Tag Archives: Top Ten Tuesday

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I thought this topic would be an easy one, but it turned out to be a little tricky! I found many wonderful books last year, but my list of all-time favourites continues to shift over time.

Feel free to read my full reviews if you wish, but I also condensed my favorite thing about each book into one sentence each in this post (mostly). That, too, was much harder than it seemed at first.

Dead Voices by Katherine Arden (My Review)

What I Loved About It: The spooky setting was fabulous.

My Evil Mother by Margaret Atwood (My Review)

What I Loved About It: The main character was delightfully hard to figure out. Was she a good guy or a bad guy? How about her mother? I’m still not entirely sure!

Voices in the Wind by Joshua Scribner (My Review)

What I Loved About It: Tornadoes frighten me, but this tale made me see them in an entirely new light.

The Wendigo by Algernon Blackwood (My Review)

What I Loved About It: The main character was blissfully unaware of his deepest character flaws, and that made his adventure much more dangerous than it should have been.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (My Review)

What I Loved About It: The peacefulness and low stakes of the main character’s mission made this a comfort read for me.

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers (My Review)

What I Loved About It: I loved catching up with the characters I met in A Psalm for the Wild-Built again.

Samantha, 25, on October 31 by Adam Bertocci (My Review)

What I Loved About It: The protagonist had a crappy retail job and yearned for more which made her feel much more real to me than someone who has it all figured out in life.

Vespasian Moon’s Fabulous Autumn Carnival by Berthold Gambrel (My Review)

What I Loved About It: At least half of the characters felt untrustworthy at any given moment, but all of them seemed like super interesting folks to hang out with.

The Story of Sigurd the Dragonslayer by Liam G Martin (My Review)

What I Loved About It: It’s always cool to reimagine origin stories for famous characters.

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher (My Review)

What I Loved About It: Wholesome horror is hard to find, but this book flirted with that idea in some delightful ways.

May 2023 be a fantastic reading year for all of us.

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Not my dog or my spouse…but look at that adorable little expression on the pup’s face!

If you’re a new reader of this blog, let me explain something quickly before diving into my list.

Over the past few years, I’ve made a serious effort to put indie and small press authors at the top of my priority list for reviewing. I love well-known authors, too, but they have so many more opportunities to be introduced to new readers than someone who self publishes their work or who has secured a book deal with a tiny publishing company.

I believe in supporting other writers and giving them some free exposure on my friendly little corner of the Internet when I can.

So don’t be surprised if you’ve never heard of any of these folks.

Honestly, I’ll be shocked if you do know about them, but please tell me what you think of their work if that’s the case. I haven’t read these titles and therefore can’t endorse them…yet?

All I know is that I was intrigued enough by them to download them when they were free. If you follow me on Mastodon, you’ll see a list of free books every Thursday and occasional retweets of other free books on other days.

When the Last Story Gets Told by C.S. Anderson

Why I’m Intrigued: I love campfire stories, and this sounds like it could be a good one.

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Last year I spun this topic to include all sorts of bookish things I’d like for the winter.. This year I’m going to attempt to answer the question directly, albeit with a little bit of a speculative fiction twist in some answers. Santa doesn’t visit my house, but maybe a fairy godmother or an attentive publishing company will pay attention?

1. New Books From Authors Who Didn’t Publish Anything New in 2022

I was thrilled to read a new Becky Chambers book in 2022. Now it’s time for Sarah Waters, Rivers Solomon, Nnedi Okorafor, Alex Cross, and Andy Weir to do the same thing in 2023.

2. A Magical Book That Recovers Lost Memories

3. A Magical Book That Dampens Difficult Memories

Wouldn’t it be nice to have more say in what we do and don’t remember?

4. A Book About the Psychology of Pain and Chronic Illness

I was originally going to request that it be nonfiction, but a fictional story might work, too.

In early 2022, I was officially diagnosed with migraines. While trying a few different treatments for it I’ve become quite interested in the coping mechanisms people create to deal with pain and chronic illness. For example, I try to find the humorous side of my diagnosis when possible and feel odd going into too much detail about how it affects me with most people. (My current treatment regiment does reduce symptoms if I follow the protocol,  but it can’t completely eliminate everything).

5.  Well-Written Sequels to All of the Books that Make Readers Yearn to Know What Happened Next 

Not everything needs a sequel, of course, but if they do, I’d want to see copies of those books magically arrive at the homes of everyone who can’t wait to keep reading.

6. Books That Make Me Laugh

There’s no such thing as too many humorous books if you ask me.

