Top Ten Tuesday

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Spring 2023 TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. It’s time for a TBR and I love doing these. Now I’ve completed my Read the World Project and have nothing that I have to read it’s really fun to look at my shelves and think about what I’d really like to pick up and read next.

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
I’m going to Amsterdam in May and am planning on visiting the Anne Frank House, and while I learnt about Anne Frank and the Holocaust in school, I’ve never read her diary so thought it was about time to rectify that and I got the audiobook from my library.

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty
I read an ARC of City of Brass years ago and while I liked it, I didn’t carry on with the series, but now the author has a completely new book and it features female pirates which sounds pretty cool.

Vicious and Vengeful by V.E. Schwab
So, Vicious will be a reread and I did love it when I read it nearly 10 years ago! As it’s been so long since I read it, I do want to reread it before reading Vengeful. I’ve heard mixed things about the sequel so I’m interested to see what I make of it and hopefully Vicious lives up to my memory of it.

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley
Firekeeper’s Daughter is one of those books I’ve seen around for years and have been tempted to buy it many times because of its gorgeous cover and after it was available for 99p on kindle, I finally succumbed and got a copy.

The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo, translated by Louise Heal Kawai
I saw a video where Matthew Sciarappa mentioned reading the latest novel in this cosy murder mystery series and it sounded like my kind of thing plus, I’ve not really read any books in translation since I finished my Read the World Project and I don’t want to get out of that habit. Turns out my library has the series available on audio so I’ve got a reserve on the first book and it should be available in May.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
I am a bit hesitant about this one as while I loved The Martian, I didn’t think much of Artemis so Project Hail Mary could go either way for me.

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
Kindred is one of those modern classics that I’ve heard a lot of good buzz about but still don’t really know what it’s about. I think it’s a mix of historical fiction and sci-fi and time travel which should be an interesting and potentially hard-hitting combination.

The Beast Player and The Beast Warrior by Nahoko Uehashi, translated by Cathy Hirano
This is a duology full of mythical beasts and I’ve been doing pretty well at reading series so far this year aka I’ve read two trilogies (Winternight and Battalion of the Dead) and would like to carry on catching up on the series on my shelves this year.

What books are you hoping to get to in the next few months?

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Favourite Books of 2022

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. It’s the first Tuesday of 2023 so that’s the perfect time to take a look back at what we read in 2022 and share our favourites of the year. These are in no particular order but they are all books that I gave 5 stars this year and really enjoyed for different reasons. If I wrote one, I’ll link to my review of these books.

Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road by Kyle Buchanan
I love Mad Max: Fury Road so a book about how that amazing film was made was always going to be on my radar. I really loved this book and read it in two sittings. It’s so interesting and in-depth about filmmaking and how the production of Fury Road was unlike the productions many of the people interviewed had ever been a part of. If you’re interested in filmmaking at all, I’d recommend this book because it’s just fascinating and a really engaging read.

Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch
I love the world in the Gentlemen Bastards series and Locke Lamora and Jean Tannen are the bestest best friends I’ve read in forever. The audiobooks in this series are excellent too

A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan
The audiobook for this was great and it was fun having an historical and scientific twist on something as fantastical as dragons. I would like to carry on with the series but as I’m putting together my 2023 reading goals, I have a fair few series on the go so not sure when I’d actually get to it.

Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas
I’m always slightly hesitant about reading a prequel to a book I loved a lot but I shouldn’t have doubted Angie Thomas. Concrete Rose is a great backstory to Starr’s father and the world he grew up in and then moved away from in order to do the best for his children.

An African in Greenland by Tété-Michel Kpomassie
I finished my Read the World Project this year and this was my favourite book I read for that project this year. How determined Kpomassie was to travel from Togo to Greenland, crossing Europe and taking just about every form of transportation, is to be admired, and then how he writes about the culture clashes and the things he learnt from his time in Greenland was so interesting.

Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li
Portrait of a Thief is full of the heist tropes I love (and has many Fast and Furious references), great characters, and is all about culture, art and belonging. I really liked how it talked about how museums in the West get the art that’s in them and who the art really belongs to.

Slade House by David Mitchell
I’m a wuss but I do like a spooky ghost story and how this one is a series of short stories across the decades about one house was really creepy and clever.

Her Majesty’s Royal Coven by Juno Dawson
Her Majesty’s Royal Coven was so good! A grown-up magical story which includes intersectional feminism and complicated friendship dynamics. Loved every character point of view and there were some twists and turns I did not expect.

