pageboy by Elliot Page. Image on cover is a photo of Mr. Page wearing a white tank top and a pair of blue jeans. He is sitting in a room with a red wall and staring ahead at the camera with a serious expression on his face.

Pageboy by Elliot Page
I Want to Read It Because: Memoirs are always interesting things to read, and I don’t know much about Mr. Page’s personal life.

Book cover for The Reformatory by Tananarive Due. Image on cover shows a drawing of a white shack in a smoky, hazy woods just as twilight hits and the world begins to become black.

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
Release Date: June 27
I Want to Read It Because: I’ve enjoyed Ms. Due’s other work, and this story sounds deliciously scary.
Book cover for Pageboy by Elliot Page. Image on cover shows a drawing of a mandarin orange with three green leafs attached to it. It is set against a green and blue background.

The Apology  by Jimin Han

Release Date: August 1
I Want to Read It Because: You don’t see a lot of overlap between literary fiction and ghost stories. This could be excellent!
Book cover for Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher. Image on cover shows a dwarfing of a curved and pointed axe whose tip is bathed in blood. One large drop of blood is falling off of the tip. There is a castle in the background.
Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher
Release Date: August 15
I Want to Read It Because: Kingfisher is a good storyteller and I like to check out all of their new books.
Book cover for Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas. Image on cover shows a Mexican woman wearing a red. floor-length, late 1800s style dress. She is running across the desert past two cacti as lighting strikes the ground in the distance.
Vampires of El Norte  by Isabel Cañas
Release Date: August 29
I Want to Read It Because: It’s been a while since I read a vampire story, and this one looks like it could be very creative.

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June 13, 2023 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Wishes


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Based on the teetering numbers of books still on my TBR, I don’t need anyone to buy books for me. What I will do with this post is the same thing I did in 2021 and 2022: ask for book recommendations based on specific genres, themes, and types of stories that I currently can’t get enough of.

Please speak up if you can think of anything great to read in the following categories.

A white wooden heart with the word “wish” carved into it. The heart is tied to something out of range of the shot with a piece of twine. There is a blurry, out-of-focus forest behind the heart and green grass below it. Wish #1: Cozy Speculative Fiction 

For example, I adored The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz and Becky Chambers’ Monk and Robot series.

If you know of other cozy science fiction or fantasy stories, I want to read them!

 

Wish #2: Intelligent, Street Smart Characters

Earlier this year, I went through an unfortunate streak of DNF books featuring characters who did not make good life decisions.

For example, imagine a character who is vacationing somewhere new to them being warned not to visit a particular spot after dark by locals who know that area is haunted and dangerous and who tell the main character exactly why they should stay away. The protagonist metaphorically rubs two brain cells together and then decides that they will visit the dangerously haunted area anyways because they’re on vacation and it’s probably all a hoax to scare visitors.

(That’s not actually what happened in the books I decided to DNF, but it was about that level of exasperation for me as a reader).

So, yeah, I’m in the market for characters who make intelligent decisions and do not ignore bright red flags. Any genre other than erotica or inspirational is fine, and it’s okay if they get into serious trouble despite taking reasonable precautions. I just need to read about characters who have basic common sense!

 

Wish #3: Humorous Books

I think I’ve put this on every one of my wish lists so far, but there can never be too many humorous books.

 

 

Wish #4: Zombie Fiction

Here are some recent zombie stories and tv shows I’ve enjoyed:

The Last of Us

The Girl With All the Gifts

World War Z

Basically, I prefer zombie fiction that tries to give a scientific explanation for how it happened, spends as little time as possible showing humans harming each other, and tries to be realistic about what would really happen to humanity if, say, cordyceps evolved to infect humans instead of only infecting certain species of ants.

 

Wish #5: Science for Non-Scientists

Yes, I know that’s a broad category. I like to read about all sorts of scientific subjects, from the history of sheep to earthworms to the history of vaccines.

It’s amazing to see what scientists have discovered about our world and how long it can take certain breakthroughs to happen.

 

 

Wish #6: Books with Vivid Food Descriptions

Once again, I’ll dip into any genre other than the two I mentioned not being interested in earlier. I’m simply in the mood to read books that go to great pains to describe the food served in them in vivid detail.

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June 6, 2023 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Books With Mermaid Covers


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A photorealistic painting of a mermaid swimming in the ocean. The shot is set from a perspective on the ocean floor where the viewers is looking up at the bright sun overhead and a mermaid that is mostly blocking out it’s rays as it swims close to the surface of the water. The mermaid has a large, thick fin and several small, thin, and partially see-through fins on its hips and arms that are helping it to navigate through the water. The original topic for this week was “Books or Covers that Feel/Look Like Summer.” I followed the prompt exactly last year, so this time I’m going to be a little creative with it.

There may not be any real mermaids in Lake Ontario, the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, or any other large bodies of water, but it’s always fun to stare out at those endless waves and imagine what might be swimming around happily just out of sight on a warm summer day.

Being an adult doesn’t mean you have to stop imagining beautiful things after all, and now is a great time to do it.

Here are ten books with mermaids or mermen on their covers.

If Greg @ Book Haven happens to read this post, answer #7 reminds me of the kind of stuff you blog about. I included it specifically to amuse you.

Book cover for Nen and the Lonely Fisherman by Ian Eagleton. Image on cover shows a brown mermaid with a yellow tail sitting on a rock as the ocean crashes against the rock. She is looking at a fisherman wearing a yellow jacket who is in a red boat far away from her.

