Tag: top ten tuesday

It’s the mosttt wonderful tiiiiime of the year! After saving PTO patiently all summer, I can soon take a chunk of time off to indulge in some personal readathoning. Here’s ten books I’m hoping to read this winter, a mere fraction and in no particular order:

1. Datura by Leena Krohn (in progress) – Enjoying this surreal Finnish novel!
2. The Boy in the Mask: The Hidden World of Lawrence of Arabia by Dick Benson-Gyles – Yes, I know, another LoA book. 😆
3. Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents by Rod Dreher – I have So Many Thoughts already on this topic… very interested to hear what this author says!
4. The Transpacific Experiment: How China and California Collaborate and Compete for Our Future by Matt Sheehan
5. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro – Second try…
6. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
7. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
8. Bluebeard’s First Wife by Seong-nan Ha – Random book of spooky short stories I found on Overdrive. 😀
9. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens – Not making any commitments to a chunkster here, but I’m falling in love with Dickens again as I read A Christmas Carol. I’ve never read DC, only seen films.
10. The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (reread, already started)

All that to say, I’m sure this list will change tomorrow…

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Here’s a little levity for this angsty day: my top ten hobbies outside of reading!

1. YouTube – I’m one of those hypocrites who is proud for not owning TV, while watching YouTube all day. 😆 It’s not all mindless… I listen to music and podcasts when I work, and sometimes political commentary in the evening, and then the occasional lecture or long interview. My current guilty pleasures are comedy skits and K-pop music videos (which I never-in-a-million-years thought I’d get into. See, people can change.).
2. Music – I play piano and violin, when the mood strikes me. On my other blog, I listen to and analyze pop music.
3. Cooking – A year ago, I set a goal for 2020 to learn how to cook. I started this past August, and now I cook every week and sometimes bake. Being mostly vegetarian cuts down some of the cost and unpleasantness!
4. Writing – I love writing stories and poetry. I have a little book coming out in a week or two (self-published). More on that soon…
5. Conversating – There’s few things so fun to me as long discussions about politics, religion, and history with someone who is open minded or at least won’t make it personal. Though I have strong opinions on certain things, I dislike debating from just one side; I prefer looking at multiple ideas and going over the pros/cons with the other person. I will sometimes play devil’s advocate if I feel a conversation is getting too narrow in scope. (My poor family is used to it now.)
6. Decorating – Well, those of you who watch my YouTube videos know about this one. I’m fond of pictures, flowers, and figurines. I try to keep it budget friendly; most of it comes from Dollar Tree, Daiso, and Hobby Lobby!
7. Movies – My family and I watch/rate movies together every month. Usually old movies (we have an ongoing Alfred Hitchcock project), but also costume dramas and indie films. I just started a Letterboxd account, not much on there yet but feel free to add me if you’d like; it’s sort of a Goodreads for movies.
8. Walking – I used to walk daily and still love nature walks when I can. Recently, though, I’ve been getting my exercise at the grocery store (thanks, Freddy’s, for moving everything).
9. Shopping – I enjoy shopping for home decor, lots of the time I’ll just window shop to see what they have. Hobby Lobby, At Home, Joanns, all those fun places.
10. Sewing – To be honest, I haven’t sewn as a hobby in years, mostly for lack of time. I used to be really into it, making clothes and stuff. I still do small projects, like hemming pants, when I need to.

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This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is a fun one—book titles that would make great band names. As usual I’m going to stick with classic literature. Some of these might already be band names (if you recognize any, let me know!). Also, what genre do you think these should be? 😆

1. The Man Who Was Thursday
2. Tommy and Tuppence
3. Lord Jim
4. (The) Old Curiosity Shop
5. The Brothers Karamazov
6. (The Sorrows of Young) Werther
7. She
8. (Far from) the Madding Crowd
9. Fathers and Sons
10. (The Heir of) Redclyffe

Haven’t done Top Ten Tuesday in a while! This week’s topic intrigued me…top ten books you think you’ll give 5 star reviews. Being Awfully Picky, I rarely give books 5 star reviews, so this should be interesting.

1. Conversations with Kafka by Gustav Janouch – From what I gather, this book retells conversations that supposedly took place between Franz Kafka and Janouch, a son of a friend or something. Kafka + urban legend = I’m already hooked.
2. The Bridge Over the River Kwai by Pierre Boulle – Loved the movie, hoping the book is just as good!
3. The Collapse of the Third Republic by William Shirer – What can I say…I have a weird/unhealthy fascination with the collapse of societies and the takeover of evil regimes (from the perspective that if we can see AND heed the signs, we can stop it from happening at home). But apart from that, this is a classic of history so should be good.
4. Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman – This book has nearly 4.5 stars on Goodreads and SRK, one of my favorite book Instagrammers, raved about the author (which is how I discovered him to begin with). I’m kind of banking on a 5 star review at this point. 😉
5. Tales of Hoffmann by E.T.A. Hoffmann – I read some Hoffmann a few years back; some of it was amazing and some of it was cringy. I’m hoping this is amazing!
6. The Yearling by Marjorie Rawlings – Growing up, I enjoyed the movie, and I expect I’ll get even more out of the book now I’m older.
7. Watership Down by Richard Adams – This is a favorite book of one of my favorite musicians (Adam Young aka Owl City), and the story sounds right up my alley.
8. The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett Graff – I’m going off of this review by Stephen, who’s been known to have pretty good taste in books. 😉
9. Le Morte d’Arthur by Thomas Malory – This will either be a 1 star book or a 5 star book, I’m pretty sure.
10. Emily Dickinson: Letters – I’ve already read some excerpts from her letters so I have a feeling I’ll love this book.