This week’s Top Ten Tuesday theme is based around recommending books to get people out of a reading slump. That’s tough, because there are so many reasons why someone might be in a slump — but I’ll give it a shot and try to come up with a selection, anyway!

1. The Empress of Salt and Fortune, by Nghi Vo.
   This is the first of a series of loosely linked stories, introducing Chih and their work in gathering stories and records for the Singing Hills monastery. You could choose any book of the series, but this one introduces the world and style well. Also, it’s a novella, so it’s pretty short.
2. The Invisible Library, by Genevieve Cogman.
   All the books in this series are total romps: what if there was an interdimensional library, whose librarians can visit multiple worlds to collect books? Everything exists on a sliding scale between fantasy and sci-fi, with dragons and fae slipping between worlds and sometimes allying with, sometimes opposing the library. The main character gets assigned to a steampunky world, and meets up with an archetypical Great Detective… but also there’s fae and werewolves and all kinds of other shenanigans. It’s a series, as well, so this is the gateway into a lot of fun (the second book is partly set in an alternate Venice!).
3. Miss Phryne Fisher Investigates (AKA Cocaine Blues), by Kerry Greenwood.
   Mysteries are often quick reads, and almost all the Phryne books are pretty slim volumes, while Phryne herself is a fashionable, whip-smart delight. The books do tackle some horrible topics at times (such as child abduction in Flying Too High), but generally everything comes out OK in the end… and Phryne tackles danger very stylishly.
4. Band Sinister, by KJ Charles.
   How about a touch of romance? Band Sinister is my favourite, though Charles has a lot of really good options available — if you’re more into fantasy, for example, you might be interested by The Magpie Lord or maybe Spectred Isle. This one feels like a pastiche of Georgette Heyer, and features a really lovely exploration of someone embracing their sexuality, along with a heavy focus on informed consent and clear communication. I adore it: the first time I read it, I was struggling with insomnia, and spent the whole book trying not to giggle too loudly and risk waking up my wife.
5. Clockwork Boys, by T. Kingfisher.
   I found this book (and the sequel) absolutely flew by. This one’s a book I read so recently that I haven’t even had chance to revisit it yet, but I’m pretty sure I will. It’s a fascinating world, though seen narrowly through the small band of characters who have been tasked with a seemingly impossible job to save their city. It’s linked with a wider universe of other books, like the Saint of Steel series, but Clockwork Boys and The Wonder Engine stand alone together pretty well, so there’s both the option of a series to get lost in, and a fairly self-contained story to begin with.
6. A Case of Of Mice and Murder, by Sally Smith.
   This was another recent read for me, but I know I’ll be returning to it. It’s a pretty cosy mystery, set within the grounds of the Inner Temple in London. The main character is a lawyer who has spent most of his time in the Inner Temple, avoiding the world outside — but he’s gentle and kind, and there’s a lot of heart in this and the sequel (A Case of Life and Limb). I look forward to reading more in this series!
7. Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, by Heather Fawcett.
   This series combines fantasy and romance with a touch of mystery: Emily Wilde is an academic studying faeries, and in each of the books she ends up using her knowledge to solve any issues that arise. It’s a fairly recent read for me, but I look forward to rereading the series at some point. I actually read the second and third books quite close to their release dates, which is practically unknown for me — but I love the mix of whimsy (thanks to the fairytales) and Emily Wilde’s stubborn practicality, and it reminds me of another favourite series in some ways (Marie Brennan’s A Natural History of Dragons).
8. Everything is Tuberculosis, by John Green.
   Tuberculosis is kind of my special topic. A few years back, when I was really struggling with anxiety, I read the advice somewhere that curiosity is the opposite of anxiety: one opens you up the world, the other wants you to close doors, and breeds on uncertainty. Given that infectious diseases really scared me at the time, I decided to face ’em head on, and read books like David Quammen’s Spillover and Kathryn Lougheed’s Catching Breath to that end. That led to me writing my BSc dissertation on tuberculosis. Long story short, those books are getting a bit out of date now, but John Green’s just became available, and it’s a really good introduction to a deeply fascinating disease (which deserves far more attention — and aid money allocation — than it receives). Sometimes the best way to break a reading slump is by reading something totally different, and though the topic is heavy at times, Green’s style is super readable.
9. The Eagle of the Ninth, by Rosemary Sutcliff. Sutcliff’s books are often considered children’s books, but her attention to historical detail (based on available sources at the time) left her books feeling very fresh and vivid to me, both as a kid and now. The Eagle of the Ninth is my personal favourite, though I have to put in a word for Warrior Scarlet on my mother’s behalf (I’d never hear the end of it if I didn’t). I love the characters, and Marcus’ journey from being an arrogant young centurion freshly posted to Britain to loving the British life (and a British woman, though the romance subplot is minimal).
10. The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu.
    How about trying something a little different? This is a work in translation, part of a genre called “light novels”, and in particular it’s a “danmei” — a romance between two men. This particular one features a guy from our world being sucked into a story that he read and got passionately cross about, with his instructions being to “fix” the story (with certain constraints) from within. In the process, he completely changes the story he slipped into, changing the character of Shen Qingqiu from being a rather slimy villain to being a conscientious teacher, friend and (eventually) husband. It’s different in style and outlook to the other stories I’ve been recommending, and I found it a surprisingly speedy read… and it’s one I’ve returned to a couple of times.
    To be fair, it probably isn’t the best starting point, because it’s an affectionate parody of “cultivation” stories, and plays around with the genre quite a bit. You might be better off starting with something like Heaven Official’s Blessing (which I’ve read and adore, but is quite a commitment for the full payoff) or Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (which I haven’t read yet), both also by MXTX. But I started with SVSSS, and I can’t say I regret it, even if I appreciate some aspects of it a lot more now on reread than I originally did.

