Books in the queue.
November seems to be SciFi Reading Month. So for this week’s Top Ten Tuesday meme hosted by Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl, I’m sharing a list of top 10 scifi books from my TBR pile (not book quotes). I’d planned to work on my science fiction reading muscle this year, and who knows? Still have 2 more months for end of 2021, you know.
I’m taking inspiration from the prompts for SciFiMonth 2021 challenge hosted by Imyril and Dear Geek Place, particularly the Book Bingo.
September is nearly gone and I’m still struggling with the reading/ blogging blues that first showed up for me in July. Still, a reading list for Fall 2021 for this week’s Top 10 Tuesday seemed doable — even if I (probably) won’t end up reading through. 🙁
The reading list is tailored for:
► The R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril (RIP) XVI Reading Challenge 2021 hosted @perilreaders on Twitter and Instagram, where you get to try out spooky stuff, at least once a year (in my case), and
► The Treason & Plot #WitchWeek2021 Challenge hosted by Calmgrove and LizzieRoss Writer, where you get to try out books involving gothic mayhem and dark magic.
If these reading challenges interest you, here are a few suggestions!
It’s time for #6degrees. Start with the monthly read, add six books, and see where you end up. The 6 Degrees of Separation Meme is hosted every month at Books are my Favorite and Best.
Postcards from the Edge by Carrie Fisher is the book for August 2021. Which makes me take on the very obvious route of epistolary books. Not my favorite format, but here’s the list for six books on red letter days.
Foxes and Fairy Tales is hosting another very cool reading challenge in July 2021: TrekAThon Round 1. Each book you read will power the Transporter and let you rescue one crew-member (and once you finish the Scotty prompt, you can combine prompts!). All book choices are your own. The sign-up post is here, and here’s a rundown of the books I hope to read.
I found a fun reading challenge that starts off today, Mythothon Round 4, which is all about Arthurian adventures! It sounds wonderful, even if a bit complicated, so see if you want to give it a try. I hope I’m not too late in telling you about it!
I’m not sure how much of the required reading I’ll actually do myself. But it got me thinking, and I do think Mythothon makes for an awesome book tag for any existing TBR.
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 get to spotlight books we plan to read in Spring 2021. Here are my picks — but not choosing by publication date!
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 have a Spring Cleaning freebie. So here are ten books I recently said Nay! to.
1 / The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh Because it turned out to be Vampire + Melodrama + YA genre, and I’m afraid I’ve outgrown that.
2 / Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse Because it’s an amazing series but only the first book is out yet and I’d rather wait and then binge-read.
3 / Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by K. J. Parker Because I was really looking forward to this till I came across a very different perspective.
4 / Soulswift by Megan Bannen Because I got to know it has a tragic end, and I can’t stomach one of those right now.
5 / Snake Eyes by Hillary Monahan Because although it was extremely well written, it was also a very grotesque (for me) tale about reptile humanoids.
6 / The Raging Quiet by Sherryl Jordan Because although it’s rare to find a YA book dealing with disability with such sensitivity, this book seemed relentlessly bleak.
7 / Death in the Stocks by Georgette Heyer Because this turned out to be exceptionally boring with characters that were all very “cold fish”.
8 / Lucy Anne Trotter Series by Anya Wylde Because this didn’t turn out to be as funny as I had hoped, and rather contrived.
9 / Corrag by Susan Fletcher Because it reminded me too much of Outlander, and I’m not sure I want to read something along similar lines at the moment.
10 / Planetfall series by Emma Newman Because I really liked the premise but other readers have warned it’s not a read for pandemic times.
“I write fantasy because it’s there. I have no other excuse for sitting down for several hours a day indulging my imagination. Daydreaming. Thinking up imaginary people, impossible places. Imagination is the golden-eyed monster that never sleeps. It must be fed; it cannot be ignored. Making it tell the same tale over and over again makes it thin and whining; its scales begin to fall off; its fiery breath becomes a trickle of smoke.
It is best fed by reality, an odd diet for something nonexistent; there are few details of daily life and its broad range of emotional context that can’t be transformed into food for the imagination. It must be visited constantly, or else it begins to become restless and emit strange bellows at embarrassing moments; ignoring it only makes it grow larger and noisier. Content, it dreams awake, and spins the fabric of tales. There is really nothing to be done with such imagery except to use it: in writing, in art.
Those who fear the imagination condemn it: something childish, they say, something monsterish, misbegotten. Not all of us dream awake. But those of us who do have no choice.”
~ Patricia McKillip, in Faces of Fantasy by Patti Perret
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.)
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 pick our favorite bookish gifts from Santa!