Yes, two in one day, I have to do some catch up. This week’s Top 5 topic is Top 5 Tuesday: Top 5 Classics I Meant to Read (but never got around to).
This list could’ve been a lot longer. It should’ve been–thankfully, we’re limited to 5 (although I push that a bit).
As I did a few months ago, in lieu of spending time formatting a post and hemming and hawing about this and that, I just turned on the camera, hit record, and blathered on a bit.
Let me know what you think!
Last week’s topic was, “Top 5 Classics I Love. I’d been tossing around ideas for September’s lists of classics, and then didn’t really notice that I was supposed to start this last week.
As I did a few months ago, in lieu of spending time formatting a post and hemming and hawing about this and that, I just turned on the camera, hit record, and blathered on a bit.
Let me know what you think!
I enjoy doing these mid-year check ins, like this one from The Orangutan Librarian or Stephen Writes, and a few other places I forgot to bookmark. And I typically do one of them around this time, too. This year, I saw the way that Emma @ Words And Peace mashed-up and reorganized a couple of these tags into one. I liked it enough that I’m using her format.
Now, I’m indecisive as usual, so for most of these prompts I gave three responses because I just couldn’t decide. Hope you enjoy.
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As of June 30, it was Mystery/Crime/Thriller with 29% of my reading.
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| Anxious People by Fredrik Backman |
Don’t Tell Me How to Die by Marshall Karp |
My Documents by Kevin Nguyen |
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| A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett |
The Medusa Protocol by Rob Hart |
Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson |
For the record, I expected that all of these were going to be good–which explains me reading/listening. But I didn’t think they’d be as good as they were. (I think that’s the intent of the catgory, I just want to stress it)
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| The Amazing Twin Chicken Freedom Fighters by Zephaniah Sole |
The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong, read by Phyllis Ho |
I See You’ve Called in Dead by John Kenney, ready by Sean Patrick Hopkins |
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| The Greatest Nobodies of History: Minor Characters from Major Moments by Adrian Bliss |
That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis |
A Little History of Music by Robert Philip, read by Zeb Soanes |
I’m NOT suggesting that That Hideous Strength was bad. It just wasn’t as good as the others in the trilogy, so it was a disappointment. The other two, were “meh” at best.
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| Kevin Nguyen | Michael Michel | Thomas Trang |
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Garlenna Renwood, body guard/conscience, of Prince Barodane Ironlight. I can’t put my finger on what exactly is appealing about her–everything? She’s just the best character in Michel’s series (so far), and there are plenty to choose from.
Tchaikovsky’s Enth was both a fascinating (and fun!) character in himself. He was also a compelling look at humanity from a very inhuman perspective. I could’ve picked a few more characters from this book, but Enth is one that I’m not going to forget anytime soon.
Maggie Dunn kept you guessing and finding new layers to her on every page. Karp made her a remarkable character. I wrote about her on a couple of occasions, and I know I haven’t said everything I’d like to.
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| The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman |
Don’t Tell Me How to Die by Marshall Karp |
Tilt by Emma Pattee, read by Ariel Blake |
Nothing has got me there quite yet (I think I said something similar last year, and within a week that streak was over). But…The Bright Sword got close. Tilt made me think about it. Don’t tell Me How to Die almost did get me misty, surprisingly early, too.
Really everything I rated 3 stars or above (the overwhelming majority of what I’ve read this year) has done that. But these three titles stand out along those lines:
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| I See You’ve Called in Dead by John Kenney, ready by Sean Patrick Hopkins |
Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man) by Jesse Q. Sutanto |
One Death at a Time by Abbi Waxman |
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| Five Broken Blades (Deluxe Limited Edition) by Mai Corland |
(although the other two in the trilogy might come close, we’ll have to see if I want to buy those)
Whatever I’m reading/listening to today 🙂
Also:
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| Wisdom for Life: 52 Old Testament Meditations by Michael P. V. Barrett |
Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism by Zacharias Ursinus | Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices by Thomas Brooks |
The first two of these I’m not going to finish until Dec. 28th (Lord willing), they’re designed that way. The Brooks book is one I’m working through with someone, and we’re taking our time, and may not finish this year.
