Favorite Books in Each Genre

The last 365 days or so I’ve made a big effort to read more in a variety of genres. The result is that I’ve read some amazing books that I would never have read before! So I thought I would take some time to share with you all my favorite book from each genre.

Literary Fiction: Bel Canto

If you’ve been following my blog for any length of time, you’re probably tired of hearing about Bel Canto. But I’m going to tell you again anyway. In an unnamed South American Country, a group of rich industrialists get together for a birthday dinner/concert. A group of guerrilla terrorists show up to kidnap the president of the country, who isn’t there. Their indecision leads them to being stuck with a hundred hostages when the military shows up. The terrorists and the businessmen get to know each other, form friendships, and even fall in love. It’s beautiful, it’s heartbreaking, it’s just wonderful.

The Grad Student Book Tag

What do you guys think my big celebration should be for finishing up my graduate school classwork? Big party? No, social distancing. Fancy dinner? No, restaurants are closed. A book tag? PERFECT!

Jillian the Bookish Butterfly created this super fun book tag for all you nerds in graduate school or thinking about graduate school. And she knew I was working on a degree too, so she tagged me! Thanks Jillian!

As a side-note, I am NOT graduating yet. I still have to do my practicum (also called internship) in the fall, but I’m thinking (hoping) it’s going to be a LOT less work than my classes were. Guaranteed I won’t have to read 60 pages of a cataloging textbook every week. Ugh.

So, yay! Let’s get started!

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Picking an Area of Study

What’s your favorite books and/or series from each of your favorite genres?

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Oh gosh! I have so many favorite genres! lol

Fantasy: Lord of the Rings. I know, such a cliche. But I’ve been in love with it since forever, literally since middle school. Y’all, that was 20 freaking years ago. And true love never fades.

Historical Fiction: Wolf Hall and the Thomas Cromwell trilogy. It’s just SOOOOO stinking good! I love Cromwell as a narrator and his odd sense of humor, as well as seeing Henry and his wives from an outsider’s persepctive.

Classics: Pride and Prejudice. It’s just so romantic and funny and all-around well written. I never get tired of it.

Young Adult: Probably Eleanor & Park. You all know how obsessed I am with Rainbow Rowell.

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Review: The Mirror & the Light

The Mirror & the Light by Hilary Mantel

Series: Thomas Cromwell Trilogy
Genre: Historical Fiction
Maturity Level: 5 (Content warnings: torture, burning)
View on Goodreads
Rating: ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆

England, May 1536. Anne Boleyn is dead, decapitated in the space of a heartbeat by a hired French executioner. As her remains are bundled into oblivion, Thomas Cromwell breakfasts with the victors. The blacksmith’s son from Putney emerges from the spring’s bloodbath to continue his climb to power and wealth, while his formidable master, Henry VIII, settles to short-lived happiness with his third queen before Jane dies giving birth to the male heir he most craves.

Cromwell is a man with only his wits to rely on; he has no great family to back him, no private army. Despite rebellion at home, traitors plotting abroad and the threat of invasion testing Henry’s regime to the breaking point, Cromwell’s robust imagination sees a new country in the mirror of the future. But can a nation, or a person, shed the past like a skin? Do the dead continually unbury themselves? What will you do, the Spanish ambassador asks Cromwell, when the king turns on you, as sooner or later he turns on everyone close to him?

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The Thomas Cromwell trilogy is, hands down, the best historical fiction I have ever read. An explosive combination of terrific writing, unbelievably true court intrigue, and a mysterious yet prominent historical figure. Just wow.

Top 5 Tudor England Books

Have I mentioned before that I’m a history nerd? (yes) Okay, have I mentioned before that I am obsessed with Tudor England? (yes) All right then, it sounds like you know everything you need to know about why I am writing this post. No intro needed. On to the list!

5. The Rose Without a Thorn by Jean Plaidy

I don’t know why this book is on this list. Maybe because it was the first Tudor era novel I ever read? Maybe because after this one I started devouring Tudor fiction like it was the only fiction there was? Maybe because I was 11 when I read it so I thought it was the greatest thing ever written? Regardless, I read this book 20 years ago and it has stayed with me

The Rose Without a Thorn follows the life of Henry VIII’s fifth wife, Katherine Howard. You know the one, she was beheaded for having an affair. No, not Anne Boleyn, the other one beheaded for having an affair. It’s a rather tragic story of a young woman in love who became Queen not because she wanted to, but because when the King of England wants you, you don’t say no. While probably outdated, I think some of the themes would probably be even more relevant in the Me-Too era than they were when the book was published in 1993.

