Top Ten Sequels? How about series!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

In trying to think of ten sequels that were amazing, I kept coming back to series that I enjoy. Sometimes the third or fourth book is better than the sequel. I suppose something about the sequel made me want to continue reading, in most cases though, it is the series in its entirety that I love.

1.  Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein - I love his world of Middle-Earth and I think the third book was the best. It is the book where I fell in love with my all-time favorite character ever; Eowyn.  I love it so much I even created another book to make it a series for my NaNoWriMo project. Now that is devotion.

2. A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin - I read the first five books in one summer and that was no small feat. I love this world and all the crazy characters within. Please, George hurry and write the rest! Please!!

3. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling -  Numbers three and six were my favorites but I loved them all. The wolrd of Harry Potter was well described, written and imagined. One of the resasons I love six is because we see Harry and Dumbledore together piecing together the mystery of Voldemort and the villain's whole backstory is amazing. I love this series.

4. Graceling Realm Series by Kristin Cashore - Graceling is an amazing book and definately one of my favorites. Fire was more of a companion book to Graceling and again, I love it. Bitterblue tied both books together and I can only hope that the author keeps writing about this world. It is so interesting and I believe there are many more stories out there to be told about it.

5. Dublin Murder Squad by Tana French - This is a mystery series done differently. Each book centers on a different person from the Dublin murder squad. They make cameos and appearance in each others novels briefly. Each mystery tackles a different issue and affects the detective personally in some way. Each book is original and amazing. I love this concept and I enjoy reading this series.

6. The Bess Crawford Series by Charles Todd - Another mystery series that I really enjoy. This mystery series is set during World War I which is an era that has been popularized most recently by Downton Abbey. Bess has decided to help the war effort even though she is a woman of means. She becomes a nurse and becomes embroiled in different mysteries surrounding soldiers she meets and other strange circumstances. This is written by a mother-son team which is interesting and I swear I am under 40 but for some reason I love this series!

7. Last Apprentice Series by Joseph Delancey - This series will have ten tomes by the time it is finished, which should be in Spring of 2014. I can't say that the series should have been that long but I have been compelled to read every, single one. This series is about the dark and all creatures that reside in it. It hearkens to old tales and fables about ghosts and boggarts and has even delved into some greek mythology as well. A scary tale with historic echoes.

8. Abhorsen Series by Garth Nix - Again, with most of these series, I love the first book and enjoy the ones that follow. Sabriel was such a good book and set in a very interesting world. It is not a book htat has found a large audience but those of us who have read it, love it!

9. Across the Universe Trilogy by Beth Revis - I have not read a lot of Science Fiction but I want more books like this. It reminds me of Battlestar Gallactica in that there is a ship fullof people looking for another Earth. I daresay, this is a common theme among Science Fiction books. The alternating narratives give a fuller picture of what is going on. I want more books like this.

10. The Century Trilogy by Ken Follet - Follet caught my attention with Pillars of the Earth and I have to say I am enjoying this trilogy so far (number three won't be out for a while). The first book covered World War I and book two covers World War II. I like historical fiction and Follets books are good because you get some historical background throughout different parts of the conflict with a large cast of characters.

Let's pretend it is September 16...

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

I'm a week behind! Sorry.

TBR Fall 2013

1. Dr. Sleep by Stephen King - This book comes out today!

2. Clariel by Garth Nix  - Sabriel is one of my favorite books along with the rest of the Abhorsen series. This book, a prequel to Sabriel, is coming out in September 2014 according to various websites. Please say it's true!

3. Bellman and Black by Diane Setterfield - She has only written one book so far that I have found and it is easily one of my all-time favorite books. Expectataions are high for this one!

4. Across a Star-Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund - For Darkness Shows the Stars was a great read based on Persuasion. This book is based on the Scarlet Pimpernel! Say, what?!

5. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell - This was published around a week ago. Looks awesome!


These books have been out for a while and my friends are raving about them....


6. Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman - This was published rather recently but I have yet to lay my hands on it.

7. School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani - Almost every library friend I have, plus Wandering Meander has told me to read this book. I don't usually do what I'm told but the premise is promising, therefore it is on my nightstand right now!

8. Eleanor and Park by  Rainbow Rowell - This book is getting rave reviews from library friends and young adult reviewers and it was banned in a library somewhere. Since this is banned books week I think it is only fitting that I read it immediately. Ranbow Rowell is on this list twice so she better be good!

9.  Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman - Memoirs and I don't mix but this premise is very interesting.

10. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein - Every time I read the premise for this book I want to read it! I have had this on a to-read-list for a while. Now that it is ony my top ten, maybe I will actually read it.

Top Ten Tuesday - TBR Books for Fall 2013

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Ah, autumn.  The season of jeans and sweatshirts and reading a giant pile of books.

There are a few new books coming out that I want to read, but mostly I have a tremendous backlog to dig through.  Seriously.  It's getting worrisome.

So, in no particular order, Wandering Meander's list o' books for Fall 2013!
  
Books not currently on my shelves but about which I am excited:

Yes, I am THIS excited.

1.Finnikin of the Rock (and sequels?) by Melina Marchetta - This series has earned rather positive reviews from the bloggers/reviewers I follow.  I'm game.

2. Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo
I was rather surprised by the mountains of feelings the first book dredged up and now want to read this one very badly.  I keep hearing "Sturmhund" everywhere I go...looking forward to this.

3. Chantress by Amy Butler Greenfield
Read a review from another blog and it intrigued me.

4.  Across a Star-Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund
Considering how much I LOVED the first book, I'm super-psyched to read this "sequel."  Sci-Fi YA Scarlet Pimpernel?  Yes, please!

5. Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
Everything Sanderson writes is terrific.  I can't wait for this one.

Books that have been ignored on my shelves for far too long

6. The Lost Prince (and The Iron Traitor) by Julie Kagawa.
Yes, I know there are two books here.  Nevertheless, somehow The Lost Prince ended up getting bypassed when it was released.  An oversight I need to remedy...

7. The Mermaid's Madness by Jim C. Hines
I really liked the first one - kickass fairy tale princesses! - and the sequel(s) ended up getting shelved "to be read later."  Time to get back on the wagon.

8. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
I have a feeling that I'm missing out by not having read this.  I must read it before seeing the movie...because it will affect whether or not I want to see the movie at all.

9. The Diviners by Libba Bray
Yet another book that got bypassed instead of read, and for no good reason!  Shame on me.  (And it's the nice hardcover with the GOOD cover art.  Ha!)

10. Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff
I know it's sort of steampunk, and I just wrote a review about how lackluster steampunk can be, but I want to read this anyway.  Let's see if something awesome can happen.

Book Review: Black City

Black City by Elizabeth Richards
Book 1 of Black City
Published 2012

In a city where humans and Darklings are now separated by a high wall and tensions between the two races still simmer after a terrible war, sixteen-year-olds Ash Fisher, a half-blood Darkling, and Natalie Buchanan, a human and the daughter of the Emissary, meet and do the unthinkable—they fall in love. Bonded by a mysterious connection that causes Ash’s long-dormant heart to beat, Ash and Natalie first deny and then struggle to fight their forbidden feelings for each other, knowing if they’re caught, they’ll be executed—but their feelings are too strong.

When Ash and Natalie then find themselves at the center of a deadly conspiracy that threatens to pull the humans and Darklings back into war, they must make hard choices that could result in both their deaths.

Review:
Oh. My. God.
I thought perhaps that I might be just on a preternaturally long Good Book Streak after last weekend's reading bender (that I still haven't written all reviews for). I thought that I could do no wrong and that, finally, my book sense was getting finely tuned and that I could TELL which books were good.
WRONG!  So very, very wrong.

This book is bad on just about every level that a book is able to bad at.  Characters?  G'ah!  Plot?  Yikes!  Worldbuilding?  Oy!

There's just so much going on here that makes my brain itch I'm not even sure where to start.  I have EIGHT pages of notes on why this book is bad.

Oh - There are spoilers here.  Read on at your own risk.  

World:  
This is a world where there are two races:  humans and Darklings.  Darklings are tall, strong and have super senses.  They feed on blood and are vulnerable to sunlight.  There are several subspecies.  Some of them have wings.  
Then there are humans.  They are...human.  They largely control the government and have guns.  Somehow this means that they have corralled the Darklings into ghettos.  They force the Darklings living outside of the ghetto to wear identifying armbands.  They are led by a dubiously charismatic leader named Purian Rose whose likeness is everywhere and wants racial segregation and racial purity. 
In case the Holocaust parallels aren't punching you in the face at this point, there is even a part where part of the propaganda says "work sets you free."  

