Tag Archives: Top Ten Tuesday

June 21, 2022 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Wishes


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

A drawing of mist coming out of a genie’s lamp. Just like I did last year, I’m tweaking the bookish wishes prompt again because my TBR pile is still as large as ever. (Are they secretly magical? Why do they never seem to shrink much at all no matter how much you read?)

Instead of asking any of you to buy books for me, I’m asking for recommendations instead if you know of any titles that might match up to my bookish wishes below.

 

Wish #1: Humorous Stories of Any Length 

I don’t know about all of you, but I still have a strong desire to read lighthearted material that will hopefully make me laugh.

Responses to this wish can be from any genre or era.

Here are some examples of humorous stories that I’ve loved:

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, #1) by Douglas Adams

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

The Essential Calvin and Hobbes: A Calvin and Hobbes Treasury by Bill Watterson

I Am America by Stephen Colbert

The sorts of short humorous stories about everyday life that writers like Mark Twain have written.

 

 

Wish #2: Stories About or From Where You Live 

If you’re uncomfortable sharing the precise city you live in for privacy reasons, no worries. I will be just as happy to read stories about your region, state, province, territory, country, or continent depending on how specific you feel comfortable being.

I think reading stories set in real places is a wonderful way to get a feel for that area. Since I won’t be travelling anywhere special this summer, why not read about some of the spectacular places in our world instead?

I would prefer recommendations from the science fiction, fantasy, mystery, or young adult genres, but other genres are cool as well if you loved their writing style and think they’re a great representation of your culture or region.

 

Wish #3: Literary Ghost Stories 

I love well-written, literary (or literary-ish) ghost stories. Send all of them to me. Ha!

Here are a few examples of what I mean:

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

The Broken Girls by Simone St. James

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

 

Wish #4: Nonfiction About Topics Other Than War, Pandemics, or Royalty 

Those of you who have been reading my Top Ten Tuesday or other posts for a while might remember how much I love the nonfiction genre.

I am not interested in nonfiction about war, pandemics, or royalty. I am rarely into nonfiction about politics or religion. (Brief mentions of any of these topics are totally okay…just not entire books about them).

Anything else is fair game! Biographies, autobiographies, history, medicine, education, animals, science, social movements, food, social customs, and similar topics always pique my interest. I love learning about the pieces of life that often aren’t taught in school.

 

A conch shell sitting on a beach as the tide goes out slowly. Wish #5: Beach Reads 

I know the definition of the term beach read can differ depending on the reader.

When I use it, I’m referring to light, fluffy books that can help you pass the time while you’re at the beach and that do not require deep levels of thought in order to keep track of the plot and characters. My brain needs a little literary junk food this summer.

You’ll get bonus points if your suggestion also happens to be set on a beach, but this is definitely not a requirement. Any genre is fine for this one.

 

Wish #6: Anything Else You Think I Might LIke

Okay, I know this one is a bit of a tall order. If anyone reading this feels like they know my reading preferences well enough to give an unsolicited recommendation, by all means feel free to do so!

 

 

 

 

 

68 Comments

Filed under Blog Hops

Tagged as

June 14, 2022 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Should Have Been Epilogues


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Three leaf clover in a little glass jar with a cork stopper. The jar is sitting in the crease of an opened book. The original topic for this week was books I wish had an epilogue, but I’m going to tweak it a little bit since epilogues are rare in the sorts of contemporary books I generally read.

In my experience, many contemporary books are spun off into series when an epilogue would have more than sufficed. I intend no offence to these authors or to anyone who enjoyed these particular series. It is simply my opinion that their writing would have been stronger if the author had taken the last few books in their series and written a concise epilogue about them at the end of an earlier instalment instead.

I’d rather be left wanting more than read a series that was stretched out past the point where the original premise and conflicts should have been able to be resolved. With that being said, I do still recommend checking out these series if their premises interest you.

 

Prey (Shifters, #4) by Rachel Vincent Book cover. Image on cover shows torso of woman who has cat scratches on her thigh. Her lower jaw is visible but not the rest of her head. (Yes, she is alive).

