Happy New Year ’24, everyone! And at last, my favorite topic for the yearly wrap-up to Top 10 Tuesday: favorite books of 2023. We save the best for the end, and it is so much fun adding those best to Mount TBR. Here’s my list too.
Category: Memes
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Ten Memorable Book Quotes
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. Every Tuesday, you pick ten books on that week’s topic. This week, we have a freebie and I am going with some memorable book quotes. Hope these stay with you the way these have stayed with me.
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SciFiMonth November 2023
The SciFiMonth Challenge for 2023 is being hosted by A Dance With Books, BookForager, Dear Geek Place and There’s Always Room For One More.
I’ve read only a handful of science fiction books till date, so I was very wary of signing up. But oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Here’s a list of scifi books languishing on my TBR pile since… forever… but maybe I can at least chomp off one of them by end of November!
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Ten Deliciously Dark Reads
Happy Halloween! And right on cue, we have Top 10 Tuesday giving out a Halloween freebie treat. I’m by no means a horror fan, but I will try to wrap up the month with top 10 spooktastic and deliciously dark reads.
1 / The Shepherd King series by Rachel Gillig
Phenomenally gothic and creepy. This duology took me completely by surprise and got me out of my reader’s block. Absolutely mindblowing world-building, plot AND writing.
2 / The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
In Udolpho, young Emily St. Aubere finds herself orphaned and in the clutches of her wicked uncle-in-law, Montoni. Montoni is up to no good, and more than one skeleton hides in his closet. This is Gothic suspense at its finest, and is highly recommended.
3 / Cry Baby Hollow by Aimee Love
I found this on Goodreads for lesser known Urban Fantasy reads. One of the reviewers said that the “Hollow” was for “holler” — and this is not about your friendly neighborhood wolf. It was such a change from the usual Urban Fantasy, recommended.
It’s time for Top 10 Tuesday again! This week we are looking at books that caught us by surprise – for better or for worse – and I’m sticking to the “plot twist”. Here are 10 books that went to a totally unexpected place for me.
1 | Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
All that obsession with the first Mrs. Maxim de Winter was bound to end some time.
2 | The Queen of Attolia/ The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
A thief ends up marrying the lady who cut off his hand.
3 | One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus
A brainiac, an athlete, a princess, a criminal and a “basket case” walk into detention.
4 | Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
No, Jane – Rochester is not the hero you thought him to be…
5 | Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
There are worlds within worlds, and nothing is as simple as it seems.
6 | Game of Thrones/ A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin
Anyone remember the infamous Red Wedding scene (from the show)? Phew!
7 | The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
Epic and sensational – not a Biblical premise anyone could’ve guessed.
8 | In the Woods by Tana French
The reveal of the culprit was slow and right at the end – made me rant full time.
9 | The Inugami Curse by Seishi Yokomizo
Not the whodunnit, but the how-dunnit was the real plot twist here.
10 | We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
Heart-wrenching tale full of strange experiments and the repercussions.
So, what’s your list looking like? Any jaw-dropping plot twists, unexpected endings, other things that caught you by surprise?
It’s time for Top 10 Tuesday again! I love picking up book recs from fellow bloggers — the lesser known, the better! There’s some extra happiness in locating those hidden gems, you know. So, here are 10 that I’ve picked up in recent months.
It’s a freebie for this Top 10 Tuesday, which means I have no clever idea for making yet another list. So, I’m just going with the top 10 TBR books that I still want to read this year. We are already past the halfway mark, folks! But I still have high hopes…
Any of these on your list? Any of these that you recommend starting first?
For this week’s Top Ten Tuesday, we are looking at bookish wishes. I am taking it rather literally, about bad bargains, perilous wishes and the hazards of ambition. Here’s a quick list:
1 | Shakespeare’s Macbeth – Prophecies, anyone?
2 | Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine – This heroine has been given the gift of obedience!
3 | Half Magic by Edward Eager – Only half of what these kids wish for comes true
4 | Five Children and It by Edith Nesbit – These kids’ wishes will expire promptly at sunset.
5 | Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll – Tall or short, please can she make up her mind?
6 | The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde – He wished all of his aging on a portrait.
7 | Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba – Writing down criminals’ names in a magical death book is not so heroic.
8 | The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien – You get a ring of invisibility but just makes Sauron see you more clearly.
9 | Faust by Goethe – This guy though success on earth is worth selling his soul away.
10 | The Fairy Bargains of Prospect Hill by Rowenna Miller – Experimenting with fairy contracts? Oops!
What do you think? Do you have any books to add to this dangerous booklist on worst bookish wishes ever?
A very intriguing prompt for this week’s Wyrd & Wonder: Eye of Newt! Magical ingredients, spell components or fantasy cooking… or any story tropes or character ingredients that make the perfect brew for the reader in us. This got me thinking of some of the interesting fictional cuisine items that I have come across in fantasy books!
Butterbeer | Harry Potter series
Lembas Bread | The Lord of the Rings
Wonka Chocolate Bars | Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Queen of Hearts’ Tarts | Alice in Wonderland
Goblin Fruit | The Goblin Market
Death of Marat | Sunshine
Nobby’s Mum’s Distressed Pudding | Discworld series
Pop Biscuits | The Folk of the Faraway Tree
Groosling Soup | The Hunger Games
Just… some Honey | Winnie-the-Pooh
Any of these be your “eye of newt”? Did you recall any of these dishes? Did you ever try to give them some mundane world recipes? Did this post bring on some hunger pangs? Spill the beans! 😉
Hosts: A Dance With Books, The Book Nook, Jorie Loves A Story, Dear Geek Place, There’s Always Room For One More
Wyrd & Wonder has super interesting prompt(s) on the art of reading past, present and future by magical means. So, let me pick your brain on how to make some predictions. I could come up with 7 ways, none too dire, I hope!