Characters:
Everyone in this book is at least one of the following:
A) An idiot
B) A terrorist
C) A jerk
D) A milquetoast waste of air

Let's start with Natalie:
She has a terrible relationship with her mother, which I think is the root cause of most of her stupidity.  She sneaks away from her bodyguard all the time, which inevitably gets her in some sort of danger or potential danger.  Every. Single. Time.  Her mother is clearly involved in something shady as hell and it takes the entire book for her to figure it out, even though it's jumping up and down screaming "I'm here!  I'm the evil!  Right here!"
She has the confidence to walk around in a proven-dangerous city.  She falls in instalove [insert vomiting noises here] with a twin-blood Darkling.  But as soon as he wants to spend a little time with another twin-blood (he's never met one before), she she falls to pieces.

Now onto Ash.
He's supposed to be a good guy who makes tough choices.  I get that.  I can even overlook the fact that he's an uneasy blend of "drug dealer" and "male prostitute" (His "clients" get sexual pleasure from his interactions, so how it that not prostitution?)  But really he comes across as a jerk who has occasional non-douchebag moments.  He's cutting and condescending to Natalie pretty much from the time they meet until they run into one another and he's nice to Natalie's Darkling-slave and suddenly he's a "nice guy."  Um, no.  That's not how it works.
On the same page he says that humans are awful because they won't do anything for anyone else if it affects their comfort...and then he carries at a lavish Darkling-hosted party while most Darklings are starving outside.

Natalie's mother: (Bigger spoilers here)
I don't remember her name.  In my notes, I just called her Mommy Dearest.  She has two daughters: Polly and Natalie. She has stated, point blank, to Natalie's face that Polly is her favorite.  Here's the thing, though.  At one point her family was threatened and the thugs said they were going to torture one daughter that she chose or kill both.  So she tells them to "take Polly."  Polly logically gets emotional and physical scars and becomes a part-time vegetable, full-time recluse.  The reason she chose her favorite daughter?  Because Polly's father is a powerful man (not her husband) and HE ordered this attack.  He doesn't know that Polly is his daughter, of course, but she's doing it to get revenge on him.  To top off this ridiculous asshattery, she blames Natalie to her face because Natalie didn't run away as quickly as she was supposed to.
Oh, and Mommy Dearest is involved in a chemical warfare, biological terrorism and attempted genocide.
Mommy Dearest for Mother of the Year!!

Day/Beetle
Apart from having two of the stupidest names I've seen in fiction for a while, I don't know what to do with these guys.  Day is Natalie's friend-of-convenience and Beetle is Ash's.  They are both principled...when it's convenient for the plot.  They are really flexible...when it's convenient for the plot.  They have pointless arguments with each other and Natalie/Ash but immediately come around as soon as one trivial piece of information comes.
Example:
Beetle finds out about Natalie and Ash in "love" and is rightly freaked out because this is a capital crime. Ash says "Dude, she's my Blood Mate."
Knowing that this doesn't change a damn thing and that they will still be tortured and executed if caught, Beetle responds with: "Oh. I didn't know."
And that's the end of it.  Suddenly the friends are totally fine with these people risking their lives.  It's this Romeo-and-Juliet, us-against-the-world crap like this that makes me think teenagers are far dumber than they actually are.

In fact, as long as we're on the subject, let's talk about Stupid Concepts in Black City.  This might take a while.
Ash's hair.
Ash's hair moves on its own, "searching for blood."  He can't wear hats, because his moving hair makes them fall off.  It has nerve endings, apparently, because at one point while they're making out, Natalie messes with his hair, leading to:
Metaphoric Rape.
Because they were making out, and Natalie was touching his weird-ass not-really-hair-with-nerve-endings, Ash "loses control" and bites Natalie.  She gets pissed, rightfully so, and tells him off.  He apologizes and she's pretty much says "Okay, then."  And then she spends the next page rationalizing it saying "it was partly my fault because I got him worked up."
NO.
NO NO NO.
This is never, ever okay.  Blaming the victim is never, ever okay.  Having the victim blame herself - and supporting it in the text - is never okay.  I understand that this is not actual real-life rape, but the metaphor is so clearly obviously there that I really wanted to stop reading right then.  In the end, though, this is smoothed over because Ash and Natalie are:
Blood Mates. 
There is some infodump disguised as folklore early in the book.  Basically:  Humans have one functioning heart.  Darklings have two - but one only beats in the presence of their Blood Mate.  Twin-bloods (human-Darkling hybrids) have one heart...but it doesn't beat.  Twin-bloods' cells are oxygenated by a symbiotic bacteria.  (Good morning, pseudo-science!)
Okay.  So the idea that your heart will only beat for your one true love is and adaptation of a well-used trope.  I get it.  Here's the where it get really, really stupid.
Natalie had a heart transplant when she was younger.  Where did this heart come from?  Not a human who died in a motorcycle accident like normal people (helmets on at all times, people), but from a twin-blood mad scientist Mommy Dearest tortured.  Of course, removing a living being's heart would normally kill them, but a twin-blood doesn't NEED a heart, see, because of the symbiotic bacteria (and authorial contrivance).
Okay, so the victim is still alive.  When they figure this out, Ash realizes that the twin-blood was supposed to be his Blood Mate instead of Natalie and he's all torn up about this.
This is the second point when I almost quit reading.
Several questions immediately spring to mind.
1. Organ transplants require careful blood type matching, etc. Can a hybrid possibly have the same blood type as a human?
2. I thought these are different species.  You can't just shove a cow's heart into a sheep's chest and expect everything to work fine.  Does science not work in this universe?
3. Is is the person or the heart that makes a Blood Mate?  Because right now it sounds like it's the physical, bleeding organ that makes the bond.
4. If Natalie had her heart removed and placed in Ash's hands, would he still try to rape it?
5. This is stupid.  It's not a question; I just felt it needed to be said.

