Top 5 (or 10) Wednesday

[Athena]

This week's topic is: Genre Benders

 

Author's Note:
--Books that defy genre or are hard to place in a certain category.

[Athena]

Here are some that came to mind for me:

 

Stephen King - The Stand

Scott Meyer - Magic 2.0 series

Ted Walliams - Otherland series

Geronimo Stilton, Thea Stilton - Various Books

Audrey Niffenegger - The Time Traveler's Wife

Melanie Rose - Could It Be Magic?

Eowyn Ivey - The Snow Child

Neil Gaiman - The Ocean at the End of the Lane

George Orwell - Animal Farm

 

I'm sure various children's books would fit as well, but I already named 9 things, so .

 

[Athena]

This week's topic is: Problematic Faves

 

Author's Note:
--Characters you don't want to love, but you can't help liking.

 

I have to say I don't quite understand the topic (that's probably just me though). I don't think it's happened that I don't "want to like" a character but then I do like them? I can see if it means liking a character that maybe has some shady sides, but I don't know if that's what's meant..?

[Madeleine]

Sounds like it, I thought we did this topic quite recently?  Characters who you love to hate, or something similar?

[Athena]

Yes, we did have a topic of characters you love to hate! But maybe that's something different than characters you don't want to like but you like them? I have no idea, I find both pretty confusing!

[Lau_Lou]

I am not sure I understand the topic for this week either.

I will say I was quite fond of Miranda The Devil Wears Prada. As I could not stand the protagonist Andy and we are I assume, all supposed to  dislike Miranda. 

 

There was also a character in The Flowershop By The Sea by Ali McNamara, who was awful. Her personality was stuck up and she was always right, but I liked the character.

 

Honestly though, like you say it's not that easy to understand what they are asking. 

[Athena]

Whoops I completely forgot to post the topics of lately.

 

November 15th: Nostalgic Book Boyfriends/Girlfriends

Author's Note:
-- Characters you swooned over when you were younger. This was a topic from our suggestion board

 

And this week's one:

November 22nd: Books You're Thankful For

Author's Note:
--For whatever reason, big or small.

 

The two that come to my mind straight away, for this last topic, are:

 

Jen Wilde - Queens of Geek and

Rachael Lucas - The State of Grace

 

Because these books described autism and anxiety so well and I could really identify myself with those characters. Queens of Geek for autism and anxiety, The State of Grace for autism and the sensitivity to input.

 

And to a lesser extent, I recently read Mirjam Mous (ill. Marja Meijer) - Alle Dagen Hardstikke Druk, and I'm thinking of that one for its portayal of ADHD concentration problems.

 

I'm also thankful for Martine Delfos - Een Vreemde Wereld, because when I read this book during my teenage years, it taught me a lot and made me feel so understood.

 

That's on a very personal scale.

 

 

[Onion Budgie]

For the first topic, I'm going to be utterly predictable and say Sherlock Holmes, as Sidney Paget drew him.  (I can hardly recall a point in my life when SH wasn't in it, in one form or another!)

 

As for books I'm thankful for, that would generally be any LGBT+, and in particular:

 

Maurice by E.M. Forster

Queer by William S. Burroughs

Sucking Sherbet Lemons (and the other two books in the trilogy) by Michael Carson

Other Voices, Other Rooms by Truman Capote

 

All first read when I was in my teens/early 20s.

 

Edited November 24, 2017 by Onion Budgie

[Athena]

I forgot to post last week . Sorry.

 

Topic from last week: Authors You'd Want to Write Like

 

Author's Note:

--In honor of NaNo wrapping up, discuss some authors you'd like to write like. Whether its their writing style, what genre they write in, or how many books they manage to churn out a year!

 

I don't think I want to write like any specific author to be honest. I kind of like having my own style .

 

This week's topic: Bookish Things You're a Grinch About

 

Author's Note:

-- Since being a grinch is a funny thing, try not to make this serious topics that make you angry (like lack of diversity or abusive relationships in fiction, etc) as this is supposed to be more of a petty bookish things you hate. This can be stuff about covers, dumb tropes, etc. Have fun with it.

 

Being a grinch is a funny thing? I must honestly only half know what it means then. What comes to mind:

 

- When a book series changes cover design mid-series or when an author's books change cover design.

- When a book series or author's books change size.

- And while we're being a bit nitpicky: When an author's books or a series' books, changes font or font size (yes, this bothers me!).

 

[lopeanha]

On 4.12.2017 at 11:49 AM, Athena said:

- When a book series changes cover design mid-series or when an author's books change cover design.

- When a book series or author's books change size.

- And while we're being a bit nitpicky: When an author's books or a series' books, changes font or font size (yes, this bothers me!).

 

Yes, I'm totally on board with you.

Plus: when publishers stop publishing series that aren't done yet.

My Kitty Norville series books are from three different publishers > 3 different designs, 3 different sizes, 2 languages, different fonts, everything.

[Athena]

On 12/9/2017 at 12:03 PM, lopeanha said:

Plus: when publishers stop publishing series that aren't done yet.

My Kitty Norville series books are from three different publishers > 3 different designs, 3 different sizes, 2 languages, different fonts, everything.

 

That's so annoying !

 

This week's topic is: Characters on the Naughty List

 

Author's Note:
--These can be villains or just characters you don't like!

 

 

[Litwitlou]

For top of the list I nominate George R.R. Martin. (He's not a character in a book but he's certainly a character.)

Edited December 11, 2017 by Litwitlou

[Athena]

4 hours ago, Litwitlou said:

For top of the list I nominate George R.R. Martin. (He's not a character in a book but he's certainly a character.)

 

That's true!

