Top 5 Wednesday l Spring 2017

May 10th: Books as Event Themes

1. American Gods, Neil Gaiman - Each party guest much chose his or her god/goddess to personify or support. And whatever your bringing to the party should also be a traditional dish/drink from your god/goddess's home turf. Different sections/areas/tables around the event should be about different pantheons. 
2. Red Hill by Jamie McGuire, Resident EvilNovels by Various Authors and Canibalism a perfectly Natural History by Bill Schutt. -- Zombie / Cannibal themed party, perfect for halloween. *** This would be my favourite choice 
3. Lovecraft Halloween Party - there are so many options to chose from on how to interpret this party... I wouldn't even know where to begin. Would be very cool for fan's to geek out together though. 
4. The Selection - Kira Cast : Girls Night or Day Event --   Pedicures, Manicures, facemasks... watch a season of the bachelor (which is pretty much The Selection) there are a hundred different things you could do depending on the age range of the guests / number of guests... 101 variables. 
5. Rage by Richard Bachman and This is Where it Ends Marieke Nijkamp : a mystery party where you can #1 try to figure out who the school shooter is or #2 reconstruct the event leading up to _________ (whatever reveal or final event). This is not a topic for everyone and I would be very sure of who I was inviting before doing this kind of thing. But this is one of the events I feel should be talked about but no one does (until just after one of these tragedies). As a society we are slowly starting to talk about mental illness and its effects this is one of the worst outcomes of young people with mental illness and having this staged almost like a murder mystery could be a educational and thought provoking event. 

May 17th: Summer Reads

I struggled a little bit with this question, I first tried to list books that were about summer or set in summer specifically, but I didn't like the list so it vanished, and I decided to do this list. Which is more of a type of read : lighthearted, comedies, easy to read, some YA. Which is my "go to type" around this season. 

1. Mary Janice Davidsons Novels (any of them), they are lighthearted steamy romance novels with quirky characters and lots of comedy.  
2. Salt, Sugar, Fat by Michael Moss OR/AND Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser : lots of people think about losing a little weight for the beach for summer. These books take a look into fast food, pre-prepared foods the sales and science behind it all. I have never had to worry about my weight thankfully, but from an educational standpoint these two books did more to discourage fast food in my diet than any self help/weightloss tip  book could have done. 
3. Chrestomanci - Diana Wynn Jones : Harry Potter is the magic lovers go to winter read? well this is the other side of the looking glass. She is also the Author of Howl's Moving Castle (the first novel in the trilogy set within that magical universe).
4. Heartless, Marissa Meyer - I am obsessed with this book and it might become a yearly summer read for a while. 
5. The Hatching and The Skittering by Ezekiel Boone, horror novels about spiders. Which might seem a little bit random as a "summer" read. But these few months are the only times of the year when it is NOT snowing in Canada (ie. spiders can survive in this wonderful weather) and this is the only time of the year when I see any bugs at all so... yea bugs = summer time around here. 

May 24th: Favorite Minor Characters 
 What does this mean?? Ex.  Ron and Hermione side characters, while Lavender Brown, Oliver Wood, and Dean Thomas are minor characters. 

1. The Badger's, Brian Jacques -- I have recently been rereading the Redwall novels, which I was obsessed with as a kid. And while the Badger characters in a couple of books are main or side characters the majority of the time they are minor characters. But they are always interesting and beautiful souls. 
2. Charlotte, The Infernal Devices, Cassandra Claire. -- It really annoyed me that the characters kept referring to Charlotte characteristics in a negative kind of "look down upon" way. There was an emphasis on how her "motherliness" made her seem older than her 23/24 years (can't remember her age exactly) but if you took away the tone she was given. You ended up with a very brave, upstanding citizen who was responsible and clearheaded. Really what women should aspire to be (in my opinion) by that time in their lives (regardless of time period) .
3. The Dark Tower, Stephen King -- This whole series was filled with awesome characters, but a lot of the quick mentions thrown in, where side or main characters from other King novels (I have to have at least on SK rant in each post pretty much I know, but honestly its just so mind blowing) 

I am so much more about the setting, plot, the main characters. Pretty much anything but the side characters (who I find are only really around in YA novels) I am giving this up at 3 because I really don't have anyone coming to mind and only 1/3 so far is a single character. 

