Top 5 Wednesday l February

February 7th & 14 : M/M Couples &  F/F Couples

I don't like romanced focused novels of any kind, and as I have moved away from Contemporary and YA. You find less and less information about your characters sexual preference. 
For people who are calling BS. Every detective ever is broody with a poor romantic history or a platonic romantic history (sometimes we get any info, more often not really..)

I can only think of one couple for each.. 
1. Magnus and Alec, The Mortal Instruments, Cassandra Clare 
2. Pippa and Felicity, Gemma Doyle Trilogy, Libba Bray

February 21st: Favorite Romance Novels (Authors)

1. Mary Janice Davidson
2. Dark Hunter Novels, Sherrilyn Kenyon
3. Sisters of the Moon, Yasmine Galenorm
4. Katie McAlister
5. Immortals After Dark, Kresley Kole 

February 28th: Favorite Urban Fantasy Books *Book Babble Crossover Topic*

To stay in the Valentines spirit I am not really going with my favourite, but with the ones that learn and rotate heavily around only LOVE

1. The Daughter of Smoke and Bones Trilogy, Lani Taylor
2. Fallen, Lauren Kate
3. The Nightside Series, Simon R Green. * This is actually one of my favourite series and it has very different and interesting romances. 
4. Night Huntress, Jeaniene Frost
5. Spiders Bite, Jennifer Estep

Top 5 Wednesday l January

January 3rd: 2018 Reading Resolutions

1. Finish at least 5 series that I started
2. Read a book every week (52 books this year)
3. Read at 5 classics I haven't read before and 5 classics I have. 
4. Read at least 10 non-fiction novels
5. Read the unread books on my shelf (10 books)

January 10th: Books You Didn't Get to In 2017 

1. Kelan Patrick Burke Books
2. UnRead Stephen Kings
3. Red Queen, Victoria Aveyard
4. Fathomless, Grieg Beck 
5. Jaws, Peter Blanchey

January 17th: Forgettable Books (That you liked) 

1. Kelley Armstrong Books - I almost always love her books, but they don't really leave any impression
2. Thirteen Reasons Why, Jay Asher - considering how sensational this was and that I read it twice, I have the general gist obviously, but any and all detail is gone. 
3. Bad Girls Don't Die, Katie Alender
4. Jane Austen Books
5. The Darkest Minds, Alexandra Bracken 

_________________________________________________________________________________


January 24th: Books You Disliked but Love to Discuss 
_________________________________________________________________________________

January 31st: Hidden Gems in Your Favorite Genre 

Horror

1. HP Lovecraft - he totally has a cult following but considering how popular horror is you don't hear too much about him
2. Kin, Kelan Patrick Burke - He took this most obvious idea ever (mash together horror cliches and tell a horror book in horror movie style), wrote an incredible story and you never hear about it or any of his other books really
3. Off Season, Jack Ketchum 

I know have a much bigger TBR thanks to this question and a little bit of googling but I still only have 3 answers... 

Top 5 Wednesday l December

December 6th - Bookish Things You're a Grinch About

-- Since being a grinch is a funny thing, try not to make this serious topics that make you angry (like lack of diversity or abusive relationships in fiction, etc) as this is supposed to be more of a petty bookish things you hate. This can be stuff about covers, dumb tropes, etc. Have fun with it.

1. When one book cover is beautiful and gets super popular so then you end up with 1001 copycats
2. Books with super small print, you buy them because they make the whole book smaller but then you have to read that little print. 
3.  Amazing Books With Ugly Covers, this doubles down when they change the covers from something ok (or heaven forbid beautiful) to something ugly
4. When they mix and match the books in a series, 2 hard cover and then a paperback, changing the covers. So stressful. I mean really!
5. Sales Stickers / Recommendation Stickers on my book.

December 13th - Characters on the Naughty List

Characters You Don't Like

1. Clary and Jace, separately and together, I don't like these two at all. The Mortal Instruments, Cassandra Clare
2. Gwendolyn, The Lives of Christopher Chant, Dianna Wynne Jones
3. Tressa, Dragonlands, Megg Jensen
4. Hanna, and Just about everyone else in 13 Reasons Why, Jay Asher - this is a tough one because I liked the book overall, but I have huge issues with how it comes across. I have several rants about this already, but back to my point. The characters are all very whiney and shallow and one dimensional and have no redeeming qualities... 
5. Queen Levena - A whole book just trying to redeem her character, and it still wasn't enough. But I do love to hate her. 

