This week’s prompt from Top Ten Tuesday is “The Characters Authors Surprisingly Redeemed”. A lot of people are taking it as characters that had a literal redemption arc within the story, but the prompt notes say that it’s about characters you grew to love — which is sometimes the same thing, but not always.

I admit, I’m struggling with this one, but it’s always easier once I start listing them out. Let’s give it a shot! Given the nature of the prompt, there are some spoilers here, and I’m afraid I’ve written a bit of an essay for point #3. Sorry not sorry!

1. Seivarden Vendaai, from Ancillary Justice (Ann Leckie). Seivarden is a difficult character all round, drug-addicted and arrogant and not always ready to help herself. She’s devoted to Breq, though, and devoted to being better than she was: each time I reread it, I find myself going through the same journey where somehow I start rooting for her, and being sad when she’s not part of the action. Every time, it’s hard to pinpoint the exact moment it happens — and Seivarden’s choices can still be completely infuriating even once you’ve passed that tipping point — but every time, I come to the same conclusion. I might not like Seivarden as a person, but as a character she’s great.
2. Artis Corbin, from A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet (Becky Chambers). He’s never going to be a super-likeable character, but he does go through some character growth. It’s difficult to say I like the character, and I’m always torn whether I agree with his most significant choice (i.e. his choice to give Ohan the antidote against their stated wishes), but I did grow to appreciate him more. It’s possible that’d work even better if he was a more major character and there was more time spent on it, but on the other hand, he’s such an ass most of the time that that’d probably be unbearable.
3. Shen Qingqiu/Shen Yuan, from The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System (Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù). Bear with me here. In SVSSS, Shen Yuan transmigrates into a story called Proud Immortal Demon Way, becoming a character who happens to be the villain of the story. There’s some literal redemption here, as Shen Yuan inhabits the role of Shen Qingqiu, changes the story, treats people well and ultimately becomes the lover of a character that, in the original, Shen Qingqiu abused. But I’m also referring to Shen Yuan’s journey as a person, because he starts out with all kinds of assumptions and refuses to really be a part of the world he’s ended up in, and ultimately we see him accept his place in it, fall in love, and get over some of his internalised self-hate about the fact that he’s gay. It drove me batty the first time I read the series, but I think actually we’re being shown a journey toward self-acceptance, rather than a narrative that’s inherently homophobic from the get-go. (This is confirmed for me by reading MXTX’s Heaven Official’s Blessing, where Xie Lian and Hua Cheng’s love for one another is pretty matter-of-fact, with no sign of Shen Yuan’s constant “no homo”.)
   That’s my interpretation, admittedly, because he never really admits that he’s gay, and the narrative is always limited to his point of view: the only internal thoughts and feelings we get to hear about are his, filtered through the fact that he doesn’t really understand his own feelings. But throughout, he talks a big game about the pretty women in Proud Immortal Demon Way, but shows no actual interest in anyone except Luo Binghe, whom he ends up marrying. The story ends before their marriage (which is covered in the extras), and Shen Yuan clearly has a long way to go still… But he’s getting there, and we see that in his decision to say yes to marrying Luo Binghe, and the fact that after their wedding night, he quietly calls Luo Binghe “husband” just because he wants to try out how it sounds (despite being typically quite cagey about such open affection).
   So yeah, Shen Yuan literally redeems the character of Shen Qingqiu, but he also redeems himself — in a way he might never have managed if he hadn’t died and transmigrated into Proud Immortal Demon Way.
4. Edmund Pevensie, from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C.S. Lewis). Any other time I might not think of this one, but I’ve been doing a bit of a Narnia reread, so he leaped to mind. He has a literal narrative redemption, of course, in that he starts out a traitor and is redeemed by Aslan, but for me I really came to like how he’d grown and changed from that in Prince Caspian. He’s still sometimes disagreeable, but he’s also a bit more self-aware, and wants to ultimately do the right thing.