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This stock photo is making me giggle, so I must share it with you all. I don’t want to make assumptions about the climates you all live in, but nobody in Ontario walks around outside in the dead of winter without being bundled up warmly unless you want to risk developing frostbite or hypothermia. It can happen quickly, too, if the windchill and temperatures are both very low and you’re not dressed properly for the weather.

Yes, her outfit is scholarly and all of that, but it’s also totally impractical for this season. It’s funny to me to compare the aesthetic that some photographers use to capture their idealized versions of winter versus the reality of actually living in a cold climate …and there are much chillier places to spend the winter than Toronto!

Anyway, I have once again returned to my regular habit of not having many books to share for my seasonal to-read lists. It was quite unusual for me to have nine of them last autumn.

Winter is a time when I often read or reread classic novels. Last winter I reread Jane Eyre and the Chronicles of Narnia, so the likelihood of me rereading other classics this winter is high. As far as contemporary books that are set to be published over the next few months go, here is a short list of what’s caught my eye so far.

How to Sell A Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

Publication Date: January 17

Why I Want to Read It: I’ve read many books about haunted houses, but very few about the trials of attempting to sell one. What a fun spin on the topic.

After Sappho by Selby Wynn Schwartz

Publication Date: January 24

Why I Want to Read It: I enjoy stories about women breaking through societal expectations of them to forge their own paths in life.

This Is Not My Home by Vivienne Chang

Publication Date: January 24

Why I Want to Read It: My first reason for wanting to read it is that picture books are a nice refresher after reading a long, serious adult novel. My second reading for wanting to read it is because my family moved multiple times when I was a kid and I remember how hard it can be to say goodbye to old friends and adjust to a new life somewhere far away.

Vampire Weekend by Mike Chen

Release Date: January 31

Why I Want to Read It: It’s not every day you hear of a vampire novel about a middle-aged person living in the Covid era who is trying to hold on to some semblance of their pre-vampire life. It’s such a unique twist to the genre that I will be quite curious to see how it all pans out.

How many of you also reread old favourites in the winter? And what is winter like where you live?

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All credit for this idea goes to Line at First Line Readers. I adored her take on it last summer and decided to do my own for today’s freebie post.

Sometimes my interpretation of what a book title means isn’t exactly how the author interpreted it. Here are some book titles, what I think they should be about, and what they’re actually about.

If any of you also decide to borrow this theme for a future freebie post, I’ll add a link to your post here if you let me know about it.

1. Animal Farm by George Orwell

What It Should Be About: A cozy children’s picture book about a farm for abandoned pets and livestock.

What It’s Actually About: A satirical fable about corruption, greed, and Stalinist Russia.

2. There Is No Darkness by Joe Haldeman

What It Should Be About: The 80+ days of uninterrupted daylight in Alaska (or other northern places) during the summer and how people enjoy (or don’t enjoy) them.

What It’s Actually About: A military science fiction novel about a poor kid who joins the military to explore other planets and earn some much-needed cash.

3. The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune

What It Should Be About: A mermaid who grew up believing humans were a myth only to suddenly discover a few in a shipwreck after a massive storm. Maybe the cerulean sea could be a mermaid term for the Pacific Ocean, and the people they rescued were oceanographers?

What It’s Actually About: A group home for dangerous magical children and the man who was hired to determine whether they’d bring about the end of days for humanity.

4. Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

What It Should Be About: The first group of people to tame wolves and how they slowly changed an apex predator into man’s best friend over many generations of selective breeding.

What It’s Actually About: A beautiful friendship that began soon after one of the main characters lost her uncle and plunged into terrible grief.

5. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell

What It Should Be About: After cheating a witch out of her rightfully-earned wages, Jacob de Zoet is cursed to live a thousand years. He finds the inability to die a blessing a first, but soon changes his tune when he realizes just how long a thousand years actually is and how unforgiving witches are when you cross them.

What It’s Actually About: A clerk who moves to Japan for five years in order to earn the money he needs to marry his sweetheart. While working there, however, he falls in love with the daughter of a powerful magistrate and must decide who to give his heart to.

6. The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare

What It Should Be About: A mischevious pet shrew who is intelligent enough to learn tricks but refuses to cooperate even with copious amounts of treats.

What It’s Actually About: Two young men who meet two sisters. The older sister must be married off before the younger one can be, and one of the young men decides to marry her against her will in order to gain access to her large dowry.

7. To Say Nothing of the Dog (Oxford Time Travel, #2) by Connie Willis

What It Should Be About: A romance novel about a couple who meet at a speed dating event. One of them has a dog who appears once in an early scene and then never mentioned again. (The dog is not harmed, just conveniently missing from all other scenes).

What It’s Actually About: A time travel romance set in the 1800s. The main character doesn’t know as much about that era as they think they do, and hijinks commence.

