Top Ten Tuesday: Books and Adjectives

For That Artsy Reader Girl’s Top Ten Tuesday:

Today’s topic is

March 22: Books With an Adjective In the Title (Submitted by Nicole @ How to Train a Book Dragon)

I also decided to evaluate the adjective: does it accurately describe the book? Let’s see!

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong – Yep, “violent” describes this one pretty well I’d say. The other adjective I might use is “gory.”

A Wild Winter Swan by Gregory Maguire – I don’t think I would call this book, or the swan in it particularly “wild.” Actually considering the fact that the swan is significantly human, I might call it fairly tame. He can talk and reason!

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie– Yes, in this case I would call the affair at Styles (a murder, naturally) fairly “mysterious.” Nothing that Poirot can’t handle though!

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides – This adjective is fairly literal. The patient in this book is silent. She does not speak. We do, however, learn a lot about her regardless.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab – In this case it’s not really literal. Addie is perfectly visible, but her life is “invisible” because she’s always forgotten as soon as she’s out of sight.

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman – Again, not literally “invisible,” but definitely a shadowy organization.

Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill by Maud Hart Lovelace – It’s hard to say here, because I don’t know how big the hill actually is. The book doesn’t give an elevation! But I suppose it’s a big step for the characters.

The Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell– Definitely metaphorical once again (wow, there are a lot of books with “invisible” in the title!) But she does disappear, as in, people can’t find her.

Royal Blood by Rhys Bowen – Yes, several of the characters here have “royal blood.” And there are some concerns about blood being spilled, but the actual murder in this case is a poisoning.

The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters by Elizabeth Robinson – Well, the book is fiction, so I suspect it’s not “true.” At the very least it’s fictionalized. As for “outstanding,” it’s probably not the word I’d use, though it’s not bad by any means.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Were Unexpectedly Good

For That Artsy Reader Girl’s Top Ten Tuesday:

Today’s topic was:

February 15: Books Too Good to Review Properly (I have no words!) (Submitted by Dedra @ A Book Wanderer)

But I don’t know if I can think of any books that fit that description, so I’m doing books that were pleasant surprises. Often I read a book because I’ve heard good things about it, or because I like the author. But in these cases they were just good books that I happened to find.

Blaming by Elizabeth Taylor– I’d never read anything by Taylor before, but I came across this brief, poignant novel about grief and guilt in the library one day. It made me check out some of her other books as soon as I could.

Mirror, Shoulder, Signal by Dorthe Nors– This was a library find that’s probably not for everyone. Plot wise, not much happens. It’s more of a character study of Sonja, a single 40 something living in Copenhagen. Maybe one reason I liked it so much was my total lack of expectations, or maybe it was because something about the character’s experiences and anxieties rang true for me.

Gravity is the Thing by Jaclyn Moriarty- I’m often amazed at how books find us exactly when we need them. I found this one while browsing at the library and picked it up because love Jaclyn Moriarty’s work as a children’s and YA author. But 50 pages in to this book, I was ready to put it down. I read some great reviews of it online though that encouraged me to stick with it and I’m glad I did.

The Night Visitor by Lucy Atkins -Yet another library find. This psychological thriller starts off in a way that seems slow but the stakes escalate to the point where it’s hard to put down.

Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski – This is a novel I came across in a used bookshop. I actually bought it thinking it looked like nonfiction, and then discovered it was a novel when I started reading it. For one thing the author names the main character after himself. For another, he creates a fictional tribe and gets so deep into the details of their lives that it feels almost like a study at times! But it’s not boring at all. It makes for a very compelling mystery, with an interesting setting and some meta elements.

The Tiger Catcher by Paullina Simons – I’d read some of this author’s previous work, and had mixed results with it. I’ve liked some a lot and others not much at all. My expectations for this were lower because it got a lot of bad reviews from the author’s fans. So imagine my surprise when I ended up enjoying it a lot!

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell – I’d read one of Lisa Jewell’s earlier books years ago, and found it just so-so. I never really paid much attention to her after that. That was my mistake: in the intervening years she switched genres and apparently found her stride with mystery/thrillers.

Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson– I came across this one day last year when I was home sick for a few days. I was feeling pretty lousy and was browsing through my library’s ebook offerings, when I came across this one. I went for it, figuring it looked silly and diverting. It was just what the doctor ordered.

The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz– One of the advantages of apartment living is that every so often someone has a clear out and leaves old books up for grabs in the stairwell. That’s how I found this one. It’s a fun meta-murder mystery that sets up a series.