Top Ten New-To-Me Authors I Read In 2013

This week's Top Ten from The Broke and the Bookish asks Top Ten New-To-Me Authors I Read In 2013. The following are all new ones I was thrilled to discover. I’ve already got a second book or two in the queue for 2014 from some of them.

1) Erin Morgenstern (The Night Circus)

2) Olive Ann Burns (Cold Sassy Tree)

3) Madeline Miller (Song of Achilles)

4) Carol Rifka Brunt (Tell the Wolves I’m Home)

5) Veronica Roth (Divergent trilogy)

6) Maria Semple (Where’d You Go, Bernadette?)

7) Laurie R. King (The Beekeeper’s Apprentice)

8) Jon Meacham (Thomas Jefferson Biography)

9) Elizabeth Wein (Code Name Verity)

10) Jeannette Haien (The All of It)

Top Ten Books I Wish Could Have Had Sequels

This week's Top Ten from The Broke and the Bookish asks for the Top Ten Books I wish could have had sequels. I listed a few that I wish had sequels and a few others that might make great prequels or parallel books.

1) Love’s Labor’s Lost: This Shakespeare play supposedly had a sequel, Love’s Labor’s Won, but no one has ever seen it. I wish we could discover it!

2) Motherless Brooklyn: I would love to read more stories featuring Lionel Essrog, the private eye with Tourette's syndrome. He was a hilarious narrator and provided a fresh voice to the classic detective story.

3) Neverwhere: Adventures in a world beneath London, I love it! Richard Mayhew is a regular guy who ends up in a dangerous sideways world. I feel like there are so many more strange characters we could meet in that world.

4) A Dirty Job: I recently read this hilarious account of a reluctant grim reaper and his daughter. I think it’s ripe for a sequel about that daughter and her loyal hell hounds.

5) The Night Circus: I think that Celia and Marco’s story is complete, but I would love a sequel about the twins, Poppet and Widget and their time with the Le Cirque des Reves.

6) Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day: Maybe Miss Pettigrew Takes a Trip or Miss Pettigrew Gets Lost; the character is delightful and the possibilities are endless!

7) I Capture the Castle: I think Cassadra’s stepmother Topaz and her sister Rose are interesting characters and would love to read a parallel novel telling the story from their points-of-view.

8) The Red Tent: I don't want a sequel exactly, but a series of similar books. This one retells a biblical tale from the woman's point of view. It was so good and I think there are lots of other stories in the Bible that would be fascinating from the woman's perspective, Jezebel perhaps, or maybe Bathsheba. Francine Rivers has done something similar, but her Lineage of Grace series lacks the depth of The Red Tent.

9) Rebecca: I would definitely read a well-done prequel telling Rebecca’s side of the story.

10) Harry Potter: I wish Rowling would write a prequel about when Lily, Sirius, James and Remus were at school together. I would love that!

Top Ten Books I've Read So Far In 2013

June 25: Top Ten Books I've Read So Far In 2013:

This week's Top Ten from The Broke and the Bookish asks for the Top Ten Books I've Read So Far In 2013. These are the ones that came to mind. Who knows what the rest of 2013 will hold!

1) Re-Reads: The Great Gatsby, Persuasion, and Little Women

2) Where'd You Go, Bernadette

3) Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

4) Cold Sassy Tree

5) The Night Circus

6) Mythology

7) Song of Achilles

8) State of Wonder

9) Tell the Wolves I’m Home

10) The Green Mile

Painting is "The Reader" by Buffalo Bonker

Top Ten Favorite Romances

This week's Top Ten from The Broke and the Bookish asks for my Top Ten Favorite Romances. There will be some SPOILERS if you haven’t read these books.

1) Anne and Captain Wentworth in Persuasion – Their love withstands years of separation and rekindles in the most beautiful way.

2) Anne and Gilbert in the Anne of Green Gables series – I love that we get to see their whole relationship, from courtship through marriage and children throughout the series.