And that’s it! At different times, these have all helped me through reading slumps, either as new reads at the time or as familiar rereads.

Looking forward to seeing what everyone else has picked!

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday theme is beach reads, and I… don’t really have specific books I’d read at the beach. So instead I’m going to tell you what I’d take with me to go on a beach holiday right now, if I was going to do such a thing — and you’ll have to just enjoy the weird choices!

(Technically it’s Wednesday here now, but I haven’t gone to bed yet, so nyah. It’s Tuesday.)

1. The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. I should’ve started reading this earlier in July, because it’s a book club choice for a danmei book club Discord. Also, I’ve really enjoyed MXTX’s other series, and I’m very curious about this one, especially since people rave about it a lot.
2. The Butcher, the Baker, the Candlestick Maker, by Roger Hutchinson. This is about the census in Britain, both the story of how the census came to be and how it’s been managed, and also the story of what it says about Britain. I’m partway through it, so if I was heading off on a beach holiday, I’d definitely take it with me. Also, it’s fascinating!
3. Dreadful Company, by Vivian Shaw. I’ve been rereading this series before reading the latest book, and I’ve let myself get distracted from the second book for far too long. So this one would have to slip into my bag. It’s a fun story, set mostly in Paris, and is pretty breezy, too — definitely a good companion for a lazy afternoon.
4. The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association, by Caitlin Rozakis. This one sounds fun and pretty light, so I think it’d be ideally suited to a nice holiday spent lying around somewhere warm and comfy. (For me that needn’t be a beach: curled up on my new recliner works!)
5. The Judas Window, by John Dickson Carr. This is the most recent British Library Crime Classic reissue, and I’m eager to get to it. I’ve had mixed results with reading John Dickson Carr’s work at times, so I’m kind of curious where I’ll fall with this one.
6. Paladin’s Strength, by T. Kingfisher. Having just read Clockwork Boys and The Wonder Engine, I’m eager to get back to this series as well. It’s a liiiittle bit chunky-looking on the shelf, so maybe a holiday would be an ideal prompt to get stuck in.
7. Between Two Rivers, by Moudy Al-Rashid. This is a history of ancient Mesopotamia that I’ve been meaning to read for a while, and I’m choosing it for no other reason than that the cover keeps catching my eye.
8. The Love Hypothesis, by Ali Hazelwood. I’ve been meaning to read more of Hazelwood’s romances; maybe this is the moment? Might be a good quick read while I’m so busy with moving stuff…
9. Idylls of the Queen, by Phyllis Ann Karr. This would be a reread. I mentioned this in a recent Top Ten Tuesday post about books I want to reread, and this seems like a good moment! I just saw my copy in the great unboxing of books; surely I’ll find it soon as I properly sort through and alphabetise?
10. Elusive, by Genevieve Cogman. I might have to reread the first book first, but I remember tearing through it — if the second book is the same, that could be a very fun holiday read!

I know, I know, as ever it’s a bit of a weird mix. I can think of others, like the next volume of the Solo Leveling manhua… but it’s time for me to think about sleep, so let’s stop there…

This week the Top Ten Tuesday prompt is “books that take place in/set in X”… and I’m not feeling very original, so I’m just going to talk about ten books that take place in fantasy worlds that have a deep place in my heart. I’m going to try to pick secondary world fantasies, rather than books set in slightly alternate versions of our own reality… but we’ll see.

I’m also going to try to set this up by going through my more recent reads and reviews, instead of reaching automatically for the same books I always pick. Let’s go have a look!

