TOP TEN TUESDAY: 10 THINGS THAT MAKE ME PICK UP A BOOK

Man, I really came out of that recent blog layout and style change with the best possible intentions, didn't I? Now, I'm finally emerging from this massively soul-crushing reading slump, to realize that I haven't posted new content in almost a month. Good gracious!

Don't worry, though: I'm reporting to you live on vacation, where I'm basking in the dual warmth of having taken a blistering-hot shower (after two days of extensive hiking and long walks), as well as the afterglow of a really fantastic Oregon-produced marionberry cider, and I'm ready to get back to this whole blog-writing gig I've been hanging tough with for the past nearly-nine years.

And truly, nothing makes that easier than a really good writing prompt, and "Top Ten Tuesday," hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, is really here to deliver today. Ever wonder what ten things will make me want to pick up a book? Well, your suspense is about to pay off:

1. An appealing cover

Yeah, it's not an original concept, but as it turns out, the majority of people will openly admit to picking up reads based on how inviting and interesting their cover is (or at least reading the back cover, too). I'm definitely not an exception to that rule; in fact, one of the biggest bummers about my modest shelf space, is that I'm not able to properly display my favorites at home.

2. A favored author... specifically, Jennifer Egan, Neil Gaiman, Libba Bray, and V. E. Schwab

These tried, tested, and true names are ones that have proven their prowess to me across time and titles, and sometimes, even genres. My chances of picking up a book will increase wildly should I recognize they came from one of these trusted sources.

3. Shakespearean and Mythological adaptations

To be very honest, if this were high school Savannah answering this question, this would have read "Fairy Tale adaptations," instead. The thing is, I love seeing what people can do with familiar tropes and stories, commuting them to a new setting and environment, set of reality "rules," or even time period. (I've been following the rise of Hadestown for two years now, because the words "musical Orpheus and Eurydice retelling" nearly smacked me across the face way back in 2016.)

4. Pirates

I am not a complicated human: I've only ever lived in two different port towns, I was raised on seafaring stories, and if I ever moved to a landlocked state, I think I'd die of heartbreak. Ching Shih, Grace O'Malley, and Anne Bonny and Mary Read were all childhood names to me. I live for pirates.

5. Food nonfiction

Again, not a complicated human. Food is both delicious and necessary for survival, and has served as an endless source of inspiration and interest to me across my life thus far. Not only that, but it's a meaningful measurement of things like relationships and community, social traditions, and cultural significance, and like music and math, it touches the lives of everyone. Who wouldn't want to read about it?

6. Fellow reader social media recs

That's only the header for this paragraph because the phase #BookstagramMadeMeDoIt is honestly kind of ugly. But it's an ugly truth: I am infinitely more likely to purchase a book, if I've seen it artfully arranged in a cool flat lay, posed surrounded by masterfully chosen props, or held aloft in the arms of a fellow reader I admire. I've said it before, but there was absolutely nothing about Frederick Backman's Beartown that spoke to me... until I saw it hanging around people I think are cool. Now it's sitting on my TBR shelf.

7. It's going to be a TV show

As someone who doesn't love to binge television, it is actually kind of comical, the lengths I will go to to read a book, if I know it's becoming or has already been translated to a different form of media. I read the whole Lev Grossman Magicians series, because I wanted to watch the TV show; same goes for the upcoming Amazon Prime version of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchet's Good Omens.

8. It's being offered at a discount

Hello, Book Outlet! How's it going, Goodwill? Basically, most of my purchases these days come from either serious price-slashers, or they've been found secondhand. I'll literally sort through editions at Powell's, and gauge whether things like wear-and-tear or slight water damage is worth getting a copy that's marginally cheaper.

9. It brings to mind where I would read it

Okay, I'm fully aware that this is going to sound absolutely nuts, but if I pick up a title, read a couple of pages and think, "I'd read this on a rainy day," or "This would make a really great late-summer vacation read," I am way more likely to carry it all the way to the cash register. I guess it's kind of like positive visualization: if the book is easily factored into a mood or setting I know I'll be experiencing later, then I know how it could potentially be a good fit into my life. Does that make sense?

