Top Ten Tuesday - Things I am thankful for

Being British we don't celebrate Thanksgiving, but sometimes the bad can be overwhelming and it is easy to forget the good stuff.  So here are ten Bookish things I am grateful for...

1. To live in the UK where good bookshops are still around.
2. UK has no sales tax on physical books, which helps keep the prices down.  It also means if I buy from a US website I don't get customs charges when the item lands in the UK!
3. To live within 2 hours driving distance of Mr B's bookshop in Bath.  Too much closer and I'd be in horrific amounts of debt, too far away and I would never have bothered making that first visit last year.
4. My late Uncle Stephen, for encouraging my reading by sending me adventure books for Christmas (Famous Five, book 9 was the first non-school proper book I remember reading).
5. My parents for recognising my love of books and telling Uncle Stephen.  Also for buying me book tokens for Christmas and New Year, and letting me spend all my pocket money on books, and finally for spending hours at the bookshop with me.
6. Brilliant authors writing brilliant books!
7. Blogging communities, Goodreads etc... so I can see recommendations for books I would never otherwise come across.
8. eReaders, a brilliant way to have quick access to books, lots of free and cheap books available for fast download and less to carry when travelling.
9. My local library for giving me easy access to free books.
10. My book club, not just a reason to read, or a source of books I wouldn't have otherwise read, but a great group of people and an enjoyable sociable activity.

Top Ten Tuesday - Books I would share with...

... my sister and niece.

My sister and her daughter are not what I would call 'Readers'.  My sister loves those true story weepies about children with terrible lives who grow up and cash in on the cash cow that is 'my childhood was terrible and now I'm an author' genre.  OK I'm harsh I know, they really did have terrible childhoods, and sharing their story of triumph over adversity can be really uplifting.  Sadly I can't read them as I find them far too distressing, and now they're everywhere and it's become rather cliched.

I have been trying to tempt my sister into the glorious and limitless world of fiction, but so far to no avail (she's a newlywed now, so you know she's pretty occupied in the evenings).  I could have done 10 books each in the end, but I decided to limit myself to two groups of 5, though some of these could work for both of them.  By the way, my sister is 36, and my niece is 13.

My sister:

I got her reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, she has a copy of all the books in the series and if she could put her new husband down for a while I think she'd really be enjoying them!

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. she liked this at school and when I said I'd reread it and it was better the second time around reading it as an adult, she said she'd like to reread it.  I bought her a copy as a gift, but that was 2 years ago and she still hasn't started it.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.  I recommend this to everyone, it's astonishingly brilliant, and I think it speaks to everyone young and old.  My sister doesn't read my blog so I think I'm safe to say I will be buying her a copy for Christmas this year.  It's also a recommendation for my niece too.

The Lies of Lock Lamora by Scott Lynch.  In Locke's own words; "it's so much fucking fun!".  EVERYONE should read this!!  It's not for kids though, so my niece will not get a copy til she's 16 at least!

The Help by Kathryn Stockett.  I think this would be right up my sisters street.  It has something of that 'real life - hard life' about it, it's well written and is a fairly easy read for someone not into reading.

My Niece:

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M Valente.  Wonderful, heartwarming and beautifully written.  I think it works on so many levels, this is one that I would recommend for my sister as well as my niece.  I feel another Christmas purchase coming on.

Sleuth on Skates by Clementine Beauvais  Recommended by the lovely Helen at Fennell Books it sounds like great fun, a way to get my niece into mystery books.  Despite recommending The Master and Margarita a while back I still value her recommendations highly.  This one sounds great!

Stardust by Neil Gaiman.  I saw the film first, and then realised it was a book (shock horror I'd never heard of Gaiman before the Stardust film).  The film was great, and the book better.  Lots of fun and high jinks to keep a young teen entertained.

Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan.  These are great fun, easy to read, a little educational too.  I know she enjoyed the film, and it's nice to see some strong female characters.

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien.  A classic, fun for all, lots of action and drama and dragons.  What's not to love!?

Honorary mention to the Dark is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper.  I'd love to recommend these as well, though it would cost me too much to get her into these, unless I can treat my niece to the wonders of the library.

Top Ten Tuesday - Covers I wish I could redesign

Today's TTT from The Broke and The Bookish is all about Book Covers, and those I wish I could redesign.

Despite hardly having an artistic bone in my body I sometimes look at a cover and wish they'd let me design it, thinking I could have done better.  I'm fully aware that I'm wrong of course, but still.

There's not many on my list this week, but here goes:

Two Caravans by Marina Lewycka.  I hated this book and couldn't finish it, which probably doesn't help.  I like scrapbooking, I really do, but it looks like something I could have done as a scrapbook layout.

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde.  I liked the book, it illustrated the concept well, but hated the cover of the version I had.  I just wanted to colour it in.

Red Seas under Red Skies by Scott Lynch.  Loved the book, and I loved the cover to the earlier book Lies of Locke Lamora, and I had hoped for a similar design.  I would have liked to see a boat deck with a shadowy figure of Jean Tannen brandishing the Wicked Sisters.

Nightfall by Asimov and Silverberg.  There's something very dated about this cover, I think it's the font, as the image is OK.

More recent editions of JD Robb In Death books.  I collect the series and I bought the first 20 or so books in the same format with a similar design concept and the later books have different designs.  It doesn't help that I bought later editions of the first books, and then first editions hardbacks of the more recent books, or that some I bought from the US, and some from the UK.  It makes them look very odd on the shelf next to each other.

That's it. please comment and share your list!