May 30th: Fandoms You Are No Longer In 

I am changing this question up a little by listing the 5 reasons I leave any fandom no matter now much I love the book(s)

1. Insane Fans : If people start to lose touch with the fact that the story is fiction, the characters are not real, that every reader is entitled to their opinion, its time to jump ship.
2. Series That Dragged On...  
1. Authors that published slowly; for a while I was out growing the books faster than they could be written, losing interest in the conclusion or start reading other things and just never getting around to the final book(s). 
2. Series that have been extended from a trilogy into more later-on often never had those final books looked at.  
3. Series that just got too long,  3, 4 , 5 books into a series only to realize there were 22 more to go. Often I gave up. Example : Outlander by Diana Gabledon, I liked the first bit of the book that I read, but I not enough for a 10000 page commitment
3. Overly Popular Fandoms -- Hand in Hand with #1 and #2  on this list--  This is when you get crazy people, I am about the book fandoms not the movie fandoms and the two tend to get horribly tangled with these situations and finally this is when those "surprise" extra books start cropping up (written only because of the cash sometimes not because there is more story)
4. Outgrowing  the Fandom : while people of all ages like all kinds of books, there is normally an age range with a majority in any fan base. With "adult" targeted novels this is less of an issue. But as any former YA fangirl can relate too... at 22 I just don't relate so well to 12 year olds anymore.
5. Disagreeing with the Author as a person : Authors have become another kind of celebrity, brought into the media spotlight and sometimes I think this really takes away from the writing. If I disagree with personal opinions expressed, even if they are not present at all in your fiction, it reflects in my experience of the novel (past or present) and has caused me to turn away from a book or series in varying degrees.   

June 7th: Books For Your Hogwarts House

Slytherin

1. Necronomicon, HP Lovecraft
2. The Hatching, Ezekiel Boone
3. Rage, Richard Bachman
4. American Psycho, Brett Eason Ellis
5. The Martian, Andy Weir 

June 14th: Side Relationships + June 28th: Hate to Love Relationships 

Looking at these two questions only a week apart... I am not going to bother trying to answer these. While I have read tons of books with amazing relationships, I don't have any side ones that really come to mind, and I don't really have hate to love either, I am pretty black and white with this kind of thing, I love two characters as a couple or I don't.

I kind of feel these are YA-ish topics, that makes less of an appearance in my type of adult novels, thrillers and horrors which don't really focus on relationships, love is a fact, often a tragedy in these, and hard to think of in this context. Plus the glimpse we are given into extra characters is often more about memories, or internal character, a lot less to do with who they really are or what their lives are about. 

June 21st: Favorite "Unlikeable" Protagonists

1. Gemma Doyle, A Great and Terrible Beauty + Gemma Doyle Trilogy, Libba Bray *I don't think Gemma is really supposed to be so unlikable, but she is. Selfish, shallow, childish, immature, irresponsible, whiney, need I go on? but despite all she still touched a special place in my heart as did the books (despite many flaws). 
2. Patrick Bateman, American Psycho, Brett Eason Ellis *A murderous fiend, the epitome of protagonists you just love to hate
3. Edward Cullen and Bella Swan, Twilight, Stephanie Meyer *Need I say more?
4. Jamie Lannister + Various Others, Game of Thrones, George RR Martin *Particularly as I get farther into the series, there are so many narrators that are wonderfully terrible people. 
5. Clary and Jace, Mortal Instruments, Cassandra Clare *Its hard to distinguish angsty teen from "unlikable" these two seem to take turns flip flopping between who is being the bad guy / annoying/ whiney / selfish / ect. ect. ect. again maybe not supposed to be unlikable, but I don't like them very much and yet I liked the books and read the City of Bones at least 6 times + the rest of the series. 

July 5th: Books Without Romance !!!

***A few (very, very few) people complained about the "shipping" topics lately, so I thought it would be good to talk about books that don't have a romantic subplot! This is a really hard one, so if you can't find any, you can talk about some where the romance is super super minor. Like barely mentioned... at all...*** 

Guess who laughed at the above statement? I normally delete that bit of the T5W posts but figured I would leave it here with this one...

1. Pressure, Brian Keene
2. The Colony, AJ Colucci
3. The Hatching, Ezekiel Boone
4. Red, Jack Ketchum
5. Rage, Richard Bachman
6. Snowblind, Michael Mcbride
7. Feed, Mira Grant
8. The Martian Andy Wier

I want to be clear that some of these books mention a relationship(s).  So there are relationships and there is love, but those things are present without the romance side / focus on two people and there interactions etc. 

July 12th: Children's Books / Authors

1. Dr Seuss
2. Robert Munch
3. Laura Numeroff (If You Give  Mouse A Cookie) 
4. Eric Carle (Very Hungry Caterpillar and Brown Bear Brown Bear) 
5. Beatrix Potter (Peter Rabbit)
6. AA Milne (Winnie the Pooh)

July 19th: Books That Aren't Set In/Inspired By The Western World

Outside of North America and Western Europe) including fantasy novels (try to avoid medieval settings)

1. Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini *Middle East
2. A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini *Middle East
3. Memoires of a Geisha, Arthur Golden *Asia
4. The Pearl, John Steinbeck *Latin America 
5. World War Z, Max Brooks *Asia + Middle East + Others (World Wide Travel and Narration)

July 26th: Series That Got Better

1. The Game of Thrones, George RR Martin
2. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
3. Redwall, Brian Jaques
4. Tortall, Tamora Pierce

The above books all started off strong, they were good reads (and some great reads), and they just kept building the characters, relationships, atmospheres and settings though-out the series. The more you read the more invested you are in the whole world. This is very much my cup of tea!