   In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Eustace has a bit of a similar journey to Edmund, though he’s just more of a childish ass compared to Edmund’s out-and-out treachery. Like Edmund, we see the journey of a flawed boy who tries to work on it and become better, and he still has petty little outbreaks at first. I’m not actually a big fan of The Silver Chair or later books, but Eustace’s journey continues there. He never becomes a person I’d unequivocally like, but he does become a person who’s working on himself, and that’s admirable.
5. Lord Courtenay, from The Ruin of a Rake (Cat Sebastian). Technically, Courtenay’s getting redeemed after his appearance in The Lawrence Browne Affair, where we mostly just see him as a dissolute playboy. Cat Sebastian does this really well, though: you’ll see a character from one perspective in a given book, and then in the next, you come to understand what’s going on beneath, and even root for that character. Courtenay’s been genuinely misunderstood, as well as making some serious mistakes, and this book quickly establishes that and works toward a happy ending for him that, when it comes, is extremely satisfying. He also has a literal redemption arc where he becomes a bit more socially acceptable and should be able to see his beloved nephew again.
   From the same book, I think Julian also had a bit of a redemption arc for me: he’s already socially acceptable, super acceptable in fact, but it sometimes makes him act like a bit of an ass. Contact with Courtenay softens him up a bit and begins to show him that he can be acceptable enough to society and also have the things he wants. So while he doesn’t have a literal redemption per se, for me he went from being a bit too stiff and focused on appearances to being warmer and more likeable.
6. Thomas Wilker, from A Natural History of Dragons (Marie Brennan). Tom starts off pretty unlikeable, because he and Isabella can’t see one another’s value, and each is fighting against different societal barriers against them becoming scientists. Isabella’s a woman, and Tom’s lower class, and neither of them are welcome. At first it’s each of them against the world alone, but gradually (by the end of the first book, and increasingly throughout the remainder of the series), they join forces and become a lot more than they might be alone. We never get to see a lot of Tom’s personal life, now that I think about it, and in a way I regret that — Isabella’s so focused on dragons, it makes sense that she’s comparatively unaware of Tom’s emotional life (except where it relates to her). But now that I’m thinking about it, I’m definitely wondering!
7. Luke Doomsday, from A Nobleman’s Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel (KJ Charles). Luke’s never quite unlikeable, but you’re very aware of his flaws while reading, for sure. He’s keeping things from Rufus — who would help him if he only asked — and abusing Rufus’ trust. Even if he doesn’t mean to harm Rufus, he definitely causes harm. And it’s not just Rufus, either; Luke is a hurt boy lashing out, in many ways, and he keeps on hurting those around him because of it. Still, through the course of the novel, he comes to terms with it and starts to be a bit more honest with people, and to heal.
8. Tony Stark, from Civil War: Iron Man (Brian M. Bendis, etc). No, not the movie, but from the original Civil War event in the comics. This particular volume was focused on Iron Man, and his reaction to Steve Rogers’ death. Unlike the movies, it really made me understand Tony Stark’s point of view throughout Civil War, and focused on the deep affection and respect he felt for Steve even while they were at odds. Admittedly, the whole part in Camelot is just weird, but in my view, the movies really needed to adapt this volume as well in order to make Tony’s character gel, and they didn’t.
9. Ged, from A Wizard of Earthsea (Ursula Le Guin). Ged’s not quite unlikeable, in the early chapters of the story, because it’s kind of above whether you like or dislike the characters. Ged is arrogant and incapable of admitting when he’s wrong or when he doesn’t know something, and we see him painfully and slowly learn humility, and then real courage and real power. In the later books, we see that pushed further, as Le Guin dismantled some of the sexist assumptions she built into the world, and widens everyone’s point of view.
10. Paul Schafer, from The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay). It’s been a while since I read these books, but I keep being tempted to revisit, because against all odds, it’s a really good portal fantasy (and I enjoy what it does with Arthurian mythology as well). Paul is a difficult character to like at first, but you quickly understand that his reserve is due to an immense burden of guilt. He never becomes the warmest character, but he does learn to care again, and to forgive himself too. In some ways it’s not an easy read because what Paul suffers — and the other characters too — is immense and sometimes very dark. But it is a lovely trilogy.