Top Ten Tuesday - Sequels I'm waiting for

Welcome to my Top Ten Tuesday list for this week.  The topic from The Broke and The Bookish is top ten sequels I can't wait to get my hands on.

There's a couple of prequels in here, but you get the drift....  I'm not sure that all 10 of these are desperately wanted, but I do want to read them all eventually.  In no particular order:

Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor, sequel to Daughter of Smoke and Bone.

Royal Flash by George MacDonald Fraser, sequel to Flashman

Unnamed sequel to River of No Return by Bee Ridgway

Actually a prequel, due for UK release in 2015 (according to Amazon UK): The Bastards and the Knives: The Mad Baron's Mechanical Attic and The Choir of Knives: An Omnibus: The Gentleman Bastards - The Prequel by Scott Lynch

The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne M. Valente, also The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two also by Catherynne M. Valente  (not yet officially released in the UK).

Another prequel, currently on my Kindle awaiting my Kindle challenge; The Girl Who Ruled Fairyland - For a Little While by Catherynne M Valente

Hollow City by Ransom Riggs, sequel to Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

Concealed In Death by JD Robb (aka Nora Roberts) number 38 in the In Death series, due for release in February 2014

Shadow Spell by Nora Roberts, sequel to Dark Witch, the first book in the Cousins O'Dwyer trilogy

Percy Jackson and The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan, book 3 in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.

Top Ten Tuesday - Creep Week

Halloween is in two days time folks, so it's officially Creep Week! 

I am a total scaredy cat, so I try to avoid truly creepy/scary books.  Bring on all things witchy, supernatural, ghostly etc...


1.  The Ghost of Thomas Kempe by Penelope Lively.  My first ghost story.  I loved this, and last Christmas gave a copy to my niece, she loved it to (she says).

2.  Dark Matter by Michelle Paver, a recent read, very creepy and from about half way through I could only read during the day.

3.  The Magic Cottage by James Herbert.  My Aunt loved horror stories and thought I might enjoy them too... Thought I'd give this one a read, scared me silly as a teenager.

4.  Needful Things by Stephen King.  I read this in 2002, on a beach in the caribbean.  It's brilliant, but I hated it, way too scary for me.  I forced myself to finish it or I'd still be thinking about it now.  If you like to be scared you should definitely try this one.

5.  The Daylight Gate by Jeanette Winterson, this months book club read.  Based on actual court records of 1612 Pendle Witch Trials.  Review to come soon(ish).

6.  The Boonsboro Inn trilogy by Nora Roberts.  Not remotely scary, and only moments of light creepiness.  Ms Roberts recently renovated an old Inn in the town of Boonsboro in real life, and decided to write a trilogy based on the renovation.  The heroes are the men who renovated it and their romantic relationships.  The Inn has a resident mystery ghost which along with the renovation works tied the books together.  Ms Roberts writes rather a lot of trilogies, and I have to say that her supernatural stories are my favourites.  See also - the Three Sisters Island trilogy,  Key trilogy, In the Garden trilogy, the Circle trilogy, the Sign of Seven trilogy,

7.  The Woman in Black by Susan Hill.  Hmmm, not bad.

8.  Dark is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper.  Good magic vs Bad magic.  I've read only the first three so far, and they are fantastic.  I've heard great things about the last two books which are on my shelf.

9.  The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.  Brilliant.  not at all scary, but a wonderful story about a boy raised by ghosts.  Neverwhere was excellent too, also by Neil Gaiman.

10.  Harper Connelly series by Charlaine Harris.  They aren't brilliant fiction, not too well written, but easy reads and cheap to buy.  I kind of enjoyed this mystery series about a young woman who can sense the dead and how they died.

This meme is courtesy of The Broke and The Bookish

Top Ten Tuesday - Unusual or Favourite Character Names

I love this list from The Broke and The Bookish, there's been some good ones in recent weeks.

This week's TTT is all about Great Character Names.  Be they unusual or just my favourites.  A few sprang immediately to mind, others I had to think about, but I struggled to keep it to 10.  As usual I've bent the rules a bit to suit myself, but what else is new?

Locke Lamora from The Gentleman Bastards series by Scott Lynch.  In fact Locke is not Locke's real name, which is as yet unknown to us/me (don't ruin it for me if you happen to know).  What I really love is that Locke's name doesn't just lyrically roll off the tongue, but it also reflects his character... If you move the L in Lamora to the end you get Amoral.  Which is exactly what he is - though loyal to the end to his friends which is his near enough only redeeming feature.

Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins.  Also many of the other character names, which are apparently inspired from Greek and Roman history, Classic Literature etc... In fact there is even a book about the names from this series...

Harry Flashman from The Flashman Papers series by Gordon McDonald Fraser.  Like Locke Lamora above this is a brilliant name for a brilliant character.  Flashman, or Flashy, is a total asshole, all 'flash' and no substance.  He's a character who is completely and unashamedly amoral, and in fact makes Locke Lamora look like a fair candidate for sainthood.

Sookie Stackhouse from The Southern Vampire series (aka True Blood books) by Charlaine Harris.  Can't help it, love that name, especaially when drawled by Bill... "Sookeh!"  lol.  He surname makes me think that she should buy out Merlotte's and change the name to The Stackhouse Steakhouse.

Buttercup, Westley etc... from The Princess Bride by William Goldman.  If I'm honest I'd have to say nearly every name I can remember from this book!  Not only are they brilliant names but who can possibly resist calling out "My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prrrreparre to die" every now and then.  Names of note - Fezzik, Dread Pirate Roberts, Miracle Max.