1. Nen and the Lonely Fisherman by Ian Eagleton

 

Book cover for The Mermaid in the Millpond by Lucy Strange. Image on cover is a drawing of an all-white mermaid swimming in a pond filled with algae and seaweed next to an old stone house and a tree that doesn’t have any leaves on it. The mermaid is staring at the tree and you cannot see her face.

 

2. The Mermaid in the Millpond by Lucy Strange

 

Book cover for The Merman by Dick King-Smith. Image on cover shows a merman with olive skin and white hair swimming in the ocean with his tail flipped out of the weather. He’s looking at a girl who is wearing a red dress. She is sitting on top of a large rock and looking down at him as seagulls fly by.

3. The Merman by Dick King-Smith

 

Book cover for Tides by Betsy Cornwell . Image on cover shows an Asian mermaid who has just plunged deeply into the ocean. You can see a plume of water and air rising up to the surface behind her as she joyfully begins to turn away from a manatee at the bottom of the shallow ocean flor and swim upwards again.

4. Tides by Betsy Cornwell

 

Book cover for l Mermaids Don’t Wear Toe Rings (Real Mermaids, #1)  by Helene Boudreau. Image on cover shows a young white mermaid touching their own hands as the back of one hands gently touches their green and blue tail.

5. Real Mermaids Don’t Wear Toe Rings (Real Mermaids, #1)  by Helene Boudreau

 

Book cover for The Deep by Rivers Solomon. Image on cover shows a black mermaid swimming up to the light and air as a gigantic whale swims by her.

6. The Deep by Rivers Solomon

 

Book cover for Merciless Mermaids (Agent 0008, #11) by Clyde Allison. Image on cover shows a vintage, pulpy, 1940s style drawing of a mermaid who has red hair and a gigantic octopus wrapping it’s tentacles around her body.

 

7. The Merciless Mermaids (Agent 0008, #11) by Clyde Allison

 

Book cover for The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen. Image on cover shows a Vietnamese kid with short hair and glasses who is wearing a patched jacket and reading a book. There is a faint drawing of a mermaid swimming on the green background behind him.

8. The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen

 

Book cover for The Little Mermaid by Deborah Hautzig and Hans Christian Andersen. Image on cover shows a brunette Caucasian mermaid sitting on a large rock in the ocean next to a white castle in the distance on the land. Her long, wavy hair is covering her otherwise bare torso.

9. The Little Mermaid by Deborah Hautzig and Hans Christian Andersen

 

Book cover for The Call of the Deep (The Matchless Deep, #1) by Tracy Lane. Image on cover shows the tail of a mermaid or merman as t they dive deeply into the ocean where there is very little light at all.

10. The Call of the Deep (The Matchless Deep, #1) by Tracy Lane

 

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May 30, 2023 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Things That Make Me Instantly NOT Want to Read a Book


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

The word no has been written into wet sand on a beach. Another wave is coming in and will soon begin to erase the word. Yes, I used a very similar stock photo last week. It amuses me and makes me want to go write my own messages in the sand at my local beach.

On a more serious note, here are some things that will make me instantly not want to read a book.

Please note that my first answer briefly mentions sexual abuse and my seventh answer mentions World War II trauma, so feel free to skip past them if necessary.

1. Sexual abuse

It’s an important and worthwhile topic, but I personally cannot read about it.

 

2. Characters who don’t have common sense.

Not every character I read about needs to be intelligent by any means, but I cannot read about people who repeatedly make ridiculous decisions for no reason at all. They should at the very least have basic street smarts and make choices that are reasonable for the average person of their age and background.

3. Inspirational stories

No offence is intended to fans of this genre in any way. I am simply not a religious person and am therefore so not the target audience for these types of tales.

 

4. Historical tales that feel modern.

That is to say, the good guys all have twenty-first century political/social views and/or use modern English.

I give historical writers a lot of leeway, but it’s really strange to me to meet characters from 100+ years ago whose speech and views so perfectly mimic how the average person in 2023 behaves. Honestly, I’d rather meet a protagonist whose speech is a little too formal and who has some views that were acceptable for their era but would be considered horribly old-fashioned at best today.

 

5. Tiny little (metaphorical) boxes

It bothers me to read books that heavily stereotype their characters, and I stop reading them as soon as I notice it happening.

There’s nothing wrong with a character liking things that are “typical” interests of someone their age, sex, class, race, etc., of course, but it strikes me as odd when most or even all characters in a book fit the stereotypes that have been associated with people like them.

That’s not how folks behave in real life.  I’d much rather read about characters who have been given more time to develop into hopefully well-rounded individuals who resemble the wonderfully complex and sometimes delightfully surprising people I know in real life.

 

6. 99.99% of self-help books 

I like the idea of personal improvement in book form, but I can think of maybe one or two titles from this genre I’ve ever read that were actually helpful. Many of them are so vague or filled with common sense that I don’t find them useful at all. The ones that deal with serious problems are often talking about subjects that are much easier to tackle with the help of a therapist or support group.

 

7. 99.99% of World War II stories

Yes, of course it’s important to remember what happened and try to keep something similar from ever happening again, but I have a relative who fought for the Allies in World War II and was traumatized by what he saw in Germany for the rest of his life.

When I see World War II stories being advertised, especially if they’re romances, I think about his struggle with those awful memories and how his pain shaped his life as well as the lives of his descendants (to a lesser extent, of course).

It’s totally fine if other people want to read dozens of fluffy World War II romances if that’s their thing. I simply view that era in a grim light due to how many innocent lives it destroyed and how many people were permanently physically and/or mentally scarred by it.

 

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