Top Ten Tuesday #282

Hey everyone! I hope you’ve all had a nice week since I last did one of these, I had a great couple of days with my friends over the weekend which was really nice. The Great British Bake-Off is also starting tonight which is really just perfect timing, as with everything that has been going on in 2020, I could definitely use the comfort that Bake-Off provides!

Anyway, as it’s Tuesday, I have another Top Ten Tuesday, courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week is another of our annual TBR topics, so I’ll be sharing my Autumn TBR. I did pretty well on my Summer TBR, I read 8 out of the 12 books on my list, and have almost finished the ninth. I have another pretty ambitious TBR for the Autumn, but since I’ve been reading a lot this year, especially since the lockdown, I feel good about having a slightly bigger TBR:

1. Sherwood-Meagan Spooner

My September #RockMyTBR book, which I’m reading currently. I’m not as far through as I’d like given that I only have eight days of September left, but I’m hoping I’ll have finished it by the end of next week. It’s been okay so far, but I can’t say I’m loving it.

2. Tunnel of Bones (Cassidy Blake #2)-VE Schwab

My October #RockMyTBR book, I really enjoyed City of Ghosts when I read it back in May and so I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of adventures Cassidy gets up to in this next book, particularly as it takes place in Paris!

3. Assassin’s Apprentice-Robin Hobb

My November #RockMyTBR book, I’ve never read any of Robin Hobb’s books and I know that female authors are still woefully underrepresented in adult SFF, so I definitely like reading those books where I can find them.

4. Seasons of War (Skulduggery Pleasant #13)-Derek Landy

I’ve been meaning to read this one since it was released back in April, but it’s quite a chunky book and I’ve been reading a lot of those recently, so I just haven’t got around to it! I’m definitely making this one a priority for October though, since Tunnel of Bones is only very short.

5. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue-VE Schwab

AHHHH! MY MOST ANTICIPATED READ OF THE YEAR. This is going to be my next Netgalley read and I’ll be starting it either tonight or tomorrow as I’m almost done with Queen of Volts.

6. The Book of Two Ways-Jodi Picoult

Another one of my Netgalley reads (I have quite a few October releases on my TBR, I got a little bit request happy) and I’m super excited for this one as well, as I love Jodi Picoult’s books and it sounds super interesting, kind of like Sliding Doors.

7. Kingdom of The Wicked-Keri Maniscalco

I’ve been reading a lot of Keri Maniscalco recently, having read the Stalking Jack The Ripper series from September of last year to February of this year. I’m super excited for her latest book, it’s a historical witch hunt set in Italy and it sounds so good!

8. These Violent Delights-Chloe Gong

The final one of my current crop of Netgalley releases (thankfully this one comes out in November, three October releases is more than enough!). I’m not usually one for Romeo and Juliet, but this retelling sounds AMAZING: set in 1926 Shanghai with rival gangs and dangerous monsters? YES PLEASE.

9. Where Dreams Descend-Janella Angeles

My copy of this book is finally arriving tomorrow, and I’m super excited! Phantom of The Opera meets Moulin Rouge sounds right up my street and I can’t wait to meet Kallia and all the other performers.

10. Sorcery of Thorns-Margaret Rogerson

My December #RockMyTBR book, I wasn’t a massive fan of Rogerson’s debut but I’ve heard much better things about her second book. I love anything library related, so I’m hoping this one will work much better for me than An Enchantment of Ravens.

11. The Nobleman’s Guide To Scandal and Shipwrecks-Mackenzi Lee

This was on my Spring TBR, but the release date was moved from May to December, so it’s moved over to this TBR.

12. Bloodwitch-Susan Dennard

My current audiobook read, I’m a little over a quarter of the way through. I am enjoying it, although I’m still struggling with all of the different POVs!

So that’s it, my Autumn TBR. I usually only go for 10 books but as I’ve been reading a lot more, I figured it was okay to stretch a little, I’m actually expecting to read far more than 12 books, as I’ve been averaging around 5 books a month since April. What books are on your Autumn TBR? Have you read any of these? What did you think? Let me know in the comments!

I’ll be back next week with another TTT, this time we’ll be talking Favourite Book Quotes, and to narrow it down a little, I’ll be going with my Favourite Book Quotes From Books I Read In 2020.

Top Ten Tuesday #281

Hi everyone! Thanks for the birthday wishes on my post last week, I had a lovely day out on Saturday, Kenilworth Castle was beautiful and thankfully it was a really nice day, if it had been raining, it would not have been the best choice!

Anyway, as it’s Tuesday, I have another Top Ten Tuesday for you courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week we have a Cover Freebie, so I’ve chosen to share my Favourite Book Covers of 2020. Here we go:

1. 

