‘Please Sir, I want some more’
9 May 2017
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Ten Things we want more of in books, The Broke and the Bookish, Top Ten Tuesday
Every Tuesday over at The Broke and Bookish we all get to look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) examples to demonstrate that particular topic. This week’s topic is:
Ten Things On Our Reading Wishlist – things you want to see more of in books
- Heists – I love heist stories, I don’t know why but I just do. So, The Gentleman Bastards by Scott Lynch, The Six of Crows series by Leigh Bardugo, The Rogues of the Republic by Patrick Weekes, to name but a few.
- Banter – and actually this probably goes with all the books above – because the banter is excellent in all those books. I love good banter between characters in books, especially in really dark books – you need something to every now and again stop you sinking too low. – Some examples, anything by Mark Lawrence, The Copper Cat series by Jen Williams, Scott Lynch. The Grey Bastards by Jonathan French.
- The – Roman time period – I love reading about this in fantasy. The Valiant by Lesley Livingston is a recent example, The Shards of Heaven by Michael Livingston – both brilliant and I could definitely do with more.
- Western style fiction – I had no idea that I liked a bit of western – so, The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt, True Grit by Charles Portis, The Wolf Road by Beth Lewis.
- Bookish characters – if you love books, you can’t help loving bookish characters (I think) – Hermione Granger from Harry Potter, Shara from The Divine Cities by Robert Jackson Bennett, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Liesel from The Book Thief.
- Libraries – because I do love libraries – The Historian, The Shadow of the Wind, The Invisible Library series by Genevieve Cogman to name but a few.
- Originality but not at the expense of good writing – examples of books that felt really original to me or brought something different to the table, The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, The Time Travellers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, The Martian by Andy Weir, The Girl With All the Gifts by M R Carey, The Hike by Drew Magary.
- Great characterisation – I love good characters who develop and grow, who feel well fleshed out and who just make me like them – even if they’re not always perfect. Toby Daye from Seanan McGuire’s UF series, Kvothe from Patrick Rothfuss Kingkiller Chronicles, Jorg from The Broken Empire, Hwa from the Company Town by Madeline Ashby. There are lots more of course – tell me your favourites.
- Dragons – talking dragons even. Lots of dragons can be found here – but it couldn’t hurt to have more could it.
- Suggestions please??
Here be dragons…
2 May 2017
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Broke and Bookish, Top ten dragon covers, Top Ten Tuesday
Every Tuesday over at The Broke and Bookish we all get to look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) examples to demonstrate that particular topic. This week’s topic is:
Cover Theme Freebie (I’ve opted for covers with dragons)
No problem finding 10 this week, in fact the problem will be making myself stop. I’ve gone for a selection of covers from books I’ve read, some from my tbr and also from my wishlist:
1. The Lady Trent series by Marie Brennan – because these have got to be some of the most outstanding covers ever! I’ve read the first three and have bought the fourth and fifth. Just need to now read them:
2. The Copper Promise series by Jen Williams – this is an absolutely excellent series that I highly recommend:
3. Tolkien’s The Hobbit:
4. Jacqueline Carey’s Naamah’s Kiss
5. Waking Fire by Anthony Ryan – I’ve not read this one yet but I did purchase a copy – check out these two covers – which is your favourite
6. Heartsone by Elle Katharine White – a thoroughly enjoyable retelling of Pride and Prejudice – with dragons no less.
7. Chasing Embers by James Bennett is the first in the Ben Garston series which got off to a good start.
8. The Blood Dragon Empire by Andy Remic – not for the feint hearted this one.
9. The Temeraire series by Naomi Novak – I’ve not read these but they are on the wishlist (I’ve gone with the first three book covers in the series)
10. The Dragon’s Blade series by Michael R Miller – I haven’t read these yet but they’re on my wishlist and the covers are gorgeous.
Not my bag baby!
25 April 2017
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: The Broke and the Bookish, Top Ten Tuesday
Every Tuesday over at The Broke and Bookish we all get to look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) examples to demonstrate that particular topic. This week’s topic is:
Top Ten Things That Will Make Me Instantly NOT Want To Read A Book
The opposite of last week’s list, I’ve tried to use the same headings, so here goes:
- Bloggers – if all the bloggers I chat with seem to be not really enjoying a book then I admit it puts me off reading, even if it’s a book I really want to read it will probably move down the ‘must read’ list – life is too short and whilst I like to form my own opinion if the popular opinion is generally against a particular book it will put me off picking it up or at least make me less eager to do so.
- Author – well, sometimes you can have an author that just doesn’t seem to work for you, their particular style maybe doesn’t do it for you. When this happens then, yes, maybe the first couple of times I’d put it down to experience and try another book but after that it would probably be a no go for me.
- Cover – just as a great cover makes me want to pick up the book, well, the opposite is obviously just as true. I would probably stay away from certain types of covers.
- Hype – yes, I used this last week, but while I do usually crumble in the face of popular opinion sometimes my stubborn streak just kicks in and the hype really does put me off.