      5. Lunar Chronicles, Marrisa Meyers

These books were connected (same as the above books) but what I noticed most was the skill and style of Meyers writing which progress along with the series. Not only did our characters grow, and intertwine but the narration improved - and being able to see that improvement added something to these novels. 

 *

Top 5 Wednesday l April

April 5th: Top SFF Books on Your TBR *Booktube SFF Awards Babble Crossover Topic!*

1. The Martian, Andy Weir *I am waiting on the audiobook
2. The Host, Stephanie Meyer
3. Dragonriders of Pern, Anne McCaffery *this is a reread but I was 9? when I read it the first time and it was way above my comprehension level still.
4. American Gods, Neil Gaiman
5. The Diabloic SJ Kincaid

April 12th: Books That Would Make Good Video Games

I am not really going to answer this question because I just can't think of anything and I'm not going to force it. My favourite video games recently that I think would make good books are.

1. Layers of Fear
2. Fabel (and I have been reading lots of novels that would fit in this mold)
3. Resident Evil
4. Evil Within
5. Silent Hill *would love to see books

April 19th: Favorite LGBTQ+ Reads

I only have two series for this list 1. The Mortal Instruments, Cassandra Clare (which has Alec and Magnus) and 2. The Gemma Doyle Trilogy, Libba Bray (which has Felicity and Pippa).

I tend to shy away from some of the books that are very very focused on this topic, while I think everyone should have a right to do whatever they want to in their private life I have found the movement has gotten pushy. I find the books can be "gimmicky" trying to ride the trend wave.
Personally, I don't think attention seeking surrounding these issues is healthy because we have people being dishonest for that attention. I don't think it should really be an opinionated topic because its something so internal, since this has been a "thing" i personally have had people question my own choices and have watched them question other peoples choices, with me that isn't a problem because I am very sure of where I stand; but I have this feeling that those kinds of words have swayed people and we have yet to know if that has a positive or negative effect.

April 26th: Authors You Want to Read More From

1. Marissa Meyer
2. Libba Bray
3. Tamora Piece *always always always 
4. Jeffery Deaver
5. Robert Ludlum 

These last two are like perpetual TBR books because there are So many and because I have to be in the right mood for this kind of book, I almost always get them on audiobook so theres that as well I need time to listen. 

Top 5 Wednesday l March

March 1st - Fictional Jobs You'd Want to Have 

1. Housewife from a Jane Austen, this one might shock some people but I would be perfectly happy in that setting (yes that means giving up my right to vote and own my own land , my ability to work I am ok with that) 
2. Charms, Spells and Potions maker, Harry Potter, JK Rowling *yes I know this is totally cliche and will be on everyones list 
3. Worker in Willy Wonka's Factory, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Road Dahl
4. Jason Bourne, Robert Ludlum *obviously the training and everything else would have to come with the job but to be an expert in 13 languages, every weapon and any hand to hand combat? just such a badass

I hate these questions so much because I read lots of period fiction (but I don't want to be a knight or a lady or a servant) or I read a lot of mystery crime novels that are placed in the real world so no fictional job. and then the YA that I read which fits this category I don't often love the books or the "jobs" enough to chose.  

March 8th - Favorite Science Fiction & Fantasy Books *BooktubeSFF Awards Crossover Topic!* 

1. Cress, Marissa Meyer *my only nominated read from 2015 & 2016 Booktube SSF Awards
2. Every Heart A Doorway, Seanan Mcguire *again this is my only read from the proposed nominations of 2017 Booktube SSF Awards, put forward thus far. 
3. The Stand, Stephen King *the idea of a global pandemic created by man in a well intentioned or weaponized sense is a topic that I can't get enough of.
4. The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins *only the first book not the series
5. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien

March 15th- Books You Felt Betrayed By
I am a big mystery, thriller horror reader and I am always impressed by authors that can do this to me, because thats the point of the book so I am NOT including those kinds of novels in this list.

1. Thom, The Song of the Lioness, Tamora Pierce *it will spoil everything to explain
2. The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass, Philip Pullman *so much betrayal in my faith in these novels. 
3. The Series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snickett *I felt betrayed by the end of this series, the lack of answers
4. 
   

March 22nd- Favorite Angsty Romances 
Twilight, Stephanie Meyer

I am not doing this questions because I normally don't like these couples or I find they take away from the story...the odd angsty relationship that I have really enjoyed is often a series and by book 3 or 4 I hate the characters relationship because it goes no where more often than not. 

