Top Ten Tuesday | My TBR

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 I decided to talk about ten books on my TBR I'd really like to read soon.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke: This book is a bit of a beast - my edition is so heavy, it's like a brick - and I've owned it for a while now, but I'd like to read it soon because the BBC have adapted it for TV and it looks so cool. I'd like to try and read the book before I watch it, though!

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison: One of the things I've realised recently is that I'm not actually the biggest fan of high fantasy. I can watch it, but reading it I just get so bamboozled by all the different names and just the idea of an entire different world. I'm dumb, and I love fantasy that's in our world. I want to get back into high fantasy, though, and I've heard some amazing things about The Goblin Emperor.

This Strange Way of Dying by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Silvia Moreno-Garcia's debut novel, Signal to Noise, is my favourite book of 2015 so far, and now has a firm spot amongst my favourite books of all time. This Strange Way of Dying is her first collection of short stories, and I'm dying to read more of her stuff - plus isn't that cover stunning?

The Sundial by Shirley Jackson: So far I've read The Haunting of Hill House, The Lottery, and We Have Always Lived in the Castle and loved them all. Shirley Jackson has quickly become one of my favourite authors - she's definitely my favourite horror writer - and The Sundial sounds fantastic. I've been getting really into modern classics recently, particularly modern classics written by women, and Shirley Jackson's gotten me really into southern gothic stories. I'm looking forward to this one!

This Book is Gay by James Dawson: This is a piece of non-fiction I've seen around on Booktube a lot recently. James Dawson's a YA author, and this book talks about what it's like to grow up as LGBT+. I think this book will be really interesting.

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout: I've heard this is one of those really addictive YA series that's bordering on the ridiculous, and I'm totally ready for a guilty pleasure kind of read.

Denton Little's Deathdate by Lance Rubin: I saw Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight review this book about a month ago, and the premise just really intrigued me. It's been a while since I read any YA and this sounds fun despite the rather dark premise!

Rat Queens, Vol.2: The Far Reaching Tentacles of N'rygoth by Kurtis J. Wiebe and Roc Upchurch: I'm so excited for this! I pre-ordered my copy and I'm hoping it'll here at the end of this month.

A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab: I've owned this since February, heard nothing but amazing things about it, and yet I still haven't read it yet. What the hell's wrong with me?

White Trash Zombie Apocalypse by Diana Rowland: I love this series, and I want to read more of it. If you're a fan of urban fantasy or you want to read a series with a really original take on zombies, I recommend picking up these books!

What did you guys talk about this week?

Top Ten Tuesday | Santa Baby, Slip a Story Under the Tree | Twelve Days of Christmas!

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 out everything you need to know about joining in here!

Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

This week's theme is 'Top Ten Books I Wouldn't Mind Santa Bringing This Year'. I had to narrow it down to ten, because books are mainly what I ask for every birthday and Christmas - in fact I'm pretty sure my family and friends are sick of me asking for them by now.

I've decided to split my list into two mini lists; one of them being historical fiction and the other being science fiction. Why? Well because historical fiction is probably my favourite genre, and science fiction is the genre I've really started to learn more about and appreciate this year.

So, without further ado, here are my top ten!

Historical Fiction

Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers: I'm desperate to get my hands on a copy of the third and final book in the His Fair Assassin trilogy! I fell in love with this trilogy after reading Grave Mercy and Dark Triumph earlier this year, and I can't wait to see how LaFevers wraps this story up. I've put it on my Christmas list (in fact most of these books are on my Christmas list) so I'm hoping my parents will be kind enough to put a copy of this book beneath the tree for me!

The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau: Who doesn't want to read some historical crime with a nun for a protagonist? I've heard great things about this series, and I'm really eager to read some female-led historical crime.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein: Frankly it's appalling that I haven't read this book yet. It's been on my TBR for far too long and I need to read it, because I've heard nothing but amazing things about it.

The Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine: A retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses set in the '20s? Yes please!

The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier: As any regular reader of my blog will know, I've fallen in love with Daphne du Maurier's work this year and I'd really like to read this. I'd love to see how she writes time travel!

Science Fiction

Valour's Choice by Tanya Huff: Tanya Huff's one of my favourite authors, but so far I've only read her fantasy fiction. I love her Blood Books and now I'd really like to give some of her science fiction a try. I love the premise of Valour's Choice, and I'm a big fan of all the female-led sci-fi I've been seeing lately.

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout: I've heard a lot of people describing this as 'Twilight with aliens'. While I no longer like Twilight, though I won't deny that I did like those books when I was a teenager, I do want to see what this series is all about for the pure and simple reason that it sounds fun. Not every book we read needs to be an amazing, groundbreaking piece of literature. Sometimes I like reading books that have been written purely for the sake of bringing enjoyment to the reader, and this sounds like one such book. Not only that, but I've actually been hearing mainly positive things about it.