Thus far:
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| A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett |
When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi |
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| The Final Vow by M.W. Craven |
Silver and Lead by Sanan McGuire |
If it was a footrace, The Final Vow, would be so far in the lead that it’d discourage everyone else–with the exception of Silver and Lead, because I’m not used to waiting this long for Toby Daye.
Finishing off this list:
Shared Stories book clubs, it’s just so cool to talk about books with a bunch of similarly-minded people at once. The interactions I’ve had here/on video or on social media with various and sundry writers/readers/bloggers. And everything mentioned above.
As usual, I’m not tagging anyone in this—but I’d like to see what you all have to come up with.
I’m not going to finish the post today that I meant to put up yesterday. So…let’s look at this again (all but the third prompt are still valid). I’ve been thinking a lot about the Fantasy genre. Might as well keep the trend going…
I saw this over at Bookstooge’s Reviews on the Road, and it seemed like a fun way to revisit some Fantasy Favorites, and indulge in a bit of nostalgia while I was at it.
Play along, will ya?
The Lies of Locke Lamora
I’ve read this at least 4 times and love it more each time. A Con Novel, a Heist Novel, a story of Found Family and vengence gone wrong (and, right, if you think that’s possible). I can’t get enough of Book I of the Gentleman Bastard Sequence. It’s fun, it’s suspenseful, good fight scenes, and characters you want to spend more time with.
Oh, and the fantasy world is pretty cool, too 🙂
(I have a very short post about it here)
The Chronicles of PrydainThe Chronicles of Narnia made me a Lewis fan. The Chronicls of Prydain turned me into a Fantasy fan (which is why I had to use the covers I owned as a kid). Yeah, it’s written for what we’d call today a Middle Grade audience, but when I listened to the audiobooks a year or two ago (or when I read them to my kids a decade ago), I thought it was just about as effective as you could hope. A little bit of fun, a dash of romance, a hero quest straight out of Campbell, a decent amount of magic (but not too much), a good mythic basis—and a oracular pig! It’s also probably the series that taught me that you’ll end up having emotional attachments to characters to the extent you may get teary about when they die and/or say good-bye to each other (and, yeah, did as an adult).
(my posts about the audiobook series)
Bloody RoseI tried to read this last year, and failed. I’m hoping to read it this year, and am likely to fail. I less-than-three’d Kings of the Wyld (in print and audio) so much, I don’t know why I haven’t made the time for the sequel.
The Brothers ThreeThe first of The Blackwood Saga is everything I loved about portal fantasies as a kid—but it’s written for adults. Some good characters, a good amount of growth (especially in the later books in the series), good fight scenes and a pretty cool world to explore. This worked for me in ways I didn’t expect—and the sequels have done a good job building on this one. I’ve yet to read the newest in the series, but this one feels like a good comfort-read if I needed one.
The Warlock in Spite of Himself(I probably would’ve gone with Brooks’ The Magic Kingdom for Sale, but Bookstooge beat me to it in his post).
I honestly remember very little about this novel, despite having read it several times. But the last time was probably in 1990-91. I was able to find a couple of the later novels in the series, too—just not enough for me at the time (I probably could now—yay, Internet). Still, somehow this is what sprang to mind when I thought of a fantasy on another world. A cool combination of SF and fantasy, as I recall.
The Hum and the Shiver(and the rest of the series, too, but this is good enough—as good as many series hope to be in itself)
A magical people with amazing musical talent in the Smoky Mountains, dealing with modernization, an Iraqi war vet, and a feud going back generations. I’m not a believer in magic, but Bledsoe makes me want to with these books—this is the best of a great series, and thinking about it now has got me thinking it might be time for read #4 of this one.
As for the tagging . . . nah, I’ll just leave this open to all my readers, I’d love to see what you all would put here. (W&S Book Club, here’s another chance to talk about The Dragonlance Chronicles—you’re welcome)
This week’s topic is, “Top 5 series I wished were shorter. Speaking of George (or even any Wheel of Time fans), is there a series that you wish was shorter than it is. Maybe it’s by one book — maybe it’s by eleven. You tell us!!”
As this the second in a similar series of Top 5 Tuesday topics, I figured I’d keep this one to a video, too. Let me know what you think.