Whew, we got there! And I didn’t write too many essays…

I’m sure there are other characters I can’t think of right now, and also obvious characters I missed out somehow, but I always treat Top Ten Tuesday prompts as an opportunity to dig around and maybe come up with something different.

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.

This week’s theme from That Artsy Reader Girl is a relationship freebie: pick a relationship and then ten characters who you want to have that kind of relationship with, e.g. siblings, found family, etc. I’ve gone with friends — and I’m going to try to pick side characters, rather than the main event, since main characters tend to have a lot of drama (and sometimes danger) coming their way…

1. Liu Mingyan, from The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System (MXTX). I think Mingyan and I have some things in common — we could definitely talk about books, if nothing else!
2. Ratthi, from The Murderbot Diaries (Martha Wells). He seems like such a sweetie, and Martha Wells did say in an interview that of all her characters, he’d be a lot of fun to hang out with.
3. Medic, from Ancillary Sword (Ann Leckie). In part, it’d be just kind of funny to get a Medic’s-eye-view of Breq, Seivarden, and all the trouble they bring with them.
4. Csevet, from The Goblin Emperor (Katherine Addison). In the same vein as Medic, really, it’d be fun to get a different view of Maia and the court. And Csevet seems pretty fun.
5. Lord Ruthven, from Strange Practice (Vivian Shaw). He knows so much, and he’s kind, and let’s face it, he’d probably make me cookies if I asked.
6. Amanda Frisby, from Band Sinister (KJ Charles). I think we could make a pretty neat book club between me, Amanda and Liu Mingyan.
7. Harriet Vane, from Strong Poison (Dorothy L. Sayers). Here’s another one for the book club. Sure, we’d all need some time to adjust to each others’ cultures and time periods, and I’m not sure if we’d all agree about the merits of each others’ reading matter, but you can bet after that we’d have the most fun.
8. Lenore, from Shady Hollow (Juneau Black). She owns a bookshop. We’re natural friends. And while we’re talking about that book club idea, Lenore’s a good addition too (though I doubt she and Mingyan would see eye to eye).
9. Dr Chef, from The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet (Becky Chambers). Okay, maybe this is slightly another one where I’d love him to cook for me. But also he has a heck of a perspective on the world from all he’s seen, and tries to be so kind and inclusive.
10. Natalie Oscott, from The Tropic of Serpents (Marie Brennan). She drops out of the series and pursues her own career, and I’d love to hear more about her efforts at pushing boundaries.

There we go, I succeeded without any main characters! And I think this book club idea would be really good, if only…

Looking forward to seeing other folks’ posts on this theme — don’t forget to drop your link in the comment if you visit.

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)”.

1. 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.
2. Murder on the Ballarat Train, by Kerry Greenwood. There’s a rich tradition of mysteries involving trains, and Phryne Fisher solves hers so stylishly.
3. 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.
4. 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!
5. 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.
6. The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles, by Malka Older. More mysteries and trains, but in a SF setting!
7. The Kaiju Preservation Society, by John Scalzi. Travel to a different dimension counts, right? Right?! And it’s such a fun book too.
8. 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.)
9. 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.
10. 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.

Naturally, as soon as I saw this week’s TTT prompt, my brain went blank: “Ten Favorite Books from Ten Series”. But after some digging around on my shelves in the blog, I do have some answers! I’ve probably left out something perfect and amazing, but here goes. I’ve linked to my review in each case, assuming I have one posted on the blog!