Extinction.
At one point, Evangeline (heart-robbery victim) and Ash are talking about Darklings' dwindling survival.  Evangeline mentions that twin-bloods are going extinct.  I feel it worth mentioning that it's the Darklings that are at risk from starvation and genocide, etc.  But she and Ash are concerned about the hybrids.  At this point I had to laugh.  It would be like someone saying "We only have horses and donkeys!  Mules are going extinct!  If only there were something we could do!"  It seems like humans and Darklings are more than willing to get it on, just as long as they won't get torture-murdered for it.  This just reinforces my idea that everyone in this universe is an idiot.

Fire is a Considerate, Gentle Soul.
At one point a main character catches on super dramatic fire.  This fire leaves scars on arms and chest but doesn't touch the hair.  Because that's how fire on your chest would totally behave.  It doesn't scar facial tissue or make the character hideous.  Because fire is our friend and it would never hurt us.
Cinderstone.
The mental giants that built Black City built it out of black stone, giving it its name.  Fine.  The thing is that Cinderstone BURNS at high temperatures.  And then the authority fire-bombed their own city.  I would love to be in the city planning meeting that approved that one:
"I have an idea!  Let's build a city out of anthracite coal."
"Wouldn't that burn?"
"Only if someone tries to light it on fire."
"Well, that will never happen.  Approved!"

Okay.  There are so many more things that I could write about.  But I think I'm done.  It hurts too much.
I would give this book 1 star, but I actually enjoyed writing this review and making my list of WTF things.

1.5 stars.

Book Review: Crown of Midnight

Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas
Book 2 of Throne of Glass

After a year of hard labor in the Salt Mines of Endovier, eighteen-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien has won the king's contest to become the new royal assassin. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown – a secret she hides from even her most intimate confidantes.

Keeping up the deadly charade—while pretending to do the king's bidding—will test her in frightening new ways, especially when she's given a task that could jeopardize everything she's come to care for. And there are far more dangerous forces gathering on the horizon -- forces that threaten to destroy her entire world, and will surely force Celaena to make a choice.

Where do the assassin’s loyalties lie, and who is she most willing to fight for?

Review:
Oh my goodness, you guys.  
Seriously.

I read this book last weekend and had to look for the right gifs to do it justice.
This is the Celaena book we've wanted:  she's put in moral dilemmas, she has squee-worthy romance moments, she finds and loses friends, she gets all dressed up and she also straight-up murders the crap out of people.  There are reveals.  There are Serious Moments.  There is humor.
Basically:

 It's just....it's so much.  My poor little heart, cold and reptilian though it might be, was struggling to handle all the input it was getting.  (Randomness of the day:  when I tried to type "input" my finger muscles typed "pinup" instead.  Make of that what you will.)

So now Celaena is the King's Champion, which is great because it means she didn't die in a tournament for the honor.  Score.  The downside is that she is under contract for four years.  And it's not like the king is friggin' Arthur or something.  So her gig pretty much involves slaughtering people that are basically decent because she has the skills to do it.  She doesn't want to, but King Jerkwater has threatened to murder everyone she loves if she doesn't toe the line.

Mistress Kick-butt's reaction to the king's "plans"

Well, Our Lady Death-in-a-Dress decides she's not buying garbage that King Douchecanoe is peddling and is doing her best to weasel all sneakily out of killing sort-of innocent people. So we get Cunning Celaena and Secret Rebel Celaena.  One mission goes somewhat awry and she becomes Knife Fighter Celaena.  Then something spoilery-so-shall-not-be-revealed happens and she becomes Super-Murder Hyper-Slaughter Celaena.  (I liked that part.)  

