Top Ten Books I'd Recommend To X Person

This week's Top Ten is a list of books I would recommend to...a type of person of my choosing! So here are ten books I would recommend to lovers of magical realism....which I have been loving for a few years now.

According to wikipedia: "Magic realism or magical realism is a genre where magic elements are a natural part in an otherwise mundane, realistic environment.^[1] Although it is most commonly used as a literary genre, magic realism also applies to film and the visual arts."

1. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
2. Galore by Michael Crummey
3. Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan
4. A Bloodsmoor Romance by Joyce Carol Oates
5. Of Bees and Mist by Erick Setiawan
6. The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
7. Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami

Top Ten Tuesdays: Trends

10 Trends I'd Love to See More/Less Of

From The Broke and the Bookish, a weekly meme of top tens! This week was really fun as I love to bs about trends in books. Unfortunately I could only think of six trends I wanted more of, and two that I wanted less of!

I want more:

1. Books covers like this:

Or like this:

I like the stark, simple color scheme and the decorative borders...love.

2. Creative narrative styles...and I am thinking of an older book here, Jane Yolen's Sister Light, Sister Dark. Ballads? Anthropology essays? Yes please include them in my young adult fantasy.

3. If paranormal romance in young adult novels must continue to dominate I want to see more variety! Vampires and werewolves (and fairies) have been done to death. I wouldn't mind some mummies, zombies, selkies, hobgoblins, or whathaveyou. Maybe they aren't as "sexy" as a sparkly vampire or buff werewolf, but they would be novel.

4. New Weird.

5. More fairy tale retellings! Mythology can fit in here too. I know there is a YA retelling of Persephone (Abandon by Meg Cabot) that's calling to me. Am I the only one who isn't sick of this trend?

6. Illustrations in "grown up" books, like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies or Leviathon. I LOVED the illustrations. I fully support this trend.

Less of:

1. Young adult "paranormal romance" in the vein of Twilight....once was enough. While some are quite good, most are merely capitalizing on a newly realized market and...suck.

2. Beheaded bodies on book covers. I don't get it, and find it mildly disturbing.

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Love Stories

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, each week there is a specific theme for the list. This week is our favorite love stories found in books, here is my list (in no particular order):

1. Creidhe and Keeper in Foxmask by Juliet Marillier. I am a sucker for Marillier romances, it doesn't matter that they are all somewhat similar-I love them every time. I think I might like Paula and Stoyan from Cybele's Secret even more...now that I am thinking about it.

2. Jane and Silver in The Silver Metal Lover, which I kind of discussed briefly here. According to Amazon.com it is a tale of transforming love, a tearjerker, about a robot who seems to fall in love with a human girl who loves him passionately-but is it really just his programming? Naturally, it ends tragically.

3. Lucy Snowe and M. Paul Emanuel from Charlotte Bronte's Villette. Although I hesitate to add onto this list what I think of as a semi-unhealthy relationship with vastly unequal status being accorded to the female half, it is certainly a passionate and "natural" romance that builds slowly, and unexpectedly under Lucy's feet throughout the whole novel.

4. Fiona and Reed in The Safe-Keeper's Secret by Sharon Shinn. I think I really like the dynamic of "growing up together," even though it does come a smidgen close to incest in most contexts. I liked the romance and the twist in this novel however, and only felt slightly awkward when brother and sister became something more romantically involved. That's a good storyteller I suppose.

5. Mirasol and The Master from Chalice by Robin McKinley. This is a Young Adult book, I found it to be overly simple, and most pages were expanding on world building and inner dialogue-not any sort of plot development. However, the imagery surrounding the two love birds was wonderful. The Master is, not only the Master of the feudal territory, but also death and flame incarnate-he sears people to the bone with the softest touch. Mirasol is a barefooted (hippie-type) bee keeper who is suddenly called upon to act out a ritualized part as Chalice. I was tempted to include Beauty and the Beast from Beauty, also by Robin McKinley, but felt that this version of the Beauty and the Beast tale was more stylized and fun.