1. Death of an Author, by E.C.R. Lorac. Of the British Library Crime Classics series, this is one of my favourites. This is perhaps not the conventional sense of “series”, and perhaps I should’ve picked my favourite Lorac of her series about Inspector Macdonald… but, well, I didn’t.
2. Mirror Lake, by Juneau Black. It’s hard to pick a favourite of this series, because it’s less about any individual book (at least so far) and more just enjoying the setup. Still, Mirror Lake is very clever.
3. The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, vol 3, by MXTX. Okay, maybe it’s cheating to count this as a series, but we’re not being marked on accuracy here. I like book three the most because Shen Qingqiu starts to realise some things — and starts to finally understand Luo Binghe and treat him a little more fairly. And of course, they get their happy ending.
4. Two Rogues Make A Right, by Cat Sebastian. I didn’t choose this just because a major character has TB, but that kinda factors into why I find this so memorable. But I also enjoy how Sebastian’s series usually take a character who seemed an unlikely love interest in a previous book, and get into why they acted that way, and make them worthy love interests after all, and — if I remember rightly, anyway — this was the first book where I noticed that pattern.
5. A Fashionable Indulgence, by KJ Charles. I wouldn’t always expect a first book in a series to be a favourite, but I think there were things I found frustrating or just not to my taste in the latter two books — while appreciating the arc and story over the whole trilogy, and liking the second and third books quite a bit, to be clear! And I do enjoy the characters (and their relationship) a lot in this first installment.
6. Prince Caspian, by C.S. Lewis. I’m not absolutely positive I shouldn’t pick Voyage of the Dawn Treader here, but on the other hand, this has all four of the Pevensies, and as a kid I ate up the introductory chapters with the secret midnight meetings in the tower…
7. Tropic of Serpents, by Marie Brennan. This book is where that series fell into place for me, and it’s a perfect illustration of how Isabella is as a person (and a scientist). I just had a lot of fun with it, and always do.
8. Feed, by Mira Grant. Honestly, this book has lived rent-free in my head for so long. I’m not as big a fan of the rest of the series — not that I dislike it, just, this is the book that I like the best.
9. Glamour in Glass, by Mary Robinette Kowal. This is another series where it was the second book that made things really click for me. It was very unlike the first book, and went some bold places.
10. Have His Carcase, by Dorothy L. Sayers. Perhaps a controversial choice, compared to Strong Poison or Gaudy Night, and there’s a strong argument to be made for The Nine Tailors, in my book. But ultimately I love Peter and Harriet’s early friendship and the wittiness this particular book is written with.

Those are my choices, and I’m sticking to them!

What about everyone else? Would you/did you find this one difficult to answer?

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday prompt is “Books I Wish Had More/Less [Insert Your Concept Here] In Them”. I decided to go slightly off-piste and talk about characters I want more of in given books, because there are some characters I’d love to understand more about or see the further adventures of.

Without further ado, here are my ten!

1. Csethiro Ceredin, from The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. She’s really cool, but we only really see her through Maia’s eyes — and early in their acquaintance, at that. I want to know about why she learned fencing, I want to know about all her other interests, and of course I want to know how she and Maia work out as a couple.
2. Liu Qingge, from The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System by MXTX. He’s a fairly prominent character, given the amount of time he spends protecting Shen Qingqiu and fighting Luo Binghe, but I’d love to know about his childhood, how he and Mingyan both came to Cang Qiong Mountain, more about his past animosity toward the original Shen Qingqiu… I just like him a lot, okay!?
3. Ning Yingying, from The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System by MXTX. It’s fairly obvious that her “demotion” from love interest to side character actually allows her a chance to develop and grow. I’d love to have seen more of that.
4. Liu Mingyan, from The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System by MXTX. Pretty much the same story here! And why did she decide to wear a veil, and when? What will she do when she’s not Luo Binghe’s love interest, and with her brother alive?
5. Faramir, from The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. This has been a long-term wish for me. I loved the brief glimpse we got of Faramir from a very young age, and that interest in him hasn’t abated at all. How’d he come to be the best of his family, far nobler, braver and kinder in many ways than Boromir or Denethor?
6. Don Abene, from Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells. And her whole group, really. How do they get on after meeting Murderbot? Does Murderbot ever join them again?
7. Tom Wilker, from A Natural History of Dragons (and sequels) by Marie Brennan. He’s a major character of the books, and we do get to see him succeed, but what would he write in his memoirs? What did he make of his life after he and Isabella’s great discoveries?
8. Cal, from Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree. He’s a bit-part, really, coming or going as needed by the plot — but I wanted to know more about how he gets along in the world.
9. Thimble, from Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree. I think this might just be because he was cute. But also we didn’t get to know a lot about his thoughts and feelings, and I’m curious.
10. Sun Li, from Shady Hollow (and some of the sequels) by Juneau Black. We know a bit about where he’s come from and why, but he’s developing a friendship with Vera and Lenore, and I’d actually like to see more of it — more than just them eating at his restaurant with him, for example. Do they hang out other than that? What does he do with his free time?

