Today’s Top Ten Tuesday had me stumped for a bit, but it’s always fun to give it a shot, so let’s see what I can do: “Planes, Trains & Automobiles/Books Featuring Travel (books whose plots involve travel or feature modes of transportation on the cover/title)”.
- The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison. This jumped to mind right away, because it opens with Maia receiving the news that he’s the new emperor — and a swiftly-arranged airship flight to the capital to take up that position, even though an airship crash was precisely the reason for his unexpected ascendance to the throne.
- Murder on the Ballarat Train, by Kerry Greenwood. There’s a rich tradition of mysteries involving trains, and Phryne Fisher solves hers so stylishly.
- The Wheel Spins, by Ethel Lina White. This leaps to mind for the same reason: it’s set mostly though not entirely on a train, covering the course of one fateful journey in which the protagonist puts herself in danger by refusing to accept someone’s disappearance.
- The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, by Becky Chambers. The book follows the crew of the Wayfarer as they travel to a far-off part of space in order to create a wormhole that allows other people to travel faster from point A to point B, so it feels like it fits handily into this prompt!
- Kushiel’s Dart, by Jacqueline Carey. While we’re being unconventional, how about this one? Phèdre certainly travels, not just in this first book but throughout the series. This book concerns one of her first journeys, through the snow of Skaldia home to Terre d’Ange.
- The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles, by Malka Older. More mysteries and trains, but in a SF setting!
- The Kaiju Preservation Society, by John Scalzi. Travel to a different dimension counts, right? Right?! And it’s such a fun book too.
- Artificial Condition, by Martha Wells. Murderbot is travelling! It doesn’t like it, but it sure is travelling. (Can you imagine a travelogue by Murderbot? Yikes.)
- The Masked City, by Genevieve Cogman. This one features a train — a Fae train, travelling between worlds! I can’t believe it wasn’t one of the first I thought of, because this is in some ways a favourite of mine in the series.
- Chalice, by Robin McKinley. I know, another unconventional choice, but hear me out: Mirasol ends up binding her demesne together by travelling around the whole area, doing her magic. And there’s the also the Master’s somewhat more metaphorical journey back from Fire, since he originally left the demesne to become a priest of fire. See? Travel.
This feels like… a very typical list from me, heh. Somehow it comes down to the same books in many of my posts, somehow. I guess it’s because I feel like I’m supposed to be choosing the ten representatives of whatever the theme is that I like the best, or at least like a lot.
“Peter Cabot Gets Lost” didn’t make the cut? 😮
It’s not on my shelf, so I didn’t think of it somehow!
I don’t know why it’s not on my shelf though… w-where is my copy?!
Hopefully just double stacked somewhere that doesn’t look double stacked. :3
Lol I love your list! I have A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet on my list too, and I love that you have so many unconventional choices on your list!
I ended up just staring at my shelves for inspiration, ahaha. And of course then missed out some very worthy choices!
I almost put that Becky Chambers book on my list, but I went with a different spaceship book instead. 🙂
I really should get to that one!
I really should read The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet sometime.
Here is my Top Ten Tuesday.
I really love it!
I loved The Kaiju Preservation Society. The rest of these are new to me.
https://lisalovesliterature.bookblog.io/2024/08/13/top-ten-tuesday-planes-trains-and-automobiles-books-featuring-travel-in-the-story-or-on-the-cover/
It was a lot of fun, wasn’t it?
Fun list! But it makes me wonder… could we do an entire TTT with just murder mysteries set on trains? I can think of a couple right off the top, though I’m not sure I could come up with ten of them.
(Also, I would 100% read a travelogue by Murderbot.)
Probably! I can think of a couple more, e.g. Agatha Christie, and one by Miles Burton. One of the Daisy Dalrymple books has a murder on a train… yeah, pretty sure we could manage it!
Phryne Fisher! I’ve only seen the series, but you reminded me that I need to get the books.
Oh, they’re lovely, I do recommend!
Fab choices!
Thank you!
I do enjoy a murder mystery set on a train!
Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
It’s such a classic setting, after all!
This is such a fun, varied list. And I love that you included The Kaiju Preservation Society!
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I enjoyed trying to do some lateral thinking in my inclusions, ahaha.
I haven’t read any of these, but I love how gorgeous all the covers are. And the fact that you included what feels like a little of everything.
I did my best, haha!
Fun list. The long way is a great travel sci-fi. And that bit of the Goblin Emperor was ‘fun’.
I tried to think a bit outside the box, haha.