Tag Archives: Top Ten Tuesday

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I had some trouble coming up with all ten answers for this week’s prompt. Generally, I don’t bother finishing books that are truly outside of my comfort zone. These titles were were exceptions to that rule, and they make for an eclectic, if also shorter than usual, list.

1. Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Why it was outside of my comfort zone:

While I love science fiction in general, the process of Unwinding really freaked me out. That is a term I’m purposefully not explaining because of how graphic and disturbing it is. Feel free to google it at your own risk.  I’m glad I finished this tale, but I don’t know I could ever watch a film based on it.

2. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Why it was outside of my comfort zone: 

Romance is a genre I don’t read much in general because, despite being married for a decent amount of time now, I am a rather unromantic person at heart. (Well, unless we’re talking about chocolate covered cherries because who doesn’t like chocolate-covered treats!?) The romance in this book happened between two selfish and emotionally unhealthy characters, so that pushed it even further outside of my comfort zone even though the plot itself was well done.

3. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Why it was outside of my comfort zone: 

Some of the allegories in it make my brain hurt. I simultaneously love the poetic nature of it and desperately wish for a straightforward translation of what it’s trying to say.

4. The Crossover by Kwame Alexandre

Why it was outside of my comfort zone: 

I know nothing about sports and have no interest in learning about them. Despite that, this book of poetry about a kid who was obsessed with basketball and worried about his father’s poor health was incredibly well done.

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My list is a short one this week. There simply aren’t that many books out there that I’d reread often enough to want to have in my personal library.

1. Old Reference Books

I discussed my love of reading dictionaries, thesauruses, and encyclopedias here before. These books can be a tantalizing glimpse into the past. Some of the words they use are no longer common, and others have seen their meanings change dramatically. I really like comparing the way things were back then to what is (and isn’t) acceptable to write about today. 

2. Any First Edition Copy of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

I actually had a first edition of this book and one of the sequels in the series in my personal library when I was a kid. I don’t know what happened to them, but someday it would be cool to touch them again. 

3. Beowulf.

This is one of my all-time favourite legends. When I first read it, our professor did an excellent job of explaining what we knew about the culture that created it as well as making note of all of the references that have been lost to the mists of time. 

4. Everything N.K. Jemison Writes

I discovered her work much later than most people, and I still have a long ways to go in catching up on her stories. So far I’m loving them and would gladly add all of her books to my personal library. 

5. Spanish Children’s Books

Studying Spanish is one of my hobbies. I’ve really come to enjoy attempting to read Spanish children’s books as I try to apply all of the words I’ve memorized to something more practical than translating short sentences how many apples someone ate on Duolingo. Ha!

6. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

When I was in high school, I reread this book multiple times a year. It’s been a long time since I reread it, and I’m thinking that’s something I should do again soon. 

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I had such a good time putting this list together. How many of these tropes do all of you also enjoy?

1. Unseen Antagonist

This trope tends to be most common in the horror genre. The main characters either never meet the antagonist or have encounters with him or her that the audience only gets a partial viewing of. Sometimes it’s scarier to imagine what the bad guy looks like than to have that character described in full detail. 

2. Don’t Go Into the Woods

My family lived in all sorts of places when I was growing up: on farms, in the suburbs, in a bigger city, and in small towns. Sometimes we lived right next to a forest, and sometimes we had to drive for a while to find one. Either way, I was so comfortable in nature growing up that I’m now fascinated by the thought of the woods being a dangerous place.

Yes, in some plots it absolutely is something to be avoided. This trope is just so different from my personal experiences that I can’t stop reading about it. 

3. The Old Beggar Test

Do you remember how many fairy tales include a scene where the main character comes across an old beggar who asks for help but who can give you nothing in return for your kindness? I love seeing character react with empathy and kindness to these interactions. 

4. Helpful Aliens

This isn’t a plot twist that happens as often as I’d like it to, but I always enjoy reading about aliens who want to help humanity in some way. 

5. Spooky Paintings

Going to the art museum is my idea of a good time, especially when it comes to the anything from the Romantic era. There’s something about Victorian paintings in particular that I really like. This is even more true when an author describes them in spooky ways. 

