Showing posts with label top ten tuesday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label top ten tuesday. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Top Ten Tuesday Bookish Confessions


Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, this meme is all about making book-ish lists of your “Top Ten”s!

Top Ten Bookish Confessions

1. I read while watching TV or listening to podcasts.  Maybe its not the best way of reading a book, but somehow it has become habit and one will often find me reading while I am watching TV.  Same thing goes for when listening to podcasts.  I somehow don't do well with silence.  In fact, I listened to a Canucks playoff game while taking an exam final about 10 years (still had a walkman).

2. Most of the books on my read shelf aren't mine.  For those of you who have read my blog on a regular basis know this to be a fact.  I tend to get most of my books from the library, as I don't have enough money to purchase all the books I would read over the course of a year.  Besides it keeps the library in business.

3. I don't buy books from an independent bookstore, generally.  There is a huge reason why and that is the town that I live in doesn't exactly have a great selection of bookstores.  The best bet for a new book is to go to the mall and to buy something from the bookstore in there and even then they don't have a great selection.  The other option is a used bookstore that sells a small selection of newer books, but usually they don't have what I am looking for.

4. I don't really get the whole vampire thing in YA.  I can get that some people like the genre, but honestly, it isn't my cup of tea.

5. I really didn't like Catcher in the Rye.  I read the book for my book club and in fact I wanted to punch Holden Caufield and tell him to f***** grow up!

6. I have read Lord of the Flies twice and the second time made me loathe it even more.  Yep, I did.  I read it in my Grade 11 English class and thought it was because it was an English class book that I didn't like it (had the same feeling about All Quiet on the Western Front when I read it a year later and read it later for a course in university and actually liked it).  So I gave it another shot about 10 years later and realized that it really wasn't a book meant for me.

7.  Most of the books that I own are unread.  I have about 300 books that I have personally bought and a good majority of them have sit there untouched, just waiting for me to read them.

8. What was the point of I Never Promised You A Rose Garden?  I read this book in my senior English class and never really understood (a) why our teacher had us read it and (b) the point of the book.  

9. Sometimes I like the movie cover of a book more than the original cover.  There was an article on Book Riot a few weeks back about things adults should be ashamed of.  And one of them was reading from a book with the movie cover.  Personally, saying that adults should be ashamed of reading a book with a movie cover is pretty close to book snobbery as one can get.  I can understand if you don't like your book like that, but then don't buy it and purchase the cover that you do want.

10. Sometimes the movie IS better than the book.  I can understand why most people think that the book  is better than the movie, especially after watching the last two Hunger Games movies,  but there is the odd time that the movie is better than the book.  For example, The Remains of the Day.  While the book is an excellent piece of literature and the author has a way of drawing you into that world that Stevens has lived in for the majority, if not all, of his life, I found that the movie adaptation of the book was much better in conveying the sentiment of the book, especially when it came to the flashback pieces.  While I do realize that things had been changed in the movie for whatever the reason, I did find that the book was a bit on the dry side and honestly there were times I just wanted to quit reading, but really had no choice, as I had to read it for bookclub.

What's your top ten for this week?

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Top Ten Tuesday - Books on my Summer TBR





I realize that I am a little late with this, but I thought that better late than never and since my summer basically started last Friday (circumstances at work forced an early summer vacation).

So here are my top ten books on my summer TBR list:
• The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt : I have been wanting to read this book since it came out last fall and I hope to get some time to read it in the coming days.

• Speaking from Among the Bones by Alan Bradley : I usually read this series in the fall, but I figure with the time I have, I can read this one.

• Mrs. Hemingway by Naomi Wood : Looks at the lives of each of Ernest Hemmingway's wives.  Was interested after I heard the author interviewed on You Wrote the Book this past spring.  If you have read The Paris Wife and you liked it, you'll probably enjoy this one.

• The Vactioners by Emma Straub : Seems the it book of this summer season; looks promising.

• Runaway and Dear Life by Alice Munro : I bought Runaway and got Dear Life as a gift this past winter, with the thought that I would read them during the winter, but like The Goldfinch, it was set aside for other reads.