Prey (Shifters, #4) by Rachel Vincent

This was an interesting urban fantasy series about werecat shapeshifters. I wish it had been a trilogy instead of getting stretched out into seven books, though. The later instalments repeated so many plot twists from earlier stories that the new material in them could have easily been an epilogue instead. I wish I didn’t have to say this as the first couple of books were wonderful beach reads.

 

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee book cover. Image on chover shows a drawing of a train travelling down an empty track at dusk. There is a tree filled with golden leaves near the track.

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

I spent years wishing for a sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird. When one finally did arrive, I thought the contents of it would have been much better suited as a bonus chapter in the original. Once again, there simply wasn’t enough new material here to make for a compelling standalone story in my opinion.

 

The Shelters of Stone (Earth's Children #5) by Jean M. Auel book cover. Image on cover shows a drawing of a deer running. it is sketched onto a cave wall.

The Shelters of Stone (Earth’s Children #5) by Jean M. Auel

This is something I’ve discussed on my blog before, but the quality of the Earth’s Children series deteriorated with each new instalment. The first one was excellent and the second one was almost as good as the first. I’d recommend the third and fourth instalments to anyone who adored the beginning, but I was quite disappointed by how the foreshadowing, plot development, and character development were almost totally ignored by the final two books in this series.

 

Anne of Ingleside (Anne of Green Gables, #6) by L.M. Montgomery book cover. Image on cover shows Anne standing in her garden with her twin daughters as the girls pick flowers.

Anne of Ingleside (Anne of Green Gables, #6) by L.M. Montgomery

I adored the first several Anne of Green Gables books, but Anne sadly didn’t seem like herself in the last few at all. If only more time had been spent exploring her wonderful imagination and zest for life. Her tendency to interfere in the lives of others came across quite differently without those qualities.

 

Do not feel obligated to take my word for any of this, though! By all means go and read these books for yourself if they interest you. They might not have worked for me, but other readers may have very different opinions on the matter.

58 Comments

Filed under Blog Hops

Tagged as , ,

June 7, 2022 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Book With a Unit of Time in the Title


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Green plants surrounding an analogue clock. An hour was the unit of time I chose for this week’s prompt. Let’s see which book titles fit this theme.

1. Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness by Alexandra Fuller

2. The Silent Hour (Lincoln Perry, #4) by Michael Koryta

3. The Shadow Hour (The Girl at Midnight, #2) by Melissa Grey

4. The Golden Hour (Time-Travel Series, #1) by Maiya Williams

6. Hour of the Bees by Lindsay Eagar
8. The Mirk and Midnight Hour by Jane Nickerson
10. Visiting Hours by Shane L. Koyczan
I normally try to respond to Top Ten Tuesday posts with books that I’ve read, but this time I could only find examples of books that fit this theme that I have not read yet.
If you’ve read anything on this list, I’d love to hear your opinion of it!

 

84 Comments

Filed under Blog Hops

Tagged as

May 31, 2022 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Comfort Reads


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

These are all cozy stories from a variety of genres that I’d recommend to anyone looking for a comfort read.

My definition of a comfort read is a story that is compelling but gentle. That is to say, you can read it without worrying about anything horrible happening to the main character. They might break an ankle or temporarily get lost in a swamp, but everything will always end on a happy note and most of the scenes will be ones filled with conflicts that are lower stakes. Death or serious bodily harm are rarely a genuine threat for these characters. They are far more likely to be facing something like social embarrassment from saying the wrong thing or having a comical adventure instead.

A rainbow hammock hanging between two trees over a lush blanket of thick green grass. 1. The Rosie Project (Don Tillman, #1) by Graeme Simsion

2. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

3. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

4. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg

5. Heidi by Johanna Spyri

6. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

7. Little House in the Big Woods (Little House, #1) by Laura Ingalls Wilder

8. Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett

9. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

10. The Princess Bride by William Goldman

What is your definition of a comfort read? am so curious to see how our understandings of that term might line up.

82 Comments

Filed under Blog Hops

Tagged as

May 24, 2022 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Humorous Quotes from Books


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

A woman with black hair who is wearing a blue scarf and a blue shirt. She is laughing and looks perfectly joyful.