March 29th- Future Classics 


I am hating the topics this month so I am just ending this here with 1 out of the 5 topics answered because I just... I don't care

Top 5 Wednesday - December 2016

December 7th - Books You Want to Finally Read in 2017 

1. The Dark Tower Series, Stephen King
2. The Diabolic, SJ Kincaid
3. The Girl With All the Gifts, MR Carey
4. Rituals, Kelley Armstrong
5. A Storm of Swords, George RR Martin

December 14th - Series That Got Worse with Each Book/Season 

1. Bloody Jack, LA Meyer
2. Warriors, Erin Hunter *way too long
3. 50 Shades of Grey, EL James * should never have been a trilogy. 
4. The Strain Guillermo Del Toro
5. Series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snickett *Not bad but confusing, and the questions were never answered

December 21st - Fictional Items You'd Give as Gifts

1. Wands, Time Turner, Invisibility Cloaks, Broomsticks, Harry Potter, JK Rowling
2. Enchanted Swords, Magic Rings, Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
3. Dragon, Eragon, Christopher Paloni
4. The Horns, Joe Hill
5. Wonkas Factory, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Road Dahl

December 28th - Characters You'd Invite to Your New Year's Eve Party 
Pretty self explanatory. Who would you want to your NYE bash and why? 

1. Gabriel, Cainsville, Kelley Armstrong
2. The Monster, A Monster Calls, Patrick Ness
3. Odd Thomas, Dean Koontz
4. Hannibal Lecter, Thomas Harris
5. Shot Gun Suzie, The Nightside, Simon R Green

Top 5 Wednesday - November 2016

November 2nd: Most Misleading Synopses

This is such a great topic and I love it!
I try purposely NOT  to read synopses  because of how misleading they can be. I have read books with terrible synopsis and loved them and vice versa. More often than not the issues is misconception. Il go into a book with a preconceived idea and when it doesn't match I will enjoy the book less; where as if I hadn't known anything I would have loved some of these novels for what they are instead of getting hung up on what they aren't.

1. A Monster Calls, Patrick Ness - The title, the synopsis and the cover art go hand in hand to make it seem like something horrorish which it is not. 
2. A Madness so Discreet, Mindy McGinnis - again more than just the synopsis went into this, it was also that first couple of chapters. Those perfect chapters that made the rest of the book pale in comparison. 
3. The Fireman, Joe Hill - again an amazing novel, but just not as action packed and intense as the synopsis convinced me it would be.
4. The Psychopath Test : A Journey Through the Madness Industry, Jon Ronson
5. Memoirs of a Geisha, Arthur Golden - This is my reverse novel for this list. As a classic (used in my midgrades English class) the synopsis was as much about its reputation as what the novel was about. I was dreading this novel and it turned out to be awesome. 

November 9th: Characters You Used to Love but Don't Anymore 

This is a really tough question for me because I don't really have anyone who jumped to mind immediately. I am pretty opinionated one way or the other and didn't start reading much YA until I was older and I feel like those are the characters that fit this category best

November 16th: Favourite Publishers 
I pay very little attention to publishers, yes I know the big names but its not something thats normally in my mind when picking a book. I know these are all big name, I just googled names and picked the ones that I knew

1. Simon and Schuster 
2. Penguin Random House
3. Harper Collins
4. Scholastic - all the nostalgia, used to be such a great week at school getting the flier. Didn't often get anything but when I did it was so special.
5. Macmillan 

November 23: Books I Want to Re-Read

1. Narnia, CS Lewis
2. Strangers in Paradise, Terry Moore
3. The Nightside Series, Simon R Green
4. The Girl Next Door, Jack Ketchum
5. Savage & The Beast House, Richard Laymon

November 30th: Favorite Villains 

1. Jim Rennie, Under the Dome, Stephen King
2. Mr. Hyde, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Robert Louis Stephenson
3. Charlie Manx, NOS4A2, Joe Hill
4. The Rats, Redwall Series, Brian Jaques
5. Sorla, Fire Bringer, David Clement Davis

Top 5 Wednesday - October 2016

October 5th: Books That Took You the Longest to Finish
--These are the books that you had on your nightstand "in progress" for months or years. The books that you took weeks to read because they put you in a slump. Those books that were an uphill battle. These are books you started and actually read, not books you've just had on your shelf the longest.

1. The Lord of the Rings Omnibus , JRR Tolkien (1 year 4 months)
2. Odd Apocalypse, Dean Koontz (6 Months)
3. The Stand, Stephen King (9 Months)
4. Fast Fodd Nation, Eric Schlosser (3 Years)
5. Dracula, Bram Stoker (1 year)

October 12th: Inaccurate Book Covers
--Those books that have nothing to do with the story, or the cover model doesn't look anything like the actual main character, or it's a really cheesy cover for a great read!

1. Deceptions and Betrayals, Kelley Armstrong (different covers from the first two novels in the series which fit the books so well)
2. The Darkest Minds, Alexandra Bracken

With a variety of covers to chose from with audiobooks, thankfully I don't often have this problem of publishers changing cover styles mid trilogy or series. 