• The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood : I have had a copy of this book for a number of years and have wanted to read it.  Not a big fan of dystopic fiction (a Russian literature course in which I read We by Yevgeny Zamyatin made me have a strong dislike for dystopic literature), but being a fan of some of her other books, with Alias Grace being my favourite, I am going to give it a go.

• The Girl who Came Home by Hazel Gaynor : Bought this book through Bookbub for a couple of bucks; looks like a nice beach read.

• Outlander by Diana




Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Top Ten Books on my Spring TBR list

I haven't done a top ten in about a year, but since I have seen a lot these pop up in my email box yesterday, I thought I might do one again.  Here are the top ten on my Spring TBR list:

1) 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

2) The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (book club read)

3) The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer

4) HHhH by Laurent Binet

5) The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

6) The Whole Golden World by Kristen Riggle

7) The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Steadman (almost finished this one)

8)  Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingslover

9) Moon over Manifest by Claire Vanderpool

10) The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Top Ten Books I recommend the most

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and Bookish, where book bloggers share their Top Ten lists on everything bookish.  This week its the top ten books I recommend the most to other readers.

This is the sort of list that evolves over time and new books are added to this list and because the books that I recommend are dependent on the person that I am recommending it to.  But here are some staples that I will likely always recommend to readers.

1) The Daring Game by Kit Pearson - great for middle school readers (grade 5-8) and is also set at an all-girls boarding school.

2) The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi - read this about the same time when I read The Daring Game and is really a great read for middle school readers.   It is also an award winner and it is a book that adults would like as well.

3) Guests of War trilogy by Kit Pearson - for the same group of readers as above.  It was one of the first "series" that I read and really liked the fact that it talked about the Guests of War during World War II that were brought to Canada after the start of World War II.

4) A Handful of Time by Kit Pearson - Same group of readers as above.  I went through a Kit Pearson phase when I was in grade 6 or 7.  This one deals with a 12-year-old girl who spends the summer with her mother's family in Alberta and discovers an old watch that transports her to the summer that her mom was twelve.

5) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - Probably my favourite classic.  I first read the book when I was in Grade 8 and just loved the story.  I don't know why but I connected with the story in a way that I haven't in other books.

6) A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens - read this in my Grade 11 English class and despite the complaints of my classmates, I felt that it was a pretty good book and I quite enjoyed it to the point that I reread the book a few years later when I was in university.

7) Possession by A.S. Byatt - Read this book after I saw the movie adaptation of the book.  And I recall just being enthralled by the story that I thought that some of the characters were actually real.

8) All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque - First read it for my Grade 12 English class and really didn't see the point of the book until I read it for a university History course that basically dealt with WWI. 

9) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - read this for my Grade 10 English class and for the first time really enjoyed a class-assigned book.  I really liked the historical aspect of the book.

10) The Help by Kathryn Stockett - When I read the book last year, I was reading the book because of the hype and because of the movie.  And trust me, it was the one book that really did live up to the hype of the book. 

Honorable mention:
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo - I know that it is a long book but honestly the payoff is worth it and truly worthy of its epic status.  Its only in this section because I only finished the book a few months ago and have yet to formulate where it is in my books that I would recommend.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Top Ten Books on my Spring TBR list


Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and Bookish, where book bloggers share their Top Ten lists on everything bookish.  This week its the top ten books that are going to make it on my Spring TBR list.

1) The Whole Truth by Kit Pearson - I have been wanting to get to this book since this winter.

2) Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (part of a readalong)

3) The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey  

4) The Help by Kathryn Stockett

5) The Herring without the Mustard by Alan Bradley

6) The Guernesy Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

7) The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

8)  North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

9) The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

10) War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy (part of a year long readalong)

Happy reading :)

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Top Ten Books on my Fall TBR list

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and Bookish, where book bloggers share their Top Ten lists on everything bookish.  This week its the top ten books that are going to make it on my Fall TBR list, even though Fall is still about a few weeks away, but whatever.

1) A Farewell to Arms - book for my bookclub meeting this coming September.

2) Mansfield Park - another bookclub meeting book for this coming fall.

3) Wuthering Heights - readalong selection for Unputdownables

4) Les Miserables - need to read more of the book so I can get it done by the end of the year

5) The last three books in the Harry Potter series - I have somewhat stalled on the Order of the Phoenix and would like to get the series completed by the end of the year.