The Silvered Serpents-Roshani Chokshi

HOW GORGEOUS IS THIS COVER THOUGH? I thought The Gilded Wolves was pretty, but this one takes the cake! It comes out next week and I can’t wait to see how pretty it looks next to The Gilded Wolves.

2.

Where Dreams Descend-Janella Angeles

This cover definitely lives up to the Phantom of The Opera/Moulin Rouge comparison! The OwlCrate one is just as beautiful as well. My Waterstones order of this one still hasn’t arrived but I’m hoping it will soon.

3.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue-VE Schwab

VE Schwab always gets the most gorgeous covers and Addie is no exception (the US cover is beautiful as well). It’s my most anticipated read of the year and I’m starting on the Netgalley ARC once I’m done with Queen of Volts, I can’t wait!

4.

The Empire of Gold-SA Chakraborty

This series has brilliant covers as well, and I really love the deep purple colour of this one, almost makes me wish I had the hardcover edition (though I would never be able to fit it on my shelves).

5.

The Court of Miracles-Kester Grant

This cover is so beautiful, it really makes me wish I’d liked the book more! The naked cover is glorious as well. Sadly, I didn’t enjoy the story as much as I’d hoped but at least I can appreciate the beautiful cover.

6.

Queen of Volts-Amanda Foody

I used the US cover for this as I much prefer the deep purple to the green of the UK one, not that it much matters since I’m reading the Netgalley ARC anyway. I’m almost at the end of this one and though it was a slow starter, it’s building to a very exciting climax.

7.

The Forest of Ghosts and Bones-Lisa Lueddecke

I love how simple this cover is, the light green with the little illustrations, it’s really lovely! This one sounds really cool too, a fantasy based on Hungarian myths? Yes please!

8.

I think this one is beautifully done, especially the bird at the bottom of her face, I really love that part. The minimalist colours are gorgeous as well and I love how all the different blues blend together.

9.

Incendiary-Zoraida Cordova

The colours and patterns on this one are just glorious, I can’t wait to see what the UK cover looks like for the second book!

10.

House of Earth and Blood-Sarah J Maas

I used the tour edition for this one rather than the regular one because I feel like the regular one has a little bit too much going on (for me personally) and I prefer the more simplistic look of the tour edition.

So there we go, my favourite book covers from this year! How about you? What have been some of your favourite book covers of 2020? Let me know in the comments!

I will be back for another Top Ten Tuesday next week, it’s time for our annual Autumn TBR topic, and I always love doing the TBR topics so it should be a fun one.

 

Top Ten Tuesday #280

Hi everyone! I hope you’ve all had a good week since I last did one of these. It’s my birthday on Saturday, and though obviously it’s going to be a little different than I expected this year, I still have a nice day planned with my family so hopefully it will be a fun day.

Anyway, it’s Tuesday and time for another Top Ten Tuesday courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week we were meant to be talking Books For Our Younger Self but since that’s basically a duplicate of a topic we did in April, I’m instead taking an old topic from the archives and doing Side Characters That Should Have Their Own Books. It’s also my 280th topic this week! Cannot believe I’ve done so many! So here we go:

1. Lourdes Alfero-The Shadow Game trilogy-Amanda Foody

It’s clear from the books that Lourdes has had some adventures in her life (particularly after some reveals in Queen of Volts which would be massive spoilers to share) so I definitely think a book about her in her younger years, pre-Enne, maybe just before the Revolution might be a really interesting read.

2. Vianca Augustine-The Shadow Game trilogy-Amanda Foody

Yes, okay, I know that’s two from the same series, but anyone who’s read these books, you can’t tell me you wouldn’t want to read a Vianca book? I’m sure there is plenty of material to be mined from Vianca’s life pre-series and would definitely be up for reading a prequel about her.

3. Hayden Upchurch-Unwind Dystology-Neal Shusterman

I’m not really sure what kind of book about Hayden I’d like, I don’t know if we really know enough about his life pre the series to do a prequel, but I’d quite like a story about his life post-series? We get a little glimpse in Unbound of what he and Grace were doing, but I’d definitely read more short stories, or even a full length novel if it was the right story about Hayden because he’s one of the most fun characters in the Unwind series.

4. Jane Warner-The Enigma Game-Elizabeth Wein

Jane definitely has more stories to tell from what we hear about her during the Enigma Game and I would love to read more about her life as a performer, what she did before the war, basically anything about her life before we meet her in The Enigma Game, I would probably read!

