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Top 5 (or 10) Wednesday


Athena

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Nice to see so many people reply :).

 

This week's topic is: Fictional Jobs You'd Want to Have

 

Author's Note:

-- Any fictional career you'd want to have? Remember, T5W is always open to movies, tv, and video games as well.

 

For myself, the thing that comes to mind is to be a wizard or a mage (something like that). That's not from a specific book though, if I have to choose one specific book I'd have to think about which one.

 

EDIT: Whoops I forgot we could pick five things :doh:! In that case, I'll think about it a bit longer :D.

 

EDIT:

 

I don't think I actually want some of these jobs (since they would be way too difficult for me with my energy levels), but if I had to choose:

 

- Librarian of a magical library (ie. Alcatraz series)

- Mage (ie. Karen Miller's series, Maria V. Snyder's books, Trudi Canavan's series, ...)

- Aes Sedai (The Wheel of Time series)

- Bookseller (ie. The Storied Life of A. J. Fikrey, The Exchange)

- Scientist on Spaceship (ie. from Peter F. Hamilton's books)

 

Or do librarian and book seller not count, because they are actually real jobs? I guess I'll have to wait and see what others make of it.

Edited by Athena
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If it's fiction you can be anything you want!

 

But yes librarian would be great, or I wouldn't mind working at St Mary's Institute (in Jodi Taylor's books).  I'd like to be a writer too, based somewhere where writers in novels always seem to be based eg usually Cornwall or the Lake District or a Scottish island.

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Librarian in a Magical Library. :)

 

Oh yes, books AND magic. Oh yes!  :smile:

 

If it's fiction you can be anything you want!

 

But yes librarian would be great, or I wouldn't mind working at St Mary's Institute (in Jodi Taylor's books).  I'd like to be a writer too, based somewhere where writers in novels always seem to be based eg usually Cornwall or the Lake District or a Scottish island.

 

Just how great would that be?    :yes:

 

 

A 'proper' witch, who combines the practicalities of things with a pinch or two of real magic, a la Terry Pratchett's witches. 

A book jumping literary detective, working alongside Thursday Next (the Jasper Fforde series).

A scribe in the Manuscriptorium of Angie Sage's Septimus Heap series. 

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A book jumping literary detective, working alongside Thursday Next (the Jasper Fforde series).

I haven't read anything in that series but I like the sound of that!

 

A scribe in the Manuscriptorium of Angie Sage's Septimus Heap series.

I don't remember enough from the first book to know what that means, but, I recently bought the remaining volumes so I'm hoping to get started on the series later this year :) (re-reading book 1, the rest will be new to me).

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This week's topic: Favorite Science Fiction & Fantasy Books *BooktubeSFF Awards Crossover Topic!*

 

Author's Note:

--In collaboration with the BooktubeSFF Awards, talk about your favorite science fiction and fantasy books of all time!

 

Mine (okay, I know it's more than 5. I had trouble choosing.):

 

My Top 3:

- Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson - The Wheel of Time series

- Peter F. Hamilton - The Night's Dawn series

- Brandon Sanderson - Mistborn series

 

More:

- Peter F. Hamilton - Commonwealth Saga series + Void series

- Tad Williams - Otherland series

- Scott Meyer - Magic 2.0 series

- David B. Coe - The Lontobyn Chronicles series

- James Clemens - The Banned and the Banished series

- Trudi Canavan - Black Magician series + Traitor Spy series + The Age of the Five series

- Maria V. Snyder - Chronicles of Ixia series

- J. K. Rowling - Harry Potter series

- John Flanagan - Ranger's Apprentice series

- Geronimo Stilton - Fantasia series

 

Fantasy and science-fiction are two of my favourite genres (contemporary fiction and rom-com / chick-lit are the other two).

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Oooh, god. It's a tricky one for me too as that's also my favourite genre (mostly fantasy, but some sci fi too)   :)

 

Favourites:

 

Dragonlance Chronicles/Legends - Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Drizzt Do'Urden series - R A Salvatore

Farseer/Liveship Traders/Tawny Man trilogies - Robin Hobb

Discworld series - Terry Pratchett

Memory, Sorrow & Thorn - Tad Williams

 

Also love:

 

Dark Tower - Stephen King

The Gap - Stephen Donaldson

Empire trilogy - Raymond E Feist & Jenny Wurts

Mistborn trilogy - Brandon Sanderson

Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (depending on how it ends up! ;) )

A Song of Ice & Fire (the first 3 books anyway :D) - George R R Martin

Black Magican trilogy- Trudi Canavan

Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy - Douglas Adams

Otherland series - Tad Williams

The War of the Flowers - Tad Williams

 

Notable mention/guilty pleasure goes to The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind :giggle2:

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Off the top of my head, and in no particular order,(and more than 5!) ;

 

Neuromancer by William Gibson

Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban

Thursday Next Series by Jasper Fforde

The Chronicles Of St Mary's Series by Jodi Taylor

Discworld Series (especially Tiffany Aching books) by Terry Pratchett

Descent series & Ascension series by SM Reine

Septimus Heap series by Angie Sage

Harry Potter series by JK Rowling

 

There will very likely be more to add. I think as others post there will be a hefty expletive followed by the "How could I have forgotten.......?"  :D

 

ETA!

