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Top Ten Tuesday (July 24) – Top Ten Most Vivid Worlds/Settings In Books

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It’s Top Ten Tuesday again, hosted by the fabulous folks over at The Broke and the Bookish! And the topic this week is one of those things that I think helps set “great” books apart from “good” books.

Top Ten Most Vivid Worlds/Settings In Books

World building! That feeling that you’re actually in the setting of the story instead of simply reading about it. Sometimes a book has a really interesting plot that engages me, but I have a hard time picturing the world, making the book simply “good.” Other times, I feel transported to a different time or place, and those are the books that really stand out to me.

So here are my Top 10 books that have the best world building, in alphabetical order:

Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb

Defiance by C.J. Redwine

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

Harry Potter (entire series) by J.K. Rowling

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb (Yes, this is technically the same world as Assassin’s Apprentice, but the two series focus on totally different aspects of that world, so I think it’s valid to include both)

Top Ten Tuesday (June 26) – Characters I Think I Know in Real Life

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Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, where the terrific team over at The Broke and the Bookish give us excuses to make lists and indulge our inner OCD tendencies.

I’ve got to be honest, guys. I looked at the topic for this week, and I just about skipped it, because I’ve got nothing.

But then I was sad, because Top Ten Tuesday is my favorite meme, and I always enjoy coming up with my lists and seeing what others come up with. Plus, I’ve seen Galaxy Quest enough times that “Never give up, never surrender” is kind of emblazoned on my psyche, so admitting defeat wasn’t really an option.

The good news is that my psyche is apparently not opposed to a bit of cheating, so I decided to tweak the topic to one I could do.

So here’s the topic I was supposed to do:

Top Ten Characters Who Remind Me Of Myself Or Someone I Know In Real Life

Yup, complete blank. Part of the problem is that most of what I read is YA, and I am just…A. But even if I think of myself and my friends from back when I was in the YA age bracket, I still came up blank. Not a lot of authors tend to write books featuring characters who enjoy Star Trek and Scrabble. Comic books, maybe, but that’s probably because characters in books are on the verge of developing superpowers, and my friends and I never developed superpowers. So. This topic wasn’t going to work for me.

Here’s the one I’ve decided to do instead:

Top Ten Characters I Think I’d Have Been Friends With If We Went to High School Together

(That’s close enough, right?)

1. Hermione Granger, Harry Potter. I was a big nerd and a squeaky clean kid. So was Hermione. We would either have been BFFs or arch nemeses, because that’s the way it works with smart kids.

2. Simon, The Mortal Instruments. I have only read the first book in this series, but Simon was my favorite and I could totally see us hanging out and not wanting to go to clubs together.

3. Kent McFuller, Before I Fall. I can’t say anyone I was friends with in high school actually wore a bowler hat, but I still think that Kent would have fit right in.

4. Angela, Twilight. She’s sweet and soft-spoken and kind of hangs back while her friends arm wrestle for attention. I can relate to that.

5. Peeta, The Hunger Games. Okay, it’s highly probable that Peeta would be too cool to be my friend because he’d probably be on the football team or something like that, and not in the marching band with me, but I’m going to hold out hope that we’d be buds.

 6. Chuck, The Maze Runner. Granted, we will probably never know what Chuck was like before the Maze, but he seems like the kind of kid I would have joked with in study hall.

7. Kate, Die For Me. Assuming her parents never died and she never moved to Paris and never fell for the undead Vincent, we’d probably have gotten along pretty well. She’s quiet and bookish and not one for large groups of people, and that was pretty much me in high school.

8. Beth, Little Women. I love Jo and all, but Beth is the one I think I would have clicked with. She was probably the type that was quiet in groups, especially when there were strong personalities present (like, you know, every other member of her family), but was lots of fun one-on-one. Some of my best friends are like that.

9. Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride. I’ll admit this one is probably just wishful thinking, but wouldn’t it be great to be friends with teenage Inigo? Maybe he’d have been an exchange student. I never actually befriended any exchange students, but I probably would have if Inigo was one.

10. Marlee, The Selection. Because honestly, Marlee would have been friends with everyone in high school.

So there you go. Sorry I cheated.

