Top Ten Tuesday | Oops! I Did(n't read) It Again...

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

This week's theme is 'Ten Books We Meant To Read In 2017 But Didn't Get To (and totallyyyy plan to get to in 2018!!)' - books I meant to get to and didn't is the story of my life, particularly in 2017. There are so many books I could have mentioned, but I decided to go with the 2017 releases I hoped to get to, couldn't find the time to and really hope to get to this year. Without further ado, here are my top ten!

The Women of the Castle by Jessica Shattuck: I love the sound of this one because it's WW2 fiction told from within Germany, which is a perspective we don't get often - the most famous example is The Book Thief. Hopefully I can cross this one off my TBR this year.

The Witchfinder's Sister by Beth Underdown: I have a big interest in the history of witchcraft and witch trials and love the sound of this novel told from the point of view of Matthew Hopkins' sister. In my opinion Hopkins is one of the most cruel men in history and I'm hoping to read this one soon as I believe it's going to be adapted for TV.

The Good People by Hannah Kent: You probably all know by now how much I loved Kent's debut, Burial Rites, and I couldn't wait to get my hands on a copy of The Good People, but I was never quite in the mood for it in 2017 and I'm very much a mood reader. I really want to try and get to this one this year!

The Ship Beyond Time by Heidi Heilig: I loved Heilig's debut, The Girl From Everywhere, but still haven't read the sequel. I think I'll try to get to this one in the summer.

The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: I'm so disappointed for not getting to this one in 2017. I've started this one and I really like what I've read so far, but I was in a bit of a slumpy mood while reading this one and I didn't want my mood to effect my enjoyment. Hopefully I'll get back into this one soon!

Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeannette Ng: Yet another one I started and just wasn't quite in the mood for but I love the sound of it and I'd really like to get to it this year.

A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge: I've yet to read any Frances Hardinge but I couldn't resist picking up a copy of this at the end of last year. I haven't owned this one for as long as some of the others on my list so I'm not beating myself up about it that I didn't get to it last year, but I'd like to get to it this year if I can - I've heard lots of good things about Hardinge's work.

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant: My lovely friend Natalie @ A Sea Change bought me this one for Christmas and I'm very excited to read it. I've been in the mood for a bit of horror recently and I've been looking forward to this sequel since I enjoyed Rolling in the Deep.

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng: Everything I Never Told You was my favourite book that I read in 2016 so I couldn't wait to get my hands on Ng's next novel and, so far, I've heard nothing but amazing things about it. Unfortunately I was never quite in the mood to pick this one up last year but, as with all of these books, I'm hoping I can get to it soon.

Florence in Ecstasy by Jessie Chaffee: I visited Florence in 2016 and fell in love with it, it's my favourite European city (out of the ones I've seen so far, anyway), so I couldn't resist picking up this novel which is set there and sounds fascinating, especially when I saw Katherine Howe, author of The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane which I like a lot, singing its praises. This is another one I'd like to get to in the summer.

Which books made your list this week?

Top Ten Tuesday | More Anticipated 2017 Releases

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

This week's theme is 'Top Ten Most Anticipated Books For The Second Half of 2017', so below are the ten books, published between July and December of this year, that I'm most looking forward to!

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng: Ng's debut, Everything I Never Told You (reviewed here), was the best book I read last year, so I can't wait to get my hands on her second novel. She has a real talent for writing families and I'm hoping this book's going to be just as good as, if not better than, her first.

The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: If you've been following my blog for a while then you'll know I'm a big fan of Moreno-Garcia's work. Her debut, Signal to Noise (reviewed here), is one of my favourite books of all time and I really enjoyed her second novel, Certain Dark Things (reviewed here), too. Her third novel seems to be a kind of fantasy of manners book - it's giving me The Night Circus vibes - and I can't wait to read it.

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant: Grant is the author of one of my other favourite books, Feed, and Into the Drowning Deep is a novel-length sequel to her horror novella, Rolling in the Deep (reviewed here). I must thank Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies for bringing it to my attention, because after reading Rolling in the Deep I remember thinking I'd love to read something longer about Grant's killer mermaids.