In the end, these are books I love just as they are… but it really wouldn’t hurt to see more of these characters.

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday prompt is “debut novels I enjoyed”, which I found a bit tricky as I don’t generally keep track of whether a book is an author’s debut or not. Still, let’s have a crack at it…

1. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, by N.K. Jemisin. I should reread this trilogy at some point, it’s been ages. I remember reading the first book vividly, and curling up with it to just get started, and of course ending up reading most of it.
2. The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, by Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù. Remembering that the Scum Villain webnovel was MXTX’s first, I couldn’t resist including this one! I wrote ten reasons why I loved it last week, if you’re curious.
3. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke. A chunky historical fantasy with liberal use of footnotes that not everyone enjoyed. I say this because I can hear the comments coming and I want to get out ahead of it: I know! Not everyone liked it! But I did, and have read it at least twice (and am partway through a third read).
4. Kushiel’s Dart, by Jacqueline Carey. What a saga this one launched! Once again, it has its detractors (particularly for its flowery language and, of course, the masochism and sex), but I enjoyed the story and characters very much: I found the worldbuilding rich and exciting, and Joscelin is a heck of a love interest. “If I’m to be damned for what I’ve done, I’ll be damned in full and not by halves.”
5. The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern. I keep wondering if this will enchant me as much if I read it again, and I think I should probably give it a shot.
6. Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie. I admit that when I first read it, I didn’t entirely get it: it’s one of those books that stayed with me, and which I had to read again to fully fall in love. Still, I was convinced by the end of the first book, and have enjoyed all Leckie’s other work since.
7. Strange Practice, by Vivian Shaw. Not always accurate about what it’s like to be a GP in Britain in general (said Mum when I eagerly made her read the series), but enjoyable nonetheless — and some inaccuracies can be forgiven since the patients are vampires, ghouls, banshees and mummies. And the story has such a good heart.
8. Ninefox Gambit, by Yoon Ha Lee. It took me a while to get into the right mindset for Ninefox Gambit when I first read it, and I have no doubt it’ll take the same again: there’s just so much going on with the worldbuilding and the politics. That said, everything you need is there in the story, if you give it the time. It’s not always easy to trust readers to do the work, and I know some people who bounced off for that reason, but I found it entirely worthwhile.
9. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, by Becky Chambers. I’m unapologetic in my love for this series, even though (like most others on this list) it has its detractors. It may be about aliens and a galaxy far, far away, but it’s also about people, the connections between people, and how small lives go on amongst much bigger events — with an unapologetic interest in those small lives.
10. The Summer Tree, by Guy Gavriel Kay. It’s been quite a while since I read anything by Guy Gavriel Kay, and his more recent work didn’t get me so excited somehow (though I still need to give it a shot). The Summer Tree has flaws, yes — but the story of Paul, Kim, Dave, Kevin, Jennifer and Fionavar has stuck with me. Maybe I should reread it soon!

Whew, we got there! Looking forward to seeing everyone else’s lists.