December 20th: Top 5 Books of 2017 

1. The Hatching, Ezekiel Boone
2. Heartless, Marissa Meyer
3. The Cellar, Minette Walters
4. The Dark Tower, Stephen King
5. The Butterfly Garden, Dot Hutchison

December 27th: 2018 Wishlist
--Looking forward into the new year, this is a list of the types of books you'd like to see more of in 2018! Try to avoid actual titles, and discuss themes, genres, or tropes you'd like to see more of in the new year!

1. Creature Features
2. The Queen of the Damned (Anne Rice) and Sleeping Beauties (Stephen King) have both opened the doors to worlds that are 100% women (or at least 90%) using elimination techniques or science to both procreate or curb the male population, it is a really interesting concept and someone could really write an original and interesting book on a variety of premises in this setting. (if they are low key on the crazier feminist, pushy statement, angle)
3. Horror : Short Story Collections
4. A really good non-fiction on the issue of "popularizing problems" (warning this would be SO controversial). Though a variety of sources - non-fiction reading, TED talks, conferences, statistics, being an older sister, and simple observation - I have noticed that people love to belong (common well known fact) but what about when people want to belong to something incredibly risky and potentially destructive? For example its been "popular" to have various mental illness in particular lately Depression and Bipolar (which was ADD and then ADHD when I was a child) which people have been very adept at faking, hand in hand with companies wanting to sell their drugs... studies on "mental illness contagion" "suicide contagion" and any other danger that people are willing to risk in order to fit in. 
5. More books with platonic relationships, with normal people. Romance isn't everything and LGBTQ+ should be represented in literature, but authors are saturating us with these characters now.  Particularly YA. Not that I think we should be pressing the "straight, white non minority" into everyones face either. Plenty of these novels I've been reading would have been amazing and are amazing, for all the other reasons. Unless someones race, gender or sexuality is adding something, you just end up taking away from the story. 

Top 5 Wednesday l Fall 2017

September / October / November

September 6th: Classes Based on Books/Characters 

I haven't read very many school setting books since I was in school 6 years ago... so I struggled a bit with this question. 

1. Talamasca Classes, Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. Studying Vampires, Werewolves, Paranormal Activity, Psychic Phenomenon with access to all kinds of proof and secret information
2. How to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse (from World War Z, Mira Grant's Newsflesh Trilogy, The Resident Evil Novels, Everything from the initial outbreak, to weapons and how to use them, how to fortify your structure, the best and worst strategies. 
3. A Magic Class taught by Chrestomanci and or Howl from Diana Wynn Jones books
4. Any Hogwarts classes (yeah yeah not supposed to include this on the list but trying to fill the gaps here)
5. Criminology/ Serial Killer courses. 

September 13th: Books/ Authors to Read without the Synopsis 

1. Stephen King - his synopsis tend to be under-whelming and off topic in a round about way. I have gone into many of his books thinking "this is a witches book" or "aliens" and ended up with so much more than that, or that "topic" was really the smallest most insignificant part of the novel in the end. 
2. Fred The Mermaid, Mary Janice Davidson - This goes for most romance novels, they really can't do a story justice because the novels are character driven and not plot driven. It always makes the novels seem flat and silly in the synopsis (and some are no doubt), and/ or it gives away the entire plot. 
3. YA novels, As a teen (13,14,15) I could spend all day combing through books and reading synopsis and loving every single one. Now it seems like they all say the exact same thing over and over in different words. Good books and Bad books and novels I'm indifferent too are all summed up in the same way.

This question was good if your a synopsis reader.... which I'm not. I go into most books blind (because I like the cover, because I like the author, or because its been recommended).

I might do a list in the future that is best synopsis, which is way harder to find in my opinion (I am talking something really special and different)

_____________________________________________________________________________
September 20th: Favorite Fancasts - Not my thing so no answer sorry people.
_____________________________________________________________________________

September 27th: Authors/ Books/ Series You've Read Because of Booktube/Blogging/etc. 

1. Jane Austen 
2. HP Lovecraft
3. The Game of Thrones, George RR Martin
4. Kelley Armstrong
5. Lani Taylor

So if you know these authors and their books they all have a few things in common, they have lots of book and those books have lots of pages. These were authors that just didn't catch my attention for a variety of reasons, but after hearing so many good things over and over I finally decided to give them a try and ended up loving these series. 

October 4th: Books Featuring Witches 

1. Harry Potter, JK Rowling. - This probably made the top of everyones list but.. whatever. 
2. The Crucible, Arthur Miller - Almost non fiction and in my opinion not what readers think of when they think "witch". 
3. The Otherworld Series, Yasmine Galenorn
4. Howls Moving Castle, Diana Wynn Jones
5. Gemma Doyle Trilogy, Libba Bray 

I have so many books that are all about witches in my TBR hopefully this motivates me to read a few. 