For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund: I'm not the biggest fan of Jane Austen. At some point I want to reread Persuasion, the very book that made me dislike her in the first place back when I was around 18, to see if I can appreciate Austen more now that I'm older, but before that I'd like to give For Darkness Shows the Stars a try, because it is a sci-fi retelling of Persuasion. There's a chance that reading this might actually make me more eager to reread the book that inspired it, so I'm hoping to find it under my tree on Christmas day!

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner: Honestly one of the main reasons I want to read this book is because it has such a gorgeous cover, but it's also another a book I've heard nothing but great things about. Even if the idea of being stranded in space gives me the heebie jeebies.

Alienated by Melissa Landers: Like Obsidian, this sounds like another fun bit of sci-fi. I'm slowly getting into the genre, so I'm not quite into epic sci-fi just yet. I love sci-fi that combines people from outer space with people from earth, so this is right up my street!

Which books made your top ten?

Stories & Songs #4 | Sci-Fi Month 2014

Sci-Fi Month continues, and today I thought I'd post a sci-fi only edition of Stories & Songs. As always, you can find all the songs mentioned here in this playlist!

Nineteen Eighty-Four

by George Orwell

"Mad World"

Gary Jules

All around me are familiar faces

Worn out places, worn out faces

Bright and early for their daily races

Going nowhere, going nowhere

Their tears are filling up their glasses

No expression, no expression

Hide my head, I wanna drown my sorrow

No tomorrow, no tomorrow

And I find it kinda funny

I find it kinda sad

The dreams in which I'm dying

Are the best I've ever had

I find it hard to tell you

I find it hard to take

When people run in circles

It's a very, very mad world, mad world

Obsidian

by Jennifer L. Armentrout

"E.T."

Katy Perry

You're so hypnotizing

Could you be the devil?

Could you be an angel?

Your touch magnetizing

Feels like I am floating

Leaves my body glowing

They say: be afraid,

You're not like the others

Futuristic lover

Different DNA

They don't understand you

You're from a whole 'nother world

A different dimension

You open my eyes

And I'm ready to go

Lead me into the light

Kiss me, ki-ki-kiss me,

Infect me with your love and

Fill me with your poison

Take me, ta-ta-take me,

Wanna be a victim

Ready for abduction

Boy, you're an alien

Your touch so foreign

It's supernatural

Extraterrestrial

Cinder

by Marissa Meyer

"Make Me a Robot"

Tessa Violet

I don't want to be a human anymore,

I'm done

I don't want to make mistakes anymore,

He's won

I'm too old to change.

Take my heart and I'll restart; please just let me fall apart

You may say it's strange,

But I quit, guess that's it; for a human I'm unfit, so

Make me a robot.

Make me a robot.

Make, make me cold.

Make me a robot.

Make me a robot.

Take, take my soul.

The Hunger Games

by Suzanne Collins

"If I Die Young"

The Band Perry

If I die young, bury me in satin

Lay me down on a bed of roses

Sink me in a river at dawn

Send me away with the words of a love song

Uh oh, uh oh

Lord make me a rainbow, I'll shine down on my mother

She'll know I'm safe with you when she stands under my colours, oh,

And life ain't always what you think it ought to be, no,

Ain't even grey, but she buries her baby

The sharp knife of a short life, oh well

I've had just enough time

The Host

by Stephenie Meyer

"Children of the Universe"

Molly Smitten-Downes

Something's stirring in the silence

And it reeks of passive violence

Hold on tight this opportunity we'll take,

Put an end to all this suffering

Before it gets too late

Hope's on the horizon

I'm not giving in

We're children of the universe, don't you know?

Dancing on the edge of time and it's ours to own

Just children of the universe

We're shining like diamonds

With love in our hearts,

They said it's the end but I've a feeling

It might just be the start

As I am awakened with fire in my bones

Standing beside you I've a feeling

That I'll never walk alone

My Sci-Fi Wish List | Sci-Fi Month 2014

Sci-Fi Month continues, and today I thought I'd share with you some of the sci-fi novels I'd really like to get my hands on!

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner: Isn't that cover just stunning? Space usually freaks me out - even more so the idea of being lost/stuck in space - but I've heard nothing but praise for this book since its release and I want to stop letting space freak me out.

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie: The whole premise of this book just sounds fascinating. The more I get into sci-fi the more I discover books I'd really like to check out, and this is one of them.

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout: I've heard a lot of people describing this book as Twilight with aliens, and while I'm no longer a fan of Twilight (though I won't deny I did like it during my teens) I've heard a lot of praise for this series, too. And, in all honesty, it just sounds like a bit of shameless alien fun to be had.

Valour's Choice by Tanya Huff: I love Tanya Huff. She's the author of the Blood Books, a vampire series that I love, and I adore the way she challenges gender stereotypes in her books. After writing a vampire series with a fantastic female lead I'd love to see read her female-led sci-fi!

Alienated by Melissa Landers: Like Obsidian, this book just sounds fun. There's something about stories that treat relations between earth and other planets as somewhat ordinary that I really like; I've no doubt that there are other planets out there with other civilisations - the universe is huge, how can there not be? - and I like to think if there was we'd organise school exchanges, too.

So those are just some of the sci-fi novels I'd like to read soon! Which sci-fi titles do you most want to read?