If laughter be the food of love, read on…

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Every Tuesday over at the  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.  The topic this week is:

‘Ten Books That Will Make You Laugh (or at least chuckle)’

What a great topic!  Everybody needs a good laugh every now and again and these books certainly gave me a good chuckle and earned me some odd looks from passing strangers on my way into and home from work!

  1. The Tiffany Aching series by Terry Pratchett.  I absolutely loved these books.  They’re an excellent combination of wiley plot, great characters and over the top silly goodness.  Tiffany Aching is a witch in training and her adventures with the Nac Mac Feegles or the Wee Free Men as they are better known are incredibly entertaining (there are five books in total – I’ve not yet read the 5th – I’m saving it!)
  2. Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Adam Douglas – I shouldn’t be surprised to see Adam Douglas (and Terry Pratchett) on a number of lists this week and with good reason.
  3. The Princess Bride by William Goldman – this book, and film, just make me happy.  I can’t help it.  It’s just gorgeously outrageous!  Read it – watch it even!
  4. The Gentlemen Bastard series by Scott Lynch – I think this series is just excellent but one of the reasons why I really love it (apart from the obvious great stories – and Jean Tannen – lets not forget about Jean!) is that there is such a lot of humour involved and Scott Lynch has taken snarky creative cursing to a whole other level.
  5. The Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore – I’m just going to be honest and say that Mr Moore has got a wicked sense of humour that can be a little bit crude and near the knuckle, but that had me laughing my socks off!  Too funny!  Wear extra socks just to be sure.
  6. The Anvil of the World by Kage Baker – I just can’t recommend this book enough.  I loved it – and Goodreads says it so perfectly that I stole this snippet : ‘the only fantasy on record with a white-uniformed nurse, gourmet cuisine, one hundred and forty-four glass butterflies, and a steamboat. This is a book filled with intrigue, romance, sudden violence, and moments of emotional impact and a cast of charming characters….’ – how can you deny yourself such reading pleasure!  Really!
  7. Agatha H and the Airship City by Phil Foglio and Kaja Foglio.  This book is crazy but in a totally great way.  Highly readable and apart from the fact that I was already drawn in by the mention of Transylvania Polygnostic University and Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (the ruthless baddie) the following would have definitely nailed it ‘a gaslamp fantasy filled to bursting with Adventure! Romance! and Mad Science!’
  8. The Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne – because of the simply brilliant relationship and mental telepathic communication between Atticus and Oberon.
  9. The Red Queen’s war series by Mark Lawrence which are wonderfully clever stories – these are not comedies I hasten to add, they can be downright down with the nasty but Jalan certainly kept me entertained and the friendship between Jalan and Snorri is very enjoyable indeed!
  10. Harry Potter – I just had to go there!  J K Rowling created a great series here, one that people started reading as children and grew up with!  So clever really when you just think about it.  But, on top of the definite appeal to a younger audience these books also managed to capture the minds of many adults too!  Very engaging and with wonderful laugh out loud moments!

 

Epicly epic!

Every Tuesday over at the  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.  The topic this week is:

‘Ten Books Every X Should Read’

And in this case I’ve decided ‘x’ = epic fantasy lover.  So, if you want a series to really sink your teeth into here are my 10 choices for this week (all with links to 1st in series over at Goodreads):

  1. The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson
  2. The Broken Empire by Mark Lawrence
  3. The Lord of the Rings by JRRTolkien
  4. The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss
  5. The Game of Thrones by GRRMartin
  6. The Gentleman Bastards by Scott Lynch
  7. The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb – I confess that I have only read the first but I will be completing this!
  8. The Copper Cat trilogy by Jen Williams
  9. The Red Queen’s War by Mark Lawrence- yet to be completed but the first two books are excellent
  10. The Divine Cities Trilogy by RJBennett – again, to be completed but so far excellent.