10. Someone told me to

This is kind of like that whole Bookstagram thing, but a lot more opaque: according to Gretchen Rubin's Better than Before, I am absolutely an "Obliger," aka, someone who thrives on external validation and engagement in accomplishing my goals. I'm already going to be reading and racking up those Goodreads numbers, anyways; if you tell me you want me to read something, chances are, it's a lot closer to being on my shelves. (It's how my brother finally got me to commit to reading Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows.)

What's in YOUR Top Ten? Let me know, in the comments below!

Top Ten Tuesday: Things that Will Instantly Make Me Want to Read a Book

"Top Ten Tuesday" is a weekly bookish meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish!

Leave it to me to do two Top Ten Tuesday lists in the month of January alone, and then not touch any topics until three months later! Of course, a theme this alluring gave me more than enough reasons to jump back into the game.

Reflecting on my "Top Ten Things That Will Instantly Make Me Want to Pick Up a Book" made me meditate on some of my favorite bookish themes, sub-sub-genres, cliches, and characters... and honestly, kind of made want to pick up some of them again!

So, here are ten perfectly great reasons why a book might launch to the front of my TBR pile, and some examples of titles that have made the leap before. (Got any that you think might fit my bill? Make sure to leave your recommendation in a comment!)


1. The name "Jennifer Egan"
It's no secret that I've long been obsessed with the unique perspectives of popular postmodern author and Pulitzer winner Jennifer Egan, but her work rarely follows the same pattern. That means that when I pick her titles up based on author status alone, I'm taking a serious chance that I'll like the book at all, but for her, I'm more than willing to make the leap.

2. High Feminist Fantasy
What started as an early adolescent fixation on the many (many, many) works of Tamora Pierce, has manifested itself in adulthood with a preoccupation with books like Erika Johansen's The Queen of the Tearling and Naomi Novik's Uprooted. I'm more than happy to dive into any old high fantasy... but if it's helmed by a fearless female, it's moving to the top of my TBR.

3. Jaw-Droppingly Beautiful Covers
Book bloggers have long been known for dutifully ignoring that age-old adage, "don't judge a book by it's cover," but sometimes, that drives itself to extremes. Anything with interesting patterns, vibrant colors, cool fonts, or intricate detailing, will automatically catch my interest. See: Jon Ronson's So You've Been Publicly Shamed or Renee Ahdieh's The Wrath and the Dawn.

4. Books About Books
The only way bookworms can increase in bookishness is by making sure the books they're reading are also written about books. Case in point are titles like Celia Blue Johnson's Odd Type Writers, which details the strange tendencies of famous authors, or Samantha Ellis' How to Be a Heroine, a memoir charted by way of the iconic heroines who have shaped her life.

5. Not-So-SuperHeroes
The only thing better than a hero? A hero-with-issues. A hero-with-demons. A hero-with-enemies-within-and-without. Anything with a compelling, troubled vanquisher fighting near the front means that complex characters will most likely be found elsewhere in its pages, and serves as a decent measure of narrative intricacy. Interpersonal politics abound where there are grey heroes, and I love it.

6. Set in the PNW
Yeah, I'm from Washington. I love our trees, mountains, coastline, and quirky indie spirit, married to the glittering metal towers and bustling sea travelers of the tech and port industries. And, of course, authors have found it to be rife with the paranormal, which is also a quick way to catch my attention. (I mean, this is why I read the Twilight books in the first place, y'all.)

7. Meta-Secrets and Cult Followings
With everything from codes wound into the words, to multi-media scavenger hunts leading to deeper colonies of conspiracy theorists abounding online, I love getting obsessed with the same things others have been obsessed with before me. From Alex Hirsch's Journal Three from the world of Gravity Falls, to House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, if there are greater machinations lurking deeper than the heart of your work, I'm desperate to find them.

8. "Victoria Schwab" 
My most recent - yet no less passionate - author idol, Victoria Schwab (aka, V. E. Schwab) writes so compellingly that I've been tempted to return paperback purchases to the bookstore for hardcover (tbh, I'm still debating it, especially with the Gathering of Shadows series). I've still got more than half a year left in my Resolution to prevent me from doing so, but the good news is, I also still have Vicious in my stack, to tide me over until 2018.