October 19th: Favorite Non-Canon Couples
--These are the couples you love, but they never got together in canon (canon meaning: what actually happened in the text). Or that did get together, but weren't together in the end of the series. Or a couple you ship but it's actually impossible for them to be together because they are from different worlds, franchises, etc. Let your heart run wild. I know mine will.

1. Thornhallow and Grace Mae, A Madness So Discreet, Mindy McGinnis - a "more" in thier relationship was hinted at but I would like to see them "official"
2. Harper Greyson and The Fireman, The Fireman, Joe Hill - again hinted at but never came to full fruit
3. Datura and Patrick Bateman, American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis and Forever Odd, Dean Koontz - the psychopathic pair would be a murdering cult leader wet dream
4. Cole and Ruby, The Darkest Minds, Alexandra Bracken 
5. Alex and Francis Alex, Pierre Lemaitre, Red Dragon, Thomas Harris  

October 26: Favorite Spooky Settings
--These can be settings that exist in books or ones you'd like to see in books. Also, if you are like me, you don't really have to make this about horror or scary settings. You can also use eerie, atmospheric settings. Macabre settings. Eclectic settings.

1. The Attic of the Dolarhyde home, Red Dragon, Thomas Harris
2. The Sewer System in Derry, It, Stephen King
3. The Cellar, Beast House Chronicles, Richard Laymon
4. The Church, Horns, Joe Hill
5. The Basement, The Girl Next Door, Jack Ketchum

Top 5 Wednesday - September 2016

September 14: Books You Want to See as TV Shows 

So last month we had the books you will never read ever as a repeat topic from last year and this is this months repeat so (Link Here) to the one I did in May last year.

So with these it is totally dependant on having amazing directors and actors, I don't have suggestions for which actors should play each character but if you have an idea post a comment below!

1. Cainsville, Kelley Armstrong *
2. Savage, Richard Laymon
3. Hannibal Lecter, Thomas Harris*their was an existing TV show, it was cancelled. It was events before the first novel started but I would like to see them do a series that follows the books (much like Silence of the Lambs with Anthony Hopkins) They did make movies, but they just didn't have the right actors and between each movie the actors changed (which was really off-putting)and you can't put that much information from the books into a film.
4. Dead River Trilogy, Jack Ketchum *again they did low budget movies but this could be an amazing TV series and I think now is the time to make this kind of show with graphic violence, sexual assault, murder being very "the norm" for an average tv watcher. 
5. Odd Thomas, Dean Koontz

September 21: Characters You WOULDN'T Want to Trade Places With 

1. Paul Sheldon, Misery, Stephen King
2. Mary Barrett, A Head Full of Ghosts, Paul Tremblay
3. Sickened : the memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy childhood, Julie Gregory *non-fiction :(
4. Sara Foster, Right to Life, Jack Ketchum 
5. Sara, Kate, or Anna  (the mother, the sick daughter and the other daughter) My Sisters Keeper, Jodi Picoult

September 28: Gateway Books to Your Favorite Genre 
I feel like most of my answers are younger books because that is where most readers start (younger being childhood through to late teens). I kind of tried to order this youngest to oldest. Can't wait to see other peoples answers because I don't think I answered this question very well

1. Goosebumps, RL Stine - Horror
2. Series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snicket - Mystery
3. Royal Diaries / Princess Diaries, Various Authors - Historical Fiction / Memoirs
4. Twilight, Stephenie Meyer -YA, Romance, Vampires
5. Horns, Joe Hill - Thriller, Mystery

*The Question for September 7: Characters You'd Want as Family : in a broad way or be specific  (i.e. so-and-so would be a cool aunt, or whoever would be a great brother, etc.)

I am not going to answer this question because I don't feel like it. 

reply | flag *

Top 5 Wednesday - August 2016

August 3rd: Books You Feel Differently About
-- Talk about the books that you feel differently about after you've had time to think about them or re-read them. These are books that you gave a low rating, and then thought about it or re-read it and ended up loving. Or a book that you loved when you first read it, but after you've thought about it or you've gotten older, you see how many problems it had. 

1. Twilight, Stephenie Meyer - Like so many people I read it and loved it, I was a little before the curve and was then put off when it ended up being this big deal. It now has a very sentimental place in my heart I will admit that it is flawed but I love it for what it is. Its a great gateway novel to YA, Vampire novels, or if your older Vampire Romance leading to their own full geners 
2. Memoirs of a Giesha, Arthur Golden - I read it in grade 10 and I was so unhappy with the reading list and the way that the whole class was set up. I hated every page of every book I read there, including this one. But it stayed with me and after a re-read I have to say it didn't jump to the top of my favourites list but its a good read. 
3. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkein - I tried to read it innumerable times and its wordy, long and tedious. I couldn't find a plot line or story. I had no sense of time, the characters where confusing who was who and what they were ect. Finally I got the general idea of what the whole plot was (I haven't seen the movies but I know what its about) and then I got the three novels on audiobook. I now love these books and plan on rereading them over and over (on audiobook maybe in print one day). 
4. Odd Thomas - I didn't like the style, tone, rhythm of the writing when I first read them. But they were a recommendation and I felt like I should read at least the first three books before passing judgement on one of my friends favourite series. From the third novel on the books just keep getting better and better. How much I enjoyed 3&4 totally changed how I thought about 1&2. I think if I reread them I will like the books better now.
5. Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins & If I Stay, Gayle Forman & Ruby Red, Kerstin Geir - There are so many new YA's that I loved, they were amazing books, great worlds. And then they added more novels and they brought the first books down from a 4/5 stars to 2/3.