 

How could I have forgotten.........

 

All the novels I have read by Neil Gaiman? Neverwhere?  

His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman?

The Rivers Of London series by Ben Aaronovitch?

 

*Hangs head in deep embarassment*

Edited by Chrissy
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Radiance -  Catherynne M. Valente

The Coldfire Trilogy - C. S. Friedman

The Magicians -  Lev Grossman

Fly By Night (kids book but still fantasy) by Frances Hardinge

His Dark Materials - Phillip Pullman

 

Honourable mentions to:

Magic 2.0 series - Scott Meyer

The Man From Primrose Lane by James Renner

All The Birds In The Sky - Charlie Jane Anders

The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet - Becky Chambers

Harry Potter

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Farseer/Liveship Traders/Tawny Man trilogies - Robin Hobb

I've got the Robin Hobb books on my to-read pile, glad to hear a good recommendation for them :). Discworld is a favourite of mine also.

 

Dark Tower - Stephen King

The Gap - Stephen Donaldson

Empire trilogy - Raymond E Feist & Jenny Wurts

Mistborn trilogy - Brandon Sanderson

Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson (depending on how it ends up! ;) )

A Song of Ice & Fire (the first 3 books anyway :D) - George R R Martin

Black Magican trilogy- Trudi Canavan

Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy - Douglas Adams

Otherland series - Tad Williams

The War of the Flowers - Tad Williams

 

Notable mention/guilty pleasure goes to The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind :giggle2:

I plan to read some of those some day:. I like the A Song of Ice and Fire series but I don't like it enough to put it in my Top "5", same for the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (though that one would probably make it in my Top 10 science-fiction books, not counting fantasy).

 

There will very likely be more to add. I think as others post there will be a hefty expletive followed by the "How could I have forgotten.......?"  :D

 

Very true :D.

 

The Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet - Becky Chambers

This book is a favourite of mine also and would probably make it in my Top 10 science-fiction books (not counting any fantasy books). I'm still grateful to you for recommending it to me.

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Depends what you mean by books that will become classics.  When is a book defined as a classic?  When does it move from a book that may become a classic to one that actually is a classic?  If they are books that have stood the test of time, when does that time kick in?  After 10 years, 20 years, 50 years, 100 years?  Obviously not the first, obviously at least the last, but what about in between? Thus, Birdsong is almost 25 years old - a prospective classic?  A book transitioning into a classic?  A classic already? 

 

The Harry Potter books raise another point: children's 'classics' seem to be allowed sooner than adult 'classics'.  Whilst HP may not yet be regarded as a full-blown classic (although I agree it looks likely to become so), it will almost certainly be regarded as one long before adult contemporaries are allowed as classics. 

 

So, for this list, I'm sticking, fairly arbitrarily, to books that have been published since 2000.

 

Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel

Gilead - Marilynne Robinson

Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides

Pure - Andrew Miller

 

And a trio of those I think should come to be regarded as classics, but I'm not confident will get there:

The Story of Lucy Gault - William Trevor

The Sea Road - Margaret Elphinstone (who?!)

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet - David Mitchell (much better than Cloud Atlas!)

 

A gamble on a very recent novel:

The Essex Serpent - Sarah Perry

 

And, beyond Harry Potter, two for the children's list to make up the ten in total:

The Mortal Engines series - Philip Reeves

The Northern Lights trilogy - Philip Pullman (just squeezes in with Amber Spyglass published in 2000).

Edited by willoyd
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Hmm, difficult one. I would like to think that these would become classics - on the selfish premise that I enjoyed them and that while reading them I felt I was reading something "worthy" (although quite why that should be important isn't something I can put my finger on)

 

Life of Pi - Yann Martel

The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseinni

 The Passage trilogy - Justin Cronin

 

I would agree with the Harry Potter books too.

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I am not exactly sure what constitutes a classic. People reading it hundreds of years later is what I am going on. Though with my loose defination, every public domain book on project Gutenberg is a classic.

 

The song of ice and fire series and the Harry potter series are both going to be classics. Some of Stephan kings books will probably be too. And now on to the "they might be considered classics but if not they will be" books. Lord of the rings, the silmarillian, children of hurin, the hobbit, 1984, Lord of the Flies, And animal farm. I guess those are labled modern classics now I think of it though.

Edited by dragonmyst
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  • 2 weeks later...

Whoops, I totally messed up and forgot: Favorite Angsty Romances

 

Author's Note:

--This topic has been much requested! Talk about your favorite ships that have a healthy side of angst. (definition: adj.: describes a situation or literary piece which contains dark, depressing, angry, and/or brooding emotions from the participating characters.)

 

I am not really sure what it means, but if anyone else wants to have a go at it and post their list, feel free :).

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

April 5th: Top SFF Books on Your TBR *Booktube SFF Awards Babble Crossover Topic!*

 

Author's Note:

--Talk about the science fiction and fantasy books you want to read ASAP!

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