5. Legend-Caraval Trilogy-Stephanie Garber

I would love to know more about Legend pre the trilogy. I honestly don’t know what kind of story I would want to read about him, there’s so many different routes that this kind of prequel could go down: we could have a story about the very beginning of Caraval, Legend’s life pre being Legend, there are infinite avenues for exploration in Legend’s backstory to explore so I would definitely love to read a story where he is the star.

6. China Sorrows-Skulduggery Pleasant series-Derek Landy

China is one of those enigmatic, mysterious characters who you know has a very interesting past but we don’t really get all of it in the series, because she’s only a supporting character. I would definitely love if Derek Landy ever decided to do a spin-off story about China so we could find out more about her life pre-series (for someone who has never had much luck with prequels, I’m apparently very interested in learning about a lot of characters’ pre-series lives!).

7. Jaxon Hall-The Bone Season series-Samantha Shannon

Who doesn’t want a villain origin story? Jaxon has definitely got up to a lot in his life and a story with him at the centre, whether it was pre him becoming an Underlord, or maybe what he was doing whilst Paige was in Sheol I in the first book, would be very welcome!

8. Zuzana-Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy-Laini Taylor

I mean sure we have Night of Cake and Puppets, but I would love to have a full length story with Zuzana at the centre. I’m not really sure what shape I’d like it to take but I just know that any story with Zuzana as the main character would be super fun.

9. Dr Volumnia Gaul-The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes-Suzanne Collins

Yes, okay, Ballad wasn’t the greatest villain origin story ever, but I genuinely think that’s not because Snow’s origin story was a bad idea, more just that it wasn’t executed quite as well as I was hoping it would be. Still Dr Gaul was definitely an interesting villain and I would be intrigued to know more of her story.

10. Santi and Wolfe-The Great Library series-Rachel Caine

Honestly I’d be happy with a just a short story of these two being cute together? I mean I’m sure there are many interesting plots to be mined from their younger lives, how they got involved in the Library etc, but I would be very happy with a short story completely of Wolfe/Santi fluff.

So there we go, those are the Side Characters I Wish Had Their Own Books. Which side characters do you wish had their own stories? Do we share any? Let me know in the comments!

I will be back with another Top Ten Tuesday next week, we’ve been given free reign with a cover freebie, so I’m going to share my Top Ten Favourite Book Covers of 2020.

Top Ten Tuesday #279

Hi everyone! I hope you had a good week since I last did one of these, mine was pretty quiet really.

Anyway, as it’s Tuesday, it’s time for another Top Ten Tuesday, courtesy of Jana At That Artsy Reader Girl. This week we’re talking Books That Made Me Hungry and honestly just rounding up this list made me want a lot of the food mentioned in these books!

1. Heartless-Marissa Meyer

I challenge anyone who reads this book not to feel hungry while reading it. I mean Cat is always baking some new sweet treat that sounds completely delicious and I definitely came away from it with a craving for baked goods!

2. The Daevabad Trilogy-S.A. Chakraborty

So much amazing sounding food is mentioned in this book, I could feel my mouth watering at the mentions of some of the food Nahri was eating in Kingdom of Copper!

3. Percy Jackson and The Olympians-Rick Riordan

The blue chocolate chip cookies, the daily camp meals, ambrosia and nectar, bottomless drinks, it definitely seems like you will never go hungry at Camp Half-Blood! Also in the sequel series, Heroes of Olympus, at the Roman Camp, your plate will automatically fill with whatever food you want and this is a power I would like to have!

4. The Exact Opposite of Okay-Laura Steven

It’s impossible not get hungry reading this book because Izzy is constantly thinking about/talking about food (can relate). Whether it’s nachos or milkshakes or popcorn or burgers, there’s always some food related item on the page and I definitely remember feeling very hungry whilst reading.

5. Six of Crows-Leigh Bardugo

WAFFLES. Nina and her love of waffle is pretty infamous by now and I have to admit, I di get a craving for waffles on more than one occasion whilst I was reading this book.

6. Daughter of Smoke and Bone-Laini Taylor

Who didn’t wish that Poison Kitchen was a real place after reading this book? If it did exist I would definitely be there, enjoying the goulash at the coffin shaped tables! Also the number of pastries mentioned in the book…….

7. The Hunger Games-Suzanne Collins

I know it seems odd to include a book where a lot of it revolves around people not having enough food/starving during the games, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense because Katniss is always talking about food, whether it’s not having enough at it or drooling over all the lavish dishes in the Capitol.

8. Charlie and The Chocolate Factory-Roald Dahl

Honestly you’d probably have rotten teeth after a very brief time at Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, but I’d be lying if I said when I was a kid I didn’t want to try some of the weird and wonderful sweets that Roald Dahl described in his book.

