Top 5 Wednesday: Series That Got Better

Welcome to the end of the best Top 5 Wednesday month  for 2017; I have enjoyed reading and writing posts with increase joy and it  is bittersweet coming down this book ride. Today we are keeping it positive with:

July 26th: Series That Got Better
— We’ve talked about series that went downhill with each book, but talk about series that are worth pushing through the first (or first few…) books to get to the good stuff!

I am not normally a series reading girl, I prefer stand alone because I like knowing the end now. However, the times that I do engage in a series read it does not end well . Surprisingly the series that got better were the ones I read as a child/ teenager.

Let us dive into it:

Via etsy.com

Sweet Valley High
Hardy Boys
Malory Towers
Nancy Drew
The Boxcar Children

 

Hope you enjoy this week’s Top 5 Wednesday

Jane Austen: An Altered View

             

In the period December 2016 to July 2017, I reread all the completed novels of my favourite author Jane Austen (here after dubbed JA). Last year I created a reading challenge, designating each month for a particular theme. I choose December for Jane Austen books because her birthday would be on the 16th, a day I call Jane Austen Day. As you can tell from my July date in my opening, I could not complete my JA challenge in the assigned month thus I continued until Sense and Sensibility ushered the curtains on my JA journey. It is important to note that during my sensuous readathon, I noticed the growth of the Bicentenary Celebrations of JA’s death. I immediately drifted into that ‘huh mode’; Why the joy for the death of the author who gave us the plots and twists that we love?

It took a while to sink in but eventually I had to make myself understand that when many are creating workshops, parties, museum tours, lectures, tea parties, book clubs and all the other fascinating endeavours, people are celebrating JA and her novels.  I have seen an increase in the number of news articles specifically for JA separate from the usual JA dedications. It means that more persons learn of the author’s writings and setting time aside to reread not one novel but her entire collection. It is admirable and I am ecstatic that every time I social media (yes I made it a verb), there is an increase traffic in quiz, blog posts. JA writings are here to stay and I am happy to do my part in keeping her stories alive!

Top 5 Wednesday: Books That Aren’t Set In/ Inspired By The Western World

Hello book people, it is another Top 5 Wednesday and today we are talking about diversity in books in relation to scene, meaning:

July 19th: Books That Aren’t Set In/Inspired By The Western World
–I know this is a long title, but I couldn’t figure out how else to word it and still get the point across. Talk about books that are set outside of the Western World (so outside of North America and Western Europe) or if they are SFF, books that aren’t inspired by those places (so no medieval setting fantasy!)

Let is dive into it:

1.Ebola K: Book 1 by Bobby Adair
This thriller was one of my best reads in 2015 set mostly  in remote East African village of Kapchorwa. It is  about the spread of Ebola and the possible use of the deadly disease as biological warfare.

Jane Austen celebrated with first statue in hometown – CNN.com

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/07/18/europe/jane-austen-statue-unveiled-bicentenary/index.html?sr=fbCNN071817jane-austen-statue-unveiled-bicentenary1039AMStory

Top 5 Wednesday: Children’s Books

Hello book people, it is another Top 5 Wednesday and today we are going down the memory lane with:

July 12th: Children’s Books
–This can include Middle Grade (but try to recommend more than just Harry Potter and Percy Jackson!) Feel free to talk about your childhood faves or more recent reads.

Let is dive into it:

1. Cinderella

It is probably one of my favourite fairytale story  because of the storyline of a girl rescued from the clutches of hardship.  I remember feeling comfort in the story creating that make-believe story that my Cinderella  ending would come one day, in that my dreams would come true. I love a Cinderella trope especially in films and it is because of the reading the fairy tale so many times. It gave me hope that better things will come some day.

6 Feeds Jane Austen Fans Need to Follow Right Now – Verily

https://verilymag.com/2017/07/jane-austen-social-media-feeds-modern-mr-darcy-republic-of-pemberley-200th-anniversary-072017

Top 5 Wednesday: Books Without Romance

Hey book people, what’s good? It is Wednesday again with another Top 5 Wednesday. Yay! Today we talk about

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…

Let us dive into:

1. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
One of the stories that I enjoyed the most and the child narrator enhance the story. When I learnt that a new book of Harper Lee was due, I was ecstatic. However, when I understood that it is actually the story the author wrote and To Kill A Mockingbird is the edited version, my hesitation to read the ‘new book’ grew because I’m terrified  it will taint my To Kill A Mockingbird.

2. The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born by  Ayi Kwei Armah
One of the most graphic descriptions of personal disappointment, poverty and struggle that I have read. The author Ayi Kwei Armah pens the story of a man’s [name never mentioned] interpretation of living in Ghana after Independence. The narrator’s tale is compelling and coarse at times but that made it more engaging and demanding me to read more. Although some aspects of the description were gross, they were a reality that I understood and once lived. Cutting that detail from the story would be taking out the essence of a painstakingly quest for the man to keep toiling and to keep his family alive.

Everything Everything (A Book Review)

I did something with Everything Everything that I have not done with books in a very long time. I picked up the book, opened it, read the first sentence and continued reading (nonstop) until the last page of the book which is an excerpt from the author Nicole Yoon newer novel. It felt tingling good to feel greedy for words again.

Outlander (A Book Review)

Almost 200 pages to the end of novel and I got that deja vu feeling that I read Outlander before but at the same time the beginning and middle of the story felt like fresh words. I am not sure why. I would not believe that I kept saying “I have read Outlander, I should some day,” and actually did read only have it sink in oblivion. Sigh, mind conflict….

Outlander is how I like some of my historical fiction: A mixture of the old with the new, Scottish Highlanders and absolutely stunning landscape (one day Scotland, one day).

June 21st: Favourite “Unlikeable” Protagonists

Hello book people, welcome to another Top 5 Wednesday  ; today we delve into the world of protagonists.

June 21st: Favorite “Unlikeable” Protagonists
— People always tear down “unlikeable” protagonists. But tell us the ones you pulled for!

Let us dive into:

Fanny Price from Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Fanny is my second favourite Jane Austen heroine. I think that the film adaptations of Mansfield Park make Fanny look like a push over, grey and lifeless. Although I am still not sold about her love interest with Edmund, there are other characteristics which made me find and root for the girl. We see in the story the growth of a timid girl to an assertive  young woman who wants to live happy in love. She is not feisty and that is fine with me; she is more mellow and sometimes to selfless in putting her comfort of her cousins before herself. I simply do not know how she puts up with her aunt Norris!

Heathcliff  from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontee
I know there is absolutely no excuse to being an ass BUT when we are introduced to Heathcliff and his treatment during his childhood my heart went out to him. I hate when children are mistreated and at times I feel his revenge is perhaps validated. Some of his actions are indeed questionable but he has that passion and spirit of ambition which lifts his characters.