We wants it, we needs it. Must have the preciousss…
5 November 2013
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Ten most have sequels, The Broke and the Bookish, Top Ten Tuesdays
This week’s Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and the Bookish is all about sequels that you can’t wait to get your mits upon. I’ve decided to put up 5 books that I’m actually waiting for the next or final book in the series and then I’ve altered it slightly so that the last 5 books are books that I wish could/would be written!
5 books I’m awaiting – or waiting to read:
- Sworn in Steel by Douglas Hulick, No.2 in the Tale of the Kin series (No.1 Among Thieves).
- Daylighters by Rachel Caine – No.15 and the finale in the Morganville Vampire Series (who knew this would be 15 books at the start!)
- Icefall by Gillian Philip – (No.4 in the Rebel Angel series) – me wants it.
- Dr Sleep by Stephen King (follow up to The Shining)- I actually do own this and can’t wait to read it!
- The Descent by Alma Katsu (book 3 of the immortal Trilogy) due in 2014, which, as it happens, is AGES AWAY.
5 books that I wish had sequels, in an alternate universe or something like that:
- The Graveyard book by Neil Gaiman – more adventures from Bod (The Teenage Years).
- Sunshine by Robin McKinley.
- The Lord of the Rings – The Return of Sauron – come on – it would be awesome, return to middle world, Aragorn, the hobbits – all on a new adventure. Yes, I know it’s not going to happen, but…
- More from the Broken Empire by Mark Lawrence- ‘Jorg – the lost diaries’ (haha, imagine that Jorg kept a diary!! if you’ve read these you’ll understand). Okay anything with Jorg will be okay. The Return of Jorg?? (let me have my dreams)
- Moxyland – Lauren Beukes – I could definitely return for more adventures in this world.
Now, if you could have any book. ANY. BOOK. Imaginary or in the process – what would it be???
“Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!”
29 October 2013
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Halloween reads, The Broke and the Bookish, Top Ten Tuesdays
This week’s Top Ten from the Broke and the Bookish is your top ten books to read during Halloween?
Well, I’m not sure I have ten so I thought I’d break this down into five reads that I’ve actually read and five I would like to read:
Okay, from the title you may have guessed (No.1):
Read:
- Dracula by Bram Stoker – I love this book. Good old fashioned gothic horror
- The Shining by Stephen King – just read this and frankly it gave me the heebie jeebies
- The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
- Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury – such a great, creepy, spooky, compelling story
- We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson with the ever so strange and maybe a little bit sinister Merricat
Want to read:
- Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist
- Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin
- American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis – I think I might be too scared to read this one
- House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewsk – I really want to read this but think it could be one of those books that takes quite a while! It’s huge!
- At the Mountains of Madness by HP Lovecraft
Do you like things that go bump in the night?
Names, do they make or break your love of a character…
22 October 2013
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Character names: love or hate, The Broke and the Bookish, Top Ten Tuesday
Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and the Bookish is back this week and the theme is names of characters. Ones you love, hate, can’t pronounce or are simply indifferent to. My picks:
- The boy with no name – The Ocean at the end of the Lane by Neil Gaiman, the young boy’s name is never revealed? I almost read the whole book without even realising that fact.
- The Woman with no name – Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier – ditto the above!
- The name that is also an ‘object’ – Door, from Neverwhere – also by Neil Gaiman.
- Jean Tannen – a fantastic name (or do I just have a massive book crush) from Scott Lynch’s Gentlemen Bastard series.
- A name you don’t want to mess with – Jorg from the Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence. Really, if you’d like your head to stay where it currently sits, don’t mess with him! I’m just saying. Also I spent the whole series reading this as Jorg with a ‘J’ – I understand it’s actually Jorg but spoken as a ‘G” but I’m sorry I’ve got used to that name now and it’s stuck!
- Seth – one of the Sithe (and a bit of mind candy if anyone is interested in that type of thing) from Firebrand – the rebel angel series written by Gillian Philip which is a totally excellent series that I adore.
- Hobbit names – they all sound sort of cute don’t they? Bilbo, Frodo, Merry and Pippin (don’t forget Samwise Gamgee!)
- The brilliance of Harry – after all we have Harry Potter (JK Rowling) and Harry Dresden (Jim Butcher)
- Iuda – who is the very embodiment of evil (pronounced Juda) – this guy is evil, dirty, smelly, bad breath, nasty, no remorse, no pity, you name it – what a great villain from Jasper Kent’s Danilov Quintet
- A name that makes you smile – Sunshine from Robin McKinley’s book of the same name. What a lovely name for a character!
Obviously can’t do this meme without a famous quote:
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, By any other name, would smell as sweet.”
You will, you will, you will…
15 October 2013
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: The Broke and the Bookish, Top Ten Tuesday
Nice quick post – Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish (with thanks to MegaMad4Books for the intro). This week, 10 books you’ve been forced to read. I’ve chosen 10 books that I’ve been ‘encouraged’ to read – or were ‘must reads’ from friends and bloggers plus a couple of book club choices. In no particular order and with acknowledgements where I could remember! (the first three were no/nos but the rest were all great!):
- General Dann, Mara’s Daughter, Griot and the Snow Dog, by Doris Lessing – read this for my book club – I really didn’t like this although I can see that the author has many well loved books out there – this just obviously wasn’t the best choice, for me at least.
- 50 Shades of Grey, EL James – one of my very good friends (gave me a copy of this to read and twisted my arm to make me read it) – No. Not for me – and it probably wins the award for most annoying book in the universe (although opinion seems to be divided), not to mention the only book I’ve wanted to throw against a wall. Review here in case you feel like reading something negative.
- My Soul to Take, Rachel Vincent – I actually made myself read this one (result of hype) but it wasn’t for me – which I realise goes greatly against popular opinion but sometimes that’s just the way it crumbles.
- I am Legend, Richard Matheson – this is a fantastic book, nothing like the film by the way and my very brilliant friend Jenny at Wondrous Reads put me onto this (she absolutely made me!) as it’s one of her all time favourites (along with the Book Thief)
- Positronic Man, Isaac Asimov – Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings got me into Asimov with his Foundation readalong. Seriously I don’t think I would have picked this up otherwise. A great example of book bloggers aiding and abetting my book education!
- The Troupe, Robert Bennett – a ‘must read’ recommendation by Andrea at Little Red Reviewer – I really enjoyed this and have read all of RB’s other books as a result (except for American Elsewhere – which I will read!!) – LRR – you have a lot to answer for (massive TRB!!)
- Assassin’s Apprentice, Robin Hobb – read this as part of my Worlds Without End Women of Genre Fiction reading challenge and adored it. How come nobody told me about Robin Hobb before! Plus I love this challenge and site – go them it out.
- Miserere by Teresa Frohock – same challenge as above and another great book that I would have missed out on.
- The Hobbit by JR Tolkien – which I really do love, but, first read this at school and hearing this read by a bunch of 14 year old, highly embarrassed 14 year old boys and girls was a bit like torture taken to a whole new level. I had to reread in later life.
- Lord of the Flies, Williams Golding – ditto the above comment. A school book – I’ve never revisited this although I realise I probably should.
That’s all – for now.
Books and travelling with Lynn 
You’ve got to read this book, next…
Filed under General Comments
Tags: Books you have to read, The Broke and the Bookish
This week’s Top Ten Tuesday over at the Broke and Bookish is
top ten books we’d recommend to x person
I’m not going to choose an actual person – I’m going to go for something a bit different, because if I say ‘suchabody’ should read this it will be meaningless to you all. So, these are my 10 – and I recommend them to everybody: