Tag: Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday

Posted July 14, 2015 by Nicky in General / 10 Comments

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is the last books that you got your hands on, whether you bought them or got them from the library. There’s always my STS posts for that, but hey, I never miss a chance to squee about books. Plus, excuse to talk about all the cool bookshops I’ve been to.

  1. Adaptation, Malinda Lo. Picked this up at the Chapters in the West Edmonton Mall on the day I left Canada, and promptly read it on the plane.
  2. Inheritance, Malinda Lo. The sequel. I haven’t read this one yet.
  3. City of Stairs, Robert Jackson Bennett. I’ve been meaning to read this foreeeever. Also from Chapters in Edmonton.
  4. Artemis Awakening, Jane Lindskold. I don’t actually know much about this one, I just thought it looked kinda fun. From Chapters in the Chinook Mall, Calgary.
  5. Dreams of Shreds and Tatters, Amanda Downum. Eee, Amanda Downum. Looking forward to this. Got this one from the Indigo in the Core in Calgary.
  6. The Stone Prince, Fiona Patton. I’ve had this on my list for a while, and hey, Fiona Patton is apparently Tanya Huff’s wife? Cool. Got this from Fair’s Fair on 14th Street in Calgary.
  7. Illusive, Emily Lloyd-Jones. I had this as an ARC once upon a time. Heh. From Shelf Life in Calgary, on 4th Street.
  8. A Desperate Fortune, Susanna Kearsley. Aaaages ago, Susanna offered to send me a spare ARC she had. It finally arrived. Whoop!
  9. Sorcerer to the Crown, Zen Cho. Received to review via the publisher. I’m excited for this one; people mentioned Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and Georgette Heyer as influences…
  10. Heir of Fire, Sarah J. Maas. Bought in Fnac in Leuven while I was at my partner’s. Excited for this one, though I need to read The Assassin’s Blade first. Which I also got.

What’s everyone else been getting? Any exciting bookshops?

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Top Ten Tuesday

Posted July 7, 2015 by Nicky in General / 16 Comments

This week’s theme from The Broke and the Bookish is “top ten hyped books I’ve never read”. Hmmm, let’s think…

  1. Breaking Dawn, Stephanie Meyer. I read Twilight, because I thought I ought to give it a chance, but it’s really not for me and I have a whole lot of objections to it.
  2. Divergent, Veronica Roth. I think it’s technically on my TBR somewhere.
  3. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling. Though I am planning to read this soon, ’cause I’m doing a readalong with some other folks.
  4. City of Bones, Cassandra Clare. Doesn’t really appeal, especially since I know about the author’s history of plagiarising.
  5. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson. I have this to read, but I’m pretty uninspired about getting round to it.
  6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky. It’s never appealed at aaaall.
  7. The Fault in Our Stars, John Green. It really doesn’t sound like my thing, even if cancer didn’t freak me out unbearably.
  8. A Game of Thrones, G.R.R. Martin. I am actually going to read this. Eventually.
  9. On the Road, Jack Kerouac. I’m sorry, I hated it.
  10. The Notebook, Nicholas Sparks. Not my thing at aaaaall.

What about you guys? And are you listing books you intend to read someday, or books you never read?

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Top Ten Tuesday

Posted June 30, 2015 by Nicky in General / 13 Comments

This week’s theme is the top ten books read so far in 2015. Which is at least easier than all-time favourites or something like that!

  1. Voyage of the Basilisk, Marie Brennan. Or Tropic of Serpents, in fact. I gave them both five stars!
  2. Acceptance, Jeff VanderMeer. Though it’s the whole series, really; they’re so weird, and I think you do need to read all three to get a good picture.
  3. Grave Mercy, Robin LaFevers. Or the second book… I might even prefer the second book. But yeah, I was surprised by how much I liked these.
  4. The Just City, Jo Walton. Nobody’s surprised. Are you?
  5. Season of Storms, Susanna Kearsley. Go on, break my heart, you meanie.
  6. Lock In, John Scalzi. Really fascinated me.
  7. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke. Okay, okay, I know it’s a reread, but I discovered a whole new appreciation for it.
  8. Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie. I might not have given it five stars myself, but it is pretty awesome.
  9. A Court of Thorns & Roses, Sarah J. Maas. I wasn’t a huge fan of Throne of Glass, though it’s fun, but ACOTAR… yeah.
  10. The Lie Tree, Frances Hardinge. I don’t love it like I loved A Face Like Glass, but. Yeah. <3

Looking forward to seeing everyone else’s, but bear in mind I’m in Canada on holiday right now and might not get much chance to comment!

