No such thing as too many books!
30 March 2015
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: 10 off the wish list, The Broke and the Bookish, Top Ten Tuesday
This week over at the Broke and Bookish the topic for Top Ten Tuesday is:
‘Ten Books You Recently Added To Your To-Be-Read List’
Mmm, ten books I recently added to my tbr list:
Well, I did just post an update or recap for March which shows which books I’ve bought or will be reviewing recently so rather than just regurgitate that list I’m going to add 10 books that I have on my wish list:
- Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire
- Written in Red by Anne Bishop
- The Thorn of Dentonhill by Marshall Ryan Maresca
- Cold Iron by Stina Leicht
- Touch by Claire North
- California Bones by Greg Van Eekhout
- The Shotgun Arcana by R. S. Belcher
- Sherlock Holmes and Count Dracula by Christian Klaver
- Darkwalker by E L Tennison
- Your Brother’s Blood by David Towsey
Follow the Yellow Brick Road down Memory Lane…
24 March 2015
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Childhood Books, Memory Lane, The Broke and the Bookish, Top Ten Tuesday
This week over at the Broke and Bookish the theme for Top Ten Tuesday is:
‘Top 10 Books From My Childhood (Or teen years) That I Would Love To Revisit’
I’ve gone for a mix of ages with this one starting from probably around 8 and going up to about 19. I quite enjoyed thinking of this one. I would say that my earlier books were very influenced by my teacher at the time. I think started reading mainly books that were in the house and belonged to my dad before starting to branch out and look further afield.
- The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by C S Lewis- I’m not ashamed to admit that this book made me shed a tear!
- The Borrowers by Mary Norton
- The Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum
- Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier – I have already read this quite a few times – no need for a reread
- Jamaica Inn by Daphne DuMaurier – this is another great story!
- Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell – I was glued to the pages, read this as a romantic eyed 14 year old – couldn’t put it down.
- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte – gothic and dark
- Great Expectations by Charles Dickens – I’ve not read a lot of Dickens but I love this one
- The Far Pavilions by M M Kaye – this book is one that I would love to reread – I really should make the time
- The Time Machine by HG Wells – one of the earlier examples of sci-fi
Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit were also my reads around the age of 14 but as I’ve recently reread both I’ve not included them here. I also spent a good couple of years focusing on horror and ghost type stories but I don’t know that I would particularly revisit any of those so I’ve not included them here.
‘April hath put a spirit of youth in everything’
16 March 2015
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Spring reads, The Broke and the Bookish, Top Ten Tuesday
This week over at the Broke and Bookish the topic for Top Ten Tuesday discussion is:
Top Ten Books On My Spring TBR List
This was difficult – simply in terms of keeping it to 10! Been a bit naughty because a couple of these are definitely not Spring but you know! So here goes:
- Clash of Iron by Angus Watson – April
- The Doll Maker by Richard Montanari – April
- When we were Animals by Joshua Gaylord – April
- A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson – May
- When the Heavens Fall by Marc Turner – May
- The Vagrant by Peter Newman – May
- A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas – May
- The Liar’s Key by Mark Lawrence – June
- Time Salvager by Wesley Chu – July
- Queen of Fire by Anthony Ryan – July
If you like ‘??’ (insert your favourite reading material) you’ll love this!
9 March 2015
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: If you love x you'll love ...., The Broke and the Bookish, Top Ten Tuesday
This week over at the Broke and Bookish the topic for Top Ten Tuesday is:
‘Top Ten books for readers who like????‘
Okay, yes of course I’m going to stick with fantasy – but I’m going to cover lots of different genres just to demonstrate how very flexible and all encompassing fantasy really is (some of these may be a bit tongue in cheek):
- Classical – Lord of the Rings by JRRTolkien – I had to go there.
- Horror – Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer – creepy as hell. You will need a cushion to cover your eyes. In fact, don’t read at night – particularly if you’re sat downstairs with a large picture window at your back and the curtains open – you’ll be scared to turn around! I actually tried it just so you wouldn’t have to.
- Murder/Mystery – The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. private detective (and occasional magician) working out of Chicago with a trusty sidekick (good cop/bad cop) called Bob.
- Political intrigue – The Mechanical by Ian Tregillis – spies and espionage, nay, double agents, coupled with steampunk aplenty.
- Chick Lit – bit of a stretch here so stay with me – The Parasol Protectorate by Gail Carriger. Look, it’s a period drama with lots of attention on bonnets and parasols so that’s all I have. I like this series, it feels like a steampunk updated version of Austen (ahem) – it could be….okay, there’s also a rather dishy werewolf.
- Historical – The Iron Age by Angus Watson, the clue’s in the title!!
- Children – The Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman – great crossover series that can be read by children and adults alike.
- Adventure – The Copper Promise by Jen williams – swamped with derring do! There are also dragons – I don’t really know how much more adventure you want – but, okay, war, an army of green, sharp teethed warrior women and, well, lots of other bloody cool stuff.
- Food and Drink – again, work with me here – Scott Lynch’s Gentleman Bastard Series – we’re talking about some serious world building here complete with some rather delicious sounding food and some rather tasty beverages – I’m not kidding – I actually tried to make some of these – I recommend the Ginger Scald!
- Comics and Graphic novels – the Sandman Series by Neil Gaiman – Morpheus, that is all.
You’re simply the best
This week over at The Broke and Bookish the topic for Top Ten Tuesday is:
‘ALL TIME FAVORITE BOOKS (from the past 5 years)’
Well, I suppose they’re not ‘all time favourites’ if I’m just looking over the past 5 years but here goes and these are reads that if somebody asked me to recommend something they would probably spring to mind:
- Lord of the Rings by JRRTolkien- which I reread in 2011
- The Broken Empire series by Mark Lawrence – bit of a cheat as this is 3 books!
- City of Stairs by Robert J Bennett
- The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt
- The Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore
- The fairytale retellings by Sarah Pinborough – Poison/Beauty/Charm
- Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson series
- Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive
- Scott Lynch’s Gentleman Bastard series
- M L Brennan’s Vampire series – Generation V/Iron Night/Tainted Blood
Difficult to narrow this down to 10 as I have managed to read a lot of good books over the past few years.
Books and travelling with Lynn 