One of the happiest stock photos I’ve seen in ages!

Yes, I’ve blogged about humorous quotes from books before. It’s one of those evergreen topics that I think can and should be returned to whenever you’re in need of a pick-me-up.

I don’t know about all of you, but after the the last two years I am definitely needing reasons to laugh and lighthearted things to think about.

Here are some humorous quotes from books that do just that for me. I hope they have the same effect on everyone who reads this.

 

“The story so far:
In the beginning the Universe was created.
This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.”
― Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

 

 

“Fate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant filled with odd little waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don’t always like.”
― Lemony Snicket

 

 

“Some humans would do anything to see if it was possible to do it. If you put a large switch in some cave somewhere, with a sign on it saying ‘End-of-the-World Switch. PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH’, the paint wouldn’t even have time to dry.”
― Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time

 

“Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again

 

 

“I don’t want tea,” said Clary, with muffled force. “I want to find my mother. And then I want to find out who took her in the first place, and I want to kill them.”
“Unfortunately,” said Hodge, “we’re all out of bitter revenge at the moment, so it’s either tea or nothing.”
― Cassandra Clare, City of Bones

 

 

A red flower with a yellow smiley face button sitting in the middle of it. “No sight so sad as that of a naughty child,” he began, “especially a naughty little girl. Do you know where the wicked go after death?”

“They go to hell,” was my ready and orthodox answer.

“And what is hell? Can you tell me that?”

“A pit full of fire.”

“And should you like to fall into that pit, and to be burning there for ever?”

“No, sir.”

“What must you do to avoid it?”

I deliberated a moment: my answer, when it did come was objectionable: “I must keep in good health and not die.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

 

 

“Half of seeming clever is keeping your mouth shut at the right times.”
― Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man’s Fear

 

 

“It’s not like there’s a law against flying.”

“Yes there is. The law of gravity.”
― Laini Taylor, Daughter of Smoke & Bone

 

 

A sign shaped like the word “Joy.” It is covered in about 16 glowing white lights. “She’s the sort of woman who lives for others – you can tell the others by their hunted expression.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

 

 

“If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.”
― George Bernard Shaw, Immaturity

 

 

I hope this post brought a little joy to all of your lives!

79 Comments

Filed under Blog Hops

Tagged as , ,

May 17, 2022 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Was SO EXCITED to Get, but Still Haven’t Read


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Black-and-white photo of books hanging from a glass ceiling by pieces of thick string.I have a confession to make: my eyes are bigger than my stomach and my TBR list.

That is to say, I have the tendency to put more food on my plate than I can actually eat and to gush about more books that i can realistically read if I don’t pay attention to what I’m doing.

This is even more true if we’re talking about books from highly-anticipated authors or places that serve dairy-free meals and desserts. When you have food allergies (or any other dietary restriction, I’m sure), you get used to not being able to eat a lot of delicious-looking foods that others enjoy without a second thought. It’s simply part of life.

When I get the rare chance to pick anything on the menu at a restaurant, I often have the urge to over-order because of how unusual this experience is. The same thing can be said for when there are more attention-grabbing books than I have hours in the day to read.

Here are some books I am still excited to read but haven’t actually picked up yet. I’ve mentioned all of them in previous seasonal TBR posts for Tio Ten Tuesday over the past few years.

 

City of Refugees: The Story of Three Newcomers Who Breathed Life Into a Dying American Town by Susan Hartman Book cover. image on cover is a drawing of buildings in a town.

1. City of Refugees: The Story of Three Newcomers Who Breathed Life Into a Dying American Town by Susan Hartman

 

The Trayvon Generation by Elizabeth Alexander Book cover. Image on cover shows a photo of a black child staring into the camera with a neutral expression on his face.

2. The Trayvon Generation by Elizabeth Alexander

 

Lakelore by Anna-Marie McLemore Book cover. Image on the cover shows drawing of two teens standing in a lake with leaves on their heads.

3. Lakelore by Anna-Marie McLemore

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Ask: Building Consent Culture by Kitty Stryker

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. On the Come Up by Angie Thomas

 

Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi book cover. Cover image is of a woman's face.

6. Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi

 

Friendship: The Evolution, Biology, and Extraordinary Power of Life's Fundamental Bond by Lydia Denworth book cover. The only images on the cover are of stylized DNA strands lying on their sides at the top and bottom. They are behind green or blue backgrounds.

7. Friendship: The Evolution, Biology, and Extraordinary Power of Life’s Fundamental Bond by Lydia Denworth

 

Finna by Nino Cipri book cover. Cover image is of bent tubes and screws scattered around.

8. Finna by Nino Cipri

 

Book cover for Ghost Wood Song  by Erica Waters. Image on cover is of book title in the shape of curved pieces of wood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9.Ghost Wood Song by Erica Waters

 

Book cover for Sara Seager's The Smallest Lights in the Universe. Image on cover is of an adult and two children walking outdoors at dusk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.The Smallest Lights in the Universe: A Memoir by Sara Seager

86 Comments

Filed under Blog Hops

Tagged as , , ,

May 10, 2022 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Characters


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Silhouette of 3-inch tall person holding up the page of a book.My list for this week is a hodgepodge of books as it often is. I’ll be quite curious to see what everyone else has come up for it as most of my answers were of older stories and I wasn’t able to come up with the full ten answers this time.

1. Liesel from The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

2. Matilda from Matilda by Roald Dahl

3. Guy from Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

4. Clay from Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore (Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, #1)
by Robin Sloan

5. Francie from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

How long did it take all of you to come up with your lists?

 

 

72 Comments

Filed under Blog Hops

Tagged as

May 3, 2022 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: One-Word Reviews for the Last Ten Books I Read


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Green typewriter with a piece of paper stuck in it. The word “review” has been typed on that page. Narrowing down my opinions of these books to a single word each was definitely not easy, but it was an amusing challenge.

Tiny Humans, Big Lessons: How the NICU Taught Me to Live With Energy, Intention, and Purpose by Sue Ludwig

The One-Word Review: Mindful

 

The Heart of Caring:  A Life in Pediatrics by Mark Vonnegut

The One-Word Review: Hopeful

 

The Story Girl by L.M. Montgomery

The One-Word Review: Playful

 

The Golden Road by L.M. Montgomery

The One-Word Review: Bittersweet

 

You Have More Influence Than You Think: How We Underestimate Our Power of Persuasion and Why It Matters by Vanessa Bohns

The One-Word Review: Inspiring

 

Hildie at the Ghost Shore by Paula Cappa

The One-Word Review: Spooky

 

A tachometer for feedback. From left to right, each section reads poor, fair, good, and excellent. The colours for each one left to right are red, orange, yellow, and green.

To Walk About in Freedom: The Long Emancipation of Priscilla Joyner by Carole Emberton

The One-Word Review: Amazing

 

The One-Word Review: Sobering
The One-Word Review: Surprising
The Annals of a Country Doctor by Carl Matlock, MD
The One-Word Review: Reflective

 

 

96 Comments

Filed under Blog Hops

Tagged as

April 26, 2022 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Books with Curly-Haired Characters on the Cover


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

A red headed woman with long, curly hair standing in front of a wall plastered over with magazine covers.

This isn’t me, but my hair is similar to a brunette version of hers.

I have naturally curly hair that ranges from Type 2C (wavy/loose curls) to something a little curlier than Type 3B (springy ringlets) depending on which part of my head you’re looking at, how recently I’ve washed and moistured it, how humid or dry the air is, and a million other factors that anyone who knows curly hair no doubt is already well aware of.

When I was a kid, I’d always get so excited to see a curly-haired person included on a book cover or described in a story.

Sometimes that was the deciding factor in whether I read a book!

I grew up in a community that was so homogenous that even minor differences in human appearance like this were hard to find.

And I’m saying that as someone who is Caucasian. I’m sure the small number of classmates I had who were from other racial backgrounds yearned for representation of people who looked like them even more than I did.

Representation matters.

While there’s still plenty of work to do in this area, I’m glad publishers are doing a better job these days of representing characters from a wider range of backgrounds.

This week I’m going to be sharing ten wonderful book covers featuring people who have curly hair.