October 11th: Favorite Creepy Settings 

1. Derry, Maine + The Overlook Hotel, Stephen King
2. The Chamber of Secrets and The Haunted Forest, Harry Potter, JK Rowling
3. HP Lovecraft's Existential Beyond + Dunwich
4. The Bamford Apartments, Rosemary's Baby, Ira Levin
5. The House on Number 55, Lodovico Street, "Franks Room", The Hellbound Heart, Clive Barker

October 18th: Books Featuring [paranormal creature of your choice] : 

Vampires

1. Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles
2. The Lesser Dead, Christopher Buelman
3. Salems Lot, Stephen King
4. The Strain, Guillermo Del Toro
5. Dracula, Bram Stoker

October 25th: Non-Horror Books that Scared You 

1. Not Without My Sister, Kristina Jones - This is a non-fiction account of the Children of God Cult, and its so horrifying, I had and have (after 6 reads) a hard time getting my head around, the fact that it is a true story. That something like this cult can exist in our modern day world... it just leaves you speechless. 
2. The Watcher in the Wall, Owen Laukkanen - A predator pushing vulnerable teenagers to commit suicide. To say more would give too much away. But this was supposed to be a typical detective novel and ended being way creepier than id anticipated. I think this actually ended up as an episode of Criminal Minds. 
3. A Brave New World, Aldous Huxley - This is a classic satire, that was written to make people think. Which it did, but reading it almost 75 years later and seeing it come true is a creeping, eerie horrible experience. 
4. 1984, George Orwell - Just like the above BNW
5. 11/22/63, Stephen King - Along with the multitude of other Stephen King's that are not classified as horror. They always have something very eerie and/or sinister

November 1st: Genre Benders

1. Stephen King *Doing the T5W enmass like this, I feel like every week at least once I mention King, He's such a big part of my reading (year round, but especially from October - December) that is hard for me to not include him and his 65 books...
2. A Monster Calls, Patrick Ness - This novel had a younger target audience but ended up dealing with very adult topics, it was a YA/ Fantasy/ Horror/ Contemporary / everything book. Haunting and Beautiful
3. My Sisters Keeper, Jodi Picoult - This book covered so many different angles, from growing up (child to teenager, teenager to adult, adult to parent) and in the process having to make impossible choices, illness, death, sickness, life were all present topics as well.  
4. The Dark Hunter Series, Sherrilyn Kenyon  - These are some of the most interesting romance novels I have ever read, way more complex than they have to be, but in an approachable/understandable/easy to read way. She tackles various historical and mythological angles, the topics of rape, child abuse and surviving these situations/coping. All based in a semi contemporary semi high fantasy realm/earth mix. These books range from 100% romance, to YA to mystery/thriller.. she covers her bases
5. Odd Thomas, Dean Koontz - This book and this series drove me insane. It fits in no category at all. But was a great read (if its your cup of tea, one of those books that you will love or hate with nothing in between)

November 8th: Problematic Faves

Characters you don't want to love, but you can't help liking. 

1. Gemma Doyle, A Great and Terrible Beauty, Libba Bray - There are 1001 issues I had with this girl but I still really loved her and the books
2. Edward and Bella, Twilight, Stephanie Meyer - a whole obsessed generation, should be seeing this on everyones list.
3. America, The Selection - such trashy books, but so perfect
4. Uglies, Scott Westerfeld - There is a theme here isn't there? YA's, particularly from that high school period... 

November 15th: Nostalgic Book Boyfriends/Girlfriends

-- Characters you swooned over when you were younger. This was a topic from our suggestion board :)

1. Harry Potter, JK Rowling - Is there ever a bookish question that cannot be answered with Harry Potter? I had an equal crush on Ron.
2. John Taylor, Simon R Green 
3. Bones, Night Huntress, Jeannie Frost
4. Ig Parish, Horns, Joe Hill - tortured romantic soul, turned redeeming angel/demon. 
5. Wolf, Scarlett, Lunar Chronicles, Marissa Meyer

November 22nd: Books You're Thankful For

--For whatever reason, big or small.

1. Goosebumps, RL Stine - This spawned my love of reading, and my love of creepy books. 
2. Harry Potter, JK Rowling - Brought me into the book community
3. Redwall, Brian Jaques - 
4. The Nightside Novels, Simon R Green
5. The Tortall Books, Tamora Pierce

November 29th: Authors You'd Want to Write Like

--In honor of NaNo wrapping up, discuss some authors you'd like to write like. Whether its their writing style, what genre they write in, or how many books they manage to churn out a year! 

