Cast On: The first section you scope out in a bookshop
When I enter a bookshop, I'll usually make a beeline for the Fantasy section, especially if they have something like a Young Adult or Teen section. Then I might meander over to Mystery/Thrillers, because I know a few authors whose works I very much enjoy. Depending on how the store is arranged, I may also peruse the Science Fiction section, in case a particular title grabs my attention. Altogether, it should keep me occupied for a while. It's rare that I go into a bookstore and don't find anything I want to own!
Knit: A super-hyped book that completely delivered for you
When Netflix announced that they were going to produce
an adaptation of Leigh Bardugo's Shadow and Bone, I was immediately interested. It was a book that I'd seen occasionally (while checking out the Teen Fantasy section at Barnes and Noble) but hadn't read quite yet. I went into watching the show without much of an inkling as to what I was getting myself into, and utterly
adored the casting! Of course, I immediately placed a hold on
Shadow and Bone at the library. I'd hoped to actually pick it up before I got too far in the series, but out of three visits to the library, it was never on the shelf! Finally, it came to my turn to check it out, and I found the same scenes and characters from the show now brought to mind anew by the novel itself! I have seen adaptations done badly, so I was very pleased to find that Netflix had done the book justice, at least as far as I got in that first book. Turns out, the adaptation also included the storyline from
Six of Crows as well, working in tandem, so just the first book in the Grishaverse trilogy wasn't everything I'd already seen in the first season! I'll definitely be reading more of that series, though!
Purl: A character you believe deserves more love
So many! I enjoy at least one or two characters in each of the books I've ever read, and I've noticed a trend that the characters I am most drawn to are the side characters. These are the "unsung heroes" of the book, often carrying their own arcs and backstories that we don't get to see because the author needs us to focus on the struggles and strengths of the main character--but it's often in those interactions with the side characters that we see the development of the main character. Without side characters, the book would be a dull, dragging slog through self-importance and and an echo-chamber of singular thoughts. Side note: I've read just such a book, and there was almost no character development to speak of, and the book was so insufferable that I abandoned the whole series then and there. Give me an interesting side character over the most charismatic hero, any day!
Chart: A book or author you've been meaning to read but haven't got around to
I am terrible about getting through my TBR list in any kind of timely fashion! I'm about 90 books deep, and that's just the indie books that I intend to feature on this blog under the Reader's Reviews--but I'll at least mention a couple of them here!
First of all, there is
The First Binding by R. R. Virdi. Longtime followers of this blog will recognize the name for sure, but that would be from his start as a self-published indie author of a
roaring good paranormal investigator series,
The Grave Reports. Readers would follow the snarky main character Vince Graves, a disembodied soul doomed to inhabit the bodies of Recently-Deceased-Under-Suspicious-Supernatural-Circumstances, assigned the task of discovering the murderer and avenging the person's death, and dealing with his own personal demons along the way! I have been a fan from the very start, so when he announced that he'd been signed with Tor Publishing (a
very big-deal traditional publishing house!) for an epic-fantasy trilogy, I was absolutely thrilled at the notion. I did end up pre-ordering the ebook, but it's been sitting on my queue until I can wade through all the
other books I've acquired over the years. He's already gearing up to release the sequel, and I still haven't read the book I bought! What gives?
The other book I'll mention is one by a friend of mine. Many years ago she saw my blog, saw the serial stories I'd post on there, and got inspired to start blogging her own serials. There was one story in particular that I followed avidly, completely enamored with her writing style and creativity in story development. That all fades and I don't hear from her for a while.... and then lo and behold she's written her own fantasy story, a duology, in fact! The book is called Empire of Blood and my friend is Olivia Cornwell--I have no doubt she's done an amazing job with it, and I can't believe it has taken me so long to even acquire her book, much less getting around to reading it at long last! (Remember how I have so many books on my TBR??)
Whew! Maybe this confession is just the sort of accountability I need to really buckle down and read more!
Double-Pointed Needles (DPNs): A book you can read out of order AND a series people might think you can but you actually can't
Ooh, this was a hard one to answer at first because I'm one of those "weird" people who hates to read a series out of order if I can help it! I'll flat-out refuse to read a series till I can get the books in the right order! (Which means I've not read a lot of Terry Pratchett's Discworld, sorry folks!)
