Top Five Tuesday: Bookish “T”

The adorable Erin @ Raised Reading did a fun meme awhile back. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to tweak it and use it for a series of Top Five Tuesday posts. I’m going to attempt a top five bookish list for all 26 letters of the alphabet (this could get a little dicey towards the end!).

Other posts in this series:
“A”   “B”   “C”   “D”   “E”   “F”   “G”   “H”   “I”   “J”   “K”   “L”  “M”  “N” “O”  “P”  “Q”  “R”  “S”

Picture Book – The Tale of Two Bad Mice by Beatrix Potter
Middle Grade Book – Time at the Top by Edward Ormondroyd
YA or Adult Book – Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton
TBR – A Thousand Nights by E. K. Johnston
Author – J. R. R. Tolkien

 


 

 

 

TTT: DNF

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday topic is Ten Bookish Things I Want to Quit Or Have Quit (aka ten book series I think I’m going to abandon, ten bookish habits I want to quit, ten authors I quit reading, ten types of books I’m quitting, ten tropes I want to stop reading about, ten books I marked as DNF (did not finish) recently, etc. Get as creative as you want).

Books / Series I have DNF’d:

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ONE. The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

I liked this series well enough (it was a solid 3 star series for me) until we got to Scarlet. Here is a sampling of my status updates:

This is bugging me – Meyer keeps using words wrong. Imminent instead of important or imperative. Prerogative instead of duty. This is the worst so far: “Bloodshot eyes belied her exhaustion, no matter how her jaw was set.” That makes no sense. Bloodshot eyes show that she IS exhausted, they don’t contradict it! Grr.

Can we get back to Cinder now? I’m so over Scarlet.

Torin’s lips perched?!? What, they landed in a tree?

Ugh. I’m done – with the book AND the series. That was awful. The only things I liked about it were Thorne (a little bit) and Iko (she’s a great character).

TWO. Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

Jim Dale’s narration was lovely, but the story lacks J. M. Barrie’s spark and I was bored.

THREE. The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

Meh. This was entertaining enough, but I’m wasn’t invested in the characters or the world (halfway through the trilogy), and Go Set a Watchman was out, so I abandoned series.

FOUR. Death Wears a Beauty Mask and Other Stories by Mary Higgins Clark

Apparently, Clark began writing the title story in 1974 and set it aside to work on Where Are the Children. She should have left it, as this is one of the worst pieces of drivel I’ve ever read.

************SPOILER ALERT!************

This story was ridiculous – sure, I’ll pick your sister up from the airport! What, you don’t have a photo of your only living relative, who looks just like you, to show me so I’ll recognize her? No problem, I’ll dress up and pretend to be you – then she’ll recognize me! What?!?

************END SPOILERS************

FIVE. The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer

The relationship between the narrator and his mother made me unutterably sad. Also, the homeschooling references made me rage-y.

SIX. The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey

The first half was an awesome twisted, fractured fairytale. Then the “love interest” was introduced . . . ugh. So bad.

SEVEN. Uprooted by Naomi Novik

This one makes me sad. Several people whose opinions on books I trust really enjoyed this one. However, at 50% in I was bored. I didn’t really care about any of the characters, the plot was incredibly rambling, the “romance” was squicky, etc. Sigh.

EIGHT. The Philosopher Kings by Jo Walton

I loved The Just City and I was super excited for the sequel, but about halfway through this book (and therefore halfway through the trilogy) the author took a strongly anti-Christian stand. I feel like that was her agenda for the series all along. :/

NINE. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

I’ll probably get flack for this one. I tried this book in audiobook and print formats but I just was not feeling it. The writing style doesn’t appeal to me (so many metaphors! Zusak’s prose is self conscious. It makes for some excellent lines, but page after page of it detracts from the story) and the excessive (German) swearing is irritating.

TEN. Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear

I remember loving the first book, and I know I read several more, but I can’t remember how many. Obviously, I lost interest somewhere along the way.

I’m linking upTop Ten Tuesday

 

TTT: 4th Quarter 2015 TBR

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday topic is Top Ten Books On My Fall TBR. I’m doing my 4th Quarter 2015 TBR.

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  1. The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. My October read for the 2015 Birthday Month Reading Challenge hosted by Lois at You, Me, and a Cup of Tea.
  2. Anne of the Island by L. M. Montgomery. My November read for the same challenge.
  3. Emma by Jane Austen. My December read for – can you guess?
  4. The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allen Poe. For Halloween!
  5. Wicked Autumn by G. M. Malliet. Seasonal reading makes me happy. 🙂
  6. Why Is This Night Different from All Other Nights? by Lemony Snicket. Pre-ordered, releases 9/29/15.
  7. Spinning Starlight by R. C. Lewis. Pre-ordered, releases 10/6/15.
  8. Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith. Pre-ordered, releases 10/20/15.
  9. Beastly Bones by William Ritter. Releases 9/22/15. Downloaded the eBook from my library this morning!
  10. All Dressed in White by Mary Higgins Clark. Releases 11/17/15. #4 on the holds list. No cover yet.

Update on my 3rd Quarter TBR:

  1. Malice at the Palace by Rhys Bowen ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
  2. Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
  3. Death Wears a Beauty Mask by Mary Higgins Clark DNF
    After some ranting I skimmed the end of the title story – meh. I’m not bothering with the rest of the book.
  4. The Melody Lingers On by Mary Higgins Clark ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
  5. Superfluous Women by Carola Dunn ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
  6. The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George DNF
    I really loved the actual bookstore scenes, and the quotes about books were divine, but mostly I was just bored. I felt like if I kept reading this book I would end up in a reading slump. 😦 I’ve since discovered that my library has an eaudio version, so I might try again someday.
  7. Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
  8. Kes by Robin McKinley ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
  9. Uprooted by Naomi Novik DNF
    This makes me sad. Several people whose opinions on books I trust really enjoyed this one. However, at 50% in I was bored. I didn’t really care about any of the characters, the plot is incredibly rambling, the “romance” is squicky, etc. Sigh.
  10. The Philosopher Kings by Jo Walton DNF 
    This is getting ridiculous y’all! I loved The Just City and I was super excited for the sequel, but about halfway through this book (and therefore halfway through the trilogy) the author took a strongly anti-Christian stand. I feel like that was her agenda for the series all along. :/

I’m linking up: Top Ten Tuesday