1. Stephen King - Id like to steal his style, the number of books + short stories he turns out, the spectrum of genre's he covers
2. Brian Jaques - His timeless style, it is simple enough for children and the language / story is child friendly, but it also has layer upon layer of detail and such eloquent language it is just as great a read as an adult. 
3. RL Stine
4. Dr Suess
5. Sherrilyn Kenyon - Just like Stephen King, she has an amazing number of books, that span over a whole set of genre's. She has created a multi-faceted world that is semi-reality. But along with all the little details and complexities, the books are easy to read (which is something King's books are not, not that the reading level is the end of the world, but I feel like you have an even bigger audience if its the more reader friendly style)

Top 5 Wednesday l August 2017

August 9th: Second Book is Best

I have been reading lots of stand-alones lately and I was a little stumped when I saw this question and nothing immediately jumped out at me as an answer. Looking back at goodreads was a little bit of a shock I haven't read a series since May! So older stuff from before 

• Fever, The Chemical Garden Trilogy, Lauren DeStephano
• Scarlett, The Lunar Chronicles, Marissa Meyer
• Finders Keepers, Stephen King - this is less of "best" than they are equally amazing
• The Lord of the Rings : The Two Towers, JRR Tolkien - I was the most invested in this book and its characters during the sequel, it had the most action in my opinion as well
• Visions, Kelley Armstong  - the entirety of book one, was setting up book two. 

August 16th: Characters' Fitness Routines You Want

Weight lifting, strength centred training is my style. Grateful that I do have the time and resources to workout regularly. I always get a thrill out of other girl characters fallowing the same kind of routines (as its not uncommon but its not really common either)

• Shadow Hunters, Cassandra Clare
• Camp Half Blood, Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan
• Alanna's Training, Knighthood, The Song of the Lioness, Tamora Pierce
• Brienne's Training, Knighthood,  A Song of Ice and Fire, George RR Martin
• Menolly, Acrobate/Spy, The Sisters of the Moon, Yasmine Galenorm

August 23rd: Books from Before You Joined the Online Book Community

• Firebringer, David Clement Davis
• Redwall, Brian Jaques
• Goosebumps, RL Stine
• Twilight, Stephanie Meyer
• Harry Potter, JK Rowling

August 30th: Favorite Bromances

-- I think we have done this topic before in the distant past, but who doesn't love a good bromance? Bromance = platonic relationship between two characters who identify as male. 

• Harry and Ron, Harry Potter, JK Rowling
• Sam and Frodo, Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
• Sam and John, A Song of Ice and Fire, George RR Martin
• Gem and Will, The Infernal Devices, Cassandra Clare

I am excluding characters where one was gay, just because love/lust motivated half the relationship in many cases and the bromances tend to fall apart once feelings are known (Jace and Alec - Cassandra Clare Mortal Instruments - came to mind right away)

Top 5 Wednesday - February

February 1st: Current Favorites that Aren't Books
 TV shows , makeup, foods etc.?? 

1. Starbucks White Chocolate Mochas
2. Shop Heroes App
3. Dim Sum, Silver Dragon Calgary
4. Country Music *I tend to like Rock, Metal, Country but in cycles not all at once. 
5. Bath Bombs

February 8th: Book Trends You're Tired Of 
There are obviously exceptions to each one of these as well so don't loose your mind

1. Extending a series or adding to what was supposed to be a stand alone. Occasionally you get something good normally you get something that drags and feels forced. 
2. Retellings that aren't even retellings its just a publicity push 
3. Character flaws that are again just a publicity push. LGTBQ ect. is awesome, racial problem are real some books portray this well others are just using real issues and buzz words to sell copies. 
4. Adding in an extra point of view when you don't have to (this doubles when its only for one book in a series)
5. Changing the original art covers for pictures of "real people' 

February 15th: Favorite Non-Written Novels
Im pretty much stuck on graphic novels with this I can't think of any other formats really (I mean an audiobook is just a spoken written novel right?)

1. Overwatch, various authors
2. Garfield, Jim Davis 
3. Boris Karloff : Tales of Mystery
4. Tales from the Crypt, Al Fieldstien 
5. DC Comics (couldn't pick just one) 

February 22nd: Books to Get You Out of a Reading Slump 
Younger YA reads in general, light fluff you don't really have to focus on or my go to fav's :

1. Redwall, Brian Jaques 
2. Beast House Novel, Richard Laymon
3. Jane Austen or another semi funny classic.
4. A non-fiction audiobook : Fast Food Nation, 
5. Comics

Top 5 Wednesday - January

January 4th: 2017 Goals 

1. My goodreads challenge is only 52 books so 1 book a week which I know is feasible, but my personal goal is 3 books a week for a total of 163
2. Finish getting my back tattooed
3. Keep up with my blog and get a youtube channel started again
4. Go to the gym 3/4 days a week minimum (I was really good last year until December, I am getting back into it now and hope I continue through the year again)
5. Get my dairy allergy in check, which will help everything, acne, health, gym performance.