The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin: The final book in Jemisin's The Broken Earth trilogy which is simply fantastic. I can't wait to see how Jemisin concludes this story.

Black Tudors by Miranda Kaufmann: I love me some Tudor history, and this book sounds fascinating. When we think of Tudor England we imagine a very white England, but Kaufmann has written a book about the black people who were very much around during this time. October is Black History Month in the UK, so I'm aiming to read this book this autumn.

There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins: I haven't read any of Perkins' novels, Anna and the French Kiss etc. don't really interest me, but I did enjoy her short story in My True Love Gave to Me and I'm very interested in checking out a novel described as Scream meets YA. I really enjoyed Riley Sager's Final Girls (reviewed here) earlier this year, so I'd love to read more novels that play on slasher movie tropes.

Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw: Urban fantasy doesn't tend to be a genre that reels me in, but every now and then I'm in the mood for it and this sounds interesting! I love it when stories play around with the Dr. Helsing figure.

A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge: This has a beautiful cover, ghosts and it's released on my birthday - what's not to love? I've also read virtually no historical fiction set during the English Civil War, so this should be interesting.

The Tiger's Daughter by K. Arsenault Rivera: Eastern-inspired high fantasy and girls kissing. It's all I need in a book.

The Orphan of Florence by Jeanne Kalogridis: If a story's set in Florence then I'm already sold, and if it's set in Renaissance Florence I want it even more.

Which books made your list this week?

Top Ten Tuesday | Things I Want My (Hypothetical) Daughter to Read

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

This week's theme is a Mother's Day freebie, which is weird for me as Mother's Day's in March in the UK. I remember doing something along the lines of my favourite mothers in fiction some time last year, it doesn't feel like long ago anyway, so today I'm going to talk about the books I'd want my daughter to read.

I don't have any children, and I don't know if I'll ever have any, but if I ever have a daughter I hope she reads these books:

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: If I ever have a daughter, I want her to know there's nothing wrong with the word 'feminist' and there's certainly nothing wrong with identifying as one. Feminism means equality, not misandry, and I want her to grow up fighting for the equal rights of everyone, in whichever way she feels most comfortable doing it. This little book is an ideal introduction to feminism, and I hope, if I ever have a daughter, she doesn't have to fight as much as I've had to, and her daughters after her have to fight even less.

How To Be a Heroine by Samantha Ellis: I really, really enjoyed this memoir about Samantha Ellis's relationship with her favourite heroines throughout her life; she thinks about the effect these heroines had on her growing up, and returns to them to see if they still make her feel the way they once made her feel now. It got me thinking about the heroines in my life, and I'd love to share that with my hypothetical daughter, too.

Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman: This is the first novel I can remember reading that made me bawl. Noughts & Crosses is something of a British children's classic now, I'm not sure how well-known it is outside the UK but I think it's fairly well-known, and it's the first book that really made me think about race and terrorism and how to see something from both sides. It's still one of my favourites.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier: There are some books in the world that are perfect books, and Rebecca is one such book. Daphne du Maurier has quickly become one of my favourite authors after I started reading her work a few years ago. You can only read Rebecca for the first time once and it's an experience I think every reader should try.

The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister: The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a classic, but the picture book I remember loving most when I was little is The Rainbow Fish. It's a lovely story with a lovelier message and I adored it.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling: Does this warrant an explanation? I was lucky enough to grow up as part of the Potter generation, it'd be great to share that with my children.

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent: This novelisation of the story of the last woman to be executed in Iceland is fiction, there's no way of knowing if Agnes Magnúsdóttir was simply a murderess or a woman who wound up in the wrong place at the wrong time, but this book is a brilliant reminder that there are two sides to every story, and sometimes people are forced into criminality by situations they can't help and are then punished for it. I want any children I might have to be able to consider both sides of a story.