1. A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation (manga), by Misaki, Momochi et al. This is kind of “isekai”, in that a character from one world ends up in another world. But the fun thing is that neither are our world, pretty clearly; we don’t hear a lot about Lizel’s home world, but it obviously isn’t our modern world, at the very least — and he has magic, as does his king, so it looks like a transfer from one fantasy world to another. There are hints that it could also be time travel/alternate dimensions… but either way, it’s all fantasy, all the way down. The setup of adventurers, magic and dungeons immediately places it as something rather like a Final Fantasy game, which tickled me as well — but mostly, really, I love this series because Lizel wanders around having fun and enjoying the concept of being in a new world. Also he makes very good friends in Gil and Eleven.
2. Clockwork Boys, by T. Kingfisher. I just finished reading this on Sunday, and I had an absolute blast with it. It’s the same world as some of Kingfisher’s other books, including Paladin’s Grace, which I read recently. In some ways it’s quite a generic fantasy world quest sort of story, but Kingfisher’s style and dialogue make it lively. It’s like she’s playing with fantasy tropes with warmth and affection, not cynicism, even when she’s presenting us with a fairly typical paladin character who is trying to be oh so noble, and then has the narrative give him a thwack upside the head for being a bit of an idiot at times.
3. The Warden, by Daniel M. Ford (+ sequels). Brilliant young necromancer and mage gets assigned to a post she considers beneath her, is snooty and dismissive of the villagers, and slowly begins to settle into that village and care about the people… but at the same time, boy, Aelis reaaaally wishes she could get back to the city. (Which she does, for a while, in Advocate.) There are things that irritate me about Aelis (she wings it far too much, relies on her wealth far too much, and asks way too much of other people) but I find the magic really fun, and as Aelis’ adventures bring her to explore more of the world that shaped her and her problems, I’m really intrigued by it.
4. A Letter to the Luminous Deep, by Sylvie Cathrall (+ sequel). I loved this series so much, with Henery and E. slowly getting to know each other through letters and shyly forming a bond, despite their anxieties and (in E.’s case) outright OCD. It’s a frankly bizarre world in some ways, and it isn’t always clear about how it got that way (though at the end of the duology there are some explanations). There’s so much wonder about the sea and the mysteries within it, and I tore through both books trying to absorb and understand their mysteries.
5. The Tainted Cup, by Robert Jackson Bennett (+ sequel). I’ve enjoyed the fantasy worlds in several of Robert Jackson Bennett’s books, but this is the most recent I read. It’s a Sherlock Holmes homage in a fantasy world that roots the detective and the mysteries deeply into that fantasy. The mystery element isn’t always as clever as it wants to be, but the world is fascinating: the leviathans, the whole empire, the ways people have been deliberately and unintentionally altered by contact with technology derived from leviathans… I wonder where the overarching story is going, and it’s fascinating to explore the world along the way.
6. The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison. I would include the spin-off series as well, except that I found the handling of a particular relationship in the final one (so far?) bizarre. Maybe I’ll enjoy it more on a revisit when it doesn’t feel like a betrayal, but in the meantime I’ll use The Goblin Emperor as my exemplar for this fantasy world. Addison does a lot of worldbuilding, especially around language, but also technology, magic, culture and religion. There’s a lot going on, and so much that’s hinted at but not explored in the plot — at least, not yet.
7. The City in Glass, by Nghi Vo. This book felt like an absolute fever dream. It’s really tightly focused on a single city and the actions of an angel and a demon (not quite our religious versions of angels/demons) as they fight and thwart each other and try to guide the city. It’s really hard to describe, but it’s beautifully written, and the descriptions of the city and of Vitrine are vivid and strange.
8. The Teller of Small Fortunes, by Julie Leong. This is cosy-ish fantasy, in that there are some big stakes in the background, but mostly our characters want to stay out of the way of it all, travel together, create their little found family, and solve their fairly ordinary (for a fantasy world) problems. I found Tao’s magic (and how she chooses to use it) fascinating, and really enjoyed the journey — though compared to some of the fully realised fantasy worlds I’ve mentioned here like in The Tainted Cup and The Goblin Emperor, the world-building is a bit thinner.
9. Heaven Official’s Blessing, by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. I debated whether this should be in the list, particularly as I think there are meant to be correspondences between places like Xianle and Yong’an in the story with actual locations in China, while Hua Cheng’s aesthetic and background is considered a nod to Miao/Hmong origins… but I couldn’t resist including it anyway, as it also isn’t supposed to be historical China. It’s more historical China inspired, along with Chinese traditions, etc. It’s such an epic, spanning 800 years of suffering and longing, and there’s always the sense that all kinds of magic could (and will) happen. From Ghost City to the domain of Black Water Sinks Ships to Mount Tonglu and the Kiln, there’s a lot of history and magic to discover as you read. (Also, a beautiful love story.)
10. The Hands of the Emperor, by Victoria Goddard. There are so many ways this is wish-fulfillment, as Cliopher is hyper-capable, and hyper-able to push through world-changing reforms that make everyone’s lives better with no downside, and it’s full of the virtues of more communal ways of living and being, and different ways of thinking. Nonetheless, the differences between this and most Western Europe-inspired fantasy are a lot of fun, and sometimes wish fulfillment and people using power in wholesome ways is just fun to read. Plus, I adored the friendship between the Emperor and Cliopher.

That was pretty fun, especially the restriction to proper secondary world fantasy instead of fantasy set in our world… I’m looking forward to seeing other people’s lists!