Well, it’s been more than a quarter, but it’s just easier to sum up that way! I’m still not getting much reading done, but at least I managed to find some really good movies. Here’s a wrap-up for the first quarter.
The wonderful Wyrd & Wonder has started off again, hosted by Annemieke (A Dance With Books), Ariane (The Book Nook), Jorie (Jorie Loves A Story), Lisa (Dear Geek Place) and Imyril (There’s Always Room For One More). Thanks so much to them for all the effort that goes into this!
This Sunday, the prompt is top 5 magical systems (or spells) that we have come across in books. Obviously, world-building plays a huge role, but my picks are based on certain really striking book scenes.
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10 Random Books from the Shelf
This week’s Top 10 Tuesday (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl) has an interesting theme and finally had me dropping the laziness and getting back to blog. We pick 10 random books from the shelf (whether from the read or TBR pile) — well actually: The First 10 Books I Randomly Grabbed from My Shelf.
Here are my picks. Most of these are still unread or only halfway through, so if you’ve read these before, share your reviews please!
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This week we have a genre freebie for Top 10 Tuesday, and I am going with Top 10 Mythological Fantasy Books. I really do like a plot where the gods get interested in mortal affairs, leading to much chaos — and great world-building.
1 / The Chalion Series / World of the Five Gods series by Lois McMaster Bujold
2 / Inheritance Trilogy by N. K. Jemisin
3 / Paternus Trilogy by Dyrk Ashton
4 / Malazan Book of the Fallen Series by Steven Erikson
5 / Edda of Burdens trilogy by Elizabeth Bear
6 / The Queen’s Thief Series by Megan Whalen Turner
7 / Tales of the Magatama Series by Noriko Ogiwara
8 / Indulgence Series by Erin Kellison
9 / The Wicked + The Divine saga by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie
10 / The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
Have you read or are you interested any of these mythological fantasy books? Please feel free to leave as many recs as possible too!
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… And the Book OTP Prizes Go to …
For this week’s Top 10 Tuesday meme, we have a Valentine’s Day freebie, so let’s showcase some of those OTP (One True Pairings) that deserve extra attention today. Disclaimer: All of this is intended in good fun only!
How did 2022 fly by so quickly? I barely got any reading done (especially in the second half) and DNF’ed more books than ever (my watchlist fared way better!). For better or for worse, here they are, the few books that stood out as my “favorite books of 2022”.
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. The book for December 2022 is The Snow Child by by Eowyn Ivey.
Snow Child is a retelling of an old (and rather sad) folktale about the little girl that a childless couple finds in the woods, but she is made of snow and ice and cannot stay on. It reminded me of a few unusual retellings of folk tales and how the fictional and the real converge in our worlds.
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Top 10 Cozy Reads
This week’s Top 10 Tuesday meme has us looking at books that give us cozy vibes. Here’s a list to to keep us warm!
1/ Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Everything sounds hopeful and cozy when Anne says it.
2/ James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Because there’s so much happiness in finding your own tribe.
The Inugami Family (Japanese Movie)
Year of Release: 1976
Director: Kon Ichikawa
Based on the Book: The Inugami Curse by Seishi Yokomizo
Recommended for fans of: Gothic, Foreign Period Dramas, Eerie Mysteries, A touch of Horror, Brilliant Plot, Golden Age of Detective Fiction
Some time back, Words & Peace had recommended The Inugami Curse and I’d wanted to read the book ever since. I decided to take the shortcut when I accidentally discovered there was a subtitled movie adaptation too.
It’s a superb plot. The patriarch of the Inugami family clan dies, leaving behind several competing successors and a really crazy will. I don’t think it’s giving away spoilers to say that the will goes along the lines of “If A dies, B gets the property. If B dies, C gets the property….” It’s like the dreadful old man was setting them all up to murder, starting with A! Along the way there are some red herrings – the challenge is to identify which ones are red herrings and which ones are not.