9. The Crown’s Game-Evelyn Skye

LUDMILA’S BAKERY. What can I say, I’m a sucker for any kind of pastry or baked good and so many of the treats that Skye described Ludmila making sounded completely delicious.

10. The Lulu Baker Trilogy-Fiona Dunbar

This is kind of an old one that I read when I was a kid but it definitely fits the bill, the main character, Lulu Baker discovers this magical recipe book which helps her solve problems in her life.

So there we go, those are some books that have made me feel hungry over the years! Have you read any of these? What books make you hungry? Let me know in the comments!

I will be back with another Top Ten Tuesday next week, the topic is meant to be Books For My Younger Self, but I did a topic similar to that a couple of months back and I’ve already done childhood favourite books so instead I’m going to do a different topic, and talk about Side Characters I’d Like To See Get Their Own Book.

Top Ten Tuesday #278

Hi everyone! I hope you’ve all had a good week since I last did one of these, I met up with my friends last weekend and we had a really great time, it’s definitely been so much nicer since we’ve been able to see other people!

Anyway, since it’s Tuesday, it’s time for another Top Ten Tuesday, courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week we’re talking Questions I’d Ask My Favourite Authors, it’s hard to know what hasn’t been asked in the age of social media, but hopefully I’ll come up with some interesting things!

1. To VE Schwab: What can we expect from Threads of Power?

I know she’s probably not able to tell us much more than she already has about this one, but I can’t help it, I’m so excited about the spinoff series to Shades of Magic and I want to know more!

2. To Rick Riordan: Will you ever come to the UK for an event? Please?

It’s never going to happen because he doesn’t tour outside the US, but it would be really great if one day  he did!

3. To Maggie Stiefvater: How do you come up with such brilliantly strange ideas?

Maggie Stiefvater’s books are always so wonderfully odd and I would love to know where those ideas come from, because my brain could never come up with something like the plot of The Raven Cycle.

4. To Sarah J Maas: Is the Throne of Glass adaptation still happening?

We haven’t had any news about the TV show of Throne of Glass (Queen of Shadows) in a while, which has me wondering if it is actually going to go ahead or not.

5. To Derek Landy: What comes next after Skulduggery’s over?

There’s only a couple more books left in the Skulduggery series, so I’m curious as to what Derek Landy has planned for when there’s no more Skulduggery. I wasn’t a massive fan of Demon Road (at least after the first book), so I’m hoping that I’ll like whatever he has planned next more than that.

6. To Leigh Bardugo: Do you know how the Grishaverse will end?

Obviously I wouldn’t want to know exact details, because I don’t want to be spoiled, but I would be interested to know if Leigh Bardugo has an endgame in mind for the Grishaverse, and if that has changed over the years.

7. To Samantha Shannon: Can you give us a hint as to where we might be going in TBS 5?

We’ve been visiting different areas of the Scion Republic in each Bone Season book, we’ve done Oxford, London, Manchester, Edinburgh and the TBS 4 is taking us to Paris so I’m curious as to where we’ll be going in the fifth book.

8. To Alwyn Hamilton: Who is your favourite character in The Notorious Virtues?

The Notorious Virtues might have been pushed back to an as yet unknown date, but I’m definitely curious about the characters in this book and how the world will compare to Rebel as it’s a different part of the same universe.

9. To Neal Shusterman: What attracted you to writing dystopia?

Both of Neal Shusterman’s most famous series are dystopian/utopian futures and I just wonder what interested him in exploring those. It’s always intrigued me how dystopian writers come up with all these ideas of how our future could be awful!

10. To Amanda Foody: You’ve written across different age categories (though the MG is yet to be published), how does your approach change when writing for a younger as opposed to an older audience?

I’ve only ever written YA books, and I love seeing my favourite authors writing across genres, especially the YA ones who write adult as I’ve been starting to lean more towards adult books in recent years, but I’m always curious as to if it changes the way authors approach their writing depending on the audience (especially as a journalist where audience is definitely a massive factor as to how you approach a story).

So there we go, those are the questions that I would ask my favourite authors! What would you ask your favourite authors? Do we share any? Let me know in the comments!

I will be back with another Top Ten Tuesday next week, this time we’ll be talking Books That Make Me Hungry, which should be another fun one.

 

 

Top Ten Tuesday #277

Hi everyone! I hope you’ve all had a good week since I last did one of these, mine was pretty quiet, but I’m going to see my friends over the weekend, so I’m really looking forward to that.