This week’s topic is, “Top 5 standalone books I wished were series. This is the week for everyone who ever wished their standalone book had more books. Maybe even a long epilogue or novella after it. You know, a Mysteries or Thorn Manor style book. Or, even a Song of Fire and Ice style never-ending series?!”
I didn’t have time to write this up, so…I made a quick video. (tried something different with my recording software, and the quality took a hit…will work on that)
It was 12 years ago today that I first posted something to The Irresponsible Reader. That’s one of those numbers that both doesn’t large enough, and is entirely too large. I can’t believe that I’ve stuck with it that long (I can’t remember if I said this or not here, but I didn’t tell my wife about it for weeks, until I was sure I was going to stick with it for a while)—even more improbable is that you, reader, are here. Whether you’ve been around for a few weeks or some years—my mind is boggled by it. Thanks for that, truly.
Now, after being shocked at people doing something like “The Best 15 Books I’ve Read in the last 10 years”—how could you possibly choose? It was stuck in the back of my head—and as I was trying to come up something to do for today, that idea resurfaced. But there’s no way I could come up with something that definitive. However, in most Januarys, I posted a list or five of my favorite books of the year (I was surprised to see how many years I didn’t do this). And now, for the first time, I’ve combined them all into one MEGA-LIST
So MEGA that I truly don’t have a count. So MEGA I had to put a “Read More” link in it so it didn’t bog down the main page. Also so large, that I’m doing annoying things like overusing all caps and the word “mega.”
It is a very strange list—authors that have no business next to each other, strange genre leaps, and a couple of books I’d largely forgotten about. Still, these are books that I’ve shouted about before and that I really want to draw your attention to—go read some of these!
This is definitely a work in progress. I’m going to refine this list a bit in the future (not changing any selections—although I might add some from the year or two I didn’t post a “best of”/”favorite” list), just refining it—making it look better, polish some of the comments, and that kind of thing. My goal is to have this in a format I like by the 15th Anniversary—assuming anyone’s actually still reading me then.
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Amongst Our WeaponsMy original post
Any installment in this series is a strong contender for a favorite of the year even before I open it, and this one is a great example of why. While telling a pretty strong story, Aaronovitch expands this world and the reader’s understanding of it, a whole new magic system, and seemingly introduces the next major story arc for the series. We get to see almost every major (and more than a few minor) characters, too. For a fan, this book was a heckuva treat.
False ValueMy original post
After wrapping up the overarching plotline from books 1-7, what do you do for book 8? Something completely different. If you were to draw a Venn diagram with circles for Charles Babbage/Ada Lovelace, Artificial General Intelligence, and Wizardry—the overlap is where you’d False Value. Who wants more? The mix of contemporary cutting-edge technologies and Newtonian magic is just fantastic.
Throw in more Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy references than is healthy and you’ve got yourself a winner.
Lies SleepingMy original post
I’ve read all the comics (at least collected in paperback), listened to all the audiobooks, read the books at least once . . . I’m a Rivers of London/Peter Grant fan. Period. Which means two things—1. I’m in the bag already for this series and 2. When I say that this is the best of the bunch, I know what I’m talking about. Aaronovitch writes fantastic Urban Fantasy and this is his best yet. The series has been building to this for a while, and I honestly don’t know what to expect next. Great fight/action scenes, some genuine laughs, some solid emotional moments . . . this has it all. Everything you’ve come to expect and more.
Chain-Gang All-StarsMy original post
If there’s a book I’ve recommended more frequently this year, I can’t think of it. I’ve also bought more copies of it to give away than any other. At the core, this is a satire and critique of the American culture–particularly as it relates to sports, mass entertainment, and (most importantly) the carceral system. Pitting convicted felons against each other in gladiatorial fights-to-death, selling merch featuring them, turning them into Reality TV personalities between bouts…Adjei-Brenyah holds up the worst of the US to look at.
It’s a book about death—violent death at the hands of violent people who only hope to go on so they can kill again—However, in a serious way the book is really about life. It’s a celebration of life, a call to protect it, a call to see it for what it is. It’s a reminder that “where life is precious, life is precious.” It’s impossible to read this without being moved–perhaps to action. But it’s also a visceral and exciting read that can entertain you without forcing you to think deeply about what it wants you to.