6. Unsympathetic Victims

Occasionally, I like to read short murder mystery stories. The most interesting ones to me involve victims that were honestly pretty terrible individuals when they were alive. Anyone can have sympathy for a victim who was pleasant and helpful. I appreciate the much greater effort it takes for a writer to create sympathy for a victim who had trouble getting along with others. 

7. Historical Fiction that Explains Our Past

For example, I truly enjoy reading stories about how humans built Stonehenge, domesticated dogs, or invented ships. Fiction can be a great way to explore why and how they did these things since not everything they knew about these topics was passed down through history. 

8. Feminist Retellings

I love fairy tales…even the ones that can have some problematic elements. So it’s always cool when authors retell those old classics in ways that remain true to the original message while at the same time changing the parts of the plot that are understood in a totally different light now than they would have been many generations ago. 

9. Humorous Twists in Serious Moments

I’ve discussed my general loss of interest in the horror genre on this blog before. One of the reasons why I still do read it on occasion is that some authors are really good at mixing humour with horror. The gory stuff still doesn’t appeal to me, but I do like laughing and feeling a little fear at the same time. 

10. Drool-Worthy Fictional Food

The butter beer and many different types of magical candy in Harry Potter is a classic example of this. Basically, I like reading about types of food or drink that didn’t exist in our universe when that book was first printed. Often, the really delicious-sounding stuff eventually becomes as real as it can be in our universe either through companies mass-producing it or through fans coming up with recipes that make it taste as close to the descriptions in the book as possible. 

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This week’s prompt required some brainstorming for me because I’m the sort of reader who is drawn to characters and plots that I would not actually want to spend much time with in real life. For example, I love rereading Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, but I would never want to join Dr. Frankestein as he sewed pieces of various corpses together and then electrocuted them to see if they could be reanimated.

Needless to say, watching Netflix and ordering in a Hawaiian pizza is much closer to my idea of a relaxing date night. If I’m leaving the house, I’d rather go on a long, exploratory walk than buy tickets to something that must be attended at a specific time. The characters I’m about to discuss are the sorts of folks that I think would at least occasionally enjoy my laid-back approach to life.

1. Lyra from Phillip Pullman’s The Golden Compass. 

What we’d do together: 

Visit a museum on one of the nights when they offer free or half-price admission. She’d try to sneak into one of the employee-only rooms. I’d attempt to convince her to give up on this plan and probably not succeed at that. We’d have a wonderful time comparing what I’d seen in the official exhibits and what she’d found in the archives, though!

2. Fern from E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web. 

What we’d do together: 

Visit a local animal shelter, adopt two of the dogs there that no one else wanted to take home, and live happily ever after.

3. Liesel from Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief. 

What we’d do together: 

Bake chocolate chip cookies, spend a few hours reading in companionable silence, and then talk about what we read.

4. Matthew Cuthbert from L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables series. 

What we’d do together: 

He’d teach me how to fix farm equipment and take care of livestock. I’d teach him how to turn on a smart phone and surf the Internet. Hopefully, we’d both be able to swap tips about living with social anxiety. (I genuinely believe he would have been diagnosed with it if he lived in our era!)

5. Alice from Claire Kann’s Let’s Talk About Love. 

What we’d do together: 

Since Alice is asexual, I’m demisexual, and we’re both biromantic, we’d probably start off comparing notes on what dating and relationships are like for queer people on the aro spectrum.

After that, I’d invite her to play cooperative board games with me. She struck me as the sort of person who might really enjoy working together so that everyone wins.

6. Faythe from Rachel Vincent’s Shifters series. 

What we’d do together: 

We’d discuss feminism and gender equality. I loved this character, but I really disliked the were-cat culture she’d been raised in because of how much the men in her pack tried to control the women around them. She deserved to be treated so much better than she was by most of the men around her.

I’d also be interested in watching her shift between her human and were-cat forms if she was comfortable doing it in front of me. The book’s descriptions of this process were fascinating.

7. Bilbo Baggins from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit.

What we’d do together: 

Cook a feast, invite friends over, and have a big, cheerful dinner party. Hopefully, there would be some dancing and joke-telling, too, after everyone had eaten their fill.  I know there are far larger and more powerful characters in this universe, but I’ve always identified with the hobbits more than anyone else. They knew how to live a simple, happy life.