6) Anna Karenina - would like to get this book done before the movie comes out this coming fall

7) Bleak House - same reason as Les Miserables

8) The Sweet Far Thing - I have been wanting to read the final book in the Gemma Doyle series and would like to get it done before the end of the year.

9) Mockingjay - I read the first two books this past spring and would like to get the third book in The Hunger Games series completed.

10) A Race to Splendor - I have been trying to get this book completed during this past summer and just  was unable to complete it during the summer months.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Top Ten Favourites Melissa (me) Has Read during the lifetime of her blog

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and Bookish, where book bloggers share their Top Ten lists on everything bookish. This week is top ten books I have read since I have started my blog.  I am not going to include Harry Potter because they will always be on my top ten and the list will have no particular order, just that they are my top ten.

1) The Sister Queens (5/5) - Heard some good things about this book and wasn't disappointed.

2) The Help (4/5) - Started a little slow, but really gained a lot of momentum towards the end.  Chocolate pie anybody?

3) The Language of Flowers (4.25/5) - Got a good recommendation from Books on the Nightstand last year and wasn't disappointed.

4) The Hunger Games (4.5/5) - Despite the psychological stuff that I couldn't get over during the reading of the book, I really liked it.

5) My Life in France (5/5) - A really fascinating look at the life of Paul and Julia Child and how they made France their second home.

6) The Kitchen Counter Cooking School (4/5) - Really didn't know what to expect out of this book and was pleasantly surprised.  Am planning on getting the paperback copy this coming fall.

7) The Tea Rose (4/5), The Winter Rose (4/5), The Wild Rose (3.5/5) - Love the historical scope of the series and honestly kinda miss it.  It was weird watching the Olympics knowing that the setting of the first two books took place in that neighbourhood. 

8) A Great and Terrible Beauty (4/5) and Rebel Angels (4/5) - Liked how the books drew me in and were quite engrossing by the end of the book.  Am looking forward to reading the final book in the series this coming fall.

9) Blood, Bones & Butter (4/5) - Really enjoyed reading about why she became a chef and her life in general.  Another recommendation from Books on the Nightstand.

10) The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (4/5) - Very much worth the read and has stayed with me since I read the book in 2011.

Honorable mentions:
At Home by Bill Bryson - Loved reading about the history of the home and found it interesting why certain things exist within our homes today.

Juliet: a novel by Anne Fortier - As a fan of Romeo & Juliet, really liked this story of how the legend came to be.

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly - Yet another Book on the Nightstand recommendation; loved the play between the past and the present.

Room by Emma Donoghue - Definitely one of the best books I have read since I started my blog.  Read this book just as the Jaycee Dugard case was unfolding.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Top Ten Books I'd Recommend As Good Beach Reads

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and Bookish, where book bloggers share their Top Ten lists on everything bookish. This week is top ten books I would take to the beach.  This week I am only doing a list, with no explanations.


10) The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Amiee Bender
9) The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady by Elizabeth Stuckey-French
8) The Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella
7) Any of Sarah Dessen's books (I have read quite a few of her books during the summer and they are quite perfect)
6) The Gemma Doyle series by Libba Bray
5) The Book of Negroes (U.S. Title: Someone Knows my Name) by Lawrence Hill
4) The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
3) The Tea Rose series by Jennifer Donnelly
2) True Grit by Charles Portis
1) The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins


Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Top Ten Tuesday - Books I Love But Never Wrote a Review


Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and Bookish, where book bloggers share their Top Ten lists on everything bookish. This week its a freebie, so I am going to do Top Ten Books I loved but never wrote a review for.

10.  Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson - Read this book the summer after I graduated high school and just loved it.  I loved the story of a lost love and war and a murder trail.  The movie that came out a few years later was one of the few movies that really captured the book wonderfully and stayed pretty true to the premise.  And living out here on the West Coast, the internment of Japanese-Americans and Japanese-Canadians is still a real prescence, not only because it happened about 70 years ago, but also because I have a family connection (my mom's sister's husband's family was interred somewhere in the BC Interior during the war).

9. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque - I first read this book for my Grade 12 English class and my teacher ruined it for and I wanted to chuck the book at the wall.  About a year later I took a European history course that covered the Great War and one of the requirements was this book. And for some reason, I really enjoyed the read and it became one of my favourite reads.

8. I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb - I think this was one of Oprah's first books for her book club.  I was intrigued by the concept of the book and since my mom's birthday was coming up, I purchased it for her.  After she finished it, I read it and it was one of those books that I just couldn't put down.  I haven't read it since, but it was definitely one that I loved and still love and would love to read again.

7. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens - Read this is for my Grade 11 English class and while most of my classmates didn't want to read this book, I was probably the exception rather than the rule, in that, I really enjoyed it, not only from the historical aspect, which didn't hurt, but also from the aspect that it was quite readable and I ended up a few years later rereading the book on my own and still enjoying the story.  I am hoping to read this book again.

6. Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracey Chevalier -  I read this as a part of an Art History course I took in university and yet again I enjoyed it.  I think it was partly due to the fact that I had never heard of the painting and because I researched the painting itself on my own, it became a book that meant more to me than just another historical fiction book.

5. Just Listen by Sarah Dessen - I worked as cataloguer a number of years ago for a school district here in BC and when this book crossed my desk to get catalogued, I was intrigued so much so that I went to a local public library to see if they had the book in their system, which they did and quite enjoyed it.

4. Hidden Places by Lynn Austin - I have read this book a couple of times since it came out about 11 years ago and really liked it.  Part of the reason that I like it so much is that the book isn't the cliched Christian novel that I sometimes tend to read.  The author shows the characters as flawed individuals who each have their own secrets, despite the "happy ending".

3. East of Eden by John Steinbeck - I first read this book about 8 or 9 years ago and this has constantly been one of my favourites.  I had read The Grapes of Wrath back in high school and didn't really understand it, but for some reason I really enjoyed this one.  Probably it had to do with the fact that it was very readable and when reading it on the second time around a few years ago, I go more out it again.

2. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood - I was probably about 17 or 18 when I read this, but whenever it was, I fell in love with it and even though I haven't read the book in about 10 years, there is something amazing about this book that makes it one of my favourite books.  I suppose it doesn't hurt that the book is based on actual events, even though there is liberty taken with the storyline.

1. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - I first read this book when I was 13 years old and read the first 10 chapters of the book while I waited for my sister to get her collarbone reset in emergency. I have read the book at least 2 times since and its sort of my comfort book in a way.  While I was always a reader before this point, this was the book that probably turned me onto more adult-like fiction that was complex and allowed me to think more critically about what I read and therefore I sought out books that challenged me as a reader.


Monday, March 19, 2012

Top Ten Tuesday - TBR for Spring

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and Bookish, where book bloggers share their Top Ten lists on everything bookish.   This week its the Top Ten on one's TBR List for Spring.

 

Here are mine:

 

1) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins -  I have heard and seen so much about the movie coming out this coming Thursday that I know I really do need to get this book read.  I already own the book and borrowed the audiobook from the library and will probably spend Wednesday reading the book.

 

 2) Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy - I started this book back in January with the hope that I would get the book done by late March/early April, but at the rate I am going it won't be sometime till May that I will get it done.

 

3) Bleak House by Charles Dickens - I am doing a read-a-long through Unputdownables and I believe it is sometime in May that the book will be completed.

 

4) Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle - I had hoped to finish the book last month but sadly I didn't and with only about 4 chapters left, I should be able to get it done.

 

5) 4 plays by William Shakespeare - There are a number of plays that I need to sit down and read over the course of the Spring months.

 

6) Waiting for Columbus by Thomas Trofimuk - need to read this for a June book club meeting with friends and I am the one leading the discussion.

 

7) Books 4, 5, and 6 of the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling - Reading these for the 2012 Harry Potter Challenge

 

8) Forever Amber by Kathleen Windsor - Reading this for the Forever Amber read-a-long.

 

9) History of Pleasure Seeker by Richard Mason - I haven't been reading this as much as I should but I am hoping in the next few days I can get around to it.

 

10) A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin - I am in line for the first season set of the HBO series through my library and I need to start read it so that I have a better idea of what the show is about.