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Top Ten Tuesday

Posted June 23, 2015 by Nicky in General / 4 Comments

This week’s TTT topic is a bit meta — it’s a top ten list of favourite Top Ten Tuesday topics! I haven’t done all of these, I just browsed through the list of past challenges to look for fun ones. If I haven’t done them, I may well do them next time we get a freebie week!

  1. Books I’d want on a desert island. It’s a classic, after all.
  2. Books I just had to buy… but are still sitting on my bookshelf. Er. I’m not a major perpetrator of this one. Nope.
  3. Books I’m so happy were recommended to me. Because you’ve got to appreciate the people in your life who just get it right.
  4. Books I wish I could read again for the first time. I did this one recently, with Guy Gavriel Kay’s “if I’m found with amnesia…” twist.
  5. Books I’d quickly save if my house were about to be abducted by aliens. Because let’s face it, the theme made me laugh, and it’s a valid question.
  6. Most frustrating characters ever. Come on, who doesn’t have a fictional character or two they just want to smack?
  7. Characters I’d never want to switch places with. FitzChivalry Farseer is probably topping that list.
  8. Popular authors I’ve never read. It’s always nice to know I’m not the only one.
  9. Characters you want to check in on after ‘the end’. I thought this one was an interesting one, and we all have characters/worlds we wonder about, right?
  10. Heroines. Because yay girl power!

What about you? Is there any you’d like to do next time there’s a freebie, or anything you’d like me to do?

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Top Ten Tuesday

Posted June 16, 2015 by Nicky in General / 14 Comments

This week’s theme from The Broke and the Bookish is all about the summer TBR! Because I type this up in advance, I might have had chance to read some of these already, but even so, here goes a list of books I’m highly anticipating reading sometime this summer, particularly with my long flight to Canada to encourage reading time.

  1. Simon and the Homo Sapiens Agenda, Becky Albertalli. It sounds like a lot of fun, and I picked it up recently so… why not?
  2. Dorothy Must Die, Danielle Paige. My sister made me buy this because of Ollie the educated monkey, so I’m going to have to read this soon before she kills me and pries it from my cold dead hands.
  3. The Lions of Al-Rassan, Guy Gavriel Kay. This is a reread, and I really must get round to it, because I do love GGK’s work, and I’m determined to finish rereading all of it in publication order before I finally get to read River of Stars.
  4. An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth, Chris Hadfield. His videos and stuff on the ISS were really cool, and generally he seems like a pretty fun guy. And I’ve had this for ages.
  5. Landline, Rainbow Rowell. Whyyy haven’t I got round to this yet?
  6. Signal to Noise, Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Recommended by someone in the Cardiff SF/F book club, and I just bought it, so hopefully I’ll get to it soon.
  7. Dreams of Gods and Monsters, Laini Taylor. High time I finished reading this trilogy, I know!
  8. The Enchantment Emporium, Tanya Huff. Not only have I got this, it’s on a list of books recommended by friends. So high time I got round to it. Which is a theme on this list, it seems…
  9. Fair Game, Josh Lanyon. Both books in this series, really. They’re fun and I don’t know why I haven’t read them already, especially since I had the second one as an ARC.
  10. The Bards of Bone Plain, Patricia McKillip. I had to pick at least one of her books. <3

What about everybody else? Are you keeping your list full of current books, or are you trying to catch up?

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Top Ten Tuesday

Posted June 9, 2015 by Nicky in Reviews / 8 Comments

This week’s prompt is “Top Ten Most Anticipated Releases For the Rest of 2015”. These ones are always difficult for me, because I don’t always have that clear a view on what’s due out. I’ve been keeping half an eye on it recently, so here’s a bash at it.