Himself by Jess Kidd
Himself was one of the first books I read in 2022 and it’s stuck with me all year. It’s a small-town ghost story/mystery that’s very atmospheric and magical but it also manages to have a pretty wry sense of humour too.

Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
Listening to the audiobook narrated by author Reni Eddo-Lodge made Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race all the more impactful. It put into words some of the things I’d been thinking or heard bits about before and just made the puzzle pieces fit together in my brain.

Have you read any of these books? What were your favourite books you read in 2022?

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Halloween freebie

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. This week is a Halloween freebie meaning you can do any Halloween-related top ten you like. I’ve decided to go for my top ten spooky-ish creatures in books. These can be creatures or animal companions that are evil, helpful, mysterious, mischievous, or combinations of all of the above.

Pocket – The Murdstone Trilogy by Mal Peet
Pocket is sort of a gnome/elf like character and while they might say they’ll help you solve all your problems; they have a high price.

Salome – Cal Leandros series by Rob Thurman
Salome is a Mummified cat. Yes, you read that right. They don’t do a lot besides scratching furniture and people and generally being a pain – like a lot of alive cats can be – but I just really like the idea of an undead cat hanging out in an apartment.

Ren – Monstress by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda
While I didn’t really like the Monstress comic much, I did like Ren. A cat with two tails that has lying and double-crossing down to an artform.

Solembum – Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini
Solembum is a werecat so sometimes he looks like an average cat albeit with red eyes, and sometimes he looks like a young boy – even though he’s definitely older than a child.

Bassareus and Horatio – The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen
I’m currently reading this book and nimkilim are talking animals that once were messengers of the Gods but now deliver the post for humans and can appear as any type of animal, it just depends on where they live. In The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy the main nimkilims are a crass rabbit called Bassareus and a posh owl called Horatio.

Lying Cat – Saga by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples
Cats sure seem to be the go-to for unsettling but sometimes helpful creatures. I love how Lying Cat looks and it sure would be handy to have someone (or something) around that could tell when people were lying – though might be a bit uncomfortable at times.

Baba Yaga – Foxfire, Wolfskin and other Stories of Shapeshifting Women by Sharon Blackie
In Slavic folklore Baba Yaga is a supernatural being who appears as a deformed and/or ferocious-looking woman. There are obviously many different interpretations of Baba Yaga in different works but the most recent version I read was in the short story “Meeting Baba Yaga” in Foxfire, Wolfskin and other Stories of Shapeshifting Women. I just loved the different spin on the character and the fact that the narrator didn’t seem to know/believe she was in the presence of Baba Yaga while the reader does, meaning there’s a sense of unease throughout all of their interactions.

Chunk – Ghost Squad by Claribel A. Ortega
Chunk is mostly a normal tubby tabby but he’s also a witch’s familiar and when ghosts attack, he can become something far larger and more vicious.

Mogget – the Old Kingdom trilogy by Garth Nix
Mogget is like the definitive unearthly animal companion to me. He may look like a white fluffy cat but there’s definitely more than meets the eye with him. I love how he knows so many things because he’s so old and how he’s cryptic with everything.

Disreputable Dog – Lirael by Garth Nix
So Disreputable Dog isn’t as potentially evil/disruptive as some of the others on this list. But she’s definitely not a normal dog, has certain powers and is secretive with them too. The Disreputable Dog definitely falls on the more helpful end of the scale compared to the rest of the characters.

What are some of your favourite spooky/unsettling creatures? Have you read any of these books before? It does amuse me that over half of these creatures are cats – or at least take on the appearance of cats.

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Books I Read on Holiday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. Honestly all ten of these books could be books I read in Spain but I tried to have some variety. Pre-pandemic my “holiday” each year was to visit my dad in the south of Spain and there’s where I got a good chunk of reading done. Links will go to the review if I have one.

Internment by Samira Ahmed
Geneva, Switzerland

Thirty Days by Annelies Verbeke
Bucharest, Romania

Red Sister by Mark Lawrence
Vera, Spain

Secret Son by Laila Lalami
Vera, Spain

The Last Brother by Nathacha Appanah
Vera, Spain

The Doris Day Vintage Film Club by Fiona Harper
Vera, Spain

Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li
Norfolk, UK

Night Owls by Jenn Bennett
San Francisco, USA

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Brussels, Belgium

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Groningen, Netherlands

Are there any books you remember reading on holiday? As this list probably shows, I don’t really have typical holiday reads!