 

Honourable mentions:

 

1) Girl with a Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire by Steig Larrson -  I have had these books sitting on my bookshelf for quite sometime and I haven't bothered to read them.

 

2) The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien - I really want to be able to see the movie by comparing the book to the movie when it comes out later this year.

 

Good thing that there are NHL playoffs and the MLB season starts because I will spending a lot of time reading as I watch sporting events over the course of the next few months.  Hope you all have a wonderful first day of Spring (at least if you live in the Northern Hemisphere).

Monday, December 26, 2011

Top Ten Books Read In 2011 - Top Ten Tuesday

Hard to believe that the end of 2011 is drawing rapidly to a close and that 2012 is right around the corner.  And scrolling through the books that I have reviewed over the past 12 months, I am really shocked at the amount I have read over the past year and also the quality of books that I have read.  So here are my top ten books that I have read over the past year.

1. Unbroken: a World War II story of a survival, resilience, and redemption by Laura Hillenbrand : This was my absolute favourite novel of 2011 and I seemed to have compared all my books with this one, including the fiction novels.  The book was so engrossing that I did return the book as an overdue and didn't regret that I did.   At times it felt as though you were in the story yourself and I found myself routing for Louie and the other guy on his plane that survived, hoping that they would both surviving in the end.  It was so good that by the end that I was sobbing.

2. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson : This book was a very close second, especially since that the storytelling was just as strong and I did find myself routing for the three main characters that Isabel followed over the course of the book.  The writing was phenomenal and it was very apparent that Wilkerson had spent a number of years researching and working on the book; I can't imagine the notes that she had to go through in order to be able to even start writing the book!

3. The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill : I honestly don't know how I missed this book when it first came out about 4 years ago, but somehow I did.  I guess the hype about Harry Potter had something to do with that.  It took my book club to get me to read the book and I found that I didn't really care that the book was almost 500 pages and in fact felt that the book was actually about half that length as the writing was truly amazing and allowed me to engross myself in Aminata Diallo's life as she moved from Africa to the United States to Nova Scotia back to Africa and eventually to England.  Her story was so amazing that I really did think that she was a real person and who knows, maybe she was based on an African woman or a series of women who made that trek.

4. Room by Emma Donoghue : This was by far the best piece of fiction that I read this past year and possibly the only book that I was able to get really engrossed in the book, other than the Harry Potter books that I have been reading over the past year.  I guess the Jessie Dugard story that emerged not long after the book was released made the book even more real and one had to pinch oneself that while this book was a piece of fiction and not inspired by a real story, even though it seemed it had been.

5. Juliet : a novel by Anne Fortier : I really like the tale by Shakespeare and so I was kinda unsure at first what to think of the book and read it in fits and starts, but once I was able to get going in the book, I was really into it and was unable to put it down.  I liked how the story went from the modern world to the Renaissance world and then back to the modern world very seamlessly and it seemed to flow perfectly and how the author told the story made total sense and very enjoyable.

6. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot :  This was the book that made me think this past year and since I have read it, I have really started to think why doctors would do what they did in the first place and it makes my skin crawl about what happened and it definitely lived up to the hype that I have heard about the book.

7. A Great and Terrible Beauty and Rebel Angels by Libba Bray : I really liked these two books and while I haven't read the final book in the trilogy, I can definitely see why its popular with readers and why it continues to be so with YA readers.

8. The Tea Rose, The Winter Rose, and The Wild Rose by Jennifer Donnelly : I discovered this series this past summer and finished it shortly after the final book in the trilogy was published this past August.  And once I got into the books, I rarely had a moment of why am I reading this and grudgingly read on, but rather I was spending many long nights reading them as I frantically read the books wondering what was happening to the Flannigan clan in their various pursuits.  When examining the bibliography that Donnelly had amassed over the course of the three books, I can see why I was so engrossed in each of the novels.  In other words, she did her research to make sure that books were as accurate as she could possibly make them.

9. True Grit by Charles Portis : I didn't expect to like this particular book, as I don't normally read westerns and due to that I had my preconceived notions of what the book was going to follow.  But seeing the movie adaptation of the book by the Cohen brothers about a year ago, didn't hurt either.