Mr Darcy from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.  Maybe it was Colin Firth striding purposefully out of the lake, but I just want to sigh and swoon.

Lyra from the His Dark Materials series by Phillip Pullman.  I love it, seriously I would consider this name if I had a daughter.

Thursday Next from the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde.  I love the playful names that Fforde uses.  She's the daughter of a Chronoguard (Time Travel Police) Officer, so a name that suggests a future time would be completely appropriate.  Other names of note - I love that she named her children Tuesday and Friday, and her on/off husband is Landen Park-Laine, colleague Braxton Hicks etc etc...

A-Through-L from The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland... from the Fairyland series by Catherynne M Valente.  I am totally and utterly in love with this book.  The character of A-Through-L is just wonderful, he's charming and sweet and a devoted friend to the heroine September (whose name I also love).  He is perfectly named having grown up in a Library in the sections A through L.  His character was a fabulous idea and completely original.  Everyone should have a Wyverary for a best friend.

Pretty much any character from the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett.  Yep, you might have noticed from my list I have a penchant for fantasy names, names which reflect the character, or the nature of the character, and this is what Terry Pratchett does with extreme success!  Who can forget Moist von Lipwig, or Death's assistant Mort.  There are hundreds more.

Top Ten Tuesday - Best Books I was forced to read

This weeks Top Ten Tuesday list is the Top Ten Books you were forced to read, no matter the source, e.g. a school assignment, a book club, etc...  I was so happy when this Top Ten Tuesday topic from The Broke and the Bookish came up, as it's often the great books that are forced on you that seem to make the deepest impressions.  I've split them up into their sources, as you will see below.




School Books

I don't remember much from school, I think I've blocked the bad memories.  Anyway, what I do remember is that I could have been assigned the Best Book In The World Ever and I would still have hated it, simply because I hated school.  Because of this, I didn't enjoy them at the time, and only came to appreciate them recently...

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
2. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Book Spa books

These are books recommended to me by a brilliant bookstore in Bath, England.  The recommendations are based on discussion with the booksellers about my likes and dislikes, so they probably have a better than average chance of being ones I'll like...

3. The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch.
4. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
5. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente

Book Club books

6. Very Good, Jeeves by PG Wodehouse.
7. Animal Farm by George Orwell
8. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
9. My cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier
10. The Hundred Year Old Man who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson

Honorary Mention Book Club Books...  These were all books that more than deserve top ranking, but which I had already read before they were selected for book club.  Even though these all beat the Book Club book list above, I wasn't technically forced to read them for the first time, but they are SO GOOD that I had to include them somehow.

11. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
12. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
13. Nightfall by Isaac Asmiov
14. Dark Matter by by Michelle Paver

Top Ten Tuesday - Best or Worst Series Enders?

Todays Top Ten Tuesday from The Broke and The Bookish is all about Series Endings...

I'm not sure if I've read enough series through to completion to give 10 responses, and many would have been so long ago that I'm not sure I can remember how good or bad they were, or why I loved/hated them.  I certainly couldn't have predicted that 30 years after reading some books I would be blogging about why I thought they ended well or not.  With our family history of early onset Alzheimer's I'm lucky I remember reading anything at all.  Anyway... most of these are from my childhood, as I never seem to get to the end of series these days.

I'm looking forward to having a lot through other peoples TTT's.

Here's what I have:

Nora Roberts' series... So many to choose from!  I've read I think nearly every trilogy/quadrilogy she has written.  All end well, as you might expect.  Karma wins out and every good person lives happily ever after.  What's not to love?

The Chronicles of Narnia - I thoroughly enjoyed the series when I read it 30 years ago.  I can't remember if I was happy with the ending or not, but I loved the series nonetheless.

Northern Lights by Philip Pullman - I only read this a few years ago, and I can't remember how I felt specifically about the ending, just that I loved loved loved the books.

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - Worst/Best? - Ermmmm, bit of both really.  Brilliant series, somewhat satisfying end to the revolution, I actually think some of it was absolute genius, but the way that Katniss was left at the end left me a little disappointed.

Thursday Next by Jasper Fforde - The Woman who died a lot was meant to be the book that ended it, but the best ending was there is another book due!  So I guess it doesn't truly qualify, but like I said, I don't have many choices.

The Famous Five, The Faraway Tree, Mallory Towers, St Clare's etc etc... by Enid Blyton.   I loved these books, and while I didn't want them to end, and can't remember how they ended, I have very fond memories of them.

The Sweet Valley High series (ghostwritten) by Francine Pascal.  I think this qualifies as WORST... at the time I enjoyed them though would probably hate them now.  I think I brand them worst because they just never seem to end.  I could go on and on and on, but won't.

Top Ten Tuesdays - Total Turn off's

The Broke and The Bookish hosted a Top Ten Tuesday a few weeks back with a topic of what books would make you not pick up a book, this weeks is a twist on that topic... What would turn you off a book you were reading and make you want to put it down, and probably not pick it up again.

In my old age I've become less patient, so my list is probably going to sound quite harsh. I just don't have time in my life to waste on not very well written plot devices, badly drawn characters etc...

Love Triangles - I've seen this on a few other lists, and can only agree.  Particularly when it's not needed in the story and has been so obviously shoe horned in where it doesn't really fit.

Questionable Points of View - where there are multiple narrators who have nothing to add to the story. In one book I read a couple of years ago it was a dog.  Seriously.  I love dogs, but no.

