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. And this week, we spotlight our ten favorite funny books. In no order of priority, here they are!
Category: Memes
“SHOPMAN: “You may have your choice — penny plain or twopence coloured.”
SOLEMN SMALL BOY: “Penny plain, please. It’s better value for the money.”
Penny Plain by O. Douglas was a cozy, charming find (thanks to Elisabeth’s recommendation from last year). It’s set in the small town of Priorsford in Scotland, in the 1920s just after WWI.
Young Jean Jardine, barely twenty four, has been taking care of her three younger brothers since a long time. The Jardines have lived on meager means since their parents passed away, but they are an optimistic, good-hearted lot. There’s young rascal Mhor and his dog Peter, Jock who detests sentimentality because he’s at that teenage of life, David who got a scholarship to Oxford and just wants to improve things for his sister. They make do with what they have, possessing a secret of happiness that certainly the rich don’t. Oh, and they read lot, and quote Shakespeare and Sir Walter Scott and lots of wonderful poetry.
Categories
Top Ten Literary Crushes
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. This is Valentine’s Day week — so, a good time to think about my top 10 literary crushes over the years.
It’s time for #6degrees. Start with the monthly read, add six books, and see where you end up. Inspired by the 6 Degrees of Separation Meme hosted every month at Books are my Favorite and Best.
February 2021’s book is Redhead By the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler. is about a “Tech Hermit”, Micah Mortimer, whose neat, routined life goes topsy-turvy when guests appear uninvited at his door. This made me think of various house guest experiences, especially for some of the more reclusive literary characters.
Lately, I’ve been consuming speculative fiction centered around Japanese mythology / Shinto creation mythology. Putting up a few reviews here as part of the Japanese Literature Reading Challenge 2021.
Dragon Sword and Wind Child by Noriko Ogiwara
This book is part of the Tales of Matagama series but you can also read it as a standalone. Saya lives in the village, with no memory of the past. She finds comfort in her worship of the God of Light and his children. But the God of Light has been at eternal war with the Goddess of Darkness, and only the Water Maiden can wield the Dragon Sword and bring that war to an end. Saya’s world comes crashing down when she discovers that is that Water Maiden.
Kindred by Octavia Butler was published in 1979 and is my second book for the Vintage Science Fiction Month (not a reading challenge) of January 2021. I chose to go with the graphic novel version from Damian Duffy (adaptation) and John Jennings (illustration).
is not “comfort read”. It’s not the book to choose when you’re down with pandemic fatigue. But it IS a science fiction classic that is a must-read for understanding the issues of race and slavery in Antebellum South.
The White Company by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was originally published in 1891, and is my first selection for the 2021 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.
Conan Doyle is obviously famous for his Sherlock Holmes series, but this lesser known book was apparently one of his favorites. It’s set in the Middle Ages — a period in history that I really like to read about.
The Friday Face Off meme was created by Books by Proxy and hosted by Lynn. For each week’s theme, we select a matching book and compare its different book covers across editions. Perfect for a visual fix!
Theme for is:
Books with ‘Moon’ in the Title
I’ve decided to take a lighter note on this, and go with P.G. Wodehouse’s Full Moon. A very funny book involving an artist, a pig and a castle. Mayhem ensues!
When the moon is full at Blandings, strange things happen: among them the commissioning of a portrait of The Empress, twice in succession winner in the Fat Pigs Class at the Shropshire Agricultural Show. What better choice of artist, in Lord Emsworth’s opinion, than Landseer? The renowned painter of The Stag at Bay may have been dead for decades, but that doesn’t prevent Galahad Threepwood from introducing him to the castle – or rather introducing Bill Lister, Gally’s godson, so desperately in love with Prudence that he’s determined to enter Blandings in yet another imposture. Add a gaggle of fearsome aunts, uncles and millionaires, mix in Freddie Threepwood, Beach the Butler and the gardener McAllister, and the moon is full indeed.
Although I find the centre cover to be the funniest, the first one looks the most eye-catching. And the third one matches the story the best! Hmm, tough choice. I think I’ll go with the first one for this Friday Face Off #2, which manages to catch the comedy of manners without looking too absurd!
{Edited: January 10, 2021, to fix the image glitch.}
What if the Gods were alien invaders on another planet? What if they jealously guarded treasures of the advanced technological variety from the non-Gods? And, what if one day, someone decided to open up those treasure vaults to the rest of the world? That’s the theme of L by Roger Zelazny.
is a 1967 science fiction book and is my first book for the Vintage Science Fiction Month (not a reading challenge) of January 2021.
It’s time to set out reading goals for 2021. I’m not fully certain of my own commitment levels, nor am I very clear about the rules yet … But the reading challenges and memes below are the ones I most hope to participate in. If you’re reading this, perhaps you too will find some interesting prompts in here. (Will also update this list from time to time.)