3) Henry and Clare in The Time Traveler’s Wife – Spanning almost Clare’s entire life, these two had a romance that defied fate.

4) Jo and Professor Bhaer in Little Women – I know most people rooted for Laurie and Jo, but re-reading this as an adult made me fall in love with Bhaer along with Jo. They were perfectly suited for each other and they both thought they would probably never find love.

5) Thursday and Landon in the Thursday Next series – What would you do if the man you loved was completely erased from existence? Thursday has to deal with this, yet the books are still hilarious.

6) Levin and Kitty in Anna Karenina – Sure, Anna’s romance is more dramatic, but Levin and Kitty were always my favorite. Their relationship was not an easy one. They both had to mature before they could be together. Their relationship shows that real love is hard work, but worth every second of it!

7) Lucy and George in A Room with a View – The ultimate question in a good romance; do you marry the sensible guy or do you throw caution to the wind and follow your heart? This book has one of the best examples of this kind of romance that I’ve ever read. Plus, they meet in Florence, which is just a lovely bonus.

8) Marco and Celia in The Night Circus – A ridiculously difficult obstacle to overcome, magic in the air, what more could you want?

9) Arwen and Aragorn in Lord of the Rings – A romance that was relegated to the Appendix for the most part, but undoubtedly swoon-worthy. To be together Arwen must give up eternal life, but she knows that a short lifetime with him is better than an eternity without him.

10) Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester – Of course they made my list! Their love is undeniable, yet Jane still walks away because she won’t compromise her belief system for any man. Then comes one of literature’s most irresistible lines … “Reader, I married him.”

Image from here. 

The Night Circus

The Night Circus

by Erin Morgenstern

★★★★★

There are so few books that offer you a completely new world within their covers. This is one of the rare ones. I waited quite awhile to read it. There was so much hype surrounding its release and though it sounded like one I would enjoy, I knew my expectations would be too high. I’m so glad I waited and gave myself time to just enjoy it.

The story revolves around a traveling circus, Le Cirque des Reves, and Celia and Marco, two talented magicians pitted against one another in an unavoidable challenge.

We first meet Celia when she is only 6-years-old and she’s delivered into the care of her father, Hector. It’s 1873 and he is an enchanter who performs under the well-know stage name, Prospero. Hector’s acquaintance Alexander meets Celia and the two men decide to once again engage in a long-standing game, the details of which are vague to the reader at first. Alexander brings a 9-year-old orphaned boy named Marco into the mix and we slowly watch as the pieces are put into motion.

Morgenstern gives the reader plenty of time to get to know her main characters before expanding the scene. She grows the cast slowly instead of overwhelming the reader. We’re introduced to Chandresh, who holds infamous midnight dinners for elite groups, and his entourage of eccentrics. Then there are the red-headed twins, Poppet and Widget, born at the circus on opening night and the mysterious contortionist, Tsukiko.

I love that the author gave us the opportunity to view the circus from both the inside, from the perspective of the performers and creators, and the outside through the characters of Herr Thiessen and Bailey. It provides a complete picture of the enchanting world.

The book is absolutely enchanting. When I wasn’t reading it I was thinking about it. I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next. I started wearing my own crimson scarf with my coat each day without even thinking about it, subconsciously wanting another tie to the book when I wasn’t reading it. The whole thing was so beautiful I clutched the book to my chest when I finished it, unable to stop thinking about the story.

BOTTOM LINE: You can count me in as an official Rêveurs. If the circus was real I’d be there in a heartbeat. The story was enthralling, the setting incredible and I know I’ll be returning to this one again in the future!

“Most maidens are perfectly capable of rescuing themselves in my experience, at least the ones worth something, in any case.”

“The finest pleasures are always the unexpected ones.”

“I relay it through printed words on crumpled newsprint, words that they can read again and again, returning to the circus whenever they wish, regardless of time of day or physical location. Transporting them at will.”

“You believe you could not live with the pain. Such pain is not lived with. It is only endured.”

Image from here.