- Part of a series – maybe the first or second book didn’t work out for me – I do have quite a number of uncompleted series.
- Genre – I know that authors don’t really like to be pigeon holed, but if a book falls into certain categories then I would probably not be very interested – not a judgement on any body else of course, just not my go to kind of book – romance, for example, I don’t mind my book having a romance along the way but just not the main focus.
- Content – I do tend to find insta love and love triangles a little over used and if I read about a book having such content then I would be less interested in reading.
- Certain descriptions – I’m not a really hard sci fi fan, simply because I figure things will go over my head.
- Unlikable characters. Characterisation is such a big selling point for me, Fantastic characters just make the book don’t they? If I’m reading a book and can’t get along with the character it will just slow the book down and ultimately stop me from picking it back up.
- What did I miss?
‘You had me at epic fantasy’
18 April 2017
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: 10 things that make me want to read a book, Broke and Bookish, Top Ten Tuesday
Every Tuesday over at The Broke and Bookish we all get to look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) examples to demonstrate that particular topic. This week’s topic is:
Top Ten Things That Will Make Me Instantly Want To Read A Book
- Blogger recommendations – I find so many good books this way. Once you find your own favourite blogs to follow with people who, not only have similar tastes, but also whose opinions you trust – it’s such a great way to pick up new book recommendations.
- Author – I have a number of authors who I would automatically pick up: Mark Lawrence, Neil Gaiman, Sarah Pinborough, Patrick Rothfuss, Alice Hoffman, Scott Lynch, Lauren Beukes, to name a few – the list could go on but I’ll stop there.
- Publisher – let’s face it I follow quite a lot of publishers and keep my eye on their anticipated releases and new authors.
- Cover – I know it seems fickle but I do love a great cover and it is the thing that initially draws me to the book.
- Hype – I can deny it all I like but eventually any really, seriously, hyped book will eventually get to me and I will crumble in the face of popular demand!
- Part of a series – obviously, if I’m reading and loving a series I am eager for the next instalment.
- Genre – I know that authors don’t really like to be pigeon holed, but if a book falls into any of the following: fantasy, science fiction, steampunk, horror, alternate universe, urban fantasy, or any of a number of other sub genres then I’ll probably pick it up.
- Content – if a book happens to have vampires, fae, magic, dragons, goblins, witches – you get the picture – then I pretty much more than likely want to read it.
- Grimdark – a description that is a tad over used – but still it works like a charm for me and always makes me want to pick up the book in question.
- What did I miss?
Breaking the mould..
11 April 2017
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Broke and Bookish, Top 10 Unique Books, Top Ten Tuesday
Every Tuesday over at The Broke and Bookish we all get to look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) examples to demonstrate that particular topic. This week’s topic is:\
Ten Of The Most Unique Books I’ve Read
Okay, unique books. Well, I’ve had a good think and this is what I came up with:
- Alice in Wonderland. I read this book many years ago and the one thing I initially recall was thinking how very ‘out there’ it was. Seriously, was Lewis Carroll on some sort of mind bending hallucinogenics! Seriously. Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe….. (I rest my case – even though I do love, LOVE, that poem – do you have any notion how long it took just to type those 13 words – the number of auto correct words that took over? What the shagging hell is is a slithy tove anyway?)
- Animal Farm by George Orwell. Now this was another fairly early read for me and I think the whole idea of allegory went over my head so fast that it probably had some sort of butterfly effect on the other side of the world. Anyway, animals, running the farm – and those blinking pigs!
- The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. Now this is one of those books that I picked up on a sale. I really enjoyed this and I thought it was very unique – in fact I gave my copy to somebody in work and she actually cried (which was more emotion than I probably showed) – but, yeah, we both loved it. So unexpected.
- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – I don’t mind admitting that I didn’t like the idea of this book at all. I couldn’t get my head around the idea of a games arena where children fought to the death. Nope. Too much. I thought simply that it was going too far but, eventually, I picked it up and it was the very opposite of what I expected.
- Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer – creepy as. OMG. This is a scary little number. I haven’t caught up with the series yet and I like to keep telling myself ‘I haven’t had time’ – who am I kidding – I’m scared. I will though. I can do this – face your fears and all that.
- The Mechanical by Ian Tregillis – this is such a great book. I’m going to completely confess that I didn’t really think I would like this, the reason, yes, *hangs head in shame*, I didn’t really feel drawn to the cover – there it is – but, I’m very pleased to say that this book was absolutely brilliant. I loved it.
- Flex, Flux, Fix by Ferrett Steinmetz. An excellent series, unbelievably unique, jaw droppingly brilliant, packed with excitement and danger and this fantastic combination of fantasy and games all mashed together. I loved this.
- Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke – what a tour de force this is, maybe not for everyone but I loved it. The history, the fantasy and the vision. What a phenomenal piece of work.
- The Broken Empire by Mark Lawrence- Prince, King and Emperor of Thorns. Undoubtedly unique. Dark and gritty, violent and yet compelling, well written and with a sweeping vision. I love this series – maybe not for everyone but it really blew me away.
- This one is for you – choose your unique novel?
