Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Was Super Excited to Get My Hands on but Still Haven’t Read


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Surreal painting of a little pale-skinned person sitting on the edge of a pond with their legs hanging over the water while the sky above is dark but there is a pale blue light over the horizon. The light in the sky is brighter than the moon but dimmer than the sun. You can see a reflection of it in the pond, although it is partially distorted by ripples in the water. The pond is set on a hill, and you can see two more hills behind it. Is this set at dusk or dawn? Why is the person wearing a hat but not a jacket? Why are they alone so close to the water and at such a lonely time of day? I own ebook copies of all of these titles, but there are so many incredible books out there that I have not yet managed to read anything from this list yet.

Part of the problem is that my attention span isn’t as long as it was when I was a kid.

I tend to gravitate towards short stories, novellas, and short novels these days instead of mostly reading regular to long novels like I did back then.

Maybe Toronto will have a lot of thunderstorms this summer?

I find I’m more interested in digging into something full length if the weather outside isn’t conducive to doing something active there instead.

It’s hard to remain cooped up inside on a pleasant, sunny day.

At least half of these recommendations came from my friend Berthold Gambrel, so I’ll tip my cap to him for recommending them. If you love talking about indie books or older films, he’s a great person to follow. Just tell him that Lydia sent you over to say hello. 🙂 

 

 

Book cover for Vander’s Magic Carpet by Patrick Prescott. Image on cover is a photograph of train tracks taken at night. You can see what might be the light of an oncoming train at the very edge of the cover. Then again, maybe it’s moonlight instead!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1.Vander’s Magic Carpet by Patrick Prescott

Why I’m Interested: Patrick is an Internet friend of mine, and I’ve been curious about this story of revenge and magic carpets for a long time.

Book cover for The Devil and the Wolf by Richard Pastore. Image on cover shows a sketch of two people, one in a blue suit and one in a red suit whose colour fades to grey at the shoulders, walking down a grey path and towards the head of an enormous blue-grey wolf that looks like it is about to devour them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. The Devil and the Wolf by Richard L. Pastore

Why I’m Interested: This sounds hilarious. Richard is another Internet friend of mine I’ve gotten to know well over the years.

 

An Assortment of Rejected Futures by Noah Goats. Image on cover is a photo of the branches of a leafless tree against a starry night sky. It appears to be dusk or dawn as the sky is purple instead of plain black.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. An Assortment of Rejected Futures by Noah Goats

Why I’m Interested: I love both reading and writing short stories. They can be so entertaining and memorable.

 

Book cover for The Left Hand of Dog - an Extremely Silly Tale of Alien Abduction by Si Clarke. Image on cover shows the silhoutte of a person and a medium-sized leashed dog standing on a hill and admiring the night sky. Curiously enough, there is a gigantic purple, blue, and pink teapot in the sky that is pouring some extra light into the sky through its spout.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. The Left Hand of Dog – an Extremely Silly Tale of Alien Abduction by Si Clarke

Why I’m Interested: Silly science fiction about aliens? Sign me up!

 

 

Book cover for Born of the Sun: A novel of human ancestors by Peter Munford. Image on cover shows a drawing of a large leg bone lying on cracked and dried red soil. The sun is setting over this desert scene, but it still feels unbearably hot and dry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5.Born of the Sun: A novel of human ancestors by Peter Munford

 

Why I’m Interested: I love reading about prehistory and the various hominids that have lived on Earth. This is set about 2 million years ago, so it could be quite interesting to compare how people are now to how pre-human species were back then.

 

Book cover for A Reconciliation With Death by Cody Ray George. Image on cover shows a drawing of a short-haired person sitting on a couch and looking wistfully through the blinds at the world outside. Have they finally decided to try to heal from their trauma, maybe?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. A Reconciliation With Death by Cody Ray George

Why I’m Interested: So many post-apocalyptic books end before their characters have any chance at all to begin recovering from what they’ve endured. I relish the thought of reading something that acknowledges that a terrible plague happened but then speeds forward to see how the characters recover from it. Healing is vastly underrated in speculative fiction in my opinion.  We need more hope in the world.

 

Book cover for Little House on the Wasteland by Laura Ingalls-Wei, Amanda Platsis (Illustrator), Christopher McElwain (Translator). Image on cover is a drawing of the characters from Little House on the Prairie but in a futuristic postapocalyptic setting. They are walking down an abandoned road and keeping an eye out for trouble. This scene is framed by a torn and decaying white and red gingham curtain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. Little House on the Wasteland by Laura Ingalls-Wei, Amanda Platsis (Illustrator), Christopher McElwain (Translator)

Why I’m Interested: Horror and Laura Ingalls Wilder are two things I’d never think to blend together, but the people I know who read this book really loved it. I need to find out for myself how such wildly different styles of writing can improve each other.

 

Book cover for American Chimera by H.R.R Gorman. Image on cover shows a gold scarab beetle against a gold and brown background. The beetle looks like it’s a toy or a pin instead of a real beetle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. American Chimera by H.R.R Gorman

Why I’m Interested: Chimeras are fascinating.

Book cover for Roach by Liz Boysha. Image on cover is a drawing of a red, winged, six-legged insect. It is nothing like any roach I’ve ever seen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9.  Roach by Liz Boysha

Why I’m Interested: People turning into bugs in stories is one thing…but a roach turning into a person? This could be really good.

 

Book cover for Born in a Treacherous time (Dawn of Humanity #1) by Jacqui Murray. image on cover shows a drawing of a long-haired person holding a spear and a wolf striding confidently towards the viewer. Behind them is a mammoth who has been superimposed onto the scene.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10. Born in a Treacherous time (Dawn of Humanity #1) by Jacqui Murray

Why I’m Interested: As mentioned earlier, I love reading stories set in prehistory. This one is set 1.8 million years ago, a time period I have not read as much about as I have other time periods. Here’s hoping it’s an exciting and educational read.

46 Comments

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46 Responses to Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Was Super Excited to Get My Hands on but Still Haven’t Read

  1. Horror + Laura Ingalls Wilder is an interesting mix. LOL Here’s hoping for some rainy days so you can dive into some of these books. 🙂

  2. These are all completely new to me. I hope you do get a chance to read these and share them with us!

  3. I’m intrigued by the Little House on the Wasteland. I hope you enjoy these. I haven’t heard of any of these, thanks for recommending!

  4. The Left Hand of Dog has a pretty cover!

  5. Nice list, especially Born of the Sun and Born in a Treacherous Time. Happy reading when you get to these. I tend to read more during the summer.

  6. I haven’t read any of these but A Reconciliation with Death sounds amazing—heartbreaking but amazing. I’ll have to keep my eye out for it! I hope you enjoy these whenever you get to these 🙂

  7. Born in a Treacherous Time sounds like a lot of fun adventure!

  8. I’m not sure I’ve ever read the original “Little House” novel, but it is indeed always funny when we see authors blend two very different ideas or genres. I always think of Jane Austen and the zombie book as one example, which surprisingly I did enjoy. I tend to like shorter novels no matter the time of year. Long books get the best of me too often. 😉 Thanks so much for visiting my website today.

  9. Great post. The Laura Ingles book sounds interesting.

  10. I’m definitely intrigued by Roach 🙂 Hope you’ll love all of these!

  11. I haven’t read any of these. I totally agree about the weather though. It can really impact my reading mood. I hope you get to some of these!

  12. Great list, Lydia! I hope you’re having a happy Tuesday!

  13. Silly science fiction about alien abductions does sound like a lot of fun!

    For me, I think my attention span is the same as it was, but my patience has shrunk considerably. I can give long books my attention without a problem, as long as the book feels like something I want to read. I just don’t have the patience to read everything anymore. It has to fit what I’m looking for now.

    Here’s my TTT this week: https://bookwyrmknits.com/2024/05/28/top-ten-tuesday-unread-fantasy-pre-orders/

  14. These ones are all new to me but I hope you find time for them soon.

  15. Though not really a fan of sci-fi, silly sci-fi sounds like fun. The Laura Ingalls-Wei book sounds good, too. Thanks for sharing and for visiting my blog.

  16. An interesting looking list. I’ve not read anything set pre history.

    I hope that you enjoy them when you get to them!

    Have a great week!

  17. These are all new to me. I’m intrigued by Little House horror! Maybe you’ll get a few rainstorms so you can dive into these books. That’s perfect reading weather.

  18. Great list! I always thought my attention span would get longer as I got older, but it seems to be working in the opposite way. 🤷🏻‍♀️ You always have such interesting books listed – I really like the sound of Born of the Sun, and had to add it to my TBR. A Reconciliation with Death sounds really interesting too. It made me think about what you were talking about, how grief, loss, and healing are often glossed over in books so that the author can focus more on action. I think that’s what appealed to me so much about Crying in H-Mart, since it really stayed with that grief. Thanks for a wonderful post, and sorry for writing a short story of my own this week!

  19. I hope you enjoy all these when you get to them. They’re all new ones to me!

    Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!

    Susan
    http://www.blogginboutbooks.com

  20. Berthold Gambrel

    I’ve read several of these. I think you will enjoy them. 🙂 And I’m curious about some of the ones I haven’t read. They all look good!

  21. Little House on the Wasteland sounds interesting, unique combo

  22. A roach turning into a person? How can I resist?! I’ll have to see if I can source a copy.

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