August 10th: Authors You Are Waiting on Another Book From
-- These are your favorite authors who you want to write another book but haven't yet. Or they are writing something, but no title or synopsis has been released and it isn't coming out until 2018. Try to keep this to authors who haven't announced anything concrete about a new book, not authors that have a highly anticipated release coming out before the end of 2016. 

1. Stephen King
2. Tamora Pierce
3. Cathy Glass

August 17th: Favorite First Sentences 

1. "The Nightside is the dark, secret, brooding heart of London; hidden away from the rest of the world, where magic is realer than you can bear, where lives and souls and everything else you can think of are always up for sale and all your worst dreams go walking openly in borrowed flesh" - A Hard Days Knight , Simon R Green
2. "Jack Torrance thought : Officious little prick" - The Shinning, Stephen King
3. “How does one describe Artemis Fowl? Various psychiatrists have tried and failed.” - Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
4. "I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher" -The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan
5. "Nobody was really surprised when it happened, not really, not at the subconscious level where savage things grow. " - Carrie, Stephen King.

August 24th: Books You Want to Read Before the End of the Year 

1. End of Watch, Stephen King
2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larson
3. Odd Thomas 3&4&5&6&7, Dean Koontz
4. Zoo, James Patterson
5. Throne of Glass, Sara J Maas

August 31st: Books You Will Never Read
--Whether it's from a series that you have outgrown or don't wish to continue, or they are popular books that just don't interest you.

*I know I've done this before (Link Here) so trying to name new books or recent not to read novels.

1. Ps. I Still Love You, Jenny Han
2. Elanor and Park, Rainbow Rowell 

I really don't have any others I can think of that I am for sure NEVER reading but these next three arn't on my TBR and don't really sound appealing

1. The Lux Series, Jennifer L Armentrout
2. The Selection Series, Kira Cass
3. The Winners Trilogy, Marie Rutkoski

Top 5 Wednesday - February 2016

February 3 - Biggest Badasses

1. Shot Gun Suzie, Nightside Series, Simon R Green
2. Archeron, Dark Hunter Universe, Sherrilyn Kenyon
3. Bekka Cooper, Diana, Alanna, and Kel, Tortal, Tamora Pierce
4. Jack Sawyer, The Talisman
5. Jason Bourne, Robert Ludlum

February 10 - Books You Were Spoiled For *what spoiled them

1. Divergent (only book 1), Veronica Roth *movie trailer
2. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald *people
3. Twilight, Stephanie Meyer *people
4. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien *films
5. Immortals Tamora Pierce & DarkHunters, Sherrilyn Kenyon

The first four books where (as I am sure you know) super popular and then they where all made into movies. The final books where spoiled but they weren't at the same time, both are book collections that have multiple series within themselves, in reading other novels I acquired information that revealed the outcomes of other books

February 17 - Best Suggested Books You Loved (books recommended to you)

1. The Lunar Chronicles. Marissa Meyer 
2. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
3. Bloody Jack Series, LA Meyer
4. The Shinning, Stephen King
5. Warriors, Erin Hunter

February 24 - Worst Love Interests (male or female) 

1. Liam Stewart, The Darkest Minds, Alexandra Bracken
2. Ana Steele and Christain Grey, 50 Shades of Grey, EL James
3. Aiden, Blood and Chocolate, Annette Curtis Klause
4. Rafe, The Darkness Rising, Kelly Armstrong
5. Gwen, The Precious Stone Trilogy, Kerstine Gier

Top 5 Wednesday - June 2016

June 1st: Book Theme Songs 
--Songs you associate with different books, whether it's because of the lyrics matching the story, the tone fits the story, or just because you listened to it a lot while reading that particular book! 

1. Marylin Manson "This is Halloween" - The Beast House Chronicles (The Cellar, The Beast House, Midnight Tour, Friday Night in the Beast House), Richard Laymon 
2. James Blunt "Superstar" - Were She Went, Gayle Forman 
3. Winter Gordon "Dirty Talk" - Night Huntress Novels, Jeanie Frost
4. Jace Everett "Bad Things" - Sookie Stackhouse Series *this is the theme song from the TV show which I heard of first so theme song, how the characters look was all semi-predetermined 
5. My Chemical Romance "Blood" - Books of Blood, Clive Barker 

June 8th: Favorite Character Names 
--Fairly self-explanatory. Names you like for whatever reason! 

