Top Ten Tuesday — Spring Reading List

Top Ten Tuesdays are hosted by The Broke and The Bookish.  The blog hop features lists related to all things bookish–characters, authors, titles, and favorites. They’re an excellent way to find new interesting books on a variety of topics, and to connect with bloggers who love the books you do.

This week’s theme is Ten Books On My Spring To-Be-Read Pile.  The last time I did one of these to-be-read posts, I did a horrible job of forecasting.

I tend to read on a whim whatever catches my eye at the instant I’m ready to start another book, so I grabbed a few books off my TBR pile. Be warned that reality WILL NOT correspond to this list, though I’ll get around to all of these sooner or later.

I Heard the Owl Call My Name, by Margaret Craven

[image error]This bestseller from a quarter-century ago is one of my old favorites that I re-read periodically. It’s about a vicar who is sent to minister to an isolated Kwakiutl Indian band on the Pacific Northwest Coast. I was originally drawn to the book because I lived briefly in the region; I was familiar several of the places and even a couple of the people in the book.

But that’s not why I re-read it. I re-read it because I love, adore, and cherish learning about people who are different from me, and this book is one of the very best at capturing a totally different mindset.  I really love this book.

(Writing about it made me stop and read the first 57 pages.  I’m finally back, the next day.)

[image error]Alien in Chief: Alien Novels, Book 12, by Gini Koch

[image error]I got this book over the weekend at the Tucson Festival of Books. Koch’s blend of humor, science fiction, and a little bit of romance appeals to me.  She’s also a very nice lady, and I’m delighted to have been able to meet her several times over the years.

These books remind me of the Men in Black movies.

  [image error] [image error]Dreams of the Golden Age, by Carrie Vaughn

I first learned about Carrie Vaughn’s superhero books on someone’s Top Ten Tuesday. I enjoyed the first book even though superhero books aren’t my usual thing. When I came across another of Vaughn’s books, I made sure to buy it.  Interesting characters in unusual situations convinced me to suspend my disbelief.

[image error] [image error]To Ride Pegasus, by Anne McCaffrey

I picked this up at a used bookstore. I’ve read much of McCaffrey’s science fiction, but not this one. She’s always worth reading. The book is copyrighted 1973, so it’s not exactly au courant — but then, neither am I. I’m a pas de courant kind of guy who learns about the latest thing after it’s receded into history.

[image error] [image error]Revelation Space, by Alastair Reynolds

To show you how unhip I am, I recently bought this book as an attempt to catch up on new science fiction authors — the book is from 2002. Sigh. Some of us simply never get the memos about what the latest In Things are and we’re always trying to play catch up, at least until we throw our  hands up in despair and resign ourselves to be the uncool dudes wearing pocket protectors.

[image error]The Viscount Needs a Wife, by Jo Beverley

[image error]Sexy Regencies are, by definition, utterly ridiculous and inaccurate — no more based upon reality than my beloved science fiction genre. Well-bred young ladies back then simply did not carouse like sexually liberated, 21st century women. Thus, books like this are one of life’s guilty pleasures. This is the most recent by Ms. Beverley, whom I read fairly regularly. And guiltily.

[image error]His Ranch or Hers, by Roz Denny Fox

[image error]I got this book directly from Ms. Fox, who is a local author I’m acquainted with. I don’t ordinarily read ranch-based romances, but I’ll do it for Roz, who is a sweet lady.

Divergent, by Veronica Roth

[image error][image error]I’ve seen the movie and its sequel. Time to read the book, don’t you think?

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