Top Ten Tuesday #433

Hi everyone! I hope you’ve all had a good week since I last did one of these. I wanted to start off by thanking you guys for sharing in my excitement about getting a ticket for the Eras Tour next year, your comments were all so lovely and I really appreciated being able to share the love and excitement with you all. It’ll be exactly a year till my show on Thursday, so the countdown officially begins then!

I had a very busy week last week, as I mentioned in my last post, I went to see Operation Mincemeat again on Tuesday, and as always it was absolutely glorious. It was fun to be able to pick out some of the little changes they’ve made since I last saw the show (as it was in previews then, so hadn’t officially opened) and it was my first time seeing the show with one of the covers on, we had Christian on for Hester and he was absolutely brilliant, as was the whole cast, and dealt with it so fabulously well when the show had to be briefly stopped before “Dear Bill” due to some technical issues. I love it when I see covers on at a show, especially when it’s one I’ve seen with the complete regular cast before because it’s really fun to see how a different actor on stage changes the dynamic and how they bring something different to the character than the actor who normally plays part, and how this subtly changes the way the other actors play their parts as well. I just love this show so much, sometimes you find shows that feel they were created just for you and this one definitely feels like that for me, it combines two of my favourite things: a very specific and slightly niche historical event and musical so well and I always come out of the show with a smile on my face, the songs stuck in my head and a burning desire to go and see the show again (yes, before you ask, I have already booked tickets to go and see it again).

I also met up with my friend Hannah last week for a catch up, it’s been a while since we’ve both had the time to meet up so it was really lovely to see her. Then on Friday I was at Soho Theatre for a recording for my favourite podcast, The Guilty Feminist, which was a lot of fun, though I swear this year I have been blessed/cursed to always go to the most chaotic shows, the last time I went there were various funny mishaps that would take way too long to explain here and this time there was a drunk guy heckling obscenities in the crowd (don’t worry, he was dealt with quickly and effectively), I mean granted that’s only two shows but I do find it quite funny that out of the three of their shows I’ve been to this year, two have been slightly out of the ordinary ones, I had the best time at both but it’s just a fun coincidence!

I also went on another one of my days out exploring independent book shops on Saturday and it was so much fun, I’ve been really enjoying doing this for blog, I’ve found some great bookshops and been to explore areas of London that I’ve not really been to much before so I can definitely see this being something that I continue doing for a while, because it is just so much fun-I do eventually need to read some of the books I’ve bought on these trips though!

As for this week, it’s set to be a lot quieter, which is probably a good thing, but I do have another theatre trip planned for tonight: I’ve tried out Theatre Roulette for the first time, where you essentially choose a date and pay £25 and they pick a show for you to see on that day: I’ve been given Oklahoma, which I’m both excited and slightly nervous about, excited because it’s something I’ve not seen before and I was a big fan of Nashville (the TV show) so I’m excited to see Sam Palladio perform but I’ve heard mixed things, so I’m also slightly nervous I’m not going to like it, but I guess not having seen the original production of Oklahoma and only being vaguely aware of the plot and songs can only be a good thing here right? Anyway, it should be an interesting night and I’m very pleased with how good the seat I’ve been allocated is, so we’ll see how things go. I’m pretty sure I will use Theatre Roulette again though, £25 for theatre tickets is a bargain these days!

Anyway, back to the actual topic at hand, it’s Tuesday, so I have another Top Ten Tuesday for you all, courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic was suggested by Cathy @ What Cathy Read Next (thanks Cathy!) and we’re talking about Characters From Different Books Who Should Team Up. I’ll admit, I found this one a little challenging, it was hard to think of what characters from what books would make good partnerships and I’ll be honest, I think I leaned quite a lot into the chaos this week and thought of a lot of character pairings that would just cause a complete nightmare together but I did have fun doing it, so thanks for the suggestion Cathy! Now let’s get on with it because I know this intro has been way too long already!:

1. Lila Bard and Aelin Galathynius-Shades of Magic trilogy and Throne of Glass series-VE Schwab and Sarah J Maas

I’d want to see this one purely for the chaos. I can’t imagine any universe where Lila and Aelin would ever get on, they’re both seriously impulsive drama queens and I imagine that Aelin would probably drive Lila up the wall and have her drawing a knife on her within about a minute of them spending time in each other’s company. Still, if they could get their act together, these two powerful women with serious magic could be quite the formidable team!

2. The Weasley Twins and Hayden Upchurch-Harry Potter series and Unwind dystology-JK Rowling and Neal Shusterman

Again this would just be pure chaos but so much fun to read. The Weasleys and Hayden both have a great sense of humour and I feel like Hayden would be delighted to join them in the joke shop and would have a lot of great ideas for products!