Anyway, as it’s Tuesday, it’s time for another Top Ten Tuesday, courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week we’re meant to be talking about Books We Think Would Make Good Netflix Adaptations, but as a lot of the books I want to see on screen are already being adapted, I thought instead I’d just share Book Adaptations I’m Looking Forward To Seeing On Screen. Most of these have not yet made it into the production stage, and given the coronavirus pandemic, it will probably be even longer before we see any of them, but fingers crossed that we will at some point!

1. Shadow and Bone (The Grishaverse)

I’ll admit, I’m still a little wary of the whole mashing together of Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows, I worry that they might be trying to do too much but I’m still really excited to see this world come to Netflix. I know they’re done filming season one and I think it’s in post-production right now so hopefully next year, maybe?

2. The City of Brass

AGH! I was so happy to see that City of Brass had been optioned for an adaptation at Netflix as I binged all three of the books in the trilogy this year and I’m sure this world will look AMAZING on screen.

3. Roald Dahl Animated Universe

Netflix announced a while back that they were planning on doing a series of animated specials of Roald Dahl’s books, and given that I loved Roald Dahl’s stories when I was a kid (though much like many childhood favourite authors, he was problematic in many ways), it’s definitely something that I’m looking forward to seeing, as many Roald Dahl live action movies have been very hit or miss.

4. A Darker Shade of Magic

I’ll admit, I’m both excited and terrified to see A Darker Shade of Magic on the big screen. I’m sure it will look amazing, it’s definitely a book with a very cinematic feel to it, but I do worry that they’ll get it wrong and I’ll feel forever bitter about it!

5. The Bone Season

Samantha Shannon has talked on her Instagram about writing the pilot script for The Bone Season, though I’m pretty sure it’s still in very early stages. Again, this book will definitely look amazing on screen but it’s a very intricate world, so there’s a lot that could go wrong. I feel good knowing that Samantha Shannon is on board in the process though, and definitely better that it’s going to be a TV series as I definitely feel like a film would probably miss a lot of the complexities of Scion.

6. Children of Blood and Bone

This book is going to look so beautiful on the big screen, I can already tell. And of course it will be wonderful to see so many amazing Black actors taking centre stage, having this book adapted into a film is going to be brilliant for representation.

7. Percy Jackson and The Olympians (TV series)

FINALLY WE WILL GET THE ADAPTATION WE DESERVE. FINALLY. It’s been a long time coming, but I feel pretty confident that the Disney+ adaptation is going to be a lot more faithful to the books (as Rick Riordan has stated he will be more involved this time) and we will get to see Percy’s story on screen as it was meant to be told.

8. Caraval

I actually didn’t even realise Caraval had been optioned until I was doing research for this list! It doesn’t sound like it’s made a massive amount of progress, but I’m still hoping that we do get to see it one day as it would be amazing to see the magic of Caraval come to the big screen.

9. Ninth House

Another Leigh Bardugo book coming to a streaming service, Amazon optioned Ninth House last year. I definitely think this book could make a super cool TV show and I can’t wait to hopefully see it one day!

10. Unwind

Unwind has been in development for a while, and it was originally meant to be a film, but Neal Shusterman announced in 2018 that it was going to become a TV series. I love this series, and I would love to see it on screen (though I would actually be okay if they didn’t show THAT SCENE, as important as it is to the story, I’m not sure I could stomach seeing it!).

So there we go, some of the films/TV shows that I’m looking forward to seeing adaptations of, if/when they happen! Are you looking forward to any of these? Let me know in the comments!

I’ll be back next week with another Top Ten Tuesday, we’ll be talking Questions For Our Favourite Authors, which should be a fun one!

 

 

Top Ten Tuesday #276

Hi everyone! I hope you’ve all had a good week since I last did one of these, I just got back from Stirling over the weekend and it was really nice to get a change of scenery for a couple of weeks!

Anyway, it’s Tuesday, so it’s time for another Top Ten Tuesday, courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week I’m going completely off topic as the Books I Loved But Never Reviewed is a topic I did a few years ago, so instead I’m going to talk about Film/TV Adaptations I’ve Watched Where I Haven’t Read The Book (yes, I do this, no I don’t feel bad about it, there are certain things I like in films that I don’t enjoy reading about). So here we go:

1. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society-2018 (Book by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer)

I really enjoyed this film, anything relating to books is like catnip to me so of course a film about an underground book society in 1940s Nazi occupied Guernsey fits both my book requirements and my history nerd requirements. I haven’t felt the urge to pick up the book though because it’s an epistolary novel and those don’t really work for me.

