Top Ten Tuesday | Books and travelling with Lynn

Fangtastic Fantasy

Posted On 10 August 2015

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: 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 Authors I’ve Read The Most Books From’

We did already do a post that was similar to this not so long ago so I wondered if my choices would be similar, however, as I put my list together I noticed that the authors I’ve read quite a lot of are those with series – and strangely enough a good few of these long running series turned out to be about vampires. So, I’ve gone with five choices and stuck to that theme. These aren’t necessarily the authors I’ve read the most of (although the top two series definitely take the crown). :

Charlaine Harris – The True Blood series. I think this went up to 13 books and I did complete the series. Very entertaining and good fun.
Rachel Caine – The Moganville Vampires, which went up to about 15 books in total. This is a sort of YA vampire series really but the books were all very quick reads and some of the vampires were very entertaining to read.
Richelle Mead – Vampire Academy series – I enjoyed this series and think it went up to six books – and, who am I kidding, Dimitry was very easy on the mind!
Christine Feehan – her Carpathian series – okay, these are a bit saucy to say the least (no surprise with titles such as ‘Dark Desire’). I have no idea how many books are in this series – I read the first few.
Stephenie Meyer – Yep, The Twilight series. Okay, by comparison this is only a small number of books – although there was an extra short story so five books in total (I think). I had to go there.

That’s it this week – I do have plenty of authors that I’ve read quite a few books of (Alice Hoffman, Sanderson, Gaiman, etc) but I thought I’d stick with a theme for this one.

Once upon a time…. they all lived happily ever after. The end.

Posted On 3 August 2015

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Fairytales retold, The Broke and the Bookish, Top Ten Tuesday

Comments Dropped 19 responses

This week over at the Broke and Bookish the topic for Top Ten Tuesday is:

‘Ten Fairytale Retellings I’ve Read/Want To Read’

I do enjoy a good fairytale retold. My list this week:

Poison by Sarah Pinborough – this and the next two books are awesome and I just love them. They’re all made up of more than one tale, they all hail from the same world and they read wonderfully. Plus, they’re really beautiful little books with gorgeous illustrations. In case of doubt – these are not children’s books! Pinborough has a wicked streak, she can be a bit naughty and her stories are a slightly more twisted version than the originals – Charm and Beauty follow in the series.
Charm by Sarah Pinborough
Beauty by Sarah Pinborough
The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly – I absolutely love this book. Again, it’s a mishmash of stories all coming together in a beautifully dark coming of age tale.
Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce – this is a werewolf story that takes in the tale of Little Red Riding Hood. Very entertaining with nasty, smelly werewolves.
Splintered by A G Howard. Based on Alice in Wonderland – I enjoyed the first and need to pick up the next in series.
Beauty by Robin McKinley – I lovely retelling of the Beauty and the Beast tale.
A Court of Thorn and Roses by Sarah J Maas – this is another Beauty and the Beast retelling with mask wearing fae in place of the beast.
The Storyteller and Her Sisters by Cheryl Mahoney a retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses
The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman – not my favourite of Neil Gaiman’s. A retelling of Sleeping Beauty with a twist.

Ten books that I would love to read or have waiting:

To Read, Perchance to Dream

Posted On 27 July 2015

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: The Broke and the Bookish, Top 10 bookish characters, Top Ten Tuesday

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Today over at the Broke and Bookish the Top Ten Tuesday topic for discussion is:

‘Ten Characters Who Are Fellow Book Nerds’

Characters who love reading as much as we do – win!

Hermione Granger from J K Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Hermione always has her head in a book, she is like the number one student and even has a time twister to allow her to attend more lessons.
Lady Trent from Marie Brennan’s A Natural History of Dragons. Lady Trent is a great character, completely ahead of her time which does rather lead her into trouble with the stiff upper lip sorts. Determined to find out everything there is to know about dragons and document it her travels become more intrepid and dangerous with each book – plus the covers below!
Kvothe from The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Kvothe is a fantastic character – he’s determined to join the University, he wants to learn but his main desire is to access the dusty and winding labyrinths of the library.
Simmea from Jo Walton’s Just City. Simmea loves to learn and philosophise and living in a city based on Plato’s Just City is the perfect place for learning to take place.
Shara from Robert Bennett’s City of Stairs. Shara is an excellent character who manages to defeat some formidable foe simply from remembering some of the knowledge she has picked up over the years from constant reading.
The Storyteller and Her Sisters by Cheryl Mahoney – a retelling of the 12 Dancing Princesses with Lyra – the ninth princess who likes to tell stories.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. ‘Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to burn books, which are forbidden, being the source of all discord and unhappiness’ – he doesn’t always burn those books though!!!! He saves them from the fire – even though it could mean great loss for him.
Jean Tannen – I couldn’t have a list with the possibility of mentioning Jean and pass it up! Jean is the best character – I love him! And he is not only a wise cracking conman and tough guy but he loves books! The Gentlemen Bastards by Scott Lynch.
And my last two books are two that I haven’t got to yet but will do so soon! The Libriomancer by Jim C Hines – in which characters can magically reach into books and draw out objects – oh yes please!
Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine – something about the mention of the Great Library of Alexandria – yep, yep, yep, You had me at ‘ink’. Cannot wait to read this one – lots of excellent reviews from very trustworthy sources make me extra keen.

“Our lives are all different and yet the same.” (Anne Frank)

Posted On 21 July 2015

Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: the broke and bookish, Top Ten Tuesday

Comments Dropped 26 responses

This week at the Broke and Bookish the topic for discussion is:

Ten Books That Celebrate Diversity/Diverse Characters

In Midnight’s Silence by Teresa Frohock a book where the main character is not only a mixed race (Daemon/Angel) but he is also gay and partner to one of the nephilim (part angel/part human).
The Tower Lord by Anthony Ryan – in which we meet the character Reva who seeks revenge for her father’s death. Reva has been brought up in the religion of the World Father, she’s a conflicted character – being a lesbian and strict worshipper of a faith in which same sex relationships are not tolerated.
Half a King by Joe Abercrombie – in which the main character Yarvi was born with one of his hands badly deformed and in a world where your sword arm is valued above everything else this definitely places him at a disadvantage in this harsh world.
The Copper Promise by Jen Williams – Sir Sebastian is a fallen knight who was cast out of his order because he’s gay – he is a fantastic character to read about and a strong favourite of mine.
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller – unsurprisingly a book about Achilles and his lover Patroclus.
Zoo City by Lauren Beukes – in which the main character is a South African woman called Zinzi who has been ‘animalled’ – by way of punishment for a crime she has been convicted of. This is an alternate South Africa where criminals are magically attached to an animal familiar.
Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey – in which the main character Phedre has romantic connections to both a male and female character during the story. Terra d’Ange was created by Elua who is known for his motto “Love as thou wilt”.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon in which the main character suffers from certain behavioural difficulties that are never particularly named but appear similar to Aspergers or Autism.
A Game of Thrones by GRRMartin – Tyrion Lannister – also known as the ‘imp’ or ‘half man’ – Tyrion is a dwarf, born to the powerful house of Lannister – he doesn’t really need any introduction! Definitely one of my favourite characters from the series.
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N K Jemisin – Yeine is half Arameri and half Darre – born to a mother disgraced and cut off from her own royal beginnings for marrying beneath her status. Yeine is looked down upon and despised by her Arameri relatives who consider her to be little short of a barbarian.