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The Posh, the Privileged and the Paranormal

The Posh, the Privileged and the Paranormal

Category Archives: Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday – Autumn Reading List

22 Sunday Sep 2013

Posted by georgianaderwent in Top Ten Tuesday

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

books, reading, top ten tuesday

Here’s my entry for Top Ten Tuesday a weekly feature hosted by the blog, The Broke and the Bookish – http://brokeandbookish.blogspot.co.uk/

Each week they ask people to write a top ten list of something on a literary theme. this week, it’s Autumn Reading. It’s five days late, but in my defence, I recently started a new job and my brain feels like it’s about to melt. Nonetheless, I had to get involved with this week’s TTT. My favourite entry so far was summer reading, which really gave my vague reading plans focus and a hint of a challenge. Once I’m back from Furore I’m planning to write a post about how I found the ten books I listed here: Summer Reading

TOP TEN AUTUMN READS:

1 Fangirl – Rainbow Rowell: The cover of this book made me smile like a maniac. That is so me and my fiance when I am in full blown WRITING MODE.

16068905

It sounds both hilarious and touching, the story of a girl who’s spent her teenage years obsessing over her favourite book series online starting university and having to adapt to the real world.

I’ve never been quite as full-blown as the heroine appears to be (though I’ve often been tempted, I’ve never actually written fan-fiction) but loving certain books a little bit too much is certainly something I can identify with.

2)Wildwood – Colin Meloy: I picked this up in a charity shop recently. The first thing that attracted me was the beautiful cover. The second was a quote of recommendation from Lemony Snicket, my favourite imaginary author. And then I noticed who’d written the book, and I was stunned. Colin Meloy is the lead singer/songwriter of the Decemberists, one of my all time favourite bands. Since when does he write children’s fantasy novels? I’m trying to read less YA, so going for a Middle Grade novel seems a step backwards, but I couldn’t resist. If my favourite band were, say, One Direction, I’d be slightly dubious about reading a novel by their lead singer, but even in their songs the Decemberists are fantastically literary, using obscure words and mixing in obscure references from history and folklore., so I’m expecting good things from the book. I’m also expecting it to be painfully hipster.

Wildwood (Wildwood Chronicles, #1)

3)MaddAddam – Margaret Atwood: My “About Me” page claims that I “love to read literary novels that don’t forget about plot and fantasy/paranormal novels that don’t forget about prose. My absolute favourite books are generally those that blur the boundaries between the two categories.”

 

Margaret Atwood has to be the Queen of writing books that fit that description. I think she’s a fantastic writer, so I’ve read all her utterly serious novels that consider what it means to be a woman in the modern world, but where she really blows me away is when she explores the same themes within a sci-fi/dystopian framework. The Handmaid’s Tale is the early example she’s always remembered for, but I think Oryx and Crake, a story of a future world of genetic modification, environmental disaster and online lives, may well be the best thing she’s ever written. The Year of the Flood was a compelling sequel,and I’m excited to read this third and final book in the trilogy. I don’t always agree with all of her politics and I suspect this instalment is going to be unbearably grim in parts, but I’m still very excited to read this. If you’ve never tried the series, I’d definitely recommend giving Oryx and Crake a go.

MaddAddam (MaddAddam Trilogy #3)

4)Moon Over Soho – Ben Aaronovitch: Of all the books on my summer reading list, Rivers of London was one of my favourites. I resisted the temptation to launch straight into the sequel, but I’m looking forward to doing so over the next couple of months. This series is a strange blend of police procedural and urban fantasy. It’s the story of a London policeman who discovers he’s a wizard and has to stop supernatural threats against the capital. It’s a brilliantly realistic portrayal of both the best and the worst of London, and it’s nearly as funny as early Terry Pratchett.