The Good Immigrant ed. by Nikesh Shukla: I'm proud to live in a multi-cultural country and recent political events have frightened me a lot. I don't want to live in a country built on ignorance, discrimination and prejudice and if I ever have children I want them to be open-minded, kind and aware of the struggles other people might face simply because they're viewed as 'other'.

The Illustrated Mum by Jacqueline Wilson: Jacqueline Wilson was my favourite writer growing up, she was never afraid to tackle issues like bullying, foster care, mental health, terminal illness and many others. The Illustrated Mum was always my favourite.

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng: The relationships between mothers and daughters are fairly toxic in this novel, which was my favourite read of last year, and if I ever have a daughter I'd want her to read this so she'd know that sometimes parents make mistakes, sometimes they make terrible mistakes, and it's okay for her to tell me how she feels and to pursue the things in life that will make her happy. It's her life to live, not mine.

What did you talk about this week?

Top Ten Tuesday | First Impressions

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

This week's theme is 'Ten Books I Loved Less/More Than I Thought I Would', so my list is divided in half with five books I liked more than I thought I would and five I liked less than I thought I would. On with my list!

Books I liked more than I thought I would

Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: I know! Considering how much I talk about this book, who'd've thought I wasn't always sure it was going to be for me. I don't know what it is, but I'm never drawn to books set during the '80s so I really didn't know what I was going to make of this. What I got was a fantastic coming-of-age story along with totally unique witchcraft - I love it!

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng: I saw Mallory @ The Local Muse mention this and decided to pick it up, but it seems the '80s aren't the only decade I tend to stay away from - to be honest I don't tend to read much fiction set in the 20th century after the 1950s, and I'm not usually a big lover of family sagas because there's always at least one person I don't care about and I get bored, but this debut proved to be the exception. It's written and plotted beautifully and I can't recommend it enough.

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn: This is a tricky one in that I didn't realise I had actually really enjoyed it until a couple of weeks after I finished it. When I initially finished I wasn't sure how to feel about it, and I felt little cheated by the ending, but then I couldn't stop thinking about it and the more I think about it the more I realise how cleverly it was plotted.

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: Austen and I have a difficult relationship and a couple of years ago I read Northanger Abbey after avoiding Austen for around five years. I actually quite liked it, and I'm tempted to give her another chance.

The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney: I had a very similar experience with this book as I did with Dark Places. I couldn't stop thinking about it despite not enjoying it as much as I thought I would, and now I think I'd like to re-read it in future so I can fully appreciate it.

Books I liked less than I thought I would

St Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell: I went into this short story collection full of hope and it just wasn't for me. I liked a lot of the ideas behind some of the stories, but I felt like every single story had a very weak ending that Russell just didn't know how to execute... so she didn't do anything. Not for me, sadly!

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn: Unlike Dark Places, I haven't developed a new respect for Sharp Objects since I finished it and I was so hopeful. I don't really have any interest in reading Gone Girl, but I do think Flynn is a fantastic writer and I was very excited to read her debut; I love stories that explore mother and daughter relationships, especially the creepy ones like Carrie and Black Swan, and I'm all for Southern Gothic, but this story and I didn't get along at all. Dark Places felt clever, Sharp Objects felt gratuitous.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik: I didn't dislike Uprooted, but I didn't love it either and I was hoping I would as my lovely friend Natalie @ A Sea Change thought very highly of it. I just felt kind of 'meh' about the whole thing and that was mainly because of the way it was written; I don't know what it is about Naomi Novik's writing in this book, but it felt like a struggle to get through. The cover is beautiful, though.

Among Others by Jo Walton: So many people love this book and I hated it! I really wish it didn't because it sounds like the perfect book, but I had way too many problems with it to enjoy it.

Summer Days & Summer Nights ed. by Stephanie Perkins: I really enjoyed My True Love Gave to Me, but I ended up DNFing this one. So many of the stories were so bloody depressing until it eventually got to the point where I realised I didn't care anymore. I did enjoy Leigh Bardugo's story, so I'm planning to read Six of Crows this year.