8. The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy

What It Should Be About: Someone who has the uncanny knack of always picking overripe, sour, never ripened, mouldy, or otherwise inedible produce at the grocery store. They soon meet an opinionated chef who can always pick out perfect produce but often buys expired box and canned goods because they don’t check for expiration dates. Neither of them trusts the other one’s opinions or can admit when they’re wrong, yet they decide to date anyways.

What It’s Actually About: A young American woman who moves to Paris in the late 1950s and has all sorts of romantic and comedic adventures.

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I don’t read many books with mushy, sweet, or cute moments in them, so let’s see what I can come up with.

Please note there are spoilers in this post and that some of these books discuss difficult topics like what life was like in British workhouses in the 1800s. Even sometimes painful stories can include happy moments or end on a blissful note, though!

1. A young girl in “Farewell to the East End” by Jennifer Worth  was terribly abused and neglected while she spent her entire childhood in a British workhouse. After she grew up, she was sort of unofffically adopted by the nuns of St. Nonnatus. They made sure she always had a job and a welcoming place to spend Christmas and other holidays. What really warmed my heart, though, was what happened when she fell in love with a wonderful man who gave her the happily ever after she’d dreamed of since she was a little girl.

2.Roderick Ayers was dealing with chronic pain, stiffness, and weakness in his leg as a result of a World War II injury in “The Little Stranger” by Sarah Waters. Seeing Dr. Faraday take his injury seriously and try a brand new therapy for it gave me an aww moment because sometimes modern doctors don’t do a good job of treating these sorts of things. Even though this is fiction and set about 80 years ago, it still made me smile to see a doctor listen and do his best to help. Compassion is so important.

3. There was a hilarious and adorable scene in “A Prayer for the Crown-Shy (Monk & Robot Series Book 2)” by Becky Chambers that showed the robot hemming and hawing over whether it would be acceptable to replace a broken part of his body that was necessary for him to function. He worried he would break robot law by accepting it and tried to convince the humans to make that part out of something biodegradable so it would feel more natural. This illuminated an entirely new portion of his personality and made me love him even more.

4. The first page of “To Walk About in Freedom: The Long Emancipation of Priscilla Joyner” by Carole Emberton described how Mrs. Joyner reacted when two strangers from the Federal Writers’ Project approached her in the 1930s to record her biography as the biracial daughter of a southern white woman in the 1850s. Mrs. Joyner said, “That’s nice. Would you like to see my garden?” and proceeded to show them her garden before telling them anything about her unique childhood. Wasn’t that a sweet answer?

Those are my answers. I look forward to seeing what you all came up with.

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I have mixed feelings about series.

When they’re well written, they’re my favorite sorts of books to dive into because of how deeply you can get to know the characters throughout the course of them. It’s thrilling to see a character slowly evolve over the course of several adventures, especially if they maybe weren’t particularly likeable at first. I love it when characters are given space to become three-dimensional individuals who feel just about as real to me as anyone I’ve met. This is difficult to accomplish for any author, but it’s so rewarding when it does happen.

Series that try to stretch out their original storylines too far are disappointing, though. I’d much rather read a tightly written standalone novel that wraps up all of the major conflicts and ends on a high note  than I would something about the exact same characters that had clunky pacing, or not enough going on in each book, or that put their characters in the same sorts of conflicts over and over again to justify creating a series when the protagonist really should have learned his or her lesson on that topic in book #1.

I’ve had experiences with both of these sorts of possibilities (and many grey areas in between then), so I never know what to expect when I start a new series. Will it horribly disappoint me two or three or six books from now? Is it worth my reading time? Will I find the first book pretty decent only to be shocked by how much I adore the rest of them after the world building and character development has been firmly established?

You never know what might happen. Here are some series I hope to read someday. Just don’t ask me exactly when that will be. Ha! Have you read any of these books and, if so, did you enjoy them?

1. The Eye of the World (The Wheel of Time, #1) by Robert Jordan

Multiple people have told me I’d love The Wheel of Time series.

2. His Dark Materials (His Dark Materials #1-3) by Philip Pullman

I once read that Pullman wrote this series partially as a response to the Chronicles of Narnia series. While I don’t know for sure if that’s true, it does make me curious to see what all of the fuss is about.

3. A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1) by Ursula K. Le Guin

Her short stories make me smile, but I’ve never explored her longer works. Maybe this is a good place to start?

4. Howl’s Moving Castle (Howl’s Moving Castle, #1) by Diana Wynne Jones

This has been on my TBR for so long that it has apparently become a series now!

5. The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1) by N.K. Jemisin