 

These are the blogs you’re looking for…

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Every Tuesday over at the  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.  The topic this week is:

‘Ten Bookish People You Should Follow On…’

Far be it from me to tell you who to follow but I figured I would use the force anyway and compel you all!   Here are ten blogs that, for different reasons, may capture your attention:

  1. The Classics Club – I know that I don’t need to explain this one – get thee over there and read some Dickens (or Austen).  Culture darling. Culture!
  2. Rinnreads – who runs a sci fi event every year that is great fun and helps me to read more sci fi which is slightly out of my comfort zone.  Who doesn’t want to be uncomfortable (ahem, challenged!)
  3. Over the Effing Rainbow – because – the Lovely Lisa (it’s an official title) is always organising lots of readalongs that are great to get involved in and they’re all easy to follow on Goodreads so simple to get involved with. Easy peasy.
  4. Fantasy Faction– because, all the interesting and cool things.
  5. SF Signal –  because, ditto the above!
  6. Little Red Reviewer – like the Jedi Master of finding books for me to want to read.  Managed to avoid the dark side (just).  ‘These are the books you’re looking for!’  Plus Vintage Sci fi : so the whole getting out of your comfort zone again.
  7. Books by Proxy  – Friday Face Off.  If you love book covers this gives a great opportunity to focus on some covers.  Book tart over here!
  8. Breaking the Spine – Waiting on Wednesday – great weekly meme where we all get to rave about the books we’re looking forward to.  And. I.  Do.  Mean.  Rave.  Let loose people.  Let loose.
  9. The Speculative Herald – yes, this is a great new blog with all the latest and most uptodate book news (and the fact that I occasionally contribute has got nothing to do with my mentioning it here, no sirree, no self-serving nonsense, not from me, nope…okay, you got me, maybe a tad)
  10. Leaving this blank for you all to fill in!  Suggestions??

And, because this is a very sort of dry, in terms of colour and pics, TTT I thought we should have a silly picture (which reflects all of us and what good buds we are) so:

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You’re a star!

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Every Tuesday over at the  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.  The topic this week is:

’10 Of My Most Recent 5 Star Reads’

This is a lovely topic isn’t it and easy to choose!  I just slipped on over to Goodreads and checked out my last 10 five star books which were as follows (book covers first with links to each post below:

  1. City of Blades by R J Bennett
  2. Murder by Sarah Pinborough
  3. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
  4. The Flux by Ferrett Steinmetz
  5. The Girl with Ghost Eyes by M H Boroson
  6. The Silver Tide by Jen Williams
  7. Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller
  8. Monstrous Little Voices by Jonathan Barnes, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Emma Newman, Kate Heartfield, Foz Meadows
  9. The Immortals by Jordanna Max Brodsky
  10. Jane Steele by Lindsay Faye

‘..you make me feel like Spring has sprung…’

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Every Tuesday over at the  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.  The topic this week is:

‘Ten Books On My Spring TBR’

As far as I’m aware Spring, that lovely season of awakenings, starts around mid March and concludes with the onset of Summer in mid June.  So, this shouldn’t be too complicated (heads over to book diary… wow, lots of good books to look forward to):

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  1. Fellside by M R CareyFellside is a maximum security prison on the edge of the Yorkshire Moors. It’s not the kind of place you’d want to end up. But it’s where Jess Moulson could be spending the rest of her life.

    It’s a place where even the walls whisper.

    And one voice belongs to a little boy with a message for Jess.