Jumping around in time apparently randomly - Sometimes this works, and sometimes it doesn't.  In The Time Traveller's Wife which you would expect to jump around a bit it was fine, as it was pivotal to the story and mostly you were following Clare's timeline.  In The Night Circus I can't see the point really, and I think this is the main reason I am struggling to finish it a year after I started it.

Mills and Boon style couples - The big powerful rich handsome guy wooing the sweet virginal pretty unassuming submissive and poor woman.  Urgh!  I think as a woman I object to the simplification of female romantic characters.  They don't have to be like that at all, give me Eve Dallas any day of the week!

You're running out of pages and there's no way the story can be wrapped up in time - Sadly it's too late to put the book down with this one...  The book you are reading has no chance to complete all it's plot lines, and so you know one of two things will happen...
  1. you're going to have to invest in a series when you weren't expecting to, or
  2. all the plot lines converge and resolve in an unlikely fashion, leaving you rather unsatisfied overall.

Characters die without hardly a word mentioned - Many will probably know which book I am talking about.  I don't have a problem with main characters that I've come to care about being killed off, but do it right!  For heavens sake don't be running around a city and then suddenly say 'Where's X?' 'Oh, him?  He died back there!'  WTF? Seriously it was like the book was intended for another edit that didn't happen.  Also 'Yes, I started a revolution for my sister and then she died anyway, so I'm going to live in a state of shock for the rest of my life'.  Please!

Super-Perfect Characters - All the characters are super rich/pretty/successful/funny/charming blah blah blah. It gets boring when everyone is good at everything, when all your characters are white, with perfect hair, perfect teeth, perfect skin.  Not a blemish, bad hair day or disability among them!

Unlikely ridiculous plot twists - Like Bobby emerging from the shower and Pam realises she's dreamt the last year or so.  W.T.F.?  Yeah I know my example is from TV, but you get my drift.

All consuming Love to the exclusion of everything else - this bugs me in real life, so you can imagine I HATE it in books.  A girl gets a guy and suddenly nothing else matters, she ceases to be a person and becomes a half person, only complete when with her man.  She forgets her friends, her career and loses her independence and spirit.  No, the fire in her belly she gets when he smiles/winks/breathes is NOT a substitute for a fire in her spirit!  This, but especially when it's instalove!  Funnily enough this doesn't seem to happen to male characters (or men in real life).

Bad Language/Grammar - I'm not talking about profanity.  I mean incomplete staccato sentences, text speak, 'dis' instead of 'this' etc etc...  c'mon!  I know people talk like that sometimes, but they just sound stupid.  Authors - don't make your characters sound dumb, unless they are meant to be, in which case do your research and treat them with some respect, they won't speak in text speak!

I thought this would be a difficult list, but I've reached ten and feel like I'm only just getting started!

Top Ten Tuesday - 2013 Autumnal Reading List

This week's Top Ten Tuesday is all about my Autumn reading list... and to be honest it's mostly made up of the books I bought at my recent trip to Mr B's in Bath..  My TBR list is huge, and I know that no matter what I say here, some of these will not get read this Autumn.  Not because they aren't great books, but simply because life (and book club) get in the way sometimes, and other times you just don't feel like reading anything you already own...  I have therefore cut the list down to seven, and because these lists can leave you feeling a little guilty if you don't do exactly as you intended when writing the list I feel like adding the following disclaimer....

Though every effort will be made to read the books listed below this Top Ten List does not indicate a committment to read the books listed below, despite all intentions of the person who has compiled this list.  Reasons for failure to read any of the books listed below include, but are not limited to: Alternative reading requirements of the compilers book club; Life events; and inspiration to start and/or complete reading of any book.

Quesadilla's by Juan Pablo Villalobos - I loved Down The Rabbit Hole, and I'm really looking forward to this tale of family life and politics in Mexico.

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon - The book everyone is talking about?  Not only does it sound right up my alley the movie deal is done, all 7 books are written and it/she is the Next Big Thing.  Who can resist really?  I managed to get my hands on a first edition hardcover, now I just have to stalk find Ms Shannon to ask her to sign it... I was told signed first editions are selling for around £500!  I'd never sell though!

The City & The City by China Mieville - This plot reminded me a lot of one of my favourite TV shows of recent years - Fringe.  A tale of two universes, a murder is committed between the two and police from each side have to work together to solve.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs - Bit of a cheat really as I'm reading this right now, so far so good...

Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor - I've seen this series appear so many times on other Bloggers' Top Tens.  Mythical creatures, everyday setting (I think?), sounds intriguing...

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith/JK Rowling - I tried so hard not to succumb to the lure of a new JK Rowling, but the reviews from before the time the authors identity was revealed convinced me to give it a chance.

The Grey King by Susan Cooper - Need to keep reading this series (4th in The Dark Is Rising sequence). My Greenwitch review will be coming soon. I'm told Grey King and the final book are really really good.  Well worth the effort.

Top Ten Tuesday # 18

This weeks Top Ten Tuesday is set in that perfect world where the books we love are not butchered by Hollywood or the Silver Screen, and instead are all handled brilliantly as TV shows or Films!  Most of the books I've enjoyed lately are either already movies, or are about to be adapted, so this was a hard list for me, and I didn't quite make it to 10...

So here's my list, as always a little artistic licence has been taken.

Though I haven't read them all, I am very very grateful that the Game Of Thrones series is being made as a TV series, though if I could change one thing, it would be to make it a Soap Opera so I could watch it every week, and not have to wait a year between batches of episodes.  I think there's enough material :-)

My new favourite book of 2013 would be wonderful - The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente.  It's just magical.

