This week’s theme from Top Ten Tuesday is all about the big chonky books. I don’t have stats on all my books, since I left Goodreads in a huff some years ago and then only settled into StoryGraph a year or two later… but let’s see what I can do.

I’ll skip the most obvious (The Lord of the Rings) and the technical (Control of Communicable Diseases Manual), I think! I also realised that the illustrated Earthsea I have is probably chonkier than any of these, but I didn’t think of it. So here we go.

1. The Hands of the Emperor, by Victoria Goddard (899 pages). Some editions even run to ~1100 pages, but mine’s “only” 899, and apparently one of my chonkiest books. I’ve read this one, and really love it — I want to reread it soon. It’s wish fulfillment, about dismantling an empire and turning it into something fairer and kinder, but the relationship between the former Emperor and the main character, Cliopher, is really lovely. There’s also At the Feet of the Sun, the sequel (at 790 pages). It looks just as chonky on the shelf, though! I have to get round to it soon, but I’ve waited long enough thanks to a poor attention span that I really do want to reread the previous book first.
2. Kushiel’s Dart, by Jacqueline Carey (901 pages). I’m surprised this is so long, actually, because I know I’ve completely inhaled it in the past, and these days I seem to find 400 page books quite intimidating. It’s the start of a fantasy trilogy that I really love, though sometimes the violence (consensual and otherwise) is a lot to read, even with the conceit of Phèdre’s abilities.
3. The First Binding, by R.R. Virdi (929 pages). I don’t remember anything about this one! I haven’t read it yet, and I think I had it as an e-ARC. Oops.
4. Vanished Kingdoms: The History of Half-Forgotten Europe, by Norman Davies (830 pages). This one’s still on my TBR, and I’m still looking forward to it, but… it’s just waiting for me to get round to it.
5. The Ember Blade, by Chris Wooding (824 pages). This is another one where I don’t really remember anything about it, it’s just been on my TBR a while. It sounds like pretty traditional fantasy, like it makes a point of being so even, so… maybe it’ll be fun?
6. Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities, by Bettany Hughes (900 pages). I’ve liked some of Hughes’ work before, which I read because she got an honorary degree from Cardiff University at my first graduation ceremony. So I’m curious about this one, but it’s quite a commitment, so it’s been waiting on my TBR for the right mood.
7. The Thousand Deaths of Ardor Benn, by Tyler Whitesides (784 pages). Again, this sounds like pretty traditional fantasy, could be fun, but I haven’t got round to it yet.
8. Making History: The Storytellers who Shaped the Past, by Richard Cohen (708 pages). Understanding who is writing the history books is a very important thing, so this sounds very interesting. Though slightly daunting!
9. European Travel for the Mysterious Gentlewoman, by Theodora Goss (708 pages). I haven’t read the first book yet, so this one’s waiting behind that one. I didn’t realise this was so chonky — I have the ebook edition!
10. Plagues Upon the Earth: Diseases and the Course of Human History, by Kyle Harper (704 pages). As ever, can’t resist something about infectious diseases! I think it’s been on my TBR since last year? Ish? But I thought I’d probably enjoy it more when my MSc is all done and dusted.

So there we go, those’re my chonkers — mostly still waiting to be read!

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!

This week’s theme from Top Ten Tuesday is “Books with honorifics in the title”, which I’m really not sure I can actually get a total of ten for. I guess this might be pretty dependent on genre! Anyway, let’s see how I do…