2. To All The Boys I Loved Before-2018 (Book by Jenny Han)

To All The Boys I Loved Before is a cute enough film, if a little overly cheesy but I wouldn’t read the book because I don’t like romance as the main focus of the books I read, where I tend to enjoy it more in films.

3. Love, Simon-2018 (Book by Becky Albertalli)

Again, the same issue with this one as To All The Boys, I’m not really a big fan of books where the main plot is romance, which is one of the many, many reasons I want to see more LGBTQ+ fantasies, as I obviously want to support those stories but contemporary romances don’t really work for me as a reader. I did enjoy the film though, I thought it was really cute.

4. The Devil Wears Prada-2006 (Book by Lauren Weisberger)

Honestly at this point, the film is such a firm favourite of mine that I don’t think I could read the book at this point because I’d just spend most of the time making comparisons! It’s also the kind of book that I probably wouldn’t be particularly drawn to anyway, and most of the reviews I’ve seen haven’t been great, so I think I’ll stick to rewatching the film over and over (and over) again.

5. Bridget Jones’ Diary-2001 (Book by Helen Fielding)

I have on occasion flipped through an old copy of this book that we have, but I’ve never read the whole thing. Again, this comes down to a difference of interests in books and films, I’m not really a romance reader but I love a good rom-com.

6. Good Omens-2019 (Book by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett)

I’d actually really like to read this book, it just wasn’t on my radar until the series came out! I really enjoyed the Amazon Prime limited series, I thought it was really well done and Michael Sheen and David Tennant were just brilliant. Hopefully I enjoy the book just as much when I get around to reading it.

7. Normal People-2020 (Book by Sally Rooney)

Like many people, I watched Normal People during lockdown and I enjoyed it but have no real desire to read the book. Again, the primary focus of the story is romance and to be honest, I would feel incredibly awkward reading all those sex scenes!

8. Confessions of A Shopaholic-2009 (Book by Sophie Kinsella)

I’ll be honest, I mostly watched this film because I think Hugh Dancy is cute! But it’s a sweet, if a little silly film that’s a lot of fun. I have no real desire to read the book though, because again, not a romance reader.

9. Ella Enchanted-2004 (Book by Gail Carson Levine)

I know, sacrilege as I’ve heard from many a fan of the book that the film doesn’t follow it at all, but it’s a really fun, campy, fairytale film and I really enjoyed it. I might read the book one day, but so far it’s still sitting on my TBR.

10. Game of Thrones-2011-2019 (Books by George RR Martin)

Like many people, I came across Game of Thrones first through the TV show and whilst I did enjoy the TV show (whilst acknowledging the issues with sexism and racism in particular) I don’t think I’ll be reading the books, they’re too long and I’m not really sure George RR Martin is someone that I want to support.

So there we go, those are some of the films/TV shows that I have watched without reading the books. Have you seen any of these? Did you read the books? Let me know in the comments!

I’ll be back next week with another Top Ten Tuesday, the topic is Books That Should Be Adapted Into Netflix Movies/Shows, but I feel like a lot of the books I want to see adapted have already had adaptations announced, so instead I’m going to twist it slightly and do Netflix Book Adaptations That I’m Looking Forward To.

Top Ten Tuesday #275

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good week since I last did one of these, I just got back from visiting a friend who’s dog has just had puppies and THEY WERE SO CUTE, so my week is already made!

Anyway, it’s Tuesday, so that means another Top Ten Tuesday courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week we’re talking Books With Colours In Their Titles, so these will be a mix of books that I’ve read and books from my TBR with colourful titles!

1. The Red Ribbon-Lucy Adlington

This story about seamstresses at Auschwitz-Birkenau follows fictional characters, but it has a basis in real life: there really were women at Auschwitz who were required to make clothes for the wives of Nazi officers, and most of the women doing this work were Jewish. Lucy Adlington, the author of the book is actually a costume historian (she studies historical clothing), so I’m pretty interested to see how she tackled this book!

2. The Priory of The Orange Tree-Samantha Shannon

Any excuse to share this book’s beautiful cover! I’m sure that most of you are probably familiar with this beast of a book by now, but if you’re not, then it’s basically a feminist retelling of the legend of George and The Dragon, set in a fantasy world.

3. Blue Lily, Lily, Blue-Maggie Stiefvater

The third book of the series, and probably actually my least favourite just because it felt like kind of a filler book but it does fit with this prompt, as it is both the name of the main character in this book and a colour.

4. The Silvered Serpents-Roshani Chokshi

The cover for this one is so beautiful and I know I’ve said it before, but so Christmassy! I might actual save this one for just before Christmas so I can enjoy it on a cold winter’s night as I feel that’s what this cover deserves. Anyway, I promise, I’m not just all for this book because of the cover, I really enjoyed The Gilded Wolves and am excited to see what the characters get up to next.