The London based police procedural stories featuring trainee wizard PC Peter Grant, written by Ben Aaronovitch would make a great alternative Crime Drama series (TV or film, either format would work in my opinion).  Rivers of London, Moon over Soho, Whispers Underground and Broken Homes...

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman - I can see this as a film, with incredible settings and heartbreaking story.

The Dark Is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper.  Of course they'd have to re-do the previously released Dark Is Rising movie...  No Bad Thing!

Dark Matter by Michelle Paver.  I think this would be wonderfully creepy as a supernatural chiller, though I have a terrible fear that it would be mistreated and turned into a slasher/horror movie.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce.  This is going to be made into a film, so I'll be  praying to the God of Book to Movie Adaptations that it gets handled well.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, definitely a film rather than TV series, and I have no idea how Death would narrate it, but I think it would be wonderful.  I'd watch it, I'd buy it, and I'd sell it to everyone who'd listen.  EDIT: I just read that this will be a film, OMG OMG OMG OMG!

And finally, reversing the focus of the list so far, I'd like to see the recent Tom Cruise film Oblivion as a book.  It started out as an idea for a Graphic Novel rather than a book, but I think it could make a great book if fleshed out a bit more.

Top Ten Tuesday # 17

This week's top ten is all about what makes our blogging lives easier.  Definitely need to check this one out with other bloggers since I've been so lax lately.

I only made nine again this week...

Blogspot scheduler!! This means that when I'm away for the next two weeks on holiday my Top Ten's etc… will still get published (though not linked to from Broke and Bookish).  Provided I'm organised enough and have read enough to write about naturally.

Bookmarks!  I'm good at remembering page numbers but when I put a book down for a long time and then return to it it's good to know where I left off.  I can usually pick up the story again quickly.

Kindle - when I'm away I love my kindle, it really comes into it's own.  I've taken stacks of books on holiday before, but they take up so much room, they weigh so much, and I hate leaving them behind.  My kindle means I can take hundreds of books wherever I go with no extra baggage allowance needed.  I recently lost my kindle, and I hated not having it to hand.  Found it now, just in time for my holiday!

My book journal.  When I'm being good and organised I write down details of the books I'm reading, what I think, quotes I like etc… which makes it easier to write reviews afterwards, and I don't have to reread the book to get the quotes I want!  I've been very bad at doing this lately!

Goodreads - I keep track here of everything I've read since starting my goodreads account, how I rated it, which edition I read, the ISBN number, picture which I use for the blog etc… seriously makes things easier.  I also love their Quotes section, meaning I can always find that quote I forgot to note down when I was reading.

Other people's blogs, not just for ideas of new books to read, but to get alternative perspectives on something I've just read which sometimes help to corral my thoughts.

My book club - At least once a month there will be a book that I have to read, often well out of my comfort zone.  This has opened up totally new horizons for me, well worth it!  In addition our discussions give me more to think about, which I would hope rounds out my reviews.

My bath tub.  Seriously.  Our house is crazy busy and it's not that often that I am granted some peace and quiet to read.  Bathtime is often the only chance I will get to relax in peace and read uninterrupted for a while (until someone knocks on the door to ask if I've died in there).

Library!! From online book location and reservations service, to being able to use any library in Hampshire.  I've seriously under used my library for many years, and it's time to start before they all disappear.  Not only does it save me money, I don't overload my shelves, and I HAVE to read the book in the allotted time, none of that putting it aside and leaving it for months.

Top Ten Tuesday #16

This week's Top Ten is a really fun one.  The theme is book settings, but it's a kind of 'make up your own list' as you can choose your setting, and other people's will be very different.  I've had great fun reading other people's lists, so much so that I nearly forgot to post my own!! 

Read more for yourself via the Host site at The Broke and The Bookish

My selection is...  My Top Ten Nine favourite books set in an alternate Earth.  The idea is that the setting is the same as our Earth except for one difference.  Here's my list...

Fatherland by Robert Harris - The difference between that world and ours is that Hitler and the Nazi's won the second world war.

Rivers of London - The PC Peter Grant series by Ben Aaronovitch.  The difference here is that Magic is real and present, and PC Peter Grant is a trainee Wizard in a London redolent with Ghosts and all manner of strange goings on.

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, An alternate underground London, who knows - maybe it is real :-)

Stardust, also by Neil Gaiman.  Somewhere in the Victorian English countryside there's a wall and on the other side of the wall is a land of magic and mystery.  Most of the story takes place in the land of Faerie, but some is in England.  Again, the delight with Gaiman is in imagining that it could be real.

Northern Lights - His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman.  The trilogy starts with Northern Lights, and begins in an Oxford where human souls take the form of animals.

Harry Potter books by JK Rowling.  Can't pick a favourite, they're all fabl!  Another world where magic exists alongside our own muggle-lives.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.  OK, so technically it is meant to be our Earth, but even though this book really was very disturbing for me (personal reasons), I loved the otherworldliness of Susie Salmon's afterlife.

It would hardly be a list of mine without some mention of the following author's alternate versions of England...

The Eyre Affair from The Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde (start with The Eyre Affair, but for heaven's sake don't stop there as they get better and better!).  The Eyre Affair starts in an alternate Swindon of 1985 where literature dominates our culture, the Crimean War lasted much longer, cheese is illegal, Wales is not part of the UK and time travel is possible on the basis that at some point in the future someone has probably invented it.