[ian]

The first character that came into my head was that that of The Fireman, from the book of the same name by Joe Hill. Although nominally the hero of the piece, he always seems to be In everyone's bad books. He comes across as more of a rebel for the sake of rebellion rather than a straightforward hero type.

[Athena]

20 hours ago, ian said:

The first character that came into my head was that that of The Fireman, from the book of the same name by Joe Hill. Although nominally the hero of the piece, he always seems to be In everyone's bad books. He comes across as more of a rebel for the sake of rebellion rather than a straightforward hero type.

 

That's a shame, was the rest of the book okay to read? I have the book on my TBR.

[Athena]

I know it's not Wednesday yet but what the hey:

 

This week's topic is: Top 5 Books of 2017

 

Author's Note:
-- I know most people have a longer list than this, or post theirs at different times (like I'll be waiting until January for example) but if you want to make a list of your absolute faves of the year, now is the time!

[ian]

My five favourite's I've read this year are;

 

The City of Mirrors  - Justin Cronin.  A fantastic end to "The passage" trilogy

A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving.  A really thought-provoking book that kept me guessing to the end.

The Fireman - Joe Hill. An epic post-apocalyptic tale, with a dash of humour.

The Dark Tower - Stephen King. Actually, the whole series, but I'll just pick one. An infinite series of universes in one book series? Who could ask for more!

Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank. A difficult read - but compelling, and a timely reminder from history of where hate leads us.

 

 

 

[Onion Budgie]

Here are mine:

 

Q's Legacy by Helene Hanff.  Warm and witty, as always.

The Pigeon by Patrick Suskind.  A fascinatingly odd main character in this short novella.

Days Without End by Sebastian Barry.  Absolutely compelling.  Brutal and beautiful.

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane.  A solid psycho-thriller.  Loved the twist at the end.

Lord Edgware Dies by Agatha Christie, at her most twisty.  One of the better Poirot mysteries.

[Lau_Lou]

The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time by Mark Haddon

 

Animal Farm by George Orwell

 

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

 

Victoria by Daisy Goodwin

 

Changeling by Philippa Gregory 

[chaliepud]

My top five were:

 

Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave

Mischling by Affinity Konar

The Boy on the Bridge by M.R, Carey

Time and Time Again - Ben Elton

Midwives - Chris Bohjalian

[Athena]

This week's topic is: 2018 Wishlist

 

Author's Note:
--Looking forward into the new year, this is a list of the types of books you'd like to see more of in 2018! Try to avoid actual titles, and discuss themes, genres, or tropes you'd like to see more of in the new year!

 

This is what I came up with, but I'm sure there's more.

 

1. More (fictional) books featuring a female main character with autism (not just contemporary fiction books, but also in fantasy for example), with good representation.

2. More (fictional) books featuring a (preferably female) main character with AD(H)D (not just contemporary fiction books), with good representation.

3. More (fictional) books featuring a main character with a mental illness (not just contemporary fiction books), with good representation.

4. More (fictional) books featuring characters with multiple mental illnesses, and / or a mental illness and a condition like autism and AD(H)D and / or multiple conditions like autism and AD(H)D (not just contemporary fiction books), with good representation.

5. More books with diverse casts, with a good story.

6. Fantasy and science-fiction standalones (because sometimes I don't want to start a long series).

7. More books featuring non-binary characters and / or characters who are asexual and / or aromantic.

8. More friendships between male and female characters in young-adult books.

9. More fantasy books that are high fantasy from the earlier days, taking place in a different world with interesting magic, maybe with creatures like dragons.

10. More #OwnVoices books.

[willoyd]

There are so many books to get through, that I'm struggling to think of any of which I actually want more!  What I'm looking forward to in 2018 (a slightly different thing, I know) is reading more non-fiction, more American literature, and fewer children's/young adult books - with a few exceptions, I've had more than enough of them over the past years of teaching!

Edited December 29, 2017 by willoyd

[Athena]

18 hours ago, willoyd said:

There are so many books to get through, that I'm struggling to think of any of which I actually want more!  What I'm looking forward to in 2018 (a slightly different thing, I know) is reading more non-fiction, more American literature, and fewer children's/young adult books - with a few exceptions, I've had more than enough of them over the past years of teaching!

 

Oh I took it to mean, what would we like to see in 2018 releases / published books, not what kind of things we'd like to read in 2018 (but may be published in earlier years). I guess your meaning is possible too!

[willoyd]

4 hours ago, Athena said:

 

Oh I took it to mean, what would we like to see in 2018 releases / published books, not what kind of things we'd like to read in 2018 (but may be published in earlier years). I guess your meaning is possible too!

 

I took it to mean that too.  My point was that I wasn't looking for any more books about anything to be published - there's already more than enough fror me to deal with without adding to the choice!  That is why I went slightly off topic to say what reading I was looking forward to - as I said, that's a slightly different thing, I know!  Sorry for the diversion.

[Athena]

The topic for last week was: 2018 Reading Resolutions

 

Author's Note:
-- Self explanatory. Let us know 5 of your reading goals for the year.

 

I initially didn't post this one as most of us have our own book (b)logs / threads for this. I personally don't really have any set-in-stone goals, as I hope that'll take some pressure off my reading.

 

This week's topic: Books You Didn't Get to In 2017

 

Author's Note:
--These are books you didn't end up getting to in 2017, but really want to prioritize in 2018.

 

I'm a mood reader so I'm really not sure what is my highest priority right now in terms of books.. I just read what I feel like reading and I usually can't predict the next few books I'll be reading, because after finishing my current read (whatever it is), I usually feel in a different mood and after finishing that next book I'll be in a different mood and so on. I can't really predict it and book priorities for me change all the time.