Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature from The Broke and the Bookish.
Hello, dear reader. It’s been a while.
I was moving, so I stopped writing. I was planning my best friend’s wedding, so I stopped writing. I was planning my own wedding, so I stopped writing.
But now, it’s time to start writing again.
Now, I won’t be continuing with my reading challenge posts (or at least, I won’t be making up for the ones I missed). I’ve been wondering about that lately. Whether you can make up for lost time, lost sleep. In this case, I think it’s better to just move forward.
I know that the topic for today is boyfriends in literature (as in ones you’d want), but instead I’m going to write about the 10 books I enjoyed the most while I haven’t bee writing.
- Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
This book is a bit of an undertaking, since its size alone was daunting. But in my case, the size worked out. I didn’t feel the need to bring any extra books on my honeymoon, which in turn made me feel free to pick up a few on our trip.
This book has been on my TBR list for a long time. Every time I went looking for it at a bookstore I couldn’t find it. And then one day, I was in a bookstore looking for something completely different and it was staring at me on the shelf.
As for the book itself, it is quite special. The magic is used as a tool, and not as a way to solve every problem. The protagonists are interesting, flawed characters, and the writer has obviously done her research–she puts you right into the time period, dense footnotes and all. It’s not the fastest moving story, but it’s certainly satisfying and well worth reading.
- Cravings: Recipes for All the Food You Want to Eat by Chrissy Teigen
I do not like canned tuna. I have never liked canned tuna. But the tuna noodle casserole in this book had me rethinking that long established viewpoint. This book is full of delicious recipes, and it’s one of my favorite cookbooks at the moment even though it is missing the all-important category of dessert. Beyond the recipes, it’s also hilarious. Teigen writes with great humor and irreverence and makes you fall in love with her and her food.
- The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende
This book is not necessarily my favorite of Allende’s novels, but it is certainly worth reading nonetheless. The love story against the background of the Holocaust in America and the heartbreaking history of Japanese internment is sweet and special.
- Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore
My honorary aunt Jen recommended this book to me (she recommends this book to everyone. She thinks it’s hilarious, and she’s right). If you need a pick me up for any reason, I have a feeling this book will help.
- Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
This book was a present from one of the Christmas exchanges that The Broke and The Bookish put on, and the blogger who gave it to me told me it was one of her favorites. I can definitely see why. It’s sort of un-put-down-able. The subject of the book is a little challenging, since it deals with a young man listening to the tapes one of his classmates recorded right before she committed suicide. Rather than being depressing though, the book has a strong sense about what responsibility and justice means and the arguments it presents are quite compelling.
- The Gravity of Birds by Tracy Guzeman
I’m not going to lie, this book to me a while to get into and I had a few false starts before I finished it. But it was so worth it. This book was intricate and touching, bittersweet in all the right places and with just the right amount of mystery.
- The Revolution of the Moon by Andrea Camilleri
So women of history were badass. This shouldn’t be all that surprising though, because modern women are badass as well. This book is based on the true story of the woman who, for a brief time, ruled Sicily as a governor on behalf of the King. Highly capable and extraordinarily clever, she was able to implement all kinds of positive changes before being taken down by conservative, powerful men and the Church. A fascinating story.
- Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
There aren’t many people who can write nonfiction as if its fiction, but Berendt does. The picture that he paints of Savannah is mesmerizing as are the characters he populates the city with. That the story is all true is just icing on the cake.
- The Relic Master by Christopher Buckley
I’m not sure how a book set in the middle ages manages to feel so modern, but this book does. It tells the story of a man who procures relics for collectors–bones and mementos of canonized saints involved in the purchase of indulgences and what happens when he gets on people’s bad sides.
- Nine Folds Make a Paper Swan by Ruth Gilligan
Did you know that there’s a substantial Jewish population in Ireland? Me neither. But this book tells some really amazing stories about them.
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