The Fourth Bear from The Nursery Crime series by Jasper Fforde.  This is set in another alternate 1985, this time in Reading where PDR's (Persons of Dubious Reality) are alive and well and living among us.  DCI Jack Spratt and his faithful assistant Mary Mary investigate various Nursery Rhyme related Crimes... in The Fourth Bear Jack is investigating the mysterious disappearance of a blonde news reporter called Goldilocks who went missing near the three Bears house.  In the other book in the series The Big Over Easy, Jack investigates the apparent suicide of Mr H Dumpty who jumped off a wall, but Jack thinks he was pushed.  The Gingerbread Man features in both books as a particularly evil character who can run really fast.

Top Ten Tuesday #15

This week's Top Ten Theme is Books That Need Sequels.

It's all about those books that were complete stories in their own right but I'm not ready to let go and really want to spend more time in that world.  Or maybe the author didn't finish it the way I wanted, and another book would just tie up those loose ends properly.

I realised that I've been reading a fair amount of books from series lately, and it's hard to think back over the stand alone's.  I'm not sure I've really got my true favourites but here's the nine that first came to mind...

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak.  I don't necessarily need to know what happened to Liesel after she left Himmel St, but I would dearly love to know who else has made Death take notice.

The Howling Miller by Arto Paasilinna.  I loved it, but I would have liked a little more or another book.  I just would dearly love to see the village accept Gunnar for the eccentric but harmless sweetie he is.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins.  Please please please give us the 'Director's Cut' edition and deal with the ending in a better way.  I'd also like a Prequel I think, or maybe a few of them!  I have so many questions!  How did North America become Panem... what happened in earlier Games, especially the first games... The rebellion of District 13,  so many ways this world could be expanded.

The Host by Stephenie Meyer.  Well?  What happened next?  What's the story with the other rebels?  How did Wanderers species arrive on the planet and take it over?

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, I think this one will have made a few lists.  I'd like to see Scout grown up and working as a human rights lawyer, what cases she works on etc... Atticus as an old man giving sage words of advice as always.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.  What happened to Lizzie and Darcy after they were married?  Georgiana, Jane and Bingley, Even Lizzie's other sisters?  Did Lady Catherine De Bourgh get over herself yet?  Did Charlotte in fact totally lose control and bash Mr Collins' head in with a garden spade?  These are the kinds of thing I want to know.

Nightfall by Isaac Asmiov and Robert Silverberg.  How did the planet and the surviving Kalgashians recover?  Were they able to learn anything at all from the experience?  What about next time?  Is there already a sequel?  Dean McLaughlin's novel 'Dawn' is apparently a more optimistic version of Nightfall... maybe I'll line that up to read sometime.

Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch.  Admittedly I've cheated the list a little here, as this is the second in the Gentlemen Bastards series, it just needs the promised sequel (The Republic of Thieves) not to slip it's publication date!  Currently scheduled for October this year.  Can't Wait!!

The River of No Return by Bee Ridgway.  Again a bit of a cheat.  I confess I'm a time travel junkie, and another book is apparently on it's way.  Phew!

The small print:  The Top Ten Tuesday meme originates at The Broke and The Bookish, check out their site for more information.

Top Ten Tuesday # 14

Here we go again...  This weeks TTT is all about Beginnings and Endings.  Mostly I have featured endings, as those are the things that stay with me, good or bad.  A book may have a great beginning but if the middle and end don't live up to it you can forget that it had a good start, but you rarely forget how a book made you feel at it's conclusion.

So here's my list of Top Ten Beginnings and Endings...

Beginnings

The hundred year old man who climbed out of the window and disappeared by Jonas Jonasson.  Excellent start, little bit of a damp squib for an ending but really fun story to read.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.  "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."  As a single woman without a fortune I can wholeheartedly agree.  Nice ending too, if you're a romantic like me.

Endings

Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.  Probably also would sit the Beginnings section as well.  I love this story, and it's a must in our house when we feel the need to get into the Christmas spirit...

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch.  This builds up and up and up the whole way through, the clues were there, but it was such a huge surprise.  Brilliant!

My Sisters Keeper by Jodi Picoult.  I read a lot of her books around the same time as this, and I thought I had the ending all figured out.  I was only part right.  I imagine this will make a few people's lists.

Catching Fire Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins.  I'm expecting this to be a popular appearance on lists.  This was the third in the Hunger Games triolgy and as such was the culmination of a brilliant series, and such a let down.  EDIT: Goshdarnit I got my books mixed up.

Animal Farm by George Orwell.  And in the end the pigs are indistinguishable from the humans they'd deposed.

Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe.  Technically a play, not a novel, but worthy of inclusion.  Great opener, brilliant story but it's his inevitable demise which makes this incredible.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce.  It was good all the way through, but the ending is truly wonderful.  Have a full box of tissues at the ready.  The great and wonderful Helen at Fennell Books got to meet Rachel Joyce at an Author event (I'm emerald with envy) and was able to tell us that Ms Joyce wrote this book while her father was dying of cancer.  The significance of Harold's journey across Britain is particularly poignant when you know that the author was afraid her father would pass away on her journey's to and from his bedside.  If you haven't read this book yet DO IT NOW!! Probably the best book of 2012, and right there at the top of my all time favourites!

The small print:  The Top Ten Tuesday meme originates at The Broke and The Bookish, check out their site for more information.

Top Ten Tuesday # 13

Well here we are, another Tuesday, another list.

This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic is the Top Ten Words/Topics that will put you off a book.  I managed 9.