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Favourite Bookshops

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. This week, as it was National Bookshop Day on 1 October here in the UK, the theme is your favourite bookshops or bookshops you’d love to visit. I’m doing a bit of both with five bookshops I love and five I’d love to visit and have linked to the bookshop’s websites/social media accounts if they have them.

Words on the Water

First are five I love:

Words on the Water, London, UK
A bookshop on a boat! It’s in a lovely spot near King’s Cross and they have a dog – what more can you want? Plus it has a really interesting mix of second-hand books too.

Waterstones, UK
Just about every major town/city in the UK has a Waterstones and this, after WHSmith and a Methvens (RIP), is where I grew up browsing bookshelves. I naturally have a soft spot for the one where I currently live but I will visit any Waterstones and probably be happy.

Daunt Books, Marylebone, UK
This bookshop was honestly a life savour when it came to my Read the World Project as a good chunk of its shelves are divided by country. It’s also a really beautiful bookshop which is always a plus.

Cărturești Carusel Bookstore

Housmans, London, UK
Another bookshop really close to King’s Cross and one that has a great mix of stuff including second hand books and new and it’s a radical bookshop, specialising is all books of radical interest and progressive politics.

Cărturești Carusel Bookstore, Bucharest, Romania
Yes, when I went to Bucharest with friends the only thing, I wanted us to do was to go to this bookstore. Luckily those friends were also readers and it was great exploring a new bookstore with them. It was so bright and airy and had such pretty staircases. I even bought a book – The Fox was Ever the Hunter by Herta Müller.

Five bookshops I’d love to visit:

The Strand, New York City, USA
Can’t believe I went to New York (10 years ago now) and never stepped foot in the flagship store. Would love to spend hours in that humongous bookshop.

Hay-on-Wyre, Wales, UK
OK this is a town but it’s a town famous for its bookshops! There are over twenty of them and there’s speciality bookshops and I’d just love to visit the town and spend a long weekend going to cake shops and visiting all the bookshops.

Selexyz Dominicanen, Maastricht, The Netherlands
A bookshop in a gothic church! It looks absolutely beautiful and this was indeed a place where after I heard of it, I immediately looked how easily I could visit it. Side note: looks like I could get the Eurostar to Amsterdam and then do a day trip to Maastricht during my hypothetical holiday.

Foyles, Charring Cross Road, UK
I have been to the flagship Foyles bookstore once but that was years ago and I’d love to properly revisits and take my time exploring all the floors and probably buying too many books.

La Biblioteca de Babel, Mallorca, Spain
I went to the island Menorca a lot as a child as it was my mum’s favourite place but I’ve never been to the neighbouring island Mallorca. When I heard about this bookstore, that’s almost a hidden bookstore as out front it has tables and chairs like a café, I think I’ll have to try and make the trip sometime. Wine and books – what’s not to like?!

Have you visited any of these bookshops? What are some of your favourite bookshops and ones you’d love to visit?

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Autumn 2022 TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. I’m actually really excited about this TBR as this is the first one in years where I don’t have any books for my Read the World Project as I’ve completed it! I still have a couple of reviews to post and am planning to do a wrap-up post as well talking about the project but that book-related chapter of my life is done! I still have two books for the 12 Books from 12 Friends challenge but besides from that I have no more compulsory reads. It’s going to be feel very weird to be a proper mood reader with no restrictions and to read books that feel seasonal and everything.

Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram
This 12 Challenge book is one I don’t think I’d even heard of before it was recommended to me which is half the fun of the challenge. It looks to be a contemporary YA about a teen who’s struggling with his cultural identity and mental health. I don’t read contemporary YA that often so I’m looking forward to seeing what I make of it.

John Dies at the End by David Wong
This 12 Challenge book I had heard of before – I think it’s also a film? – but besides from the title presumably giving away the ending I have no idea what it’s going to be like.

Babel by R.F. Kuang
I have a hunch that this is going to be on a lot of people’s TBRs. I got a very pretty copy from FairyLoot and while I’ve yet to read The Poppy War trilogy (I do have the first book) I’m interested to see what I make of Babel. I also want to read it sooner rather than later as it is so hyped/popular and it’d be nice to be a part of those conversations while they’re at their peak rather than being late to the party as I usually am. Plus, though I’ve heard that generally everyone loves Babel, I know little about the plot so hopefully the general excitement won’t cloud my own judgement much.

Ghost Squad by Claribel A. Ortega
I got this book a year ago and I still haven’t read it! I don’t tend to read middle grade at all (probably the last time I read a middle grade book was when I was a child) but I liked the sound of this one especially as it is kind of spooky but I think it’s also about grief.