  2. Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye: Like the heroine of the novel she adores, Jane Steele suffers cruelly at the hands of her aunt and schoolmaster. And jane steelelike Jane Eyre, they call her wicked – but in her case, she fears the accusation is true. When she flees, she leaves behind the corpses of her tormentors.
    A fugitive navigating London’s underbelly, Jane rights wrongs on behalf of the have-nots whilst avoiding the noose. Until an advertisement catches her eye. Her aunt has died and the new master at Highgate House, Mr Thornfield, seeks a governess. Anxious to know if she is Highgate’s true heir, Jane takes the position and is soon caught up in the household’s strange spell. When she falls in love with the mysterious Charles Thornfield, she faces a terrible dilemma: can she possess him – body, soul and secrets – and what if he discovers her murderous past?
  3. Masks and Shadows by Stephanie Burgis: The year is 1779, and Carlo Morelli, the most masks and shadowsrenowned castrato singer in Europe, has been invited as an honored guest to Eszterháza Palace. With Carlo in Prince Nikolaus Esterházy’s carriage, ride a Prussian spy and one of the most notorious alchemists in the Habsburg Empire. Already at Eszterháza is Charlotte von Steinbeck, the very proper sister of Prince Nikolaus’s mistress. Charlotte has retreated to the countryside to mourn her husband’s death. Now, she must overcome the ingrained rules of her society in order to uncover the dangerous secrets lurking within the palace’s golden walls. Music, magic, and blackmail mingle in a plot to assassinate the Habsburg Emperor and Empress–a plot that can only be stopped if Carlo and Charlotte can see through the masks worn by everyone they meet.
  4. The Everything Box by Richard Kadrey: Reminiscent of the edgy, offbeat humor of Chris The Everything BoxMoore and Matt Ruff, the first entry in a whimsical, fast-paced supernatural series from the New York Times bestselling author of the Sandman Slim novels-a dark and humorous story involving a doomsday gizmo, a horde of baddies determined to possess its power, and a clever thief who must steal it back . . . again and again
    2000 B.C.  A beautiful, ambitious angel stands on a mountaintop, surveying the world and its little inhabitants below. He smiles because soon, the last of humanity who survived the great flood will meet its end, too. And he should know. He’s going to play a big part in it. Our angel usually doesn’t get to do field work, and if he does well, he’s certain he’ll be get a big promotion.
    And now it’s time . . .
    The angel reaches into his pocket for the instrument of humanity’s doom. Must be in the other pocket. Then he frantically begins to pat himself down. Dejected, he realizes he has lost the object. Looking over the Earth at all that could have been, the majestic angel utters a single word. “Crap.”
    2015  A thief named Coop-a specialist in purloining magic objects-steals and delivers a small box to the mysterious client who engaged his services. Coop doesn’t know that his latest job could be the end of him-and the rest of the world. Suddenly he finds himself in the company of the Department of Peculiar Science, a fearsome enforcement agency that polices the odd and strange. The box isn’t just a supernatural heirloom with quaint powers, they tell him.
    It’s a doomsday device. They think. . .
    And suddenly, everyone is out to get it.
  5. Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel: World War Z meets The Martian. This inventive sleeping giantsfirst novel will please devoted fans of sci-fi as well as literary readers hoping a smart thriller will sneak up on them.
    17 years ago: A girl in South Dakota falls through the earth, then wakes up dozens of feet below ground on the palm of what seems to be a giant metal hand. Today: She is a top-level physicist leading a team of people to understand exactly what that hand is, where it came from, and what it portends for humanity. A swift and spellbinding tale told almost exclusively through transcriptions of interviews conducted by a mysterious and unnamed character, this is a unique debut that describes a hunt for truth, power, and giant body parts.
  6. Hex by Thomas Olde Huevelt: The incredible, horrifying thriller from Thomas Olde 26802679Heuveult, the Hugo award-winning author of ‘The Day The World Turned Upside Down’, perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman, Adam Nevill and Stephen King.
    Whoever is born here, is doomed to stay until death. Whoever comes to stay, never leaves.
    Welcome to Black Spring, the seemingly picturesque Hudson Valley town haunted by the Black Rock Witch, a seventeenth-century woman whose eyes and mouth are sewn shut. Blind and silenced, she walks the streets and enters homes at will. She stands next to children’s beds for nights on end. So accustomed to her have the townsfolk become that they often forget she’s there. Or what a threat she poses. Because if the stitches are ever cut open, the story goes, the whole town will die.
    The curse must not be allowed to spread. The elders of Black Spring have used high-tech surveillance to quarantine the town. Frustrated with being kept in lockdown, the town’s teenagers decide to break the strict regulations and go viral with the haunting. But, in so doing, they send the town spiraling into a dark nightmare
  7. The Silent Army by James A Moore: The City of Wonders has been saved by nearly the silent army.jpgmiraculous forces and the Silent Army is risen, ready to defend the Fellein Empire and Empress Nachia at any cost.