1.  Crime
2.  Serial Killer
3.  True Story
4.  Autobiography, or Biography for that matter
5.  War
6.  Assigned Text  (if I HAVE to read it, I automatically don't want to).
7.  Poetry
8.  If it's been hyped to death
9.  Vampire

My absolute nightmare book would have a blurb that read something like this:

"The critically acclaimed must-read book of the decade! An Autobiographical True Story of a Serial Killer's war-zone crime rampage, and the Vampire poetry that inspired him".  If it were made into a required reading for a course or something I think I'd have to kill myself.

The small print:  The Top Ten Tuesday meme originates at The Broke and The Bookish, check out their site for more information.

Top Ten Tuesday # 12

This week's Top Ten List is Authors who deserve more recognition.

As it turns out a fairly topical list, given the recent news regarding JK Rowling.  I was going to put Robert Galbraith on the list as well.

OK, I confess, I wasn't going to talk about Robert Galbraith at all.  In fact I'd never heard of him or his book until all these shenanigans with JK Rowling and her pseudonyms.

I suppose this highlights the need to share with fellow book lovers when we find an author whose books we enjoy.  The book in question was apparently very well received, but was priced rather high, and lacked publicity, leading to only 1500 sales in several months.  Not bad for a truly new author, but a highly disappointing return for a publishing house who've paid out a fortune in advances.  Quick convenient leak to the press and suddenly the book rockets to the top of the charts.  Ms Rowling certainly doesn't need more exposure, so I'll move on.

I tend to read well established authors generally speaking, usually discovered many years ago by people with their fingers firmly on the pulse (unlike me).  I'm afraid I only came up with five, but will try to be more prepared next week.

1.  Arto Paasilinna.  Author of many books, and quite successful I believe, but not many of his stories have so far been translated into English (he's Finnish).  He wrote a wonderful book called The Howling Miller, which was one of the first I reviewed on my blog.  I would love to find more of his books translated into English.  Sorry, but it's unlikely that I would be able to master Finnish.

2.  Susan Cooper, of the Dark is Rising fame.  Everyone I know had heard of her, but even though most of the books were published during my early reading years and I was a voracious reader I only heard of her when the film was published a few years ago.  Now I look back on my Enid Blyton days and think of missed opportunities.  I'm definitely getting a set of the books for my niece to enjoy.  It would be nice to see more people talking about these, but maybe it's just too late.

3.  Scott Lynch.  A writer I was introduced to at a Book Spa event, I loved loved LOVED The Lies of Locke Lamora.  The follow up was pretty good too.  Both have been reviewed on my blog.  Sadly Mr Lynch suffers from depression, and the follow up promised books have no planned release dates that I'm aware of.  Like the dedicated fan I am I will wait as long as I have to.

4.  Jasper Fforde.  yeah, you knew this was coming right?  I see many reviews for The Eyre Affair.  As book lovers my fellow book bloggers could hardly turn away from a book about Jane Eyre and living inside the stories we love, just as I couldn't.  Though there are many good reviews, I rarely see reviews for the rest of the series, or his other Nursery Crime series.  The Thursday Next books get better and better after The Eyre Affair (with a bit of a blip in book 6), and the Nursery Crime series is just brilliant, though I do wish there were more than two of them.

5.  Bee Ridgway.  I saw an ARC review of The River of No Return a little while ago, and decided to get a copy when it was released and wasn't disappointed.  It was her debut novel and I would definitely recommend it.  I thought it was going to be a pure sci-fi book with maybe a little light romance thrown in for good measure.  There was more romance than I was expecting/hoping for, but it was still a very enjoyable read and I will be buying the sequel.

I can't wait to see other bloggers' lists and get some new suggestions.

The small print: The Top Ten Tuesday meme originates at The Broke and The Bookish, check out their site for more information.

A belated Top Ten Tuesday (# 11)

Oops, I did it again.  I missed a week... and now here we are with two TTT's in one week.

It's been a crazy couple of weeks in our house.  I haven't even had a chance to read either... :-(

Anyway... here's last weeks list:  Top Ten Best/Worst Movie Adaptations.

I have decided to split this in two, though not the way that was suggested.  My first 5 are my favourite current book to movie adaptations, many many many forgotten that would be worthy, but there you are, the vagaries and inconsistencies of my mind.  The second 5 are the books I'd like to read having watched the films.

My 5 favourite Book to Movie Adaptations

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, I know it gets some criticism but I liked it.  I loved seeing Panem come to life, and I'm looking foward to Catching Fire and especially to finding out if the film-makers can improve on the disappointing end to the final book Mockingjay.

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, Surprisingly a fairly faithful adaptation. I'm sure there are more highbrow adaptations I could include on my list, but I just read this, so it's right at the forefront of my mind.  I also just read The Sea of Monsters in advance of the upcoming film, here's hoping they do another good job.

The Green Mile by Stephen King.  Technically the story was serialised in six books, but later combined into a single edition.  This is one of those times where the film was so spot on utterly brilliant that it is at least as good as the book.

The 1962 version of To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch.  Nuff said.

Technically I think the movie came first, though I could be wrong.  The Princess Bride by William Goldman.  Mum worked for a video rental store on the day it was released on video (yep good old VHS). I had the day off school sick.  I watched it three times in a row that day and it's been a favourite film ever since.  I remember the film claimed that it was based on an original book by S Morgenstern.  This book doesn't actually exist (it never did), though Goldman as the screenwriter has produced the story as an apparently abridged version of the non-existent Morgenstern's book.  Going by the fury expressed towards Goldman on Goodreads reviews this little deception enraged readers everywhere. I love that the book refers to passages that have been excluded, such as the multitude of pages describing Buttercup's trousseau (if I remember it correctly it was something like 28 pages of hats or some such nonsense).  Inconceivably Brilliant.