9. Antiquated and Prestigious (Fictional, Often Magical) Schools 
Surprise, surprise: the kid who had a life-alteringly awful public school experience in her childhood always daydreamed of living far away in a mysterious boarding school, complete with the prerequisite plaid skirts, close companions to go adventuring with, and tons of secrets twisted into the tendrils of ivy growing over our red-brick turrets. Even now that I've graduated college, I'm still likely to reach for books that feature this classic trope, including Lev Grossman's The Magicians, or even Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Cycle. 

10. Folklore, Epic, and Mythology Retellings
I mean, it's a classic, and out of this list, the one I think I'm most likely to see on other blogger lists, as well. While I've kind of grown out of the fractured-contemporary-fairy-tale proclivities of my YA reading, there is still plenty of room left on my shelves for fresh updates on epic adventures and world mythos. I've most recently cried actual tears over Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles, and have been collecting news stories about the new adaptation of Neil Gaiman's American Gods on my desktop.

What's in your Top Ten? Let me know, in the comments below!

Books I'd Buy for My Birthday... If I Could

You know what sucks? (If your answer was "a vampire," consolation points for seasonal appropriateness, but no.)

Not being able to buy books during the Fall, is what my answer is. That's right, my 2015 Resolution is still holding strong - by God knows what means at this point - and it is only getting more and more difficult as we draw more towards the end of the year.

And all of these absolutely gorgeous and alluring Fall releases have NOT been helping me out any.

So - because this is my corner of the Internet, and my birthday is coming up in the next couple of days, and who knows? maybe this will be a good enough sign to whoever I know actually reads this thing that I REALLY need new material - here are five books that, if I could just somehow manage to get my hands on, might help me make it through the year in one piece!

Carry On, Rainbow Rowell

The not-sequel to Rowell's best-selling Fangirl, Carry On is the epic fantasy fanfiction her character Cath produces while working through the trials and tribulations of her first year of college. Following the lives of star-crossed Simon Snow, and serial frenemy, the vampire Baz, as they attend a prestigious school of magic, Carry On is basically the real life version of what every fangirl worth her word count wishes she could do: make her OTP canon.

I've been sold on this one since I first even heard it announced, and saw the fan art on the inside covers of the special edition of Fangirl. I need this like I need my left arm, and I need both of my sisters to read it immediately after I'm done, too!


The Rest of Us Just Live Here, Patrick Ness

I've had more than one English teacher in my life tell me that relating to characters stands in the way of objectively analyzing them, so while I might not be able to critique TRoUJLH, I know for a fact that I'll enjoy it.

When you go to a school that has a serious apocalypse-of-the-week problem, staying alive in gym class is basically on par with staying alive in general. But what if you aren't the Chosen One? What if you're just a normal, trying to stay out of an impossible situation?

Basically, this book was written for all the Xanders of the world, just like me... we love our Buffys, but damn, guys. Take a break.

The Sleeper and the Spindle, Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell

Realistically, there could be about 3 or 4 more graphic novels on this list, but there are only two that are making me get the most chronic, serious case of the grabby-hands right now, and this is the first one.

The Sleeper and the Spindle is a reinvented retelling of the classic "Snow White" and "Sleeping Beauty" stories, with a twist, told by one of modern fiction's favorite storytellers, and an equally accomplished illustrator.

I mean, come on. Fairy tales? And they use metallic ink throughout the black-and-white illustrations? How could you NOT.

Slaughterhouse 90210, Maris Kreizman

Billed as "the perfect book for anyone with a Netflix account and a library card" - that's me, that's me! - Slaughterhouse 90210 matches literary themes and signature lines with some of pop culture's memorable moments.

This book is actually the offspring of popular blog Slaughterhouse 90210, which I personally think is like if Humans of New York was made up of TV screencaps and bookish quotes. It's really great.


Step Aside, Pops!, Kate Beaton

And the second "graphic novel" I have on this list isn't actually a graphic novel at all, but instead, a collection of some of the irreverently hilarious Kate Beaton's ahistorical takes feminism, fantasy, heroes, and most importantly, Heathcliff, with her comic series, Hark, A Vagrant!. (Part One, Part Two, and Part Three, of why I originally fell in love with H,aV.)

I'd actually love her original Hark, a Vagrant, collection, too, come to think of it... I mean, if anyone's offering.

What books have you been lusting over recently? What books would you ask for your birthday? 

Let me know, in the comments below!