January 11th: 2017 Debuts You Are Excited For 

I only have two for this one, I kind of just pick things up as I go. I don't plan super far in advance and the books I am really waiting for in 2017 are the final novels in a few series.

1. The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas
2. The Best is an Animal, Peternelle van Arsdale

January 18th: Favorite Polarizing Books 

1. Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien. Obviously very very popular and with the newish movies I know lots of people who picked these up for the first time and hated them because of how much they drag on. The writing is not for everyone and I struggled as well until I got the audiobook which are amazing. It still did take me almost two years too read the full series and the hobbit. 
2. Twilight, Stephanie Meyer. If you don't know about this where have you been?
3. Infernal Devices, Cassandra Clare. I hated the moral instruments which are boring and drag on and on, but I loved this and i'm not the only one, but people who really loved the contemporariness of TMI were really against these companion novels 
4. Stephen King's works & The Dark Tower which are two categories within themselves. 
5. 
   

January 25th: Favorite Underrated Books 

I struggled with this topic way more than I thought I would, turns out most of the things I've read lately have been really popular or books that would have been on this list 12 or even 6 months ago have recently been put in the spotlight. 

1. The Pellinor Series, Allison Croggon
2. Tamora Pierce *She must have a huge fanbase because of how many books she's published in multiple languages but her novels aren't really talked about. 

Top 5 Wednesday - May 2016

May 4th: Authors You'd Want To Meet at Book Expo America & Bookcon
-- Whether you are attending the events this month or not, talk about who you would like to meet from the lineup! 
HERE and HERE are the authors attending BEA HERE is the link to authors attending Bookcon

So I did not go, I have not gone to any kind of book even before, don't know if I will in the future. Not a lot of bookish things where I live (i think?) and more importantly I have no one to go with. 

1. Kami Garcia, Beautiful Creatures *on my TBR
2. Alexandra Bracken, Darkest Minds
3. Leigh Bardugo, Grisha *TBR
4. Maggie Stiefvater, Raven Boys, *TBR
5. Marissa Meyer, Lunar Chronicles

May 11 : Characters You Share Traits With
-- Choose characters you are like, not characters you WANT to be like. You can also choose one character trait you share with a particular character. For example, you may not have Hermione's bravery, but you do have her book smarts!

1. Alanna, Lioness Rampant, Tamora Pierce *stubborn, headstrong, impulsive, physically she is short as well. I read these novels when I was just getting into my teens, she is the first heroine I think of. A lady knight and at the time I wanted to be a lady solider interesting to think I may have formed a little of who I am around this character. 
2. Meggie, Inkheart *the way her love of books is explained in such a beautiful way. It captures the feelings behind personal libraries, how novels are tied to different times in your life. 
3. Victoria McQueen, NOS4A2, Joe Hill *Curious sometimes seeking trouble, stubborn, headstrong, willful. All these traits having both a very positive and negative side to them. 
4. Carrie White, Stephen King *I think most people have had a Carrie moment where you are naive, quiet and insecure. An outsider, hoping to be accepted by the majority. 
5. Olivia or Eden, Cainsville, Kelley Armstrong *that reckless side of her, a little bit of a wild child

May 18th: Summer Reads 
--This can include beach reads, fun reads, or any book you associate with summer for whatever reason! 

1. The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, Jonas Jonasson *its lighthearted and funny, quick and easy to read
2. Into the Wild, John Krauker *perfect summer camping read
3. Briars Book, Circle of Magic, Tamora Pierce *sitting in the garden in the sunshine with a lemonade
4. Uglies, Scott Westerfeld *read in the summer between any grade in your teen years, associating with these characters is so easy. Even if it is shallow I am pretty sure most of us can relate
5. Goosebumps, RL Stine *summer nights reading with friends

May 25th: Characters You Defend --These are characters you love, but no one else seems to so you are always defending them! 

I am leaving this note instead of a list because this is the trope that annoys me the most. If your the villain and your doing terrible things and hurting people, I really don't care how tragic your back story is. Whatever was in your past that was then and this is now, the characters I admire are the ones that overcome those hurdles in life instead of crumbling under the pressure. 

#1 Characters People are always defending that I throw under the bus still are Snape & Draco Malfoy. They are horrible people for 6 3/4 books and after three pages of emotional BS all is forgiven? I think NOT.