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
I think the sequel is released soon and this is a book I’ve heard a lot of good things about – it’s even my pal Brin’s favourite book of the year. It’s been a while since I’ve gotten properly into a YA fantasy series so maybe this will be the one.

She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey
I love films about investigative journalism but I don’t think I’ve ever read a book about it before. She Said is a non-fiction book by the two New York Times investigative reporters who exposed Harvey Weinstein’s history of abuse and sexual misconduct against women. This’ll no doubt be a tough and uncomfortable read at times but I’m interested to see how these reporters put everything together and got people to trust them enough to go on the record.

Black and British: A Forgotten History by David Olusoga
October is Black History Month here in the UK so that’s extra motivation to read this. Over the years I’ve learnt more about Britain and its racism and though I think what I learnt in my history classes wasn’t whitewashed, there’s probably a lot I don’t know. Also, so much news or information on racial injustice that I hear about day to day via social media seems to come from America but there’s still a lot of issues here in the UK that I should be more educated on.

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen
Another book I got via FairyLoot and this one I hadn’t heard before which is always fun. I think it might be a romcom with the undead? Or at least there’s bones on the cover which clashes with the cutesy colour scheme on the cover so that should be interesting.

The Sisters Grimm by Meena van Praag
Pretty sure this has been on a TBR before but now might just be the time I get to it. It’s set where I live and seems to have spooky/autumnal vibes so if perfect for this time of year.

The Bear and The Nightingale by Katherine Arden
I have heard nothing but good things about this book and the entire trilogy. I have The Bear and The Nightingale in paperback and the other two on my kindle as I got them super cheap, like for 99p each or something and it’d have been stupid not to get them even though I hadn’t read the first book and didn’t know if I liked the story or not. Hopefully I do and then I have the whole trilogy to read.

What books are on your TBR for the end of the year?

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Books with Geographical Terms in the Title

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. This is one of those themes that I thought would be pretty easy but when I actually took a look at the books on my TBR or the ones I’ve already read I found it was a bit more difficult than I thought. I do have ten books with ten different geographical terms in their titles though. I’ve also included the definition for each term (as they appear on the glossary of geographical terms Wikipedia page) as while some are obvious, some aren’t so common terms. I’ve read all these books and have linked to my review if there is one.

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
Mountain – A large landform that rises prominently above the surrounding land in a limited area, usually in the form of a rocky peak with great vertical relief; a mountain is generally considered steeper than a hill.

Red Seas, Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch
Sea – Any large body of salt water surrounded in whole or in part by land/any large subdivision of the World Ocean.

City of Clowns by Daniel Alarcón and Sheila Alvarado
City – A large human settlement, generally with extensive systems constructed for housing, transportation, sanitation, utilities, and communication.

The Desert and the Drum by Mbarek Ould Beyrouk
Desert – An arid, barren area of land where little precipitation occurs and living conditions are consequently unfavorable for most plant and animal life.

Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor
Lagoon – A small area of water connected to the ocean but otherwise blockaded by one or more islands.

Dune by Frank Herbert
Dune – A hill of loose sand built by the movements and erosional and depositional processes of wind or water, often occurring in deserts and coastal areas.

Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C. Dao
Forest – Any extensive area dominated by communities of trees.

Shadows on the Tundra by Dalia Grinkevičiūtė
Tundra – A treeless plain characteristic of the Arctic and subarctic regions.

The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell
Drift – the name for all material of glacial origin found anywhere on land or at sea, including sediment and large rocks.

The Silent Steppe: The Story of a Kazakh Nomad under Stalin by Mukhamet Shayakhmetov
Steppe – An ecoregion characterized by expansive grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes,

Have you read any of these? What are the geographical terms you found most common? I’ve definitely read more books with “city” in the title than any other.

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Book covers that feel like Summer

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. This week it’s time to show off some book covers, more specifically the ones that have summery colours, imagery or just general summer vibes. For me, a summery book cover tends to be ones that has bright colours, if there’s blue skies, a beach or any body of water that’s definitely summery, or just smiley, happy people feels summery to me.

I’ve read all these books over the past five years or so and have linked to all of the reviews.

Secret Son by Laila Lalami
The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson
A Thousand Perfect Notes by C.G. Drews
When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
40 Years by Ritah

One Would Think The Deep by Claire Zorn
Frangipani by Célestine Hitiura Vaite
Dreams of My Heart by Aminath Neena
Crime Wave by Rose Pressey
Emancipated by M.G. Reyes

Have you read any of these books? And what makes a summery book cover for you?