1. The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes, by Kate Strasdin. A non-fiction which discusses a Victorian woman’s “dress diary”, containing snippets of cloth from her clothes (and sometimes clothes worn by her friends and family). I found it a really fascinating delve into fabric and social history.
2. The Doctor who Fooled the World, by Brian Deer. I know, this sits kind of oddly with other books from the list, but it’s a really good takedown of the lies spread by Andrew Wakefield, and highly recommended if you’re on the fence about whether his allegations about the MMR vaccine (or vaccination in general) actually hold any truth. I consider Andrew Wakefield a mass murderer, to be clear, a man so blinded in his own search for fame and profit that he endangered the whole world — but I don’t blame people who were led astray by a man who used his position as a scientist to inspire false confidence. I feel so sorry for people who believed in what he had to offer.
3. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke. This is a book I’ve reread a couple of times, despite being huge. I know that not everyone enjoys it, and I honestly wouldn’t even have predicted that I would, but there’s such dense world-building and some really fun ideas about magic.
4. The Magpie Lord, by KJ Charles. I’ve read this a number of times, and it remains fun. Lord Lucien Crane isn’t entirely a good person, but he seeks his own kind of justice and fairness, and I love the way that he and Stephen Day are drawn together.
5. Siren Queen, by Nghi Vo. I really loved this slightly fantastical, dark Hollywood. It was completely enchanting. I actually might give it another read at some point.
6. The Mysterious Mr. Badman, by W.F. Harvey. I’ve more or less forgotten the plot of this one, I must admit, but I gave it 4/5 stars at the time! It’s a classic mystery, and a fairly conventional one, according to my review, which explains the rating. I really love classic mysteries, but not so much because they’re innovative or unusual — usually, more because they’re not. They’re very comforting in their predictability.
7. Mr. Pottermack’s Oversight, by R. Austin Freeman. This is also a pretty classic mystery, but an unusual one in that it shows us the commission of the crime to begin with, and then the efforts at covering it up. It’s quite slow-paced, and I did find that it dragged a bit, but I ultimately gave it four stars for making me care about the criminal. It’s very carefully written, and I did enjoy it.
8. Miss Phryne Fisher Investigates, by Kerry Greenwood. Also known as Cocaine Blues, this is the first book of the Phryne Fisher series, and it’s so much fun. For some reason, I didn’t love it when I first tried it, but when I gave it another go, Phryne won my heart. A reread is tempting…
9. Miss Jacobson’s Journey, by Carola Dunn. I read this series out of sequence, but had a lot of fun going backwards to read this one: Miriam is a great romance protagonist, and I did get fond of her two potential suitors as well — perhaps somewhat helped by the fact that I already knew one of them from the second book. I’m getting tempted to reread the whole trilogy!
10. The Duke Heist, by Erica Ridley. Putting this book here has reminded me there’s a couple of books in this series I haven’t read yet! They’re somewhere in my boxes of books in the storage unit, but perhaps once I dig them out, it’ll be time to pick them up. I’ve found all the books in the series so far really fun, and The Duke Heist is no exception. Lawrence takes a while to sort out his behaviour totally, but the way he interacts and becomes playful with Chloe is adorable.

Look at that, I made it! Maybe a couple of these are kinda cheating, but we’re gonna call it good anyway.

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday theme is “books I’d like to reread”, and rereading is a topic I’m always interested in, so it seems like a good place to jump back in after a while of not taking part!

1. The Seventh Bride, by T. Kingfisher. I don’t remember this very well, except that I enjoyed it, and I always love Kingfisher’s takes on fairytale retellings. I’m very curious how it compares to my experience of Hemlock & Silver, one of her most recent — that one is so inventive, even though it’s spun out of the story of Snow White.
2. The Raven Tower, by Ann Leckie. I liked this more than most people I knew back when it came out, and I’m wondering how it’d sit now; it’s the only novel by Leckie that I haven’t read multiple times. I keep thinking about it, so maybe when I unpack my books post-move it’s time to dig in.
3. A Coalition of Lions, by Elizabeth E. Wein. I recently finally managed to get round to my reread of The Winter Prince, and started on this one, but then stuff happened and it went on a backburner. I remember devouring the series, though, so I am curious to get back to it.
4. An Unsuitable Heir, by KJ Charles. I’ve been working my way around to a reread of this — the first book by Charles I ever read — for ages, but somehow I’ve never got round to it. It’s actually third in a trilogy, and I’ll probably read them in order this time (though if I recall correctly, it didn’t matter a lot). It was one of the books I read first when starting to get into romance, after requesting the ARC on a bit of a whim, and I’d enjoy a revisit.
5. The Steerswoman, by Rosemary Kirstein. I have read this first book of the series twice, paused to read something else, got distracted, and never got onto the remaining existing books. I know the series isn’t finished (at least, I seem to remember that), but I still want to explore more of it. And, uh, remember the details from the first book, because it’s been a while.
6. Among Others, by Jo Walton. This was so much The Book of my early twenties that I’m not sure if it’s quite safe to go back to it. It might be weird if it doesn’t resonate as much anymore! Or I might end up remembering why a whole bunch of books got onto my TBR (it’s very much a book about someone who reads), and that might be dangerous for my productivity. But who needs productivity?
7. The Winter King, by Bernard Cornwell. I loved this so much as a teenager, and read it several times, but it’s been a long time — I’m not sure if I even reread it when I was studying Arthuriana, because it didn’t really fit in with any of the things I was looking at. I can’t remember if Kay/Cei is even a character at all, for example (I wrote my dissertation on Cei and what the portrayal of him was doing in Arthurian texts of different periods).
8. Idylls of the Queen, by Phyllis Ann Karr. I did read this for my dissertation — in fact, it was one of my key texts (along with Cherith Baldry’s Exiled from Camelot) for the modern chapter. I don’t remember a huge amount about it now, but I’m certain I want to reread it. In fact… I wonder if I have the ebook? Hmmm. Otherwise, it’s in one of those boxes somewhere…
9. Sailing to Sarantium, by Guy Gavriel Kay. Ominously, the second book was missing when we packed up my books for the move, so I might have to repurchase it — and maybe it might be time to get some matching editions, if they’re actually in print? I scrambled together my collection of GGK’s work on a very tight student budget when I fell in love with The Summer Tree, and none of them match, and some of them are kinda gross-looking. Anyway, I remember being spellbound by this duology, so I’m eager to reread (though fair play, I’m pretty sure my wife didn’t finish it and my mum didn’t like it the way I did, so I don’t know if it’ll hit the same now).
10. Magician, by Raymond E. Feist. I don’t know if this can possibly stand up to the warm memories I have of it, but I do at least want to reread the initial three books, Magician, Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon. I loved those books so much, I really did. I don’t think I actually thought much of Feist’s other books in the same world, and certainly never read and reread them in the same way, but those first three… yeah.