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is a freebie for missed TTT themes. I have no idea if I’ve done this one before, but I love rereading, so I picked #379, “books I could reread forever”.

I know some people feel that there’s just not enough time in the world for rereading, and if that’s you, that’s totally fine! But I love to reread, because I think the books I’ve already read can hit differently in the future. Sometimes you notice different things, sometimes you’re a different person, sometimes your experiences change how you understand things.

And, to be frank, reading is not a job. It’s usually meant to be for pleasure, for most people. If you feel like you have to be reading all the latest books, are you having fun or just kicking yourself in the shins?

Which is not to say that everyone needs to enjoy rereading, but it’s a pretty common response when I talk about rereading, and I don’t have time for that in my own life. I read what I enjoy, for fun, and I’ll happily encourage anybody to say “stuff that” to obligation and doing things because you “have” to.

Without further ado, here are some of my iron-clad rereads.

1. The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien. This is a classic and deservedly so. I do love The Lord of the Rings too, but there is something special about the warm tone of The Hobbit. Mind you, I had to take just one book to a desert island, The Lord of the Rings would be in strong contention. I’ve never read it without noticing something new (and I’ve read it quite a few times, since I studied Tolkien’s work during my MA). It’s very rereadable, in my view.
2. The Dark is Rising, by Susan Cooper. Technically all of this series, and maybe most of all The Grey King. I listened to the BBC radio adaptation as a kid and adored it (though it scared the pants off me too), and it’s remained something I read and reread fondly. Though it’s a children’s book, there are details on many levels.
3. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis. I think a lot of people felt betrayed to realise it was an allegory, but I don’t think I was ever “fooled”. I knew it was an allegory and still loved it. In fact, some of the sentiments in The Last Battle helped to form some of my thoughts about life and religion, even though I’m not a Christian. I still think these books are a delight and worthy of rereading. In fact, I might be tempted to do just that right now.
4. The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison. I hope this one will never wear thin for me, because so far each time of reading has been a total delight. I love how intentional and thoughtful Maia is, and how some of the people around him respond to that and start to build a better world.
5. Strong Poison, by Dorothy L. Sayers. I don’t think any of the choices on this list are a surprise coming from me, and this one certainly isn’t. The radioplay adaptations and the BBC adaptation with Edward Petherbridge are all wonderful.
6. A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, by Becky Chambers. I recently reread this, in fact. It’s a relatively personal story, focused less on political events in the galaxy (though they happen) and more on the immediate effect on the people of the Wayfarer, and also on the interpersonal stuff between the people on the Wayfarer. It’s a lovely novelised discussion of how we can treat different people with different beliefs and different needs with equity and dignity. There are aspects I’m conflicted about, but even those are good to think over.
7. Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie. I think I like this book more each time I read it. It’s hard to separate which book of the trilogy is my favourite, but I love Breq and I love to feel conflicted about Seivarden.
8. A Natural History of Dragons, by Marie Brennan. You can tell this list is in no particular order, because I adore this series. I love Isabella and her deranged practicality, and the serious attempt to imagine what it would be like to be a naturalist studying dragons, and the different cultures and peoples one might encounter. It’s also a rare example of a book I’ve loved more and more with each reread, starting from not rating it very highly.
9. Feed, by Mira Grant. This one’s pretty uncharacteristic for me in many ways, but the book fascinates me. I found it deeply disquieting at first, but now I find myself hankering to revisit now and again, and discover all of the details again (horrific as some of them are as scenarios). It’s also one of those books I rated low at first, but which grew on me.
10. Chalice, by Robin McKinley. Also among that number, I didn’t “get” Chalice right away, and I’m still not entirely sure I do. There’s something warm about it, though, and I love to reread it and ponder over again how everything comes together. Also, the magic system is pretty unique and fascinating (based around honey, for the main character).

Oof, those were difficult choices! I feel like there are others I should surely include (Murderbot comes to mind) — and my choices are likely no surprise to long-time readers — but for now, this is it!