6. Unnamed protagonist and Hatta in Biting the Sun by Tanith Lee.
I admit it's been several years since I've read this particular novel. However, I do recall Hatta being quite a sweet and romantic being, far more into emotional connection than sexual attraction (as evidenced by his tendency to adopt monstrous bodies). The protagonist continually rejects him as anything but a friend, but when she is exiled he follows her in a new body which she does not recognize, and finally wins her over. He probably deserved better, but he was such a sweet character.

7. Jena and Gogu in Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier
I only meant for one Marillier book to be included here, as the romances do tend to blend together in her novels, but really...I'm weak willed and want to include a second one. This romance is derived from "The Princess and the Frog" and occurs within a whirlwind of activity, including fairies, vampires, forbidden love, crumbling households, and hostile takeovers of the family home by a relative.

8. Charlotte and Randall in A Curse As Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce
This retelling of Rumpelstiltskin has a host of problems as far as plot development and historical accuracy (well, at least I had issues with) but the romance between Charlotte and Randall was quite sweet. Charlotte is a rather cliched strong willed woman trying to make it in a man's world and take care of her community, and Randall is a city banker who goes above and beyond to help her and win her heart.

9. Lizzy and Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
I really have nothing to add.

10. Shahrazad and the King in The Storyteller's Daughter by Cameron Dokey
While the basic premise of this romance is rather sickening (it is a retelling of a Thousand and One Nights/Arabian Nights, which is based around a murderous king and a selfless women who tries to stay his killing of girls by stringing him along with wonderful stories) it comes off as rather sweet and enlightening in this young adult novel.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Best Debut Books

The Broke and the Bookish has a weekly meme called Top Ten Tuesday, in which participants list their top ten answers to the weekly theme. This week the theme is the Top Ten Best Debut Books, and here is my list.

1. The Thirteenth Tale (2007) by Diane Setterfield-I must agree with Jamie form The Broke and the Bookish on this one! This was an excellent gothic tale that I can't recommend highly enough. It completely blew me out of the water. I must have whatever books that she writes next.

2. Beauty (1978) by Robin McKinley-I read this as a child, after checking it out of the library, and have reread it several times since. McKinley's first book was something magical, and I think it had a quality that can't be surpassed by her more recent books (although I love them all)-but I don't know what that quality was. Perhaps just the earnest and simple tone of the tale? Obviously it is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. And I love it.

3. Of Bees and Mist (2010) by Erick Setiawan-This story creeps under your skin, squirming around long after you've read it. Setiawan is a master world builder, and this was a fun debut novel (which I reviewed here).

4. The Manual of Detection (2010) by Jedediah Berry-Another recent debut novel that I read and loved, especially for the fantastic world-building. (Review here).

5. Jane Eyre (1847) by Charlotte Bronte-Jane Eyre was Bronte's first published book, and enough has probably been said on this debut novel. I love the combination of romance, morality tale, and gothic/supernatural suspense that are all jumbled together in this story.

6. Catch-22 (1961) by Joseph Heller-This satire of the "murderous insanity of war" was devoured in a day. During four minute passing periods and a 25 minute lunch (and perhaps during class) when I was a freshman in high school. I think this book is still a rite of passage. Only, so few of us pass anymore.

7. The Stranger/Outsider (1946) by Albert Camus- It's fairly existential. It's simple. It's about a man hung for not crying at his mother's funeral, there is also the incidental murder of an Algerian. Fantastic debut.

8. A Study in Scarlet (1887) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle-Um, surprisingly ingenious and fun to read. Usually nineteenth century writers are a bit tedious for me, but I was pleasantly surprised with this one. Also, has anyone seen the newish BBC Sherlock? Only three episodes. Three brilliant episodes.

9. The Joy Luck Club (1989) by Amy Tan-I read this in Freshman English in high school, and found that I rather liked all the different background stories and the rather tragic web of relationships that made up this book. I have read others from Tan since, and found this and The Hundred Secret Senses to be fantastic.

10. Everything is Illuminated (2002) by Jonathan Safran Foer-I may have picked this up because I kept catching the end credits for the film, and loved the song "Start Wearing Purple" by Gogol Bordello. Also, how awesome is the cover design for this book? Of course, it was so much better than I had hoped. This led me to read his second novel, which is also excellent.