Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Top Ten Tuesday - Rewind

So today's Top Ten Tuesday from The Broke and the Bookish is Rewind where you can pick any list that's been done in the past.  I picked Top Ten Words or Topics that Will Make Me Pick Up/Buy a Book which originally showed up in April of 2013.  So:

Top 10 Topics that Will Make Me Pick Up/Buy a Book:

1. Anything involving a mystery from the past -
Letters or diaries from the past?  A genealogy mystery?  You found an old skeleton you need to identify?  Someone is looking to find out what happened to a long lost grandmother/aunt/uncle whatever?  I'm in!

2. Restoring Old Houses
This is kind of the umbrella of #1 but if it's someone restoring an old house that jumps to the top of the TBR.  I love Jenny Bentley and Shelia Connolly's Orchard series because of this.

3. Vintage Clothes
This one also relates to #1 but I love the details of vintage clothes.  Annette Blair's Vintage Magic series is great and Shattered Silk by Barbara Michaels is one of my favorite books.

4.  Ghosts
Also, relates to #1 but this is the last one!  Whether it's a gothic type ghost in a rambling manor house, a helpful ghost who follows people around or an evil ghost that causes problems if the summary includes the word ghost I will be reading it.  I will actually keep reading a series (aka Victoria Laurie's Ghost Hunter series) long after I would've given up on another series because it involves ghosts.

5. Ireland
The entire reason I started reading Nora Roberts ages and ages ago was because of her Gallagher series that takes place in Ireland.  Mysteries that take place in Ireland also jump to the top of the list.

6. Friends
This is mostly for romance novels.  One of my favorite plot devices is a friendship that turns into a relationship.  It's just so much more believable for the happier ever after.

7. 1920s/30s
Another setting that I will put up with just a lot to stay within the time period.  I read 2 books of Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series past the time I was bored with it strictly because it was set in this time period.  Once I saw that Kerry Greenwood's Phyrnne Fisher was set in the 20s that was all I needed to know.

8. Libraries or Museums
Oh you have a primary character that works in a library or a museum?  Sign me up!  Luckily I enjoy Sheila Connolly's museum series and Jenn McKinlay's library series but I'd probably keep reading them even if I didn't.

9. Books
Books about books?  A series that talks a lot about books?  Can't pass it up!  This applies to both fiction and nonfiction.  The Man Who Loved Books Too Much Allison Hoover Bartlett about the hunt for a book thief was one of my favorite books of last year.  I also read Kate Carlisle's book binder series and Lorna Barrett's Booktown series regardless of how much they annoy me (which is pretty frequent, especially with the latter).

10. Food especially Pastry Chefs
This is another one that applies to fiction and nonfiction.  I either have owned, currently own or want to own just about every food memoir I'm aware of.  I have an entire shelf devoted to books like The Sharper Your Knife the Less You Cry by Kathleen FlinnThe Soul of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman and Consuming Passions by Michael Lee West.  Let's not even get into cookbooks.  Then there's the fiction books - Jenn McKinlay's Cupcake Bakery series,  Paige Shelton's Farmer's Market and Cooking School books, and any book that has a chef or pastry chef as a primary character.  Can't resist!

6 comments:

  1. oooh what cool topics!! I'm totally a sucker for friendships-turned-relationships!

    now you've got me thinking that I should start reading books set in Ireland (or Scotland), what a good way to "travel"!

    I did baby names from YA lit this week!

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    1. Exactly! I've read so many books about Ireland I'm almost afraid I'll be disappointed with the real thing when I finally get there!

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  2. Mysteries in general, but especially from the past, attract me too. And ghost stories are always interesting! This is a great list, Katherine! I think for me, I would also add anything related to World War II in terms of time periods. I love mysteries set in other countries. You make a good point about romance and friendship. Stories like that really are more believable.

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    1. Oh I forgot about WW II! That's one of my favorites too! Especially homefront stories.

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  3. The topic of restoring old houses is how I discovered Karen White's Tradd Street Series. I also love books where people work in libraries or museums--two places I enjoy.

    Thanks for visiting The Book Connection.

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    1. Thanks for the recommendation! I just looked up Karen White's books and the first Tradd Street sounds like it may have been written for me! Can't wait to read it!

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