3. Kaz Brekker and Artemis Fowl-Six of Crows duology and Artemis Fowl series-Leigh Bardugo and Eoin Colfer

Two criminal masterminds teaming up…..what could possibly go wrong? I mean I get the feeling Artemis would probably annoy Kaz quite a lot but what would be new there, practically everyone annoys Kaz! I can definitely see Artemis and Kaz bickering a lot but I love the idea of some kind of crossover between the Grishaverse and Artemis’ world of fairies and various other supernatural creatures and Artemis teaming up with Kaz and the Dregs for some mastermind plan to take another criminal genius down.

4. Hermione Granger and Annabeth Chase-Harry Potter series and Percy Jackson series-JK Rowling and Rick Riordan

This was the most obvious one to me, I think Hermione and Annabeth would actually get along quite well, Hermione would be fascinated by demigods and their powers and I could definitely see Annabeth wanting to learn about the wizarding world, I can just picture them sitting around and chatting about their favourite books and you know, constantly being in life threatening danger in their worlds! I mean I assume if Hermione was a demigod, she’d probably be a daughter of Athena too…..

5. Laila and Nina Zenik-The Gilded Wolves Trilogy and Six of Crows Duology-Roshani Chokshi and Leigh Bardugo

Laila loves baking, Nina loves eating baked goods…..need I say more? I can definitely see these two bonding over a plate of sugar cookies! Or even better, waffles, it’s not mentioned in the book but I’m sure Laila could make great waffles……

6. Lila Bard and Safiya fon Hasstrel-Shades of Magic trilogy and Witchlands series

These two would be such chaos together, it would be so fun! Both have a very impulsive streak, both would murder someone for their friends, both have rare and powerful magic and have a tendency of trying to avoid their emotions, they have a lot in common, I think they would either be great friends or want to kill each other and there would be no in-between, but if these two teamed up the amount of chaos they would cause and danger they would get into would just be *chef’s kiss*.

7. Enne Salta and Osla Kendell-The Shadow Game Trilogy and The Rose Code-Amanda Foody and Kate Quinn

I’m not sure how these two would end up teaming up, since one is from a fantasy world and one is from the 1940s but hey what does that matter, they’re both fictional characters! I feel like Enne and Osla would be able to bond over a lot as they’re both dismissed by their respective societies for being “silly debs” (essentially really for being very feminine) and come from similar kinds of backgrounds. I can just imagine Enne and Osla having a really fun night out on the town, sharing stories and laughs and running away from their trauma (because they both have a tendency to do that too).

8. Marcella Riggins and Nita-Vengeful and Not Even Bones-VE Schwab and Rebecca Schaeffer

There’s quite an age difference between the two but I don’t think that would really matter: I think these two would make a fierce and invincible team. With Marcella’s power to destroy everything she touches and Nita’s skill at dissecting bodies, plus her ability to alter her own biology, I think they would be absolutely unstoppable together. Their enemies would not stand a chance-this is a partnership in evil that I would absolutely love to see!

9. Felicity Montague and Ling Chan-The Montague Siblings trilogy and The Diviners series-Mackenzi Lee and Libba Bray

Felicity and Ling have so much in common, both are serious and into science but have an unexpected dry sense of humour, both are women wanting to go into science in a time where that’s not really done and they’re both asexual in a time period where that’s not really understood so I think they would bond a lot over that. I get the feeling Felicity might be kind of sceptical over Ling’s dreamwalking, but considering the Montagues also encounter some supernatural things on their adventures, I reckon she’d get on board quickly. I guess the only problem would be that neither is the most social person…..and they both live in wildly different time periods but hey it’s fiction, we could make it work!

10. Cristian Florescu and Lina Aryvdas-I Must Betray You and Between Shades of Gray-Ruta Sepetys

Lina would be a fair bit older than Cristian given that she was 15 in 1941, but she would quite easily still be alive at the same time as the events of I Must Betray You so I could imagine them one day crossing paths. They both have a lot in common, growing up in countries under cruel dictators, they’re both artists and use art as a way of dealing with their situations, both quiet and observant and stubbornly hopeful that their situations can improve, I can imagine them both getting on really well and having a lot to share about their respective experiences growing up under cruel communist regimes and I kind of like the idea of an old woman Lina passing down her knowledge and experiences to a younger Cristian.

So there we go, some characters from different books that I think should team up. What do you think? Have you read any of these books? Do you agree with my choices? Which pair do you think would get along best? Who would be the most chaotic? Let me know in the comments!

Next week’s topic is a genre freebie, but we’ve already done a similar topic earlier this year and I know I’ve done lists of my favourite historical fiction and fantasy in the past and honestly neither list has changed much except for Kate Quinn and Madeline Martin making up a bigger portion of my historical list now! So instead, I’m going to do a topic that Lindsey from Lindsey Reads did a few weeks back, and share my Book Series I’m No Longer Interested In Finishing because I do have quite a few series where I read the first or second books and then never continued on with the series because I didn’t enjoy it or just lost interest, so that should hopefully be a fun one for you guys!