Readers get to see more of her tender side when she finally - FINALLY - gets the guy that's been admiring her for longer than he cares to admit.  She's gooey on the inside.  Aww.
But even with her marshmallow center, her outer shell isn't made of candy.  It's made of titanium, and Not-Taking-Any-Bullsh*t Celaena draws a line in the sand and breaks her own heart to stay on the correct side of it.  When our heroine is at the lowest of the low, even I needed a hug. 

She can be decorative.  She can be petty.  But she also uses her brain more often than not.  She has a line even she will not cross.  She even has secrets that she hasn't revealed to the reader (which shouldn't have been a surprise, but still was because I was doing the reading equivalent of the "Phoebe Run" through this book).

To sum up:  We get to see our legendary assassin actually get bathed in blood.  We get to see her fall in love and dress all pretty.  We get to see her show her moral mettle - and suffer for her sacrifices.  AND we get a frickin' cliffhanger that makes me want to grab the next book.  Which is, of course, nowhere near being published.  

Read this book.  Read it right now.* 

5 stars!  

*"now" means "after finishing the first book"

Book Review: Throne of Glass

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
Book 1 of "Throne of Glass"

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin. Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom.

Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another.

Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin. Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom.

Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another.

Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

Review:
Yes, I'm a little late to the party on this one.  When the publishing world freaks out over a book, I tend to be a little skeptical.  The benefit of living as a book pessimist is that you're always either pleasantly surprised or constantly being proved right.  In this case, I'm happy to be pleasantly surprised: the blogosphere hype seems dead-on.

There are readers who can cry "Mary Sue" about Celaena, our kickass heroine.  I can understand where the criticisms come from, especially if opinions are based almost solely on the first few chapters of the book, but all in all I found Celaena to be an engaging and root-worthy protagonist.  Is she the best assassin, like EVER, and is she gorgeous and does she make all the Boys Important To The Plot love her and does she have the prettiest eyes and is she physically tough as shoe leather?

Yes.

But she also is somewhat self-destructive.  She mistrusts just about everyone, for very good reason.  She withholds information that might be valuable to someone else - or potentially damaging to herself if revealed.  She falls for possibly inappropriate men.  Even though she's a reputedly legendary fighter, she nearly gets murdered or maimed a couple times.  A couple challenges prove too much for even her much-vaunted talents and she only gets by with help from other contestants.

There are levels of politics and magic here that make the world interesting and give the story some resonance and depth.  Through the cast of characters and their political goals, the world is revealed, layer by tantalizing layer.  Humor permeates the dialogue without ever cheapening the story.  While Celaena definitely seems to get some of the best lines, she isn't the only witty character in the kingdom, for which I'm grateful. 

The ending is very satisfactory, and while the larger outcome isn't exactly a surprise, there are enough moving parts in the the rest of the narrative to push the reader right into the sequel.

4.5 stars!  A terrific debut and a great book to read and reread!

Panther's Top Ten Books to Movies Wishlist

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This is my last minute post, becuase this Top Ten is too awesome to leave alone. I love movies and I love books but rarely do I love both the book and the movie. What I love about a list like this is no one has to agree with me. These are from my limited reportoire of books that I already visualize in my head (starring me, of course!). Here's hoping you agree with a few of them:

1. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

I LOVED this book and all I could do is think about how this would make a great movie (Daft Punk, just play your music from Tron, ok?). I think this movie would also have broad appeal, although I am not making that one of my criteria for this list at all.


2. Graceling by Kristin Cashore

This book has a strong female character and everything that I like in books and movies alike: action, adventure, romance and list keeps going...

3. Across the Universe by Beth Revis

A wonderful Sience Fiction trilogy. I think this would be done best in a movie format instead of the usual TV series.

4. Monster by Walter Dean Myers

This book is already in screenplay format and would make a good and powerful movie.

5. The Last Apprentice Series by Joseph Delaney

This is being made into ta movie coming out this fall which I think it a mistake. There are so many episodic storylines and with thirteen books in the series this would make a much better TV series. The apprentice could actually start his age (13) and grow up as the series goes on. If it was released though a cable channel like AMC then it would not need to be 24 episodes per season. There is a lot of potential for this series.