  1. Carry On, Rainbow Rowell. I can’t be the only one excited to see how Rowell will tackle a fantasy novel!
  2. Thorn of Emberlain, Scott Lynch. Naturally! I hope this is still due to come out later this year…
  3. The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin. Aaaah so excited for this one.
  4. Half a War, Joe Abercrombie. I still need to read Half the World, but I did enjoy the first book!
  5. The Dinosaur Lords, Victor Milán. Dinosaurs! Dinosaurs!
  6. Radiance, Catherynne M. Valente. She writes such beautiful words.
  7. Manners & Mutiny, Gail Carriger. I still need to read the third book, but I waaant this.
  8. Our Lady of the Ice, Cassandra Rose Clarke. I don’t even know much about it, but I’ve enjoyed Clarke’s other books.
  9. Willful Machines, Tim Floreen. Just read about this one and I’m intrigued.
  10. Ash and Bramble, Sarah Prineas. Ditto!

Looking forward to seeing what other people have their eyes on. And I’m sure I’ve forgotten something…

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Top Ten Tuesday

Posted June 2, 2015 by Nicky in General / 15 Comments

This week’s theme is books you’d like to see as movies/tv shows. The proviso here is that I would want appropriate casting, e.g. not a white man for Ged or Patriot.

  1. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula Le Guin. Shush. There hasn’t been one. Doesn’t exist.
  2. Captain Marvel. Sooner than planned, please. And keep in the recent bit about her dating Rhodey!
  3. Young Avengers. You’ve got all the ingredients ready, Marvel. Dooo iiiiiittttt.
  4. Throne of Glass, Sarah J. Maas. It could be really epic, and it’d require a female lead who could do stunts and would need a good range of acting skills.
  5. A Natural History of Dragons, Mary Brennan. I’m not sure how well it’d translate to the big screen, but again, it’d require a female lead and it’d be a little bit like Walking With Dinosaurs, only dragons and fiction.
  6. The Winter King, Bernard Cornwell. Do Arthur right!
  7. Tigana, Guy Gavriel Kay. In the right hands, it would be beautiful.
  8. Sunshine, Robin McKinley. Female lead who is both a reluctant hero type and a baker. Interesting vampire lore, gorgeous imagery. It’d be amazing, right?
  9. Farthing, Jo Walton. Could serve as a timely warning to a country embracing conservatism right now, too.
  10. Bloodshot, Cherie Priest. Weird found-family dynamics, kickass female lead, ex-Navy SEAL drag queen? Okay, there’d be so many ways for them to mess it up, but we’re talking an ideal world here, and it would be so very right.

Gaah, gimme them. Nowww.

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Top Ten Tuesday

Posted May 26, 2015 by Nicky in General / 12 Comments

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday theme is “beach books”. Which is not something I really do, so instead I shall pick the kinds of books I like to relax with. Whether that looks like your beach reads or not, I don’t know!

  1. Shades of Milk and Honey, Mary Robinette Kowal. Or anything in that series, but the first one is the lightest and closest to Austen and the like.
  2. This Rough Magic, Mary Stewart. Or any of her mysteries — they have an amazing sense of place, it’s like going on holiday without leaving home.
  3. The Rose Garden, Susanna Kearsley. Another one with a great sense of place, this one in Cornwell. It’s not all happy, but the romance is sweet and it has a happy ending.
  4. The Grand Sophy, Georgette Heyer. I have a huge soft spot for these romances. I loved Sophy in particular, though I’m also a fan of…
  5. The Talisman Ring, Georgette Heyer. Which is more of a mystery/adventure than some of the primarily society type ones.
  6. Magic Bites, Ilona Andrews. Light and compulsively readable.
  7. Have His Carcase, Dorothy L. Sayers. Okay, I think you need the background of previous books, but I love the first line and the rest doesn’t disappoint: “The best remedy for a bruised heart is not, as so many people seem to think, repose upon a manly bosom. Much more efficacious are honest work, physical activity, and the sudden acquisition of wealth.”
  8. Gaudy Night, Dorothy L. Sayers. For Harriet Vane in the prime spot, with her final answer to Lord Peter’s proposals at the end of the book… Plus, tons of smart women in academia.
  9. Jhereg, Steven Brust. It’s a fun first book of the series, it raced past me, and it’s really easy to read.
  10. Soulless, Gail Carriger. Fluffy fun with werewolves.

