Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly topic hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week she provides a topic, and you are free to use that topic and/or variations of that topic to make your top ten list. A full list of the weekly themes can be found here. I’m really excited for this week’s topic because I have some brags and not just confessions!
Author event with Calahan Skogman: In late August, I went to the discussion and reading of Calahan Skogman’s debut novel Blue Graffiti. It was so lovely to hear about this book from the author himself, but in general he was such a kind and humble person. I remember one thing he said was most people are saying he’s an actor pretending to be a writer, and in his mind, he’s a writer pretending to be an actor.
Author event with Ashley Herring Blake: I remember first hearing about Delilah Green Doesn’t Care many months before it came out. I don’t remember where I heard about it, but I knew I was going to buy it immediately. Going to see Blake discuss her new novel (and upcoming books) was so much fun. Her energy was hilarious and just the fact that she was trying to remember her books and what she had written felt so relatable.
Writing my middle school “nickname” on the edges of books: Thankfully, the books I wrote the nickname on were the Harry Potter series, so it’s okay now. But every time I look at it, I cringe a little.
Classics aren’t all they’re cracked up to be: Of course, do I love Jane Austen? Yes, of course I do. But there’s many classic authors that I do not like or aren’t worth it. The Great Gatsby is a great example because it’s horrible. Other books that are considered “classics” or part of the “literary canon” are just white, cis-, straight dudes, and I’m not about that life.
Donated books to LFL: Over the weekend, I took an entire trunk full (literally, my whole trunk was filled) of books around to Little Free Libraries to fill them up. Included in those donations are the first two illustrated HP books, so someone is going to get a bargain for those.
Marginalia: I’m a huge fan of margin writing or marginalia. Annotating books is so much fun for me and keeps my brain engaged (plus with my graduate degree in English literature, I can’t help it anymore).
Carrying a purse: I have a wristlet wallet, so I don’t need a purse/bag to carry. I only carry a purse to keep the books I’m reading (or plan to read) in it.
Book Vacation: When I was planning a vacation for this past summer, I found out about book vacations where you just go somewhere and read books, go to bookstores in the area, or book events. I’m totally planning one of these for next summer.
Pride and Prejudice retellings: I will read any Pride and Prejudice or any Austen retelling. Murder mystery? Yes! Queer? Absolutely! Animals? Why not!
Picture book recommendation: If there’s one picture book I will always, always, always recommend and it’s Ada Twist, Scientist. It’s absolutely adorable and shows Black Girl joy (and science) in such a fun, kid-friendly way.
I hated The Great Gatsby, too. You’re not alone there.
And, yeah, the classics are overrated. I did like some of them, but there are plenty of contemporary authors writing stories that are just as well written and meaningful.
Thank you! There are so many meaningful stories written today. Also the classics exclude so many well-written and important stories that are by Black or non-white people and by women that it just feels like the same story again and again. Not saying it’s better today but getting there..maybe
Have you read Pride and Premeditation? It’s first in a related series. I stumbled on it somewhere this year.
Yes, I have!! I still need to read the other two in the series
Donated books is wonderful, In my city we have a few LFLs but I don’t like to donate to them, because you find rubbish, old diaries, calendars and things that people want to get rid of, it’s not reading material.
That’s so unfortunate! There were a few who had some interesting stuff left in them.
I’m glad there are other people who despise THE GREAT GATSBY as much as I do! People are always raving about that book and I just DON’T get it.
Yay for donating to LFLs. I love mine and it makes me happy every time I see people using it.
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
It’s the W O R S T!! Everyone sucks and there’s other books that encapsulate the 1920s.
It was so fun seeing the creativity with all the different LFLs. My favorite was one that was the TARDIS (I nerded out a bit)!
No to classics for me as well. I just can’t get into them.It’s the flow or language or something. That’s so fun that you donated all those books to Little Free Libraries.
A book vacation sounds fun!
Classics always take a bit more brain power to get into. Plus, I don’t like the superiority attitude some people have when they read classics. No one’s better than anyone else because they’ve read The Great Gatsby or Moby Dick.
I would lose my MIND if found an illustrated HP in an LFL. I’m so excited for that lucky person or two, thank you! Doing a drop-off tour at libraries is really fun — earlier this summer, I went to two library bag sales largely with the goal of picking up spares in nice condition to do just that, and had a blast (we have a lot of locations in my city). Of course, the feeling of actually clearing space on your shelves while doing so must feel even better.
I hope whoever finds it has the same reaction as you! Even though I’ve lost my joy with the HP series, I hope others still enjoy them. Touring LFLs was really fun, especially since I moved to my new city a little over two months ago, so it was a nice way to explore, become familiar, with the area.
Classics can be such a drag to read, but the great thing about them is that a lot of them are now in the public domain, so we can get all sorts of modern day retellings with twists, and I love those.
I hope you have a great rest of your week.
Here’s my TTT if you wish to visit – https://justanothergirlandherbooks.blogspot.com/2024/10/top-ten-tuesday-bookish-brags-and.html
Oh yes!! I love retellings!