Which books made your list this week?

Top Ten Tuesday | DiverseAThon Recommendations

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

This week's theme is a freebie, so as it's currently DiverseAThon I thought I'd share some of my recommendations with you for anyone who's taking part! There's a focus on #OwnVoices this DiverseAThon - e.g. an LGBT+ book written by an LGBT+ author - so that's my focus here, too.

For more information about DiverseAThon, check out these videos!

Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie: This has to be one of my favourite fairy tale inspired stories out there, all about the power of older stories and how they influence our stories of the future. The 1001 Nights is a particular inspiration behind this book, so if you're a fan of A Thousand Nights, The One Hundred Nights of Hero or The Wrath & the Dawn and you haven't read this yet, you're missing out!

Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley: This is Talley's debut and I loved it. Set in 1959, it explores a mixed-race, LGBT+ romance in an American high school that has started to admit black students for the very first time. It's heartbreaking, but so worth reading given the current political climate.

Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: I take every chance I can get to mention this book because I love it so very much, and it's such a unique take on witchcraft. Moreno-Garcia is a Mexican writer and both her published novels, Signal to Noise and Certain Dark Things, take place in Mexico City with a Mexican cast. She's so worth reading if you haven't already!

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng: My favourite book of 2016, this is Ng's debut and follows a mixed race family in 1970s America after the death of one of the family's children. It's harrowing, but so well-written and well-plotted and just so good.

Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman: This is pretty much a classic by now, right? This is a must-read.

Sofia Khan is Not Obliged by Ayisha Malik: I really enjoyed this when I read it last year, and it made me realise how few books I've read that feature Muslim characters, never mind a Muslim protagonist. It's so much fun, and funny, but also knows when to be serious and is just really worth reading.

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters: If you're new to LGBT+ fiction and you're not sure where to start, may I present you with Sarah Waters. Five of Waters' six publish novels feature lesbian protagonists and Fingersmith is widely considered to be her masterpiece - it's definitely a fun one to start with if you're new to her work!

The Good Immigrant ed. by Nikesh Shukla: Such an important book. Read it, read it, read it.

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin: This must be the most diverse fantasy book I've ever read, and on top of that it's written and plotted fantastically, too. Highly recommended!

The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: I love Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. This is her only short story collection and if you're interested in fiction set in Nigeria written by a Nigerian, then you need to pick this book up.

What did you talk about this week?

Top Ten Tuesday | Best Books of 2016

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

This week's theme is 'Top Ten Best Books Of 2016'! Now as many of you may know, 2016 hasn't been a great reading year for me at all. I think we can all agree that 2016 has been a bit of a crap year in general, and unfortunately a busy job and generally feeling low have meant I haven't been reading as avidly as I'd like to. I read half the amount of books I read last year, and so many books were a lot more underwhelming or disappointing than I would have liked them to be, so I have a top eight rather than a top ten. I could have picked another two, but I decided just to go with the books that have actually stuck with me this year in some way or another!

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison: This one's a re-read after I read it for the very first time last year, in fact I re-read it twice this year: I read the paperback and also listened to the audiobook and I loved every minute of it. It's still one of my all-time favourite books, and I'm confident I'll be reading it again in 2017, too.

The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig: This one was such a pleasant surprise. I loved the sound of the premise so I was sure I was going to like it, but I ended up liking it a lot more than I thought I was going to. It was a real adventure, and I'm looking forward to getting my hands on The Ship Beyond Time.

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: I think we all know by now that I adored Moreno-Garcia's debut Signal to Noise, so her second novel was my most anticipated read of this year and I really enjoyed it. It's the first vampire novel I've read in a while that felt fresh and new, and I can't wait for her next novel!

Soulless by Gail Carriger: I'm glad 2016 was the year I finally read some Gail Carriger and it was so much fun. I'm planning to finish this series and then I'm looking forward to reading Carriger's other work.