There we go, got that back down to ten after briefly going overboard! I’m a great lover of rereading, sometimes just for the comfort of a familiar book, sometimes because you never know what you’ll discover when looking at something with fresh eyes.

NB: I’m not necessarily recommending these — I remember them all fondly, and remember them as being (at least mostly) very good, but who knows what’s happened since I last stepped into these particular pages? The Suck Fairy might have been by.

This week’s theme from That Artsy Reader Girl is “Books You’d Be a Fool Not To Read”. My twist on this is that I’m going to talk about books I didn’t expect to love, and even some books that I didn’t love at first but came to love on rereading them. So it’s books/series/authors that I’d have been a fool not to read (and reread) — though you could take that as a recommendation on my part!

1. Feed, by Mira Grant. I think back when I first read this, half the problem was that I was in a very anxious period in my life. I’m not sure if I was on anxiety medication yet; possibly not, or possibly not the more effective medication I later tried. Anyway, Feed scared the crap out of me by hitting me right where my fears were. I still have anxiety, and health-related anxiety at that, but I’ve come a long way by being curious about it and looking my fears right in the face — and I’m really fascinated by Feed now, too.
2. Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie. It’s not that I hated this when I first read it, as far as I can remember. But I didn’t quite “get” it either. It was a book everyone had been talking about, and it didn’t seem like my thing. I don’t know quite when that changed, but I think it was while reading the later books — and now when I reread this first one, I love it too.
3. Chalice, by Robin McKinley. The first time I read it, I felt like everything wrapped up too quickly and left me with so many questions. The protagonist spends the whole book not sure what she’s doing, and making it up as she goes along; understanding the boundaries of her abilities by finding them. Reading the book again (and again and again), though, the itch of curiosity is more about figuring more out myself and enjoying the questions.
4. Shades of Milk and Honey, by Mary Robinette Kowal. As with most of the books on this list, it’s not that I hated the book on first read, but it wasn’t an obvious hit either. I think I gave it two stars. It was before I got into romance novels in general, and I really wasn’t an Austen fan. I just didn’t really… get the appeal, and I don’t think I wanted to get the appeal. It stuck in my head, though, and I later read Glamour in Glass and… loved it. At that point I revisited and found that I liked it, actually.
5. A Natural History of Dragons, by Marie Brennan. I know! If you’ve been around here long, you know I loved that book. But I didn’t love it the first time — I think I did give it three stars, “liked it”, but I definitely wasn’t all-in, ride-or-die. I can’t say quite why it didn’t work for me at the time — maybe just mood? But I read Tropic of Serpents, adored it, and reconsidered.
6. The Gabriel Hounds, by Mary Stewart. To be accurate, my change of heart on this was more of a general re-evaluation of Mary Stewart’s work and why I was reading it, what I was interested in, etc. I read The Gabriel Hounds without knowing much about Stewart’s work (and quite possibly after having already disliked her Arthurian retellings), and I don’t think I really let myself get into it. I really should revisit again, because aspects of it have reaaaally stuck with me — though Madam, Will You Talk? remains my favourite.
7. The Talisman Ring, by Georgette Heyer. I can’t remember if this was my first Heyer novel, but I think so (except for maybe her mysteries). It’s a heck of a romp, and it immediately sold me on Heyer’s work.
8. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke. This one is an absolute brick of a novel, and I remember vividly acquiring it second-hand during my first degree, and tucking myself away in the library to read great big chunks of it between lectures. I actually read it really fast, after entering into the process somewhat dubiously. There are things about it that I hadn’t expected to like — the footnotes, the faux-Regency style, etc — and I’m pretty sure a couple of people I knew had hated it. And yet!
9. An Unsuitable Heir, by KJ Charles. I hadn’t read much romance at this point, and I’m not entirely sure why I requested it on Netgalley — but given how much I love Charles’ work now, I’m very glad I did. I read it for the first time during a visit to my parents-in-law in Canada, so I also have a vivid memory of keeping a careful straight face while reading the sex scenes in the living room, ahaha.
10. Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers. I think (and time proved) that this was not the best starting point for me with Peter Wimsey. He’s not very emotionally present in the story (at least until the end), so if you’ve read a few classic mysteries, you can come into it a bit jaded and not ready to see the detective as a full-blown character. Clouds of Witness or, later, Strong Poison are probably better for that — though really, I think what does it is the cumulative exposure to Lord Peter across the books. I think they’ve all got better (for me) over time as I’ve learned to see where something is Peter being Peter, rather than a generic detective. The audiobook adaptations with Ian Carmichael also add a lot, as well as both adaptations to TV series (older ones with Ian Carmichael, some slightly more recent ones with Edward Petherbridge).