Moon Over Soho (Peter Grant, #2)

5) Snuff: Terry Pratchett: Speaking of which, it’s been brought to my attention that there is a Discworld novel that I haven’t read. I am stunned by this fact. For years, I read every new Discworld book the moment it came out, and it would generally be the highlight of my reading year. The funny thing is that it turns out my now fiance did exactly the same thing all through his teens – I love that we had an obsession in common years before we ever met. With the best will in the world, the last few books in the series have not been as good as the earlier books, but I found a brilliant review from Patrick Rothfuss (one of my more recent favourite authors) which eloquently sums up my feelings on the issue: “Not the best Discworld book I’ve read. But whinging about this not being the Best Pratchett Book Evar is sort of like complaining that the diamond ring you’ve been given is only three/quarters of a carat.” Apparently there’s an even newer one out in November, so I really need to get myself caught up.

Snuff (Discworld, #39)

6) Expo 58: Jonathan Coe – One of my all time favourite novels is Jonathan Coe’s What a Carve Up, closely followed another book of his, The Rotters’ Club. I’ve been underwhelmed by some of his more recent novels, but I’ve got high hopes for this one. I’m currently working for the modern day Civil Service, so a story about what it was like in the fifties sounds intriguing Add in a spy story and (fingers crossed) Coe’s trademark wit and way with words, and this could be great. Let’s hope it doesn’t disappoint me.

Expo 58

I’m going to stick to six for the moment. Any more and I’ll never get Book Three finished. So, have you read any of these books? If so, what did you think and which should I start with? What are your autumn reading plans?

 

Top Ten Tuesday – Summer Reading List

18 Tuesday Jun 2013

Posted by georgianaderwent in Top Ten Tuesday

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

booker prize, books, curtis sittenfeld, fantasy, grave mercy, neil gaiman, rivers of london, shining girls, summer reading, top ten tuesday, ya

It’s time for Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly feature hosted by the blog, The Broke and the Bookish – http://brokeandbookish.blogspot.co.uk/

Each week they ask people to write a top ten list of something on a literary theme. It’s a nice simple one this week: books you’re planning to read over the summer. I’ve kept this down to eight on the basis that there are bound to be things I want to read on a random, spur-of-the-moment basis, not to mention things I suddenly find myself desperate to read once I start browsing other people’s lists:

 

teleportation shining girls ocean rivers sisterland throne of glass seraphina grave mercy

1) The Ocean at the End of the Lane (Neil Gaiman) – the new Neil Gaiman. I think that’s enough said.

2) Sisterland (Curtis Sittenfeld)- and the new Curtis Sittenfeld. A few months ago, when there was a Top Ten Tuesday about autobuy authors, she was high up my list. Besides which, the theme of psychic twin sisters sounds intriguing, even if it’s a bit too similar to my favourite story in Girl Reading.

3) Rivers of London (Ben Aaronovitch) – London based urban fantasy (in the most literal sense of both words) that was recommended to me by someone whose taste in books hasn’t failed me yet. And since they expectantly lent me their copy, I’ve kept seeing praise lavished on it from all quarters.

4) Seraphina (Rachel Hartman) – All through my teens, Seraphina was my favourite name. I used it as the name of the character in my first novel (which possibly tells you everything you need to know about said novel!), used it as my default internet screen name and seriously planned to lumber my first born daughter with it – actually, don’t tell my fiancé, but I’ve still not entirely ruled that out.  When I saw there was a fantasy novel with this title, I almost wondered if I’d written and published it myself whilst drunk. Beyond the name though, I’ve heard good things about this, and I love the idea of a proper hardcore fantasy novel written by a woman.

5) Throne of Glass (Sarah Maas) – And while we’re on the subject of female-authored fantasy, this always seems to be mentioned in the same breath as Seraphina, and also sounds potentially fantastic.

6) Grave Mercy (RL LaFevers)- the more reviews I’ve read, the less sure I’ve been, but when I hear there’s a novel about an assassin nun in fifteenth century France, I’m sold.

7) The Shining Girls – as a general rule, I hate books about serial killers (books about crime full-stop really) but love books that make clever use of time travel. I’m desperate to see which side wins out when I read this tale of a time-travelling serial killer.

8) The Teleportation Accident (Ned Beauman)  – I always try and read my way though those bits of the Booker Prize shortlist that look vaguely interesting, and this entry from last year with what appears to be a weird, time-bending structure has been hanging around on my TBR list for months.

So, anyone want to warn me off any of these or encourage me to hurry up and start one of them?

 

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