That being said, I did a quick Google search to see if any series I've read qualifies as those that other people might say one could read out of order. Such as a series that I, myself, have not strictly adhered to the chronological order, namely Agatha Christie's Poirot series, or Brian Jacques' Redwall series. My local library would only have a smattering of titles on hand at any given time, so for both of those it was really a matter of "Get what you can while you're here." To this day, I believe there are a handful of books in both those series that I haven't read, maybe the odd few that I never quite found during my library visits, or didn't know about to specifically place on hold--but I'm none the worse for wear, and you can be, too!
Then there's a series like Sue Grafton's ABC Mysteries series, where she has each book named for a letter of the alphabet. I started reading the series from A is for Alibi and I'm nearly done by now, but I can say that although it's in "alphabetical order", the mysteries themselves are really self-contained and only occasionally are there side characters that carry over from one book to the next, and especially there are some side characters that show up in some way in every book, so they can really be read in whatever order you find them.
Lastly, we finish with a series that definitely cannot be read out of order, and one that I think applies here very much is the Lorien Legacies series by Pittacus Lore. It may seem like a flexible series because first of all it has numbers in the titles and the numbers are not in order, but it's definitely a sequential series and there is so much happening in each book that if you want to skip ahead or if you don't know about the actual order of the books and try to read them by the order of the titles, then you'll miss large parts of the story and it won't make sense till you can put it all in order.
Cables: A book you heard negative reviews for but you ended up loving
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. It wasn't so much the negative reviews as everyone making a huge deal about the copious amounts of steamy sex scenes in it! Those who enjoyed it most were the type who enjoyed smutty romance books. I'm not really that type, but it wasn't till someone recommended it while telling me about the interesting things that happen in it--the time travel, the stunning visuals, the bravery of the main character Claire to face historical issues with modern solutions--that finally convinced me to give it a try.
I read it, and I wouldn't say I loved it the way I love stories that I would recommend to everyone else and read over and over again, but I definitely enjoyed it more than I thought I would! The sex scenes were definitely there, but I would say, for as many sex scenes I've read in novels that don't necessarily make a huge deal about there being sex scenes in their books, Diana's writing style was definitely not as crass as some descriptions have been. She makes a multi-sensory experience, talking about the sensations of the setting, the emotional component, and what's going on around the deed, so that someone who doesn't much care for the activity of the scene can still read the conversation happening without, as it were, "dwelling on the visuals." I heard negative things about it, but it wasn't at all what I thought it was going to be, and I enjoyed it more than I expected to!
Skein: A trope you can't stand
Speaking of romance novels.... I started thinking about tropes that irked me to no end, and the ones that came to mind first all tended to be most prevalent in romance novels!
Things like "
She's Not Like Other Girls", or "
Always The Victim"--those tropes placed on protagonists (male as well as female) where
everybody else in the world is exactly the same,
BUT PROTAGONIST IS DIFFERENT, and that's what's going to kick off the action and change the world. "Always The Victim" speaks to the tropes where the protagonist is a "noble" character who is picked on mercilessly by absolutely
everyone, so when it comes out that he or she is "special" or "important", he or she has to "fight to be heard" because no one takes him or her seriously and whenever something terrible happens, somehow it's always aimed at the protagonist in some way.
I get annoyed with romance novels--especially in supernatural/paranormal/anything fantasy-adjacent genres, because invariably they're going to use the
"Fated Mates" trope, the one where the hardened, snarky, "strong" female type sees the ugly/abusive/secretive/"lone wolf"/outsider male "love interest" and the two of them are overtaken by "forces beyond their control" and it doesn't matter how terribly the Big Strong Important Inhumane Man behaves, the female protagonist is "consumed" by her desire for him, or "resigned to her fate" because she's his mate so she has to just take it because there's no other way.
I'll talk about two more tropes, and these generally tend to occur in novels where some kind of magic or super-power is involved:
Too Important To Die, and a trope I call
Boyfriends With Superpowers.