I don’t think that’d be a bad selection for the beach, right?

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Top Ten Tuesday

Posted May 19, 2015 by in General / 10 Comments

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is a freebie, so I’m going to borrow an idea that came to me via Guy Gavriel Kay:

“My youngest brother had a wonderful schtick from some time in high school, through to graduating medicine. He had a card in his wallet that read, ‘If I am found with amnesia, please give me the following books to read …’ And it listed half a dozen books where he longed to recapture that first glorious sense of needing to find out ‘what happens next’ … the feeling that keeps you up half the night. The feeling that comes before the plot’s been learned.”

So here’s my ten… Consider this an order if I am ever found with amnesia!

  1. The Dark is Rising, Susan Cooper. Well duh.
  2. The Earthsea Quartet, Ursula Le Guin. I’m curious as to how I’d feel about The Furthest Shore and Tehanu, reading them for the first time as an adult — originally I read them when I was quite young.
  3. The Fionavar Tapestry, Guy Gavriel Kay. I was torn between this and Tigana, but this was my first experience of Guy Gavriel Kay’s work, and I’d love to come to it fresh. Especially because it’s so influenced by prior fantasy.
  4. Whose Body, Dorothy L. Sayers. Well, all of the Peter Wimsey books really.
  5. Anything non-Arthurian by Mary Stewart. I’m not such a fan of her Arthurian books, but her other books are pure comfort to me. I might need that, if I’ve lost my memory!
  6. The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien. And Lord of the Rings, obviously.
  7. Among Others, Jo Walton. My first book by Walton was actually Farthing, but that’s less personal. It’d be interesting how much Among Others would resonate with me if I didn’t have the memories I do. (Mind you, neuroscience probably supports the idea that I’d still feel a sense of recognition, even without conscious memory.)
  8. I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith. An absolute must — I can’t go without knowing the opening and closing lines.
  9. Something by Patricia McKillip. Just don’t start me on Winter Rose unless you’re willing to take notes about my experience, compare them to my old reviews, and publish a study on unconscious memories of reading in amnesiacs.
  10. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Obviously a whole course of Arthurian literature would be essential — you could start by giving me my own essays on Guinevere and Gawain — including Steinbeck’s unfinished work. But this would make a good starting point, and you could check if I retained my knowledge of Middle English too.

Now I almost want that to happen, so I can study the neuroscience of reading and memory from within! It’d also be interesting to see how I reacted to the Harry Potter books if I couldn’t remember a) reading them as a child and b) the hype surrounding them. And —

Yeah, I’ll stop. Looking forward to seeing what themes other people have gone with this week!

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Top Ten Tuesday

Posted May 12, 2015 by in General / 4 Comments

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday prompt is “ten authors I really want to meet”. Now, I’ve actually been lucky and met a fair few authors I love — Jo Walton, Robin Hobb, Alastair Reynolds… But I’m sure I can come up with ten more.

  1. Ursula Le Guin. And nobody is at all surprised. Not even a little.
  2. Patricia McKillip. I know very little about her as a person, but her writing is awesome.
  3. J.R.R. Tolkien. I mean, not as a zombie or anything, but if I could go back in time. Attend one of his lectures maybe?
  4. Hazel Edwards. She wrote There’s a Hippopotamus On Our Roof Eating Cake. Obvious.
  5. Cherie Priest. She seems cool, I want to pet her dog, and I like her on Twitter.
  6. N.K. Jemisin. Granted, I’d probably just babble quietly, but that’s the same with anyone I admire.
  7. Robin Hobb. Again. I was fourteen at the time, after all.
  8. Jacqueline Carey. Sign all my books. All of them.
  9. Guy Gavriel Kay. Ditto.
  10. Susan Cooper. The first thing I move into a new house is my copy of The Dark is Rising sequence, and I’m not even kidding about that. It goes in the first box or bag to enter the new place, and gets put on the shelf symbolically before anything else.

So, uh, yeah. I could probably think of more, but I’d better stop daydreaming now…

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