     The power that was hidden in the Mounds is on the move, seeking a final confrontation with the very entities that kept it locked away since the Cataclysm. Andover Lashk has finally come to accept his destiny and prepares to journey back to Fellein. The Sa’ba Taalor continue their domination over each country and people they encounter, but the final conflict is coming: The Great Wave of the Sa’ba Taalor stands to destroy an empire and the Silent Army prepares to stop them in their tracks.
     Caught in the middle is the Fellein Empire and the people who have gathered together on the final battlefield. The faithful and the godless, the soldiers and killers alike all stand or fall as old gods and new bring their war to a world-changing end. Some struggles are eternal. Some conflicts never cease. The Gods of War are here and they are determined to win.
  8. The Fireman by Joe Hill: No one knows exactly when it began or where it originated. A TheFireman.jpgterrifying new plague is spreading like wildfire across the country, striking cities one by one: Boston, Detroit, Seattle. The doctors call it Draco Incendia Trychophyton. To everyone else it’s Dragonscale, a highly contagious, deadly spore that marks its hosts with beautiful black and gold marks across their bodies—before causing them to burst into flames. Millions are infected; blazes erupt everywhere. There is no antidote. No one is safe.
    Harper Grayson, a compassionate, dedicated nurse as pragmatic as Mary Poppins, treated hundreds of infected patients before her hospital burned to the ground. Now she’s discovered the telltale gold-flecked marks on her skin. When the outbreak first began, she and her husband, Jakob, had made a pact: they would take matters into their own hands if they became infected. To Jakob’s dismay, Harper wants to live—at least until the fetus she is carrying comes to term. At the hospital, she witnessed infected mothers give birth to healthy babies and believes hers will be fine too. . . if she can live long enough to deliver the child.
    Convinced that his do-gooding wife has made him sick, Jakob becomes unhinged, and eventually abandons her as their placid New England community collapses in terror. The chaos gives rise to ruthless Cremation Squads—armed, self-appointed posses roaming the streets and woods to exterminate those who they believe carry the spore. But Harper isn’t as alone as she fears: a mysterious and compelling stranger she briefly met at the hospital, a man in a dirty yellow fire fighter’s jacket, carrying a hooked iron bar, straddles the abyss between insanity and death. Known as The Fireman, he strolls the ruins of New Hampshire, a madman afflicted with Dragonscale who has learned to control the fire within himself, using it as a shield to protect the hunted . . . and as a weapon to avenge the wronged.
    In the desperate season to come, as the world burns out of control, Harper must learn the Fireman’s secrets before her life—and that of her unborn child—goes up in smoke.
  9. Smoke by Dan Vyleta: “Smoke is an addictive combination of thriller, fantasy, and smokehistorical novel, with a dash of horror. It’s chilling and complex and amazingly imaginative.’”—Marilyn Dahl, Shelf Awareness
    England. A century ago, give or take a few years.
    An England where people who are wicked in thought or deed are marked by the Smoke that pours forth from their bodies, a sign of their fallen state. The aristocracy do not smoke, proof of their virtue and right to rule, while the lower classes are drenched in sin and soot. An England utterly strange and utterly real.
    An elite boarding school where the sons of the wealthy are groomed to take power as their birthright. Teachers with mysterious ties to warring political factions at the highest levels of government.  Three young people who learn everything they’ve been taught is a lie—knowledge that could cost them their lives. A grand estate where secrets lurk in attic rooms and hidden laboratories. A love triangle. A desperate chase. Revolutionaries and secret police. Religious fanatics and coldhearted scientists. Murder. A London filled with danger and wonder. A tortured relationship between a mother and a daughter, and a mother and a son. Unexpected villains and unexpected heroes. Cool reason versus passion. Rich versus poor. Right versus wrong, though which is which isn’t clear.
    This is the world of Smoke, a narrative tour de force, a tale of Dickensian intricacy and ferocious imaginative power, richly atmospheric and intensely suspenseful.
  10. The Vanishing Throne by Elizabeth May: The second book in the Falconer trilogy is the vanishing throne.jpgpacked with surprises and suspense.
    Aileana Kameron, the Falconer, disappeared through the portal that she was trying to close forever. Now she wakes up in the fae world, trapped and tortured by the evil Lonnrach. With the help of an unexpected ally, Aileana re-enters the human world, only to find everything irrevocably changed. Edinburgh has been destroyed, and the few human survivors are living in an uneasy truce with the fae, while both worlds are in danger of disappearing altogether. Aileana holds the key to saving both worlds, but in order to do so she must awaken her latent Falconer powers. And the price of doing that might be her life.
    Rich with imaginative detail, action, fae lore, and romance, The Vanishing Throne is a thrilling sequel to The Falconer.

 

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