Top Ten Tues: Talk About It

Top Ten Tuesdays are hosted by The Broke and The Bookish, and feature lists related to all things bookish–characters, authors, titles, and favorites. They’re an excellent way to find new interesting books on a variety of topics, and to find bloggers that love the books you do.

Check out their blog for their top ten and lists of other bloggers who participate!

March 22: Ten Books I Really Love But Feel Like I Haven’t Talked About Enough/In A While.

1. Grimspace; Ann Aguirre. Sirantha Jax is a grimspace pilot, a dangerous job that often ends in the death of the pilot–so when her ship went down, everyone blames her. But what if she didn’t make a mistake? This whole series is a little dark, but ultimately hopeful–with well developed characters, lovely world-building, and a biting sense of humor.

2. Beguilement; Lois McMaster Bujold. Sharing knives are made by the lakewalkers, shrouded in secrets and sacrifice, the only weapon against the malices which rise from the ground and destroy everything around them. The farmers doubt the truth of these stories, but their doubt won’t protect them from the malices or their minions. This four-book fantasy series has scary monsters, fantastic world-building, and several well-developed romances.

3. Ascending; James Alan Gardner. Oar is the last of her kind still awake, and doing her best to attract the attention of a sentient species–but when she does, it brings a lot more danger than she expected! A little funny, and thought-provoking.

4. The Fire Rose;  Mercedes Lackey. This is the first in the Elemental Master series, and less shiny and polished than the later books. But it has a first love moment for me, the introduction of the elementals and the people who wield their magic.

5. The Ship Who Searched; Anne McCaffrey & Mercedes Lackey. A seven-year-old girl is exposed to an ancient virus, which paralyses her so completely that her only chance is to be made into a ‘brain,’ sealed into a life support system that controls a ship. Instead of feeling sorry for herself, she goes to find the disease that struck her down. There’s a scene in this story that still gives me that sad/touched lump in my throat.

6. 1Q84; Haruki Murakami. Perhaps one of the weirder–and certainly longer–works of Murakami. A woman slips into a parallel world, a writer’s life begins to unravel–and slowly, they draw together. Sure to stretch your mind a bit.

7. Someday, Angeline; Lois Sachar. Angeline is bright, strange, and a little lost–she may need the help of an equally strange classmate to connect with her father and herself. Great for your outcast inner child.

8. The Rithmatist; Brandon Sanderson. People draw and control chalk creatures to defend against killer wild chalk monsters. I love this magic system.

9. The Dead Isle; Sam Starbuck. Available online for free, this is a fascinating mix of science and magic–well, more of science versus magic. Excellent quality for a free story.

10. Eight Million Gods; Wen Spencer. Nikki writes obsessively, gruesome murder stories–and then she discovers that what she writes comes true… Danger! Magic! Romance!