My top 5 books to read based on the movie adaptations

Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King, one of my (and many peoples's) fave films of all time, I didn't realise at first that this had been a book.  It's now on my must-read list.  Especially since it's a Stephen King book and considering the greatness of The Green Mile.

Schindlers Ark by Thomas Keneally.  Again, I didn't realise Schindlers List was based on a book (I only saw it for the first time a year or two ago), but although it's a true story and I normally hate true stories, this one I think will be particularly special.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey.  I actually find the film hard to watch, and I'm hoping the book will be the same.  Something makes me feel like this is not meant to be an easy read, but would be worth the effort.

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro.  I saw the film on it's cinematic release, and have been meaning to read it ever since.  I was given it as a World Book Night book last year, but haven't got around to it yet.  Soon.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy, I'd heard so much about this, it was on TV recently, and now it's on my must read list.

Top Ten Tuesday # 10

Welcome to my Top Ten Tuesday list! The Top Ten Tuesday meme originates at The Broke and The Bookish, check out their site for more information, but not before you've read the post below.

This week's theme is my Top Ten most Intimidating Books.

With one notable exception this list is of books I know I should read, but for whatever reason I haven't been able to bring myself to read them.  I have been told by various people, ready numerous reviews and am aware that all of these are brilliant stories.

1. Animal Farm by George Orwell.  This is the one I have read, and was not the difficult or overly intellectual read I thought it would be.  Well worth it!
2. 1984 by George Orwell.  I haven't read this for the same reason that I put off Animal Farm.  When I said I had enjoyed Animal Farm and intended to read 1984 soon, everyone said it's a very different book, much more intense.  I was immediately put off again.
3. Russian Dystopian novels like We by Yevgeny Zamyatin.  The first few pages seem engaging and interesting, and I can't tell you why I haven't read more.
4. War and Peace, Crime and Punishment etc... more incredibly long Russian books whose characters names you can't keep track of.
5. Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson.  Recommended by a friend, looks right up my street, but it's 900 pages long!
6. The Count of Monte Cristo - I tried with this one, but the typeface was tiny, paper so thin you can see through it, and still it's hundreds of pages long.
7. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami.  Sensing a theme yet?
8. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.  Started this years ago, but dystopian novels don't really appeal, so I've never finished it.
9. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks.  There's just something about war stories that puts me off.
10. Misery by Stephen King.  I can't watch the film for long, I can't bear it when James Caan is being tortured.  I was given this for World Book Night 2012, and I tried, but didn't get far before I chickened out.  One day I'll be gutsy enough to try again, but not just yet.

Top Ten Tuesday # 9, and a TTT Retrospective

Welcome to my Top Ten Tuesday list! The Top Ten Tuesday meme originates at The Broke and The Bookish, check out their site for more information, but not before you've read the post below.

This week's theme is my Top Ten reads of 2013.

I found it hard to narrow down my top reads of this year to just 10, so I've cheated a little, and had to be ruthless too.  For reviews of each book, check out the sidebar on the left.  Some reviews are due for publication over the next couple of weeks. In no particular order, here's my list:

1. Mr Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
2. Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch
3. A Dark-Adapted Eye by Barbara Vine
4. Calculated in Death by J.D. Robb
5. Animal Farm by George Orwell
6. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, and also Sea of Monsters, both by Rick Riordan.
7. Over Sea, Under Stone, and The Dark Is Rising both by Susan Cooper
8. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
9. The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
10. The River of No Return by Bee Ridgway

Where I missed the last couple of Top Ten Tuesdays, here's my retrospective on those weeks:

On 11th June 2013 the TTT was our Top Ten Beach Reads.  I have to admit that I kind of felt we'd done this recently with the Top Ten lists for Fun.  For a beach read I'm of the opinion that such a book should be an entertaining but not gripping read, it shouldn't require too much thought, or emotional investment in the story.  If you think about it you don't want to be so lost in the story that you forget to turnover, and instead resemble a lobster on one side and a milkbottle on the other!  Also, if you keep stopping to make trips to the bar or dips in the sea/pool to cool off you don't want to be having to get back into the book every time.  For these reasons I refer you to my TTT list Books for fun

On the 18th June 2013 the top ten list was The Top Ten Books on my Summer TBR list.

The question is, with new releases and book club always adding to the list of books to read, will I manage to get through these?  As always, these are in no particular order.

1. Game Of Thrones, plus as many of the sequels as I can squeeze in.
2. The Light Between Oceans by ML Stedman, already started this and loving it!
3. Down The Rabbit Hole by Juan Pablo Villalobos.  I am attending an Author Event in Bath in September, and I can't wait.  A novella featuring the child of a Mexican druglord who has a rather unique world-view.
4. The Teleportation Accident by Ned Beaumann
5. The Coral Thief, part of my Started, so I'll finish attempt to clear my bookshelves.
6. Dissolution by CJ Sansom, this is our book club book for July.  Not a personal choice, but a must read nonetheless.
7. Moonstone another one from my Started, so I'll finish attempt to clear my bookshelves.
8. Nightfall by Asimov and Silverberg.  This was my first taster of proper Sci-Fi 20+ years ago.  It's the book club read for August.  I'm sure some will hate it, but I don't mind, I loved it the first time around.
9. Epitaph for a Spy, yet another from the Started, so I'll finish camp.
10. The Girl with Glass Feet, on the shelf for a year, it's about time I read this purportedly magical tale.