5. Feminists Don’t Wear Pink and Other Lies-Scarlett Curtis

I still haven’t got around to reading this collection of feminist essays yet, but I definitely want to soon!

6. Scarlet-AC Gaughen

If we’re being strictly technical, Scarlet is a shade not a colour in itself, but it’s my list so I’m going with it! I’m really looking forward to reading this one, I love Robin Hood and I’ve not actually read any retellings of it (though that will change once I read Sherwood next month). Scarlet is also the surname of the man character, Will Scarlet, who in this book is a girl.

7. A Blade So Black-L.L. McKinney

I’ve had mixed luck with Alice in Wonderland retellings in the past, but both were actually origin stories for the Queen of Hearts so it will be interesting to read one where Alice is the main character and we love to see fantasy stories with Black girl leads!

8. Blanca & Roja-Anna-Marie McLemore

Honestly, I’m not usually a massive magical realism person, but the cover for this one is so beautiful and I love the idea of a Snow White, Rose Red/Swan Lake retelling as it’s not something that you see very often.

9. Between Shades of Gray-Ruta Sepetys

This is my favourite of Ruta Sepetys’ books (granted I have only actually read this one and Salt To The Sea), it’s such a beautiful, heartbreaking, yet ultimately hopeful book and the atrocities of Stalin’s rule of the Soviet Union, especially the Baltic deportations to Siberia do not get talked about in the mainstream anywhere near as much as they should.

10. Beyond The Black Door-A.M. Strickland

This book sounds so cool, it’s all about a girl who can walk into other people’s souls whilst they sleep! The protagonist is also asexual which is not something I’ve really read about much before (and it’s #ownvoices as well).

So there we go, books with colourful titles! Have you read any of these? Did you enjoy them? Let me know in the comments!

I’ll be back next week for another Top Ten Tuesday, the topic is meant to be Books I Love But Never Reviewed, but I did that one a few years ago and it was a relatively extensive list, so I’m going to a different topic, I’m going to talk about Movies I’ve Enjoyed Where I Didn’t Read The Book (it has happened on occasion and no I’m not sorry about it, see my discussion post on this issue).

 

 

 

Top Ten Tuesday #274

Hi everyone, hope you all had a good week since I last did one of these, mine was as it always seems to be these days, very quiet!

Anyway, it’s Tuesday, and so that means another Top Ten Tuesday, courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week we have free rein to do whatever topic we’d like, so I’m talking the Top Ten Longest Books On My TBR. I do have a tendency to feel quite intimidated by long books and avoid them because they take me such a long time to read, but these are all ones I want to get around to at some point!

1. House of Earth and Blood-Sarah J Maas-803 pages

As always, Sarah J Maas’ newest book is a CHUNKY ONE. I’ve heard really good things about this one but obviously it’s a massive time comminment! I think I might check out the audiobook before the end of the year as I tend to find larger books slightly more palatable in that format.

2. A Court of Wings and Ruin-Sarah J Maas-699 pages

I’m not going to lie, I’m a little ashamed of how long this one has been on my shelf, I bought it at YALC in 2017 and for whatever reason have been putting off reading it ever since! Still, we now know that A Court of Silver Flames is coming out next year, so I plan on catching up before it comes out.

3. Dreams of Gods and Monsters-Laini Taylor-613 pages

I was so disappointed by Days of Blood and Starlight when I read it in 2018 that I haven’t got around to reading the final book in the trilogy. I will at some point but it’s not top of my list at the moment.

4. Seasons of War-Derek Landy-592 pages

The latest Skulduggery Pleasant book only came out in April, so I haven’t left it that long yet, but I’m hoping to fit it in before the end of the year, because Bedlam ended in such an exciting place and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

5. It’s Not Ok To Feel Blue-Scarlett Curtis and contributors-576 pages

This mental health anthology is a thick one! It’s made up of different essays though, so I think it will be one that I dip in and out of between reading other books.

6. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue-VE Schwab-560 pages

VE Schwab’s latest release isn’t out till October but it’s definitely a chunky one! I can’t wait to finally get my hands on this one, it’s my most anticipated release of this year.

7. House Rules-Jodi Picoult-554 pages

One of the few books in Jodi Picoult’s back catalogue that I have yet to read, I wasn’t expecting this one to be as thick as it was when I got it! Murder mystery is not a type of story I’ve ever read from Jodi Picoult before so I’m interested to see what she did with it.

8. Inkheart-Cornelia Funke-544 pages

I feel like kind of a bad bookworm for not having read this one yet, since it seems to be one of those classic “books about books” and it definitely sounds like the sort of book that I would love.

9. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle-Stuart Turton-528 pages

I’ll admit, crime is not my usual genre but I heard so much good stuff about this one that I just had to get it. I still haven’t got round to it yet but I’m hoping to soon, I really want to see what all the fuss was about.

10. Thunderhead-Neal Shusterman-515 pages

I meant to read the sequel to Scythe much earlier, but when it comes to narrowing down my reading choices when I have little time, the 500+ page books are the first to go. Now that the trilogy is complete, I definitely need to get around to reading this one soon.

So there we go, these are the longest books on my TBR at the moment! Have you read any of these? Did you enjoy them? Are you slightly intimidated by longer books? Let me know in the comments!

I’ll be back next week for another Top Ten Tuesday, this time we’ll be talking about Books With Colours In Their Titles, and honestly I don’t think I know many, at least not that are on my TBR, but I’ll give it a go!

Top Ten Tuesday #273

 

 

 

 

 

Hi all! I hope you’ve all had a good week, mine was very quiet once again. This weekend was meant to be YALC but of course it was yet another casualty of the pandemic. This is the first year that it’s not been on since I started going in 2015 and I’m not going to lie, whilst I of course understand why it’s not on this year, I’m still really disappointed. My friend Hannah and I go every year, it’s my favourite weekend of the year and it feels really strange not to be excitedly planning all the authors I want to see right now!

Anyway, it’s Tuesday, and so that means another Top Ten Tuesday courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic actually works really well for the week that YALC should have been as we were meant to be talking Book Festivals I’d Like To Go To Someday. I’ve decided to twist it slightly and talk about Authors I’d Like To See At Next Year’s YALC:

1. VE Schwab

VE Schwab is one of my favourite authors so I love getting to see her at YALC, even if her queues are always massive! She’s so lovely and it’s always a joy to get to see her and have my books signed.

2. Samantha Shannon

Another one of my favourite authors, she seems to be a pretty consistent YALC guest, so I’m hoping she’ll be back again next year where we can all tell her how much The Mask Falling broke us (because let’s face it, it will).

3. Derek Landy

Yet another of my perennial favourites, Derek is always so funny and I swear one of these days Hannah and I are going to meet him without being embarrassing. One day.

4. Alwyn Hamilton

Hannah and I have seen Alwyn at YALC every single year since we first started going, and in 2015, she hadn’t even published her debut yet so that’s a pretty cool thing to be able to say! She’s so lovely and she always remembers us as well, so I’m really looking forward to (hopefully) seeing her again next year.

5. Leigh Bardugo

Honestly having any US based authors at YALC next year is probably a pipe dream considering *gestures at current state of the US* but hey, it’s my list and no one said it had to be realistic! I’ve come really close to almost meeting Leigh Bardugo on a few occasions (still really regret not taking my friend up on her offer to go to an event with her a few years ago, but I hadn’t read her books then and didn’t know how much I’d love them). Anyway, I’d really love to finally be able to meet her, so it would be great if she was invited to YALC.

6. Alexandra Christo

I really enjoyed both of Alexandra Christo’s books last year, and I know that the second Into The Crooked Place book is scheduled to release next year (at least the last I checked) so it would be really great if she was at YALC next year as well!

7. Laura Bates

This is less from an author perspective as I’ve actually not yet read any of her books (I will get around to Everyday Sexism, I just haven’t yet) and more from a journalism perspective as I really love her columns in The Guardian!

8. Stephanie Garber

I’ve seen Stephanie express interest in coming to YALC on her Instagram before so it would be really cool if she did, even if it’s not next year! I have a signed Legendary and Finale, but it would be great to have the signed Caraval to complete the set.

9. Amanda Foody

I love Amanda’s books so much and she’s not done any events in the UK before, so it would be really great if she was invited to YALC and I was able to meet her!

10. Tomi Adeyemi

I missed getting to meet Tomi when she was at YALC in 2018, because her queue was too long and she had to leave, so it would be awesome if she came back to YALC again and I could finally tell her how much I loved Children of Blood and Bone.

So there we go, those are the authors that I’d love to see at YALC next year! Who would you like to see, if you’re based in the UK and go to YALC? Are there any authors that you would really love to meet? Let me know in the comments!

I’ll be back next week with another Top Ten Tuesday, this time we have a Freebie, so that’s free rein to do any topic that we like. The more topics we do, the more I find it tricky to come up with these freebies! Anyway, since one of my goals for this year is to read more of the long books on my TBR, I’m going to talk about Longest Books On My TBR That I Need To Read!