Go Back to Where You Came From: And Other Helpful Recommendations on How to Become Americanby Wajahat Ali
My original post
I’m just going to remix some of what I said originally, this book was a great mix of memoir, social commentary, and satire—with a little sprinkling of a more general humor thrown in. The way he shifted between the genres was fairly seamless and quite effective—his own story (and that of his parents) were good illustrations of the societal ills he wanted to point to. Ali’s story is the kind that Americans love to tell and hear about success—even if his telling points to many of the flaws in our society. Through grit, determination, perseverance, and endurance, Ali pushes through all sorts of cultural, societal, legal, medical, and circumstantial challenges to arrive where he is. Because he believes in what we can be as a people, based on our (incredibly inconsistently applied and demonstrated) ideals and aspirations. It’s the kind of story we need to see, hear, and read more of.
Amari and the Night Brothersby B. B. Alston
My original post
I’m a tiny bit worried that recency bias got this one on the list. But, I’m not going to lose sleep over it.
This is a delightful story about a young girl from the “wrong” part of Atlanta being recruited by her missing/presumed dead brother into a Hogwarts/MIB mashup, overcoming odds, making friends, saving the day by doing all the sorts of things that young teen protagonists have to do (with a little support from the grown-ups who are supposed to be stopping her), but mostly through grit. The book is written with a sense of joy and hope, while never losing sight of what Amari has to overcome in terms of her own circumstances as well as the specific villainy.
Also, and I can’t stress this enough, there’s a weredragon. What more do you need?
Yes, I realize that 2/3 of the second of 2025 is over, but better late than never, right? I started all this a month or so ago, and…whatever. Thanks to A Literary Escape for reminding me to do this (although that post went up on time).
At the end of March, the number was 66 (was 92 at the time I finally finished this post)
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| My Documents by Kevin Nguyen |
My Documents really got under my skin in a way that not enough books do (which is probably good for my mental health, actually).
I could probably name another 5-6, too, the year started strong. But Nguyen’s was the first that came to mind, so let’s stick with it.
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| Memes & Mayhem by Ashley DeLeon |
I’ve alluded to others that were as good as My Documents, so let me just mention Memes & Mayhem, which was just ridiculous and fun.
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| Johnny Careless by Kevin Wade, read by John Pirhalla |
While there’s some competition for this one (alas!), I’m going to go with Johnny Careless. Lazy writing, predictable, too-reliant on Dickensian coincidences, and a little causal racism that just chafed me.
As of the end of the first quarter, it was Mystery/Thriller. I’d have guess Fantasy, honestly. If it weren’t for the table, I wouldn’t believe it.
| Genre | Year to Date |
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| Children’s | 4 (6%) |
| Fantasy | 8 (12%) |
| General Fiction/ Literature | 7 (11%) |
| Mystery/ Suspense/ Thriller | 14 (22%) |
| Non-Fiction | 1 (17%) |
| Science Fiction | 8 (12%) |
| Theology/ Christian Living | 8 (12%) |
| Urban Fantasy | 5 (8%) |
| “Other” (Horror/ Humor/ Steampunk/ Western) | 0 (0%) |
Three jumped to mind:
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| Dead Money by Jakob Kerr |
Blood Over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang |
The Price of Power by Michael Michel |
Dead Money, becuase of the ending and I’m still trying to decide what I think of it. (the rest of the book was great! I’m just trying to decide what I think of the resolution)
Blood Over Bright Haven, because of the ending–it really upped my appreciation for what Wang was doing.
The Price of Power. I assumed I was going to like it–just not as much as I ended up liking it. I’m seriously close to camping out on Michel’s doorstep waiting for the rest of them.
Ooooh…too many. But the 6 that are bugging me the most are:
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| Cold Iron Task by James J. Butcher |
Hidden in Smoke by Lee Goldberg |
His Truth Her Truth by Noelle Holten |
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| Death Rights by Shannon Knight |
When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi |
24-Hour Warlock by Shami Stovall |
I don’t really think I’m doing that great on any of my goals, really. I’m not failing, per se. But I’m not feeling bullish.
My 25 in 25, if I have to pick one. I haven’t even touched it. Maybe writing more? That’s a better goal.