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Summer 2022 TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. I love setting a seasonal TBR even though my picks are hardly ever summery, wintery etc. My main focus at the moment is my Read the World Project as my self-imposed deadline is the end of September. I have 11 countries/books still to read so they are my priority. I have eight books on my TBR for my Read the World Project and two for the 12 Books from 12 Friends challenge. If you happen to know of any writers (whether their novelists, non-fiction writers, poets, or playwrights) from Monaco, Liechtenstein, or Tuvalu please let me know – they’re the last countries I need to find some sort of book for.

The Golden Horse: A Novel About Triumph and Tragedy Building the Panama Railroad by Juan David Morgan
My read for Panama is a saga of the events that transpired as a result of the rivalry between New York shipping magnates, William Aspinwall and Cornelius Vanderbilt, and the enormous personal cost that was borne by the people involved in the construction of the Panama Railroad built during the California Gold Rush.

A Spare Life by Lidija Dimkovska
My read for North Macedonia is set in 1984 and follows twins who are conjoined at the head, their life as they grow up considered freaks by even their family, and how they struggle to decide if they want to be surgically separated from one another. I have tried to read this once and couldn’t really get into it at the time because it’s more of a literary fiction style which I don’t read so often but hopefully second time’s a charm.

Beyond the Rice Fields by Naivo
My read for Madagascar is the first novel from Madagascar to ever be translated into English and it’s set in the nineteenth century and it’s about the relationship between a slave and his master’s daughter.

Ali and Nino by Kurban Said
My read for Azerbaijan is a novel about a romance between a Muslim Azerbaijani boy and Christian Georgian girl in Baku in the years 1918–1920. Had this one on my kindle for a while and I think a historical star-crossed romance will be a pretty quick read.

Armenian Golgotha by Grigoris Balakian
My read for Armenia is memoir about Grigoris Balakian’s eyewitness account of the Armenian Genocide which happened from 1915-1918. I have started this, as in I’ve read the introduction and background info as it is a chunky book about a heavy topic, and I think when I do read it properly I’ll read it in parts so I don’t get too overwhelmed by it.

I, the Supreme by Augusto Roa Bastos
My read for Paraguay is a fictionalised account of the nineteenth-century Paraguayan dictator José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia. Out of all the Read the World Project books I have left to read this is the one I know the least about.

Weeding the Flowerbeds by Sarah Mkhonza
My read for Eswatini is a memoir about Mkhonza’s childhood at a boarding school in the seventies where there’s a lot of strict rules. Another one I did start for a readathon but couldn’t get into at the time. It is a short book at less than 200 pages so if I just sat down and read it I could probably read it in a day.

The Fury and Cries of Women by Angèle Rawiri
My read for Gambon follows Emilienne’s life through her university studies, marriage, children, work, and how she tries to search for what feminism means to her while dealing with cultural expectations and the taboos of sex and motherhood.

Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram
This 12 Challenge book is one I don’t think I’d even heard of before it was recommended to me which is half the fun of the challenge. It looks to be a contemporary YA about a teen who’s struggling with his cultural identity and mental health. I don’t read contemporary YA that often so I’m looking forward to seeing what I make of it.

A Winter’s Promise by Christelle Dabos
One of the 12 Challenge books. This is one I’d definitely seen people talk about online. I know it’s the first book in a fantasy series translated from French and that’s about it to be honest. I don’t really have the time to start new series’ but I’ll give this a go and see if I want to continue with it.

What are you hoping to read over the next few months?

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Books with a Unit of Time in the Title

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s theme, as the title suggests, is book titles with a unit of time in them. This can be seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, eternity, however you might mark the pass of time.

I’ve read all but the last book in this list, though it is on my TBR for June so I hope to get to it soon. I’ve linked to any reviews if I have them, and some of these I read so long ago I’m not sure if they’d still hold up for me today but I did tend to like all these books when I read them.

172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad
A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston
The Punisher Vol. 3: Last Days by Nathan Edmondson, Mitch Gerads, Moritat and Brent Schoonover
Black Widow Vol. 3: Last Days by Nathan Edmondson and Phil Noto
Thirteen Months of Sunrise by Rania Mamoun

Three Summers by Margarita Liberaki
40 Years: For my 40th Birthday I pause to share 40 poems then I shall be on my way by Ritah
Thirty Days by Annelies Verbeke
Night, Again: Contemporary Fiction from Vietnam edited by Linh Dinh
The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

Have you read any of these? What books came to mind with this prompt?