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn: This was a strange one in that I finished it I was a little disappointed with the ending, but I also haven't been able to stop thinking about this book since I finished it and the more I think about it the more I appreciate just how brilliantly plotted it is. I didn't care for Flynn's debut, Sharp Objects, but I think this is a fantastic thriller.

The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney: I had a very similar experience as Dark Places with this one, too. After I finished it I felt a bit underwhelmed, but like Dark Places I haven't been able to stop thinking about it and I think it's actually a really well put together novel and a perfect read for those cold winter months.

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng: Probably the best book I read this year. It's heartbreaking but it's so, so beautiful and another one that's plotted so well. I can't recommend it enough!

Sofia Khan is Not Obliged by Ayisha Malik: One of the best adult contemporary novels I've read in a long time. This was so much fun to read but was also really thought-provoking in places and just a really good book. I'm looking forward to The Other Half of Happiness!

Which books made your list this week?

Monthly Wrap-Up | January 2016

Make Good Art

by Neil Gaiman

Peter and Alice

by John Logan

Sofia Khan is Not Obliged

by Ayisha Malik

Imagining Ancient Women

by Annabel Lyon

Everything I Never Told You

by Celeste Ng

The Tenderness of Wolves

by Stef Penney

Ms. Marvel, Vol.4: Last Days

by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona

Lumberjanes, Vol.2: Friendship to the Max

by Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis and Brooke Allen

Harrow County, Vol.1: Countless Haints

by Cullen Bunn and Tyler Crook

How the Marquis Got His Coat Back

by Neil Gaiman

This Strange Way of Dying: Stories of Magic, Desire and the Fantastic

by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Transformations

by Anne Sexton

Well 2016 got off to a very good reading start - somehow I managed to read 12 books! The hightlight of January for me was definitely Celeste Ng's debut Everything I Never Told You, which may very well end up being one of the best things I read this year.

With the deaths of David Bowie and Alan Rickman - I'm so sad - January was a bit of a crappy month. I know David Bowie was one of the music industry's greats, but to me he's always been the Goblin King; I always remember Labyrinth as a film that my entire family, my parents, my sisters and I, all sat and watched together, and even though it's so '80s and so cheesy, I still love it. Naturally, I had to watch it when I heard the news about Bowie.

I haven't been able to watch an Alan Rickman film yet. I'm still too sad.

Nimona

by Noelle Stevenson

And Then There Were None

by Agatha Christie

Everything I Never Told You

by Celeste Ng

The Tenderness of Wolves

by Stef Penney

This Strange Way of Dying

by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Contemporary YA on my TBR

My New Year Resolutions

Should We Write 'Bad' Reviews?

The 'Boys Will Be Boys' Bullshit

My Most Anticipated Releases of 2016

I started a new job in January! (I almost typed jew nob, which I'm pretty sure is something else entirely...) I'm now a Sales and Marketing Assistant at the University of Wales Press, which are an academic publisher. After working in for a traditional publisher I'm pleased to experience a different strand of the publishing industry, and so far it's really interesting! I've been working on building up their Twitter following, and I'm currently in charge of their social media, including Twitter and Instagram - you should definitely follow us! *hintedyhinthint*

I'm getting up earlier and getting in later than I did for my previous job, so by the time Friday arrives I'm pretty tired - if I don't reply to any comments you leave on any of my posts I promise I'm not being rude, and I do read them, it just takes me a little longer to reply at the moment because all I want to do is sleep. I will reply eventually, though, I promise!

My parents and I also went to the ballet in January to see a production of The Snow Queen. I love going to the ballet, and this was such a charming production; the costumes were beautiful, and they had this really cool trick of making the room feel freezing whenever the Snow Queen came on stage. It was a really fun evening!

Mikayla @ Mikayla's Bookshelf talked about Six YA Cliches and Why She Doesn't Mind Them

Beth @ The Quiet People talked about Why LGBTQ Themes in YA Sometimes Make Her Uncomfortable (read her post before you jump to conclusions!)

Catherine @ Based on the Book talked about Shy Characters in Fiction

What did you get up to in January?