6. Runaways by Marvel (Brian K. Vaughn, Joss Whdon and others)

Marvel has struck gold with The Avengers and most of their spin-offs and prequels. This fun series should be no exception. A bunch of teens find out their parents are superheroes, or actually supervillians but is running away their only option? Great for a TV show.

7. Jamaica Inn by Daphne DuMaurier

I have no idea why, but this is one of my favorite books. I watched the TV miniseries with my mom and was haunted by it. There was also a film version by one of my favorite directors, Alfred Hitchcock which was horrible. So, please, Masterpiece Theater will you take this on? Thank you!

8. Little Century by Anna Keesey

I'll admit it I like westerns. I like westerns more when there is a female protagonist who makes it on her own. This was a good book and I want more books like it and the same goes for movies. Do all westerns have to be about the boys?

9. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

This book was so descriptive it was hard not to visualize what this book would look like as a movie. And it would be beautiful.

10. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

This book was not one of my favorites but I think I would absolutely LOVE a movie version. Beasties versus Machines, steampunk, World War I, what more can you ask for?

Honorable mentions:

Little House on the Prairie Mini series. Make this like the books and not that annoying TV series and please for god' sake don't put it on the Hallmark channel. These books could be done without too much nostalgia.

The Thirteenth Tale
I just love this book and want to star in the movie as the girl who lives in the bookshop and interview the old woman.

Sabriel
I love you.

The Hangman's Daughter
There is potential with this one. Historical mystery. Yes!

Top Ten - Books I would love to see as a TV Show or Movie

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week, we are decreeing that this would be in a perfect world in which the adaptation would be done perfectly and not ruin our favorite books. 

And so - onto the list!

1. The Last Unicorn by Peter S Beagle.
I know there already is *a* movie about this, but I want a massive, live-action, epic-length feature about this think.  Or a miniseries with Game of Thrones' production values.  More unicorn and Red Bull action, please!

2. Graceling by Kristin Cashore
I feel like we need more shows about women that can both kick butt and find love while making a difference in their world.

3. Joust series by Mercedes Lackey
Pseudo-Egypt land where lucky soldier can ride dragons into battle.  A young peasant boy who rises from the lowest of the low to become a major player in kingdom politics.  Romance!  Battles!  Dragons! 

4. The Immortals quartet by Tamora Pierce
Nothing against Song of the Lioness, but this one has talking animals in it.  Following Daine on her adventures was one of the best experiences of my teenage years.  I want to share this bounty with so many other people.

5. Hidden Kingdom trilogy by Clare Dunkle
A criminally under-acknowledged trilogy, really. Two girls find their place in a realm ruled by the Goblin King.  For all the people who grew up with Labyrinth and wanted a more romance-filled happily ever after.  Goblins and elves and humans and all sorts of strange magic. 

6. River God by Wilbur Smith
For people who wanted HBO's series Rome to go on and on, this might actually fit the bill.  The history is somewhat sketchy (read:  nonexistent) but the setting is plausible enough.  There's plenty of violence and romance and adventure and war and whatnot to sate even the heartiest appetite for them. 

7. Hawksong and Snakecharm by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
Neither of these books are especially long, but their limited pages are just packed with adventure and feelings.  The world is particularly interesting - people who can be snakes or hawks, and the never-ending war between them.  The romance between the two main characters is oddly deep and satisfying for how short the book itself is.

8. Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop
There is no reason why I love this series as much as I do, but I wish I could watch it in Game of Thrones-style miniseries.  The first time I read it, I didn't love it, but partway through the series I was completely hooked and couldn't stop.  Now I want to watch it in long serial style.

 9. Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueliene Carey
There is enough sex et cetera in this book (and its sequels) that even HBO might not be willing to take it on.  But it would still make a kick-ass series set in not-Renaissance France, and journeying throughout the greater European area.  All the books are dark, but the finale is exceptionally so - without ever really falling into the "life is dark, man, dark" trap that some grimdark fantasies slip into.

10.  Firebringer Trilogy or Darkangel Trilogy by Meredith Anne Pierce
Okay, I can't decide between these two, so I"m making them both my number ten.  Firebringer has unicorns and griffins and dragons and it's AWESOME.  The Darkangel trilogy has vampires (sort of) and demons and possessed creatures and it's also AWESOME.  So many plots strings twisted up and then resolved!  So many feelings!  I haven't read either in a few years, but I might need to dig them out again....

 

 You know, I'm rapidly discovering that these Top Ten lists aren't really helping me get my TBR pile any smaller.  I just keep digging up older books that I've already read and now want to read again.  Curse you, good books!