 

The Stolen One by Suzanne Crowley Book cover. Image on cover shows a woman with curly red hair sitting at a table and glaring at the reader.

1. The Stolen One by Suzanne Crowley

 

Baby Girl by Lenora Adams book cover. Image on cover shows a young black woman wearing hoop earrings as she looks over her shoulder and has flowers tucked behind her ear.

2. Baby Girl by Lenora Adams

Nobody's Prize (Nobody's Princess, #2) by Esther M. Friesner book cover. Image on cover shows a white girl with long, curly brown hair standing and staring at a large aquarium.

3. Nobody’s Prize (Nobody’s Princess, #2) by Esther M. Friesner

The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill book cover. Image on cover is a drawing of the heroine wearing her hair naturally in a big puff of gorgeous curls.

4. The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill

Liar by Justine Larbalestier book cover. Image on cover shows a young black woman hiding her face in her hoodie.

5. Liar by Justine

Ten Cents a Dance by Christine Fletcher book cover. Image on cover shows a blond woman staring off into the distance.

6. Ten Cents a Dance by Christine Fletcher

Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann book cover. Image on the cover shows a dark-skinned African-american girl dancing for joy while wearing a white, sleeveless top.

7. Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann

 

8. The Freemason’s Daughter by Shelley Sackier

Blue Flame (Perfect Fire Trilogy, #1) by K.M. Grant book cover. Image on cover shows a young woman with loosely curly brown hair standing outside by the ocean during a storm.

9. Blue Flame (Perfect Fire Trilogy, #1) by K.M. Grant

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo book cover. Image on cover shows a drawing of a woman who has a large, black Afro.

10. The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

 

92 Comments

Filed under Blog Hops

Tagged as ,

April 19, 2022 · 1:00 am

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Merchandise I’d Love to Own


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

My answers to this week’s prompt might be a little unorthodox.

I have enough bookmarks, ereaders, tea mugs, and cozy socks to last for many years to come.

I do not have enough chocolate to nibble on while reading, but that’s because I have a sweet tooth and chocolate is hard to resist. Perhaps some of you who do not like sweets so much have never had this problem. Ha!

These are the bookish things I wish I had.

A cozy little home library in a the corner of a room. There is a red rug on the wooden floor and a light shining on the books and rug from a nearby shelf.

A Spare Room to Turn Into a Personal Library.

There are many things I love about living in a cozy apartment in a city, but one of the few downsides of it is that housing here in Toronto is too expensive to devote an entire room to reading. If only that were different!

A man using a laptop while sitting on a couch. A woman has stretched out next to him on the cough and has her legs by his thighs as she listens to something.

A Big, Comfortable Couch

I want to gently flop over the sides of the couch and find every position comfortable while still leaving space for someone else to sit there, too.

Yes, sometimes I’d probably sit on the “proper” way, too. But not every time.

Pink clouds floating through the sky near a full moon at either sunrise or sunset.

Peace and Quiet 

I want a few hours of peace and quiet in which to read.

It’s okay if a truck rumbles by or a bird sings outside of my window, but I would rather not have conversation, music, blaring horns, or anything else that might be distracting.

Quiet reading sessions are the best if you ask me.

A little white dog sleeping on a chair.

A Leash and Soft Place to Sleep for My (Hypothetical) Dog or Dogs

Yes, I know that’s worded a little oddly, but let me explain. I don’t think of pets as objects to be owned. They’re members of a family instead.

If I weren’t allergic to dogs and if my home were large enough to accommodate one, I’d also want to have a canine companion or two. (Let’s also assume that my spouse agrees to this plan!)

Ideally, they’d sleep or play quietly for a couple of hours while I read and then let me know that they were ready to go for a walk.

There’s something about taking a walk that makes reading even better. It  gives you time to think about what you’ve read and wonder what might happen next in the story.

Dogs are also good listeners from what I’ve surmised from people who can live with them, so I’d probably talk to them while we exercised together.

It wouldn’t matter to me what the dog looked like. I simply included the picture above because the dog in it looked so peaceful.

68 Comments

Filed under Blog Hops

Tagged as , , , ,