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Officially, this week’s topic was Cover Redesigns I Loved/Hated. I generally don’t notice – much less have strong opinions about –  book cover redesigns, so I tweaked the topic to be Summer Covers I Love instead. Since August is a hot, humid month here in southern Ontario,  I thought it might be fun to look at some pretty book covers that evoke this time of the year.

I haven’t read all of these books, so this post is only an endorsement of their eye-catching covers.

Summer Sisters by Judy Blume

What I liked about it:

Including beach chairs without showing people in them allows every reader to imagine themselves sitting at the beach. There’s nothing more refreshing than cooling down at the beach on a hot day!

The Sign for Drowning by Rachel Stolzman

What I liked about it:

Listening to the ocean in a seashell is magical no matter how old you are. I never grow tired of doing this or looking at book covers that depict it.

Jersey Angel by Beth Ann Bowman 

What I liked about it:

I have trouble running, jumping, or diving into water I know is going to be cold even on a hot summer day. Seeing the woman doing that without hesitation on this book cover makes me smile.

Shug by Jenny Han

What I liked about it:

Normally, I try to stick to a sugar-free diet. This summer I have not been following that rule so well. There’s nothing like having a popsicle or some ice cream on a day that is unrelentingly hot and humid.

Ndura: Son of the Forest by Javier Salazar Calle

What I liked about it:

As tired as I can get of the heat waves at this time of the year, I always appreciate being surrounded by greenery.  Ontario is a brown, drab place for half of the year, so it’s always nice to see lush leaves, plants, flowers, and other signs of life in August. The time is coming when we won’t have those splashes of colour on the landscape again for many months.

The Great Lakes: The Natural History of a Changing Region by Wayne Grady

What I liked about it:

Water is something we kind of take for granted here in Ontario because there’s generally plenty of it. There’s actually been a lot of flooding in Toronto this spring and summer! I love the way this cover shows how beautiful our Great Lakes can be during the warm months, though. They’re definitely something I need to learn to appreciate (and visit) more often.

Thank You for Flying Air Zoe by Erik Atwell

What I liked about it:

Sandals, shorts, and t-shirts are what I spend as much time wearing as possible during the summer. I love the relaxed sense of fashion that a lot of people have during this portion of the year. It’s too humid to worry about looking anything other than comfortable if you’re going to be outdoors.

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Last week I unfortunately didn’t have time to leave comments on everyone’s Top Ten Tuesday posts. Thank you to all of you who commented on mine! I’ll be back to my regular commenting habits again this week.

I’m a frugal, minimalistic, and environmentally conscious person, so this week’s list is going to be pretty short. The vast majority of the authors I enjoy are people I can wait to read until the library has a copy of their newest book waiting for me or until I can get it in e-book form.

(If all writers were immortal, this list would be much longer! Sadly, many of my all-time favourite ones are no longer around to give us new stories).

To be perfectly clear, in no way do I judge what others do. These restrictions are ones I only place on myself because of how much I value being mindful about the resources I use. Buying paper books is a better decision for some people for any number of reasons, and I completely respect that.

With that being said, I find it hard to say no to the following authors. Click on their names to go to the Goodreads lists of their books or keep reading to discover why I enjoy them so much.

Sarah Waters

Most of her books are set in the Victorian era and feature queer women as the main characters. They are richly detailed stories that I read over and over again. She produces new stories so infrequently and I adore her writing style so much that I immediately buy whatever it is she comes up with.

Margaret Atwood

In my opinion, Margaret Atwood is the best living novelist here in Canada. Most of what she writes is speculative fiction, although she has branched out to other genres on occasion. Right now I’m impatiently counting down the days until the release of her next book, The Testaments, this September because it’s a long-awaited sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale and I can’t wait to see what it will be like.

Who else had a short list this week? Are any of my followers also into being frugal, minimalistic, and/or eco-friendly? If so, I’d love to know how you balance those ideals with keeping on top of your reading habits…other than regularly visiting the library, of course!