10. Blood, Bones and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton : One of the best biographies/memoirs that I read this year.  At times, I could literally taste the food that was being cooked/made and made me want to go to Prune and sample some of the food, which I imagine is just as good as I think it must taste, but I don't want to go and get my hopes up, least I find myself there eating there sometime in the future.

Honorable mentions:
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Persuasion by Jane Austen
The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady: a novel by Elizabeth Stuckey-French

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Top Ten Unread Books on Melissa's Bookshelf

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and Bookish, where book bloggers share their Top Ten lists on everything bookish. 

 

1.  My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult - I have had heard that this book is amazing and still I haven't read it.

 

2.  The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas - Several people that I know have read this book and really love it.  But for me its still on my TBR list

 

3. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy - I read half of the book for a book club meeting a few years ago and I haven't gotten around to completing it.  Looks like I will have to start this book over again in order to get the full scope of the book.

 

4. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy - I wanted to read this book a number of years ago and I thought that this year would be the year and yes you guessed it, I haven't gotten around to it.

 

5. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell - After viewing the BBC miniseries for the first time a number of years ago, I really wanted to read the book, but like the rest on my list, just haven't gotten around to the book.

 

6. New York by Edward Rutherford - When I first heard about this book a couple of years ago, I went out and bought the hard back of the book.  I managed to read half of the book, but another book took up my time and I didn't go back to reading the book.  Fortunately, its a book that you can pick up sort of midstream and don't have to start at the beginning again.

 

7. The Passage by Justin Cronin - I bought this book primarily because it was on sale and I could get it for about $13 (that's an amazing price for hardcover that has just come out).  I do plan on reading it, its just a matter of when.

 

8. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo - I started reading this book back in 1993 and have never completed it. I don't even know where I left off that I am going to have to start this one all over again.

 

9.  The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood - My sister bought me this book back for Christmas 2001 and its been sitting on the shelf ever since.

 

10. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield -  I have heard so many good things about this book and I still haven't opened it and started to read it.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Top Ten Books That Should Be In Your Beach Bag

The Broke and the Bookish is asking what top ten books should be in your beach bag.

1.  Harry Potter - Even though the books are YA, they are very engrossing books and take you to a place that basically doesn't exist.  And while the books get darker and heavier as the series moves on, they are very enjoyable. 

2. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake -  I suppose it doesn't help that I read this book last summer, but how book read, it definitely felt like a summer read.  The language in the book is such that the words melt in your mouth as you read the book, almost like a popsicle does.

3. Along for the Ride - Just as any good summer book should be fairly light and fluffy, it should also be set either in a location that is sunny or near a beach, even if one isn't near a beach.  As one review on  Goodreads said, "Reading Sarah Dessen is like walking into an air-conditioned store after a hot, humid day in the sun. Reading Sarah Dessen is also like drinking an ice-cold smoothie after a long, harsh marathon. And finally, reading Sarah Dessen is like eating comfort food: you always know what you're going to get, a tasty, satisfying treat."  Which was what I felt when I read this book.  Even though it was set in summer, it felt like summer and is definitely a book I would put in a beach bag.  I suppose that its a good read and engrossing.


4. Jane Eyre - One of my favourite reads.  Its a book that I could definitely read anywhere and most definitely on the beach.  While the book takes far away from a beach, it has the feeling of a beach read; its fits all the notions of a beach read and allows one to get absorbed in the book.  And yes, I have read it on a beach.


5. Pride and Prejudice - The nice thing about Jane Austen is that her books are light enough that one can read it while on a beach vacation.  Its funny, lighthearted, but doesn't go off the deep end in terms of the frivolity that some chick lit books go to.


6. House Rules - I have read about 3/4 of the book and this definitely a beach read.  The book is one of those that one could, and probably have, find in an airport bookshop. While the book is deep enough, the book is also easy enough to read so that one can read brief snatches of it.


7. Hidden Places - One of my favourite books and if I had to pick something for an afternoon at the beach, this would be something I would consider taking with me.  The book is deep enough, but light enough that I could escape for an afternoon.


At this point I am grasping at straws as to what I would bring to the beach.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Top Ten Minor Characters

I don't know if I can think of 10 minor characters, but I'll do my best.

