Rants and Raves: Things In Books That Float My Boat

This is a feature that appears sporadically on the blog, whenever I have a bookish issue I need to rant or rave about. Feel free to comment with your thoughts!

 Earlier this week I blogged about things in books I'm just not that jazzed about. Now, it's time to talk about things in books that float my boat.

(Again, this is partly inspired by my recent paring-down of my Goodreads to-read list, and also by Small Review's similar posts Talk to the Hand and Give Me That Book!)

These are all things that hit the right notes for me, for whatever reason:

- Victorian/Regency era. I don't know that I really need to explain this, do I? The formalities. The balls. The perceived social slights. I drink it all up.

Gratuitous P&P picture.

- Anything with a psychological element, especially if it's used in an interesting way with the storyline. Caveat: mental health issues MUST be portrayed accurately. Otherwise this will backfire badly and probably cause me to get more aggravated than if there had never been any psychological element at all.

- Gothic anything, pretty much. Depends how much it falls on the side of horror (usually a NO for me) versus suspense/mystery/thriller (YES). Double points if it's a historical Gothic setting (not just a general sort of Gothic atmosphere in a modern-day setting).

- Historical fantasy/pseudo-historical fantasy. By the latter I mean, the story takes place in a world that FEELS like it's a medieval fantasy or whatever, but it's not actually set in the real world. Or maybe it is but you don't know because that isn't made clear. Whatever, as long as there are heroes and heroines off on quests, and princesses doing princess-y things, and maybe a meddling sorcerer or two, I'm happy.

- Witty banter and unresolved sexual tension. Hey, if it was good enough for Jane Austen, it's good enough for everybody.

"The Look," for everyone's appreciation.

- Star-crossed lovers/forbidden romance. Because if the couple isn't bickering (see above), then the conflict has to come from *somewhere*, so we must rely on external forces to part them! And nothing makes you want to root more for a couple to get together than if everyone else is trying to separate them.

- Non-human beings slowly getting in touch with their "human"/emotional side. I probably haven't read all that many books where this has happened, but I do like it when it does! Examples that spring to mind are Isabel in Mistwood by Leah Cypess, and Wanderer in The Host by Stephenie Meyer.

- Twins and clones. Twins because they can switch places and fool people, or have a special "twin connection" of some sort (which needs to be written well, mind you), and clones because they are a creepier version of twins. (Although clone stories are only interesting if the clone has a distinct personality; if it's just used as some sort of plot device in a sci-fi story and the clones are like robots, I'm out.)

- Fairy tale retellings. Love 'em. I prefer ones that are set in a historical/fantasy setting, however – I'm a little more iffy on modernized or sci-fi-ed fairy tales.

What elements/premises/tropes in books float your boat? Do you share any on my list?

Waiting on Wednesday: Masks and Shadows

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and features books that we just can't wait to get our hands on!

 

Masks and Shadows by Stephanie Burgis

 

 

Goodreads' description:

"The year is 1779, and Carlo Morelli, the most renowned castrato singer in Europe, has been invited as an honored guest to Eszterháza Palace. With Carlo in Prince Nikolaus Esterházy's carriage, ride a Prussian spy and one of the most notorious alchemists in the Habsburg Empire. Already at Eszterháza is Charlotte von Steinbeck, the very proper sister of Prince Nikolaus's mistress. Charlotte has retreated to the countryside to mourn her husband's death. Now, she must overcome the ingrained rules of her society in order to uncover the dangerous secrets lurking within the palace's golden walls. Music, magic, and blackmail mingle in a plot to assassinate the Habsburg Emperor and Empress--a plot that can only be stopped if Carlo and Charlotte can see through the masks worn by everyone they meet."

 

I believe this is Stephanie Burgis's first adult novel... and it looks awesome! That cover! That synopsis! "Music, magic, and blackmail..." Um, why YES, I *would* be very interested in reading that, please and thank you.

 
What books are you waiting for?

 

Rants & Raves: Things In Books I'm Just Not That Jazzed About

This is a feature that appears sporadically on the blog, whenever I have a bookish issue I need to rant or rave about. Feel free to comment with your thoughts!

The other day I finished going through my Goodreads TBR list and paring it down. It had gotten to over 2200 books and I'd seen another blogger (I think Jamie from The Perpetual Page-turner, perhaps?) saying that they'd been weeding out books they're not likely to read from their list, so I figured I'd do the same. (I am now down to below 1850 books, so I am feeling good about it! Even though that is still a massive amount of books, lol.)

Anyway, during this process, I've noted certain elements or aspects of books that make me go, "Ehhhhh I'm probably NOT going to like that" so I've compiled some of them in this blog post. (Don't worry, there are others that make me go, "oh YES I'm keeping this on the list, how have I not read it already?!", and they'll be catalogued in another post!).

This was also inspired by Small Review's similar posts Give Me That Book! (which I happened to stumble across recently and got me thinking, 'I should do a post like that too...') and Talk to the Hand.

So without further ado, here are things in books that will make me raise an eyebrow and think twice about adding to my TBR list...

- Trolls. I just... they're gross? Usually? Sorry, troll fans. Maybe point me to a book where they aren't portrayed as ugly, hulking, clumsy beasts who like to gnaw on unsavoury things. (Same thing with zombies, really, unless they are portrayed in a very un-gross way. Also not a fan of demons or goblins. I get creeped out easily, okay? :P)

- Cheating. This one depends a lot on the situation and how it's written, but as a general rule, I am not a fan of characters cheating on their boyfriends/girlfriends/spouses/what-have-you (I don't condone cheating in real life, so I am not thrilled to read about it in my books. It will definitely lower most characters in my opinion.) Similarly, I'm also not big on characters who lead on two (or more) people at the same time.

- Circuses. Clowns kinda freak me out and seeing poor animals forced to do tricks is not my idea of a fun time. Circuses always seem like they have a great capacity to go really WRONG.

I genuinely don't get why anybody LIKES clowns.

- Talking animals. These are hit-and-miss for me, but here's a detailed post explaining it.

- Nasty, mean-spirited, backstabbing characters who have no redeeming qualities and do not learn their lesson. Wuthering Heights, I'm looking at you. Also, the Luxe series. And Vicious.

- Really "zany" characters who are just TOO out there, and make a point of being quirky because they want to prove how different and special and unique they are. Believe me, if there was a convention for all the quirky/zany/"unique" YA characters, they'd realize really fast how many of them there actually are. (The blogosphere seems to be divided on these sorts of characters — half of it appears to love them, the quirkier the better, and the other half... doesn't. I usually fall into that latter half, particularly with contemporary books where there are just one or two zany characters, while everybody else is "appallingly" ordinary.)

- Superpowers/superheroes. I was never into Superman/Spiderman/Batman/whatever-else-there-is growing up (either the comics or the movies), so this sort of premise just doesn't tend to appeal to me. I don't read books for non-stop action-y fight scenes, and I feel like that is what most of these books would be.

- Computer hackers and virtual realities. Start talking code and you will see my eyes glaze over. Geeky discussions of technology hurt my brain. I can't visualize what's going on and I get really bored.

What are some elements in books that will make you go "uh, nope, not reading THAT"? Are any of them on my list?

Stay tuned for the next post, where I talk about some things in books that get my hearty stamp of approval! 

Flights of Fantasy & Retelling Challenges

Okay, adding a couple more challenges for 2016! Hopefully there will be some overlap with my #RockMyTBR challenge. Since I tend to read fantasy and fairy tale retellings anyway, I have some hope that I might get somewhere with these challenges!



The Flights of Fantasy challenge is hosted by Alexa from Alexa Loves Books and Rachel from Hello, Chelly. There aren't any specified levels for this challenge, so you can pick how many books you want to read for it. I'm going to go for 20 books — I figure with the overlap from my other challenges, this is... accomplishable? Semi-accomplishable? We shall see.

The Retelling Challenge is hosted by Mel from The Daily Prophecy. I'm going to aim for the Evil Queen level (10 - 15 books). It's a shame that I already read Bitter Greens in December, because that would have counted for this challenge! And for my TBR challenge too, lol.

#RockMyTBR Challenge

 

Happy New Year, everyone! I'm going to try taking part in a few challenges this year, in the hopes of motivating myself to read more books than I did in 2015 (which was a woefully sad reading year for me, due to being in my last year of grad school and having no time for reading fun things).

To start off with, I'll be joining the #RockMyTBR Challenge! This challenge is hosted by Sarah at The YA Book Traveler, and it is perfect for me because a) there are a TON of books sitting on my shelves that *need* to get read, some of which were gifted to me over the past few years and I just have no excuse anymore, and b) it has a guitar/music theme because of the whole "Rock My TBR" name and I play guitar, so it's even better.

The challenge is pretty simple: read a (published) book a month that you already own.  

You can use the hashtag #RockMyTBR to tweet about the challenge, there'll be Twitter chats (and probably giveaways!) and you can update monthly about your progress on Twitter/your blog/a vlog/etc.

Sarah suggests making a list of books you hope to read for the challenge, to see if anyone else wants to buddy-read them with you, so here goes:

- Banner of the Damned by Sherwood Smith (I've just started this one but it is MASSIVE and scares me. I mean, it's almost 700 pages long. But I want to at least take a decent stab at it!)

- Deathsworn by Leah Cypess

- The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (I know, I'm pretty much the last person on Earth to have not read this. I should just read it already.)

- Where I Want to Be and The Julian Game by Adele Griffin

- The Shadow Year by Hannah Richell

- The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon (I have tried to start this one a couple times and haven't gotten very far, but I think I need to give it a little longer before officially DNF-ing.)

- Split by Swati Avasthi

- The Distant Hours and The House at Riverton by Kate Morton (technically these are my sister's, but I borrowed them from her so they're on my shelves at the moment)

- A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty

- Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

- Pivot Point by Kasie West

- In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters

Honestly, these are just a few of the many, many, many books I have sitting on my shelves that I need to read. But if you're doing the challenge and any of them are also on your list, let me know!!

If you'd like to join in the fun, you can read all the details and link up your blog post here on Sarah's blog.