Feature & Follow (#101) – Best Father Figures

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Welcome to the Feature & Follow Hop, hosted by Parajunkee’s View and Alison Can Read! Let’s all discover some new blogs and gain some new followers, shall we?

If you’re new to my blog, I’d love it if you could follow via one of my options in the sidebar (Linky, Networked Blogs, email or RSS). You can also follow me on Twitter and Facebook as a bonus, but as part of the hop, following the blog itself would be great! I’ve also got a snazzy button. Feel free to grab it.

As always, if you are following, please let me know your follow method in the comments and I will follow you back!

First things first: As most of you are probably well aware, last week was the 100th week of the Feature & Follow, and to celebrate, many of us participants hosted giveaways. My giveaway was for two bookmarks signed by Amy Plum, author of Die for Me and Until I Die. My feature was Sarah from Breaking the Binding, and she and I both thank you for entering!

Without any further ado, the winner IS:

Jennifer M. from Some Like it Paranormal!

Congratulations Jennifer! Jennifer has been contacted by email, and I’ll be shipping out her bookmarks ASAP.

Now, moving on! The topic for this week is Best Father Figures in Books, in honor of Father’s Day on Sunday.

(P.S. Happy almost-Father’s Day to all the dads out there, especially my husband and my dad! *waves*)

This topic is great, but challenging. Why? Because for some reason, the dad is always dead. Seriously. Okay, maybe not dead, but the dad is always dead or absent or detached, and that isn’t great. But I did come up with a few examples of great father figures (not necessarily fathers, because, as I said, the dad is always dead) in the world of books!

Every Adult Male Character in Harry Potter Who is Not a Death Eater

Honestly, Harry Potter is chock full of awesome dads and father figures. From the actual dads of Arthur Weasley, James Potter, Remus Lupin, and yes, even Harry himself (we’ll overlook the fact that he stuck his kid with the unfortunate name “Albus Severus”); to the symbolic father figures in Dumbledore, Sirius, Lupin again, and even Hagrid to an extent, the Potterverse is a celebration of strong parental figures. Heck, even Malfoy has his moments.

Hans Hubermann in The Book Thief

Raise your hand if Hans Hubermann was your favorite character in The Book Thief.
[Looks around]
[Sees everyone’s hand raised]
I thought so.

Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird

Atticus has his work cut out for him. He has to teach his daughter Scout about honesty, racism, integrity, and standing up for what is right in the face of adversity, while at the same time working to keep her safe. Raising a strong-willed little girl is hard enough without having to battle lynch mobs and rampant prejudice.

Henri in I am Number Four

Henri may only have been John’s Cêpan and not his father, but he raised John like a son, taught him the best he could, and fought with all his might to protect him. Sounds pretty father-ish to me.

 

Charlie Swan in Twilight

Hey look! It’s the only decent role model in Twilight! He may be a bit awkward, but he tries so hard to do right by his infuriating daughter. He does his best to protect her, build up her sense of self-worth, encourage her to find friends, and persuade her to not plot the course of her whole life around some guy she just met.

Yeah, Bella throws all his fatherly wisdom out the window and does what she wants anyway, but dangit, at least he tried.

 

Top Ten Tuesday (May 29): Recent Books I Hope Are Still Read in 30 Years

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme brought to us by the fine folks over at The Broke and the Bookish, so we can all make bookish lists to our hearts’ content.

The topic for this week is:

Top Ten Books Written In The Past 10 Years That I Hope People Are Still Reading In 30 Years

Ooh, this one is hard. Most of the books on my shelf are either really old or really new. And most of the really new stuff, even books I really enjoyed, I don’t see standing the test of time. Many contemporary titles make a lot of references to the technology and culture of today, and may seem too dated to the teens and adults of 2042. So most of what I’ve come up with either deals with the past or the future, or fantasy worlds. Those seem a lot more likely to age well than books that are firmly grounded in the present.

I’m going to stick to fiction, since that’s what I review on this blog, although of course there have been some wonderful non-fiction titles that have come out in the last 10 years.