Too Important To Die is irritating because it's a character that the author is
obviously attached to, so it is evident they expect the reader to care as much as they do, so much that they
forget to actually put in the effort to
make the reader care as the story develops... but at the same time, all the perils and death-defying situations and sacrificial moments the "chosen hero" faces that end up killing everybody around him always seem to be things that he recovers from, although he might pass out a few times. Why? Because he's "Too Important To Die." So things that would definitely snuff out anybody else, he just passes out and wakes up to go after the antagonist one more time. Or something happens to protect him so he doesn't die. Heck, I've even stopped watching certain shows because the writers decided that the
antagonist was "Too Important To Die"!
The last trope I'll talk about is something I see most often in TV shows that makes me groan so hard, "Boyfriends With Superpowers." You know it when you see it: the story always begins with the protagonist and their love interest in a close friendship, maybe even an amorous relationship. Then one of them develops/discovers some Big Important Secret, like a lost fortune or superhuman ability, and all of a sudden they push their romantic partner away, saying "it's safer if we're not together anymore." Of course then what happens is the antagonist (who knows about the previous relationship but not necessarily about the breakup) ends up capturing the "normal" ex-partner, so the "hero" has to choose between revealing the Big Important Secret to the world and facing up to "betraying their loved one", or keeping that secret and losing the "most important person in their life." (who they had just broken up with, but obviously still had feelings for!) The moment I see the super-powered hero push away the love interest partner, I can pretty much predict that the partner is going to be captured or threatened somehow, and the Big Important Secret is going to come out anyway, so why didn't the characters just choose to be open about their struggles anyhow? I've also seen books and shows that have actually done this, where the couple is honest with each other, and it's fantastic and both characters are stronger for it, and it in no way inhibits the storytelling at all, so why don't more authors choose to do it this way?
Okay, rant over!
Gauge Switch: An author who is always a good fit for you
There's a handful of authors whose styles I know well enough that whenever I see the names on the spine, I can recognize them at once and know that I'm in for a spectacular time, even if I haven't read that particular title!
Five common authors whose names come to mind at once are Naomi Novik, Anthony Horowitz (especially his more recent stuff! I've tried reading some of his middle-grade titles and they just weren't as good!), Marissa Meyer, Mark Lawrence, and Cornelia Funke in particular. The vibes of their books always seem to resonate with me in a certain way. Even somebody who doesn't know me personally all that well will usually succeed in getting a book that I enjoy if it's by any of these authors!
But I am a prolific reader and I don't just go to the public library or a big-name bookstore to find authors to love! Over ten years of featuring reviews on my blog of more than a hundred titles, at least five authors stand out above the rest:
Amy Hopkins,
Kelly Blanchard,
R. R. Virdi, Kimberly A. Rogers, and the various amazing members of
the Writerpunk Press Group. I'd highly recommend anything from these names!
Stitch Marker: A specific scene that stands out to you
I'm not altogether sure I have a definite answer to this one, since my reading habits make it hard for any one scene to stand out among the rest--I tend to "vibe" with the book as a whole while I read!
That being said, as I type this one particular scene comes to mind, from Brandon Sanderson's Firefight, the second in the Reckoner Novels trilogy. I cherish the scene because it really cemented the series as one of my favorite series to use Portland, Oregon as a principal location.
In the scene, the main character David is talking with Megan, a character he's trying to get to know, while she's been fairly cold to him for a while. He has just learned that Megan can't swim and avoids going near the water for some reason. He asks her how that could be, since she's from a "port city", after all. He, being from Chicago, at least knows there are a few rivers around the city. David assumes she would have gone swimming a lot there as a kid. Megan takes one look at him, screws up her face and utters the most "authentically Portland" response I have ever read: "In the Willamette?!?!?"
Locals know why I laughed so hard when I read her reaction. That one moment stays in my memory to this day.
Yarn Weight: Bookish taste buddies
This was an interesting question, but I think I picked out a few people from whom I've had book recommendations that panned out very well! They all have blogs, and the recommendations I've seen from them are definitely worthwhile!
Novelty Yarn: A book that looked perfect on paper but just didn't work out
Oh, this one took a few tries to figure out what to answer, but I landed on the book Leviathan by Scott Westerfield.
