This week’s Top Ten Tuesday theme is “books that provide a much-needed escape”, which is quite a broad one. Let’s see what I can do!

1. The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison. I know this one comes up a lot in my Top Ten Tuesday posts, but it’s such a touchstone for me. I’ve read it quite a few times, and I always enjoy it: Maia does his best to be a good person, despite the chaos and ill-will around him, and there’s something so hopeful about the story as a whole. Even better, there’s quite a lot of detail and world-building to wonder about and admire.
2. Heaven Official’s Blessing, by MXTX. This is a much newer addition to the list: it’s what I’m seeking out for escape at the moment. It’s a complicated story with a big cast, and a world that’s unfamiliar in part because I lack the cultural background, and in part because it’s a fantasy. There’s a lot going on: there’s the romance between Xie Lian and Hua Cheng, of course, but there’s also the various mysteries that Xie Lian finds himself trying to understand, there’s the moments of slapstick (which isn’t normally my thing, but seems to work here), there’s horror elements, high fantasy… There are so many side characters I’ve come to love, and picking up whichever volume I’m up to at the end of the day is a lovely escape.
3. Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke. I almost chose Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, which is a big dense brick of a fantasy, but on reflection it’s Piranesi that took me further away. I was enchanted by it on first read, and I don’t think I really put it down at all. I had the same experience on a second read, and I’m sure I’ll return to it again in future.
4. Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie. This trilogy is so soothing to me, and I couldn’t quite tell you why. In part I think it’s Breq attitude to everything, the ability to go on despite everything crumbling. Plus, the world of the Imperial Radch has a lot to learn, a lot to be curious about.
5. Band Sinister, by KJ Charles. This book is just pure fun. Most of her books work for me if I need a bit of an escape, but Band Sinister is my favourite of them. The first time I read it, I couldn’t sleep, but I spent the whole night trying not to giggle too loud as I read because my wife was sleeping!
6. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, by Becky Chambers. Or really this whole series. It’s just so hopeful about people, in general, and I love exploring the universe with Chambers’ characters.
7. A Natural History of Dragons, by Marie Brennan. How could I not include this series? I’ve reread it several times — I love Isabella, and her drive to learn and explore, and the dragons.
8. The Miss Fisher Mysteries, by Kerry Greenwood. I couldn’t pick a favourite of this series, because it’s more about Phryne and her glamour, surprising practicality, and her mysteries. Really this is similar to point #9 just below…
9. Classic mysteries. This isn’t a single book, but a whole subset of a genre — there’s not one specific book that I’d really point to here, because I find most classic mysteries (think Agatha Christie’s era) soothing. There’s a social order that will be restored by the end of the book, everything is going to turn out okay, the innocent will go free and the guilty find their just rewards. My favourite authors that fit this mold are probably E.C.R. Lorac and Dorothy L. Sayers, but it doesn’t even have to be their work in order to act as a perfect escape.
10. Non-fiction. I find non-fiction soothing in a slightly different way, and an excellent way to escape from worrying over things going on in my life. It’s pretty “safe”, it doesn’t require an emotional investment (most of the time anyway), and I can learn new things. That’s always going to be enjoyable for me, even when I’m too het up to enjoy fiction.

Oof, we made it!

How about you? What books do you think of as a perfect escape?

This week’s prompt is “Books Involving Food (That are Not Cookbooks)”, which… I’m sure I know a lot of books which incidentally mention food, but I’m not sure how many will stand out for me. Let’s see…

1. Heaven Official’s Blessing (vol 4), by MXTX. This one springs to mind because I just read it, and because (alas) all the food Xie Lian cooks is awful, if not deadly. Only he and Hua Cheng can stand it, and in volume four, it gets used as a weapon… I’ll pass on the Love for All Seasons stew, and the Incorruptible Chastity Meatballs.
2. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley. It’s been a long while since I read this, but all the descriptions of baking stuck in my head! It’s so full of good food for a vampire novel.
3. Chocolat, by Joanne Harris. I need to give this a reread, it’s been ages, but I always did enjoy it. And of course, it always makes me crave chocolate. (Oh no!)
4. Legends & Lattes, by Travis Baldree. Okay, it mostly involves coffee, but it does feature the tasty, tasty snacks made by Thimble.
5. The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System (vol 1), by MXTX. The original Luo Binghe shows his harem favour by cooking for them… but the Luo Binghe that Shen Yuan meets after his transmigration will pretty much only cook for him. Unlike Xie Lian in MXTX’s other book, mentioned above, Luo Binghe really can cook. I have no idea if I’d like congee, but it makes me tempted to find out.
6. Cold Clay, by Juneau Black. Food keeps getting mentioned again and again, and it all sounds so tasty. Though in this book it is slightly macabre to think that Joe’s been making apple pies using apples from the orchard where his murdered wife was secretly buried.
7. The Biscuit: The History of a Very British Indulgence, by Lizzie Collingham. Time for some non-fiction! This one discusses biscuits, of course, but in a way that also tells us about a broader swathe of history too.
8. White Bread: A Social History of the Store-bought Loaf, by Aaron Bobrow-Strain. A whole history about bread? And not just any bread, but just… store-bought loaves? Yep. And it’s fascinating, and in many ways it’s a book about class.
9. A Cheesemonger’s History of the British Isles, by Ned Palmer. I found this one totally fascinating — and it helps that I really do love cheese.
10. Ice Cream: A Global History, by Laura B. Weiss. I love the Edible series in general, but I’ll stick to highlighting just one. My main complaint was that it wasn’t actually very global.

Yay, I did it! I read a surprising number of books about food for someone who isn’t interested in food, per se. I’m not a cook or any kind of gourmet, but food can be such a strong indicator of culture, it’s a fascinating way to look at society and history.