1. Mrs. Fairfax from Jane Eyre.  She was really the first adult that took an interest in Jane and had a real impact on how she viewed others.

2. Bessy from North and South.  Even though I have only viewed the mini series that came out a few years ago, she came across as the first true friend that Margaret makes when her family moves to Milton.

3. Mr. Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. Is the voice of reason in the book, even though at times he isn't the voice of reason.

4. Snape from the Harry Potter series.  Even though he isn't beloved like most of the teacher's in the series, he is the one that acts the most nobly of the teachers.

5. Richard Mason from Jane Eyre. His coming heralds the disclosure of the secret of Mr. Rochester.

6. St. John Rivers from Jane Eyre.  Even though Jane comes to care for him, his wanting her to do something other than what she wants to do reveals Jane's feelings for Mr. Rochester.

7. Charlotte Lucas from Pride and Prejudice.  She seems to be Lizzie's sounding board in the first bit of the book and allows her to think more clearly about her feelings for Mr. Darcy.

8. Mr. Collins from Pride and Prejudice. Sort of the elephant in the room.  The Bennet family knows that their family estate is to be entailed on him when Mr. Bennet dies and therefore is the impetus for the family getting their daughters marrying.

9.  Miss Edmuds from Bridge to Terabithia.  She is the teacher that Jesse admires and takes him to the Smithsonian Musuem, which leads to Leslie's death.

10. Helen Burns from Jane Eyre.  Jane's first true friend and the only person that Jane can trust at Lowood School.

Let me know what you think.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Top Ten Tuesday - Books Recommended

This week its Top Ten Books Recommended at The Broke and the Bookish

Here are mine:

1) Pride and Prejudice - First read this book after the BBC mini-series came out and I loved it.  When I hadn't read it for over a decade, I fell in love with it again.  Now that I am reading it once again, I am finally admiring Austen's genius.

2) Jane Eyre - Read this book when I was in grade 8 and its one that I have loved and revisited since.  And especially in my adult years, I have really come admire the book.

3) East of Eden - Read this book back when Oprah used this as one of her book selections a number of years ago and really enjoyed it.  Read it again a few years later and really caught the nuances of the book and really appreciated its grandeur.

4) The Robber Bride - My first truly adult novel that I read when I was 15.  This book allowed me to journey into a world that I had previously avoided and when I first read this book, I really couldn't turn back.  It was a turning point in my reading life.

5) Alias Grace - It was shortly after reading The Robber Bride that I read this book and was just mesmerized by Atwood's storytelling.  I suppose it didn't hurt that it had a historical element and made me further intrigued about the story of Grace Marks.

6)  The Root Cellar - This book has stayed with me for a long time, even though I haven't read it in quite sometime.  Just the notion of going back in time is romantic enough, but the fact that it goes to a period in which so much has been written about in American history intrigued me even more.  I guess it started a love affair with the American Civil War that really hasn't abated and only seems to continue.

7) A Handful of Time - As with The Root Cellar, it got me at a time when I was just coming out of reading books, such as The Babysitters Club, and even now as an adult reader, I found the book just as interesting as when I first read it as a tween.  Loved the notion of going back to a different time, but this time to learn more about a mom the main character barely knew.

8) A Tale of Two Cities - While my grade 11 English classmates were rolling their eyes while reading this book, I was really enjoying it.  I am so glad that my english teacher put this on the reading list.

9) Jacob Have I loved - Read  this in grade 7 when I was looking for something to read in a brand-new school library and I wasn't disappointed.  Had the books I was looking for been available, I would have read that one instead, but because the school librarian had put the book in the collection, I was able to turn from the books that I was comfortable with to books that I would be challenged with.

10) All Quiet on the Western Front - I first read this book in my grade 12 English class and really didn't see the point of the book, but my first History class that I took at the university level had this in the syllabus and I groaned at the thought.  But once I was able to understand the historical context of the book, I enjoyed the book and respect the message that Remarque is trying to get across.


I apologize if I did the meme wrong; its my first one.  Have a good day :)

What Strange Paradise - Omar El Akkad

 Title: What Strange Paradise ( Bookshop.org ) Author: Omar El Akkad Published: 2022 (first published 2021) Genre: Fiction, Contemporary, Li...