And that’s it! Ten books I wasn’t sure whether I’d like, or which I liked more on reading again. Take these as recommendations if you wish!

It’s been a while since I did Top Ten Tuesday — mostly I haven’t had the brain capacity to think about it, with a lot going on (as discussed elsewhere). But this week’s topic is all about the TBR, and that I can still manage!

So here’s a few thoughts at what I might maybe read in the next few months, or so I hope!

1. Strange Pictures, by Uketsu. This is a mystery novel I came across somewhat recently, and I’m intrigued by the idea (which centres around some strange drawings that provide clues to a horrible mystery). My wife got me an e-copy this weekend, so I’m keen to dig in soon!
2. The Apothecary Diaries (light novels), by Natsu Hyuuga. I have volumes three and four ready to read, and I’m keen to dig in, after volume two got into the mystery of Maomao’s parents. I love Maomao.
3. The Apothecary Diaries (manga), by Nekokurage. Maybe this seems like cheating, but I’ve found it fascinating lately to read the manga/manhua/manhwa adaptations of light novels quite close to when I read the light novels themselves. Often the adaptations are very close, but it does provide a bit of perspective. I’m quite far behind on the manga compared to the light novels, so I’m not sure if I can keep up, but we’ll see!
4. A Drop of Corruption, by Robert Jackson Bennett. I hope to get round to this one fairly imminently, since I have an ARC, but we’ll see…
5. Everything is Tuberculosis, by John Green. I’m likely to dig into this as soon as I get my copy, which is allegedly on the way. I love learning about and talking about tuberculosis, and it sounds like it’s got under Green’s skin too (hopefully not literally). And I’d like to have a new pop-sci book to throw at everyone, since Catching Breath (Kathryn Lougheed) is now pretty old.
6. The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu. I think I may have put this on my list at the start of the year, but then it took until mid-February to actually resolve an issue where my copies hadn’t arrived, and I didn’t want to start on it until I had them all. Maybe soon now!
7. Breath of the Dragon, by Shannon Lee and Fonda Lee. I’m very curious about this one, love the cover, and recently grabbed it on a bookshop trip. So it’s high on my list.
8. Hemlock & Silver, by T. Kingfisher. I love Kingfisher’s work, and I have an ARC of this. I requested it more or less automatically, let’s be honest. Eager to dig in!
9. Necrobane, by Daniel M. Ford. I actually have an ARC of the third book, Advocate, but I need to read the second book first. Hopefully I’ll get around to that soon.
10. Poetic, Mystic, Widow, Wife, by Hetta Howe. This list wouldn’t be complete without a touch more non-fiction, so here we are — a history I’ve been curious about for a while, and one of the books I got for Christmas.

Eager to see what other people have on their lists…