1. Oskan, Icemark, Stuart Hill
2. Odd Thomas, Dean Koontz
3. Hannibal Lecter, Thomas Harris 
4. Crescent Moon, Lunar Chronicles, Marissa Meyer
5. Karou, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Laini Taylor  

June 15th: Favorite Literary Fathers/Father Figures
--In celebration of Father's Day this month for most countries, talk about your favorite dads!

1. Albus Dumbledoor, Arthur Weasley, Sirius Black, Harry Potter, JK Rowling 
2. Jack Torrance, The Shinning, Stephen King
3. The Abbots, Redwall Series, Brian Jaques
4. Redrought, The Cry of the Icemark, Stuart Hill
5. Brimstone, The Daughter of Smoke and Bones, Laini Ta

June 22nd: YOUR Favorite Videos/Posts
--This is a chance to showcase some of your favorite posts you've ever done! These are your own posts, not shouting out someone else's. These do not have to be past T5W topics. They can be anything from your favorite discussion post you did, to your favorite review, to your favorite photo you've posted on Instagram! 

1. Coffee Book Tag - because coffee is amazing (Link Here)
2. The Dr Seuss Book Tag - my first original book tag (Link Here)
3. March 04/2015 : Books You'd Save in a Fire - This was my first t5w and so it makes the list for sentimental reasons (Link Here)

4&5 are the pictures of my one bookshelf, containing all my Stephen King novels, my Trick R Treat, Freddy Vs Jason, and The Beginning : The Hills Have Eyes Comic books. And a Picture of Mr Mercedes, I love the cover of the book and I was so happy that when I got it my nails just so happened to match! :)






June 29th: Settings You Want to See More Of
--These can be time periods (historical or futuristic) or places (real or fictitious)!

1. Cainsville, Kelley Armstrong
2. The Stephen King Universe (Derry, Main & 'Salems Lot), Stephen King
3. Tortal, Tamora Pierce
4. Redwall, Brain Jaques *sadly this won't happen because Jaques has passed away but I devoured his books as they were released 
5. Hogwarts, JK Rowling *a true companion series of some kind. Like the original books 

Top 5 Wednesday - April 2016

April 6th - Rainy Day Reads

Not only do these novels have the right quiet, mellow, low key kind of feelings, they are also short reads so you could finish them in a day if you really weren't doing much else. 

1. Misery, Stephen King
2. Odd Thomas, Dean Koontz
3. A Head Full of Ghosts, Paul Tremblay
4. Broken Monsters, Lauren Beukes
5. Wintergirls, Laurie Anderson Halse

April 13th - Books with "Hard" Topics (ie mental health, sexual assault, illness, etc)I have read lots of "hard topic" non fiction novels, which would fit this question really well. I am going to try and name at least one fiction novel and have my non fiction novels cover a different main topic for each. 

1. The Fireman, Joe Hill *cult behaviour, mental illness
2. My Sisters Keeper, Jodi Picoult *I will mention the Fault in our Stars here because it is the YA version of this novel.

1. The Saddest Girl in the World, Cathy Glass *mental abuse,
2.  Not Without My Sister, Kristina Jones *A Children Of God Cult survivor 
3. Sickened : The memoir of a munchausen by proxy childhood, Julie Gregory

April 20th - Book You're Intimidated ByMost classics for me are a challenge, and there are always a number of them on my TBR, I find them such slow reads that I often leave them until something really pushes me into reading one. The other reasons why I leave these books are page count or reputation

1. A Song of Fire and Ice, George RR Martin * The series is over 7000 pages long through the 7 novels
2. The Dark Tower 7, Stephen King *1000 Pages
3. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child * I really don't want to ruin my opinion of Harry Potter and JK Rowling, its a script not a novel. I might see if I can watch the play first. Really unsure about this.
4. The Sword of Truth, Terry Goodkind *I read one of these novels and enjoyed it again just the size 15 books with a prequel in the making I think about 400-500 pages a book.
5. Vampire Academy, Richelle Mead *how many people love this series, I am worried that I will not love it as much and that the over hype will make it a disappointment

April 27th - Favorite Mothers/Maternal Figures 

1. Mrs. Copper, Georges Mother, Tortal Series,Tamora Pierce
2. Natalie Prior, Tris's mother, Divergent, Veronica Roth
3. Molly Weasly, Harry Potter, JK Rowling
4. Harper Greyson, The Fireman, Joe Hill
5. Apolymi, Dark Hunters, Sherrilyn Kenyon

Top 5 Wednesday - March

March 2 - Biggest Book Hangovers

1. The Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy, Laini Taylor *How could anyone write a blended reality/fantasy world as perfect as this one? 
2. The Hannibel Lecter Quartet, Thomas Harris  * the perfect villain, it doesnt get any better than Hannibal the Cannibal, the original serial killing psychopath
3. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkein 
4. Redwall, Brian Jaques
5. It , Stephen King