Six Degrees of Separation: How to be Both to Bel Canto

Six Degrees of Separation is a monthly blog event hosted by Kate at booksaremyfavoriteandbest. It’s inspired by the 6 Degrees of Separation, a movie game where you attempt to connect actors in six movies or less. But we do it with books!

This month we’re starting with How to be Both by Ali Smith.

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Alright, I’ll show my lack of literary fiction chops here: I had never heard of How to be Both going into the post. I looked it up and read several reviews and summaries. Here’s what I got. Y’all, this book is ART. It won all kinds of awards, including the Man Booker Prize. I don’t typically read prize winning literature, but I have read one other Man Booker Prize winner…

Top 10 of 2018

2018 has been such a great year for me for books! Probably my best reading year ever. In addition to setting a record for the most books I’ve ever read in a year (not counting the upper/elementary middle school years where I read a book a day), I read the most 5-star books I’ve ever read. Where last year’s Top 10 list had I think three 5-star books, this year there are nine. NINE!

So without any further ado, here are my favorite books of 2018.

Six Degrees of Separation: Atonement to Wolf Hall

Six Degrees of Separation is a monthly blog event hosted by Kate at booksaremyfavoriteandbest. This is my first time participating, and I’m pretty excited. My brother-in-law play 6 Degrees every weekend, movie version of course, and I always thought about how this could be applied bookishly.

If you’ve never played the 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon, the idea is that any actor can be connected to Kevin Bacon by going through other actors they were in movies with in six actors or less. You don’t have to connect to Kevin Bacon if you don’t want, you can use any two actors. For example, can you connect Julia Roberts to Steve Carrell? I can do it in one…

This month we’re starting with Atonement by Ewan McEwan.

The Cliche Book Tag

I always like a good cliche, and this tag is full of them! Thanks to The Orangutan Librarian for tagging me!

Actions Speak Louder Than Words
A book that wasn’t or couldn’t be better than the movie.

This question comes up a lot, and I always choose the same 2 or 3 books, so let’s do something different this time! The Princess Diaries is a book that I really liked as a young teen, but compared to the movie is awkward and lame. The characters are so much more likable in the movie!

The Grass is Always Greener on the Other Side
A Rags to Riches or Riches to Rags Story

Haha, can I choose The Princess Diaries again? In all seriousness, Thomas Cromwell is the original pull-yourself-up-by-your-own-bootstraps guy, so Wolf Hall is a great example! I’m so nervous to see what happens to him in the third book, whether he’ll fall back down to rags. And I know I could just look it up, but I don’t want to spoil the book for myself!

What’s In My Bookshelf Tag

It seems like a million years ago that Naty tagged me in a Tag she created herself, the What’s In My Bookshelf Tag. I really really enjoyed it, but she tagged me after I went back to work from maternity leave, and safe to say I didn’t have a lot of time for blogging. So now I’m finally getting to it! Thanks for the tag Naty! If you’ve never visited her blog, you should, she rocks!

Rules:

• Link back to me so I can see everyone’s answers! (Naty’s Bookshelf)
• Also link back to the person who tagged you!
• Name one book for each category; try not to repeat books to make this more fun!
• Tag at least 5 people

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A Library Book

I currently don’t have any library books, I’ve been working on my Christmas gift/Reddit Gift Exchange stack. But later this week (maybe tomorrow???) I’ll be heading to the library to check out Shadow and Bone and it’s sequels. I typically read an old YA series I never got around to during summer vacation!

Review: Bring Up the Bodies

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

Series: Thomas Cromwell Trilogy
Genres: Historical Fiction
Maturity Level: 4
View on Goodreads
Rating: ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆

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Though he battled for seven years to marry her, Henry is disenchanted with Anne Boleyn. She has failed to give him a son and her sharp intelligence and audacious will alienate his old friends and the noble families of England. When the discarded Katherine dies in exile from the court, Anne stands starkly exposed, the focus of gossip and malice.

At a word from Henry, Thomas Cromwell is ready to bring her down. Over three terrifying weeks, Anne is ensnared in a web of conspiracy, while the demure Jane Seymour stands waiting her turn for the poisoned wedding ring. But Anne and her powerful family will not yield without a ferocious struggle. Hilary Mantel’s Bring Up the Bodies follows the dramatic trial of the queen and her suitors for adultery and treason. To defeat the Boleyns, Cromwell must ally with his natural enemies, the papist aristocracy. What price will he pay for Anne’s head?

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It’s not often I enjoy a sequel more than the original. But Bring Up the Bodies was so outstanding that I couldn’t put it down.