Also, I know this may be cheating, but I’m going to include a few series where the first book may have come out more than 10 years ago, but the series continued into the past 10 years. My apologies for playing fast and loose with the rules.

What kills me is I have a few books on my shelf right now that I suspect would make this list if I had read them yet. But alas, I haven’t had time. C’est la vie.

That said, here’s what I’ve come up with.

10. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I hesitated to put this one on the list, because I kind of hope that our obsession with “reality” entertainment will have faded in 30 years, thus making the book less relevant. But it is still a moving look at the effects of war on society, and while I’d like to think that war will also be irrelevant in 30 years, something tells me that’s just a dream.

9. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Such an interesting and unique way to tell a story. And I assume the vintage photography will only be cooler 30 years from now.

8. Ender’s Shadow series by Orson Scott Card. 

This follow-up series to the Ender’s Game series (which has already proven it can withstand the test of time) is exciting and thought-provoking science fiction. The first book was released in 2000, but the series is still continuing, and the most recent book, Shadows in Flight, was just released this year.

7. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. 

A beautiful story set during one of the darkest times in our history. I hope it moves future readers as much as it moved me.

6 The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen.

An enchanting and marvelous medieval tale that will appeal to young readers of all ages. I wouldn’t be surprised if this starts showing up as required reading in schools.

5. The Help by Kathryn Stockett

This book is in turns amusing, heartwarming, disturbing, and inspiring. It’s a simultaneously entertaining and thought-provoking look at racism and discrimination in our not-too-distant past. In 30-years, hopefully readers will be much more removed from racism, but it will be good for them to appreciate where we came from.

 4. The Maze Runner by James Dashner

I’d imagine that even 30 years from now, there will be a market for pulse-pounding, adrenaline-pumping speculative fiction. 

3. The Tawny Man trilogy by Robin Hobb

This one’s a big cheat. I’m assuming that if you’re going to read Tawny Man, you’ve already read the Farseer trilogy (first book published 1996) and the Liveship Traders trilogy (first book published 1999). But even if all anyone in the future read was this series, they’d still be treated to an amazing fantasy adventure.

2. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

The first book in this series, Outlander, came out more than 20 years ago, but this series is actually still going on, so I think it counts. The most recent book, An Echo in the Bone, was released in 2009, and the next in the series, Written in My Own Heart’s Blood, will be released in early 2013. This is a beautiful historical romance with a touch of time travel thrown in. It’s already lasted 20 years – why not 30 more?

1. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

Again, the first Harry Potter may have been released in 1999, but the series continued through 2009 and introduced so many people — young and old alike — to the wonders of reading through magic and fantasy. I have no doubt that The Boy Who Lived will age well.

Top Ten Tuesday (April 24): Favorite Book Characters

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the fine folk over at The Broke and the Bookish. They created it because they are particularly fond of lists, and I’m participating because I am particularly fond of lists. Fancy that!

So the topic for this week’s list is:

Top Ten All-Time Favorite Characters In Books

There will be some minor spoilers in here, because some of the reasons I love these characters are kind of spoiler-y.

10. Cinna (The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins) – Cinna is cool, composed, and suave. He’s a stylist, so you wouldn’t think of him as being a fighter. But he proves himself to be brave and devoted to a cause greater than himself. He fights intelligently, not with swords and fists, but with well-placed images that turn the tides of feeling in the Capitol and the Districts. He was the secret but powerful force behind the Girl on Fire.

 9. Molly Weasley (First introduced in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling) – I would be remiss if I didn’t mention such a wonderful example of a mother. Molly Weasley is often in the background of the story, knitting horrible sweaters and fussing over her brood of red-headed children. But her fierce love and devotion for her family is never in doubt, and ultimately, she demonstrates the kind of power that comes from a mother’s love for her children. It’s nothing to be trifled with.

8. Robert Muldoon (Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton) – This is going to be short and sweet. Muldoon is freakin’ awesome, and if they’d all have listened to him from the beginning, dinosaurs wouldn’t have wound up eating most of them. And, unlike in the movie version, Muldoon is smart enough to not get eaten himself .