March 9 - Books That Feature Time TravelThis is a hard one, I know lots of novels that are about time travel but I havn't read many. Its not one of my big "hunted for" topics. Had to search quite a ways through goodreads

1. Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs
2. 11/22/63
3. Ruby Red, Kerstin Gier
4. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban *Hermione
5. Dark Hunters, Sherrylin Kenyon *this one is a bit of a stretch there is the ability to time travel and there are lots of immortals, but I can't remember reading a scene where they actually jumped through time

March 16 - Fictional Items You Want (Invisibility Cloak from HP, Amplifiers from Grisha, etc)So I am not going to repeat novels, because its kind of a specific question and I would honestly rather put myself in several worlds vs having an object (also not naming powers)

1. Time Turner, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, JK Rowling *or Mrs. Weasly's wand (because it cooks and cleans and keeps house)
2. Wish Tokens, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Lani Taylor
3. Gwens wardrobe, Precious Stone Trilogy, Kerstine Gier
4. The curse from Thinner, Stephen King *you can eat anything you want and lose weight (eventally you do die from this so id modify it just to not gain weight from my ideal.. cake for days!)
5. Talking Leopard, Icemark, Stuart Hill *not sure if I can pick this not exactly an item

I had a much harder time with this question than I thought I would, I just couldnt think of actual items powers yes, places yes, things maybe not so much?

March 23 -Books You DNF
I am big on finishing even if I really don't like the book so

1. Wicked, Gregory Maguire * I stopped about 100 pages in
2. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger *I was so close to the end, someone spoiled for me, I was reading it for school, I had what I needed for my reports and such. Really didn't like it.

March 30 - Least Favorite Book in Your Favorite Series

This is so hard I have been struggling with all the questions this month and this is just the perfect ending to wrap it up with. Trying not to chose final novels because I have done a few posts on my least favourite endings already and obviously it can't be the first novels because if I wasn't thrilled with #1 I don't continue the books

1. The Crow, #3 The Books of Pellinor Quartet, Allison Croggon
2. Hell To Pay, #7 The Nightside Series, Simon R Green
3. Red Dragon, Hannibal Lecter Quartet 
4. The Days of Blood and Starlight, Daughter of Smoke and Bone Trilogy, Laini Taylor
5. Odd Hours, #4 Odd Thomas, Dean Koontz

Top 5 Wednesday - January 2016

Will be Publishing T5W on the final Wednesday of every month, I just can't seem to find the time to keep up with it all each week.

January 6 - Favorite Fandoms (books, tv, movies, etc)

1. Hannibal, Thomas Harris
2. Harry Potter, JK Rowling
3. A Game of Thrones, George R Martin
4. Jason Bourne, Robert Ludlum
5. Twilight, Stephanie Meyer

All of my choices are books, movies and Tv shows, I organized the list from my most favourite to my least favourite. 

While I have not seen the Tv series that goes with A Game Of Thrones, I have read all the books and seen all the films that go with the other 4. 

*Twilight is the exception to my choices,  I am part of the fan base for the other 4 choices. I am NOT a Twilight fan (although I will admit I enjoyed the first book). The Twilight Fans made the list because they are so hardcore. I find the bickering that goes on within the group - Pro Jacob, Pro Edward, Book 1, 2, 3, 4, ect. - and the fighting that goes on between "twihards" and "anti-twilighters" to be hilarious. I don't think I have ever seen another group of people who are 100% a "diveded united front". Reminds me of a disfunctional family.

January 13 -Favorite Self-Published Books

I thought that this topic was going to be a piece of cake. I mean tons of novels are self-published right? erm no...

1. 50 Shades of Grey, EL James

Sadly this is seems to be my only self-published novel, and of all the book it had to be 50 Shades (of which I am moderately ashamed to have even read)

January 20 - Favorite Buzz Words (words used to describe a book that is a guarantee buy for you)

1. Gory
2. Repulsive
3. Twisted
4. Shocking
5. Taboo

These words hold even more weight if they are "spoken by"  Stephen King or Fearnet. 

The third indicator is a Bram Stoker award, books that have all three are deadly.

January 27 - Disappointing Eye Candy (books that looked beautiful, but the inside did not match up to the outside)

Before I start to seem two faced, I want to clarify that these are not my most hated books. I honestly liked the novels. But the T5W title is "Disappointing  Eye Candy" . Therefore judging them based on the covers they would have all been 5/5 stars but in reality they fell a little short. 

1. Emerald Green, Kerstin Geir 
2. The Twilight Series, Stephenie Meyer
3. Blood and Chocolate, Annette Curtis Klause
4. The Nightmare Affair, Arkwell Academy, Mindee Arnet
5. Wintergirls, Laurie Halse Anderson