I’m going to go with Book’d Out and Blogging with Dragons. I like their style, what they cover, and their site’s impression. Also, I’m a little envious of both of their names.
As usual, I’m not tagging anyone in this—but I’d like to see what you all have to come up with. You know, in case, you, too have been let a couple of months slip by.
This week’s topic is, “Top 5 books with a place in the title. Any location or place in a title is fine — just share your top five with us.” I’m adding the proviso that these are the first five that I could think of with favorable memories, there are likely some I liked better (in a true Top 5 version), but these are all solid reads that tell us a lot about the location, where the place is important–even integral to the plot (which is probably why they occurred to me when thinking about place).
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 The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams The universe is a place, it’s actually all the places. So it’s a good one to start with (in addition to the whole alphabetical thing). Sure, it’s kind of depressing to think of it ending, but at least you get a good meal beforehand. Even if it’s sentient, it’s at least tasty. And then you get to see all of Creation come to it’s timely end. |
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 Witches of Lychford by Paul Cornell We go from evereything everywhere to a tiny town in England. Sure, it’s a very important town, playing a vital supernatural role–so that makes up for the change in size. It’s a cliche to describe a city as a character in a book/movie/etc. But it really is true here, still, it’s a cliche, so I won’t say it.. |
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 6 Ripley Avenue by Noel Holten 6 Ripley Avenue is not a place anyone wants to be. Including most of the people who work there. And that’s before the murders start. It’s a probation hostel for violent criminals (for Americans, think of it as a half-way house for parolees). In addition to the staff (some of which should not be trusted, some of which should not be in this particular line of work), eight of these parolees live at the titular location. And then, as I said, people start to be killed. And the Airbnb rating really starts to tank. |
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 Perelandra by C.S. Lewis Yeah, the Venus we can see is beautiful (hence the whole “Venus” thing). It’s captured imaginations for centuries now. But underneath the clouds, the planet known as Perelandra is exponentially better than our wildest imaginations. You could almost call it Edenic. (arguably you should call it that). Ignore the plot if you wanted to (I’m not sure you should, but you could), the descriptions of the planet, the animal and plant life there, the geography…it’d be perfectly worth your time. |
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 The Black Mountain by Rex Stout Is this the best Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin novel? It’s not even in the running. But it is striking in its singularity (it largely takes place in Montenegro, near or under the shadow of the Black Mountain). It centers on regional politics, regional history, and leaves our poor American narrator out in the cold of most of the action. I really enjoy it because of the differences, at least 70% of what I know about Montenegro (particularly pre-1990s Montenegro) comes from this book (this says more about me and my education than it says about the book).
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Connie at Reading Ladies has started a new monthly feature, Most Captivating Character of the Month. It didn’t take me too long to decide who would be my choice for January, Maggie Dunn from Don’t Tell Me How to Die by Marshall Karp.
You can tell from the beginning that she’s smart. She’s driven. She’s brave (at least in the face of some things…like dying). She loves her family. She’s gone through a lot. She’s pretty funny. (probably pretty, too, but that’s not that important, especially when you see the world through her eyes). You later learn what a good friend she can be and why she was elected.
Now, like a parfait, or an onion, or an ogre—Maggie has layers. I’m not going to talk about those layers because you need to discover them for yourself. But she has them—and you keep learning about those layers as the book continues. Each layer—for me, anyway, and I predict for most readers—got me to like her more as a person (pretty frequently) and as a character (always). Is there a difference? Sure—one extreme example (that doesn’t apply here, but gets my point across) would be Dr. Lecter. Fantastic character, but not someone you’d want to hang out with.
In High School, she was a high-achieving student and occasional pot smoker. Until her mother died, and then the smoking increased (and maybe she dabbled in some harder drugs). But she stayed high-achieving and went off to college, becoming a prosecuting attorney in her home town (which brought her back into contact with her dealer, among others).
Along the way, she married a doctor and had two children. She’s popular in the town, thanks in part to her family’s very popular restaurant, her public service, and, well…many things. So she’s now in her first term as the mayor.
The more we get to know her (as I suggested above) we get to see many of the layers and layers underneath the glossy and impressive surface. Many of these layers will make you like her, some will make her relatable and keep her from being too good to be true. And other layers, well, it’s captivating character of the month–not admirable character of the month.
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