7. Valentine Wiggin (Ender’s Game and its sequels by Orson Scott Card) – In a world where children are turned into weapons by the military, Ender’s sister Valentine was rejected from the program for being too sympathetic and compassionate. But her intelligence was never the issue. Valentine’s game against her brother Peter is on a much smaller scale than Ender’s against the Formics, but she plays it well, proving what a shrewd strategist she really is. She also is Ender’s emotional center, the one member of his family who is always supportive and loving of him, no matter what he has done. She later proves her devotion to Ender when she accompanies him on his travels after the completion of the Game.

6. Jamie Fraser (The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon) – If you like your romantic leading men big, burly, and Scottish, look no further than James Fraser. From the moment Claire Randall finds herself inexplicably transported from 1945 to 18th-century Scotland, Jamie is her savior, her protector, and her friend. He is innocent, funny and friendly while also being a strong warrior and leader. He’s not without his flaws, chief among them his fiery temper and fierce stubbornness. But ultimately, it’s his enduring love for Claire — a love that literally spans centuries — that makes him utterly endearing.

5. Peeta Mellark (The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins) – I never really bought into the whole “Team Peeta”/”Team Gale” thing (in my opinion, Peeta’s biggest rival for Katniss’ affections was Katniss.) So my admiration for Peeta is not based on the fact that he’s just sooooooo dreamy. Peeta takes more mental and physical abuse than any other character in THG series (barring, of course, the ones who die). But his strength of character and his will to be true to himself ultimately prevail. He is gentle, kind, and full of hope in a world where all of those are in short supply; but he also demonstrates strength and power when the situation demands it. Katniss may be the focal point of THG, but in my mind, Peeta is the true victor.

4. Professor Remus Lupin (First introduced in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling) – As Harry’s only Defense Against the Dark Arts professor who is both qualified and competent, Professor Lupin’s teachings are instrumental in Harry’s fight against Voldemort. Additionally, in spite of Lupin’s internal struggles, he continues to be one of the main leaders of the Order of the Pheonix. He serves as mentor and protector of the Dynamic Trio, and ultimately helps Harry understand the power of sacrificial love.

3. Westley (The Princess Bride by William Goldman) – If you haven’t read The Princess Bride, go get yourself a copy and read it. Right now. The movie is great; the book is better. And however much movie Westley is the ultimate in swashbuckling romantic heroes, book Westley is even better. If you thought his survival in the Pit of Despair was impressive, wait until you see him in the Zoo of Death. “To the pain” indeed.

2. Nighteyes (Farseer Trilogy/Tawny Man Trilogy by Robin Hobb) – Nighteyes is protagonist FitzChivalry’s wolf companion for most of his journeys. Nighteyes is as you would expect a wolf to be: vicious, cunning, and fiercely loyal. But he is also surprisingly witty, refreshingly honest, and endearingly playful. Through all of Fitz’s misadventures, Nighteyes is there to ground him, support him, and be the voice of reason. In a series I loved full of characters I loved, Nighteyes was among the best. I’ve never felt so emotionally attached to an animal character, before or since.

1. The Fool (Farseer Trilogy/Liveship Traders Trilogy/Tawny Man Trilogy by Robin Hobb) – In Robin Hobb’s spectacular trilogy of trilogies, The Fool is the thread that ties them all together. He is an enigma wrapped in a puzzle wrapped in a cleverly worded and slightly biting riddle. And somehow, even though you never truly understand everything about him — even after 9 books — you come to know him. Introduced as a comical background character, The Fool ultimately evolves into one of the most complex and fascinating characters I’ve ever read. But despite the vast mystery that surrounds him, it’s hard to doubt or deny his friendship and devotion with Fitz, even in the face of unimaginable hardship.

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order):

Neville Longbottom, Hermione Granger, Professor McGonagall (Harry Potter)

Burrich (Farseer Trilogy/Tawny Man Trilogy)

 Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe (Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery)

Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen)

Kent McFuller (Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver)

Jo March (Little Women by Louisa May Alcott)

 I may add more to this later. It’s too painful not to mention some of these great characters.