It started out so lovely, and I do like a good steampunk adventure! He had the population divided into two factions, one that developed their "machinery" by biologically "growing" it from animals with the right sort of characteristics. These were the Darwinists. Then there were the "Luddites", the ones who used more of the conventional mechanical means for their "technology" and vehicles, with steam-powered machines and factories.
Where it "went wrong", I think, was that the whole premise of the book was that the Big Evil Luddites were dominant over the Darwinists, and had declared a war, with the "peace-loving" Darwinists seeking merely to defend themselves. The Luddites were boorish, cruel, and obstinate, while the Darwinists were community-oriented, contented, and understanding. There was no in-between, which is where I drew the line. It was very obvious which side the author wanted you to hate, and which side was supposed to be the "heroes" of the tale, and I have to say I really dislike books like that! The sort where the author doesn't let the reader identify with characters on their own terms, doesn't let the reader evaluate the characters' choices for themselves to decide who is "right" and "wrong." I came away from the book with intense disappointment, and ultimately I found nothing else in it that I would begrudgingly say made the story at all acceptable. So much so, that I would genuinely question the tastes of anyone who touts Leviathan as "good steampunk." I have most certainly read better-planned stories than that one!
Scarf: A good book for getting into a genre
I couldn't think of "good books" for getting into any of my favorite genres, so for this one I actually chose a book (or rather, a trilogy) that I feel was a good introduction to a genre I don't read very much.
That genre is grimdark fantasy, and the trilogy is The Red Queen's War trilogy by Mark Lawrence. I hadn't read too much grimdark fantasy before I read his first trilogy, the Broken Empire trilogy--and that one was intense and I found most of the characters rather disturbing, but at the same time, I kept on reading because wow, the story was fascinating and the prose was stunning!
That being said, I feel like The Red Queen's War is actually a much better introduction to the genre because first of all, it errs more on the side of humor than true violence; second, it's still set in the same post-apocalyptic world as Broken Empire, and it definitely still qualifies as grimdark in much respects. If you're looking to get into grimdark, I can't speak for any of the other authors famous for that genre (like Brent Weeks or Joe Abercrombie) but Red Queen's War in particular is a great way to find a few giggles in between the more visceral stuff that grimdark fantasy features!
Socks: An under-appreciated author who deserves more hype
Being a reviewer of indie books, I encounter a lot of authors that definitely fit this bill! But for the sake of this post, I'm going to pick one author in particular whose books I've loved, who could definitely use some extra attention from readers who've never heard of her!
Amy Hopkins is the author of the Talented series, a story I've billed as "if Hermione Granger settled down after Hogwarts and opened a tea shop where she sold enchanted teas, and crossed paths with lots of magical shenanigans in the process." I absolutely adore the characters she created for this series, so varied and yet so vivid. When I'm reading her books, I can picture her characters so clearly that even if I were to see an isolated line of dialogue, I could probably picture who said it, from the manner of speaking alone! I've read four out of the five book series, and I am so excited to read the final book! I would definitely recommend her books to anybody who likes books with quite a bit of magic, a bit of intrigue, a lot of humor, a fantastic variety of characters, and a spectacular plot line with twists that keep you guessing!
Cast-Off: A weirdly specific thing you love
Weirdly specific? I'd probably go with "books that flip the tropes." It's one thing if I am reading a character interaction and I know exactly where the scene is going to go... it's ANOTHER if I'm reading a scene and I have predictions--and then the story twists in a completely different direction! I love stories like that. I get the most excited when I encounter stories that are unpredictable, that do the unexpected, or take what other writers usually do in a story and do something completely unique. It's what draws me to certain fairy tale retellings over others, and the surest way to get me to put down a book is to make it predictable in the opening scene. (Just check out my answer for "tropes you can't stand")
Crafting Party: Tag people!
This was a very fun blog tag to do! If you're reading this and you have a blog, consider yourself tagged! And if you don't have a blog, feel free to comment with your own recommendations in any category from this post! If I see the title of a book I've read in any comments, there's a high probability that I will respond! Let's see those book titles, people!
