This Week by Proxy: 20 July – 02 August

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Welcome to This Week by Proxy. Join me as I link up with the Caffeinated Reviewer to look back on the past week and see what I’ve been reading, posting, watching and playing!

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| This Week by Proxy: 20 July – 02 August 2020 |

This week’s post is actually a two-week post, as last week my weekend was so chaotic that I didn’t find any time to wrap up anything! I did, however, do some gardening with a three year old, read many a children’s book, drank copious amounts of wine, and had an insanely lengthy trip to Ikea where I spent a veritable fortune on items that I hadn’t planned on buying in the first place! But such is life.

I have also managed to enjoy several socially distanced meet ups with both my parents and my partner’s parents, which was a lovely change to my somewhat house-bound working week. However, both their areas have now gone into an extended lockdown period and we will be unable to meet up until restrictions have been lifted again.

I hope you are all safe and well and I can’t wait to catch up on your bookish posts during the week!

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| Books Read |

I finally finished Ashes of the Sun, the first in a new fantasy series by Django Wexler, which proved to be a beautifully wrought and complex tale of siblings who find themselves on opposite sides of a war that has lasted the ages. This was a joy to read from beginning to end and has me itching to see what else Wexler has to offer.

I also finished Becky Chambers’ novella, To Be Taught, If Fortunate, which tells the tale of the crew of the Merian as they explore, study and catalogue their findings of strange, new worlds. While not in the same league as the Wayfarers series, this was still an enjoyable tale which explores several interesting concepts.

I also completed my second Jeeves novel, Right Ho, Jeeves, which I rather enjoyed, and a collection of Blandings short stories, Lord Emsworth Acts for the Best.

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| Currently Reading |

I just can’t cope with how in love I am with Leviathan Wakes. If a book can be devoured, then every time this one is opened up it is a feast for the mind. The worlds, the ships, the people – they’re all so clearly and wonderfully wrought that I feel lucky to be reading it.

I have also finally gotten around to reading Sharp Ends by Joe Abercrombie which, for some unknown reason, I’ve left high and dry on my bookshelf – pristine signed hardback looking down at me in stunning blue. I am thoroughly ashamed! With short tales of new and familiar characters, I couldn’t be happier to be back in the world of The First Law.

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| Upcoming Reviews |

I am definitely struggling to stop myself from reading and start reviewing at the moment. I partially blame my excessive hours behind a computer whilst working from home but, in all honesty, everything I’m reading is so exciting that I’m too eager to go onto the next thing before I’ve given myself some time to process. I will, however, be playing a bit of catch up this week (as I certainly don’t want to fall any further behind!) and should have all the above reviews out in the next two weeks.  

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| Watching |

The other half and I are slowly making our way through The Order in between bouts of gaming, while I’ve been watching Humans, an addictive science fiction series about AI and synthetic consciousness. I first started watching Humans when it was first released and, for some unknown reason, failed to continue – so I have plenty to catch up on!

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| Gaming |

For the past two weeks I have been playing copious amounts of No Man’s Sky and Red Dead Redemption 2, interspersed with Apex Legends. No Man’s Sky is a beautiful and expansive game of planetary exploration which I now believe I’m slightly addicted to. Likewise, Red Dead Redemption 2 is a stunning, chaotic and wild ride across the Wild West. Had I not already chosen my Top Ten Games of the Past Two Years, which will be posted next week, these two would almost certainly be featured.

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| Posts |

Review: A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers

Music Mondays: Huggin & Kissin

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten… Book Festivals in the UK

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten… Books with Red in the Title

Teaser Tuesdays: Ashes of the Sun

Teaser Tuesdays: To Be Taught, If Fortunate

Waiting on Wednesday: Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Waiting on Wednesday: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

The Friday Face-Off: Framed

The Friday Face-Off: White

Friday Firsts: Leviathan Wakes

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I hope you all have a wonderful, book-filled week!

What have you been reading, watching and playing this week? Have you accomplished any goals?

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This Week by Proxy: 13 – 19 July

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Welcome to This Week by Proxy. Join me as I link up with the Caffeinated Reviewer to look back on the past week and see what I’ve been reading, posting, watching and playing!

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| This Week by Proxy: 13 – 19 July 2020 |

With work deadlines, socially-distanced birthdays and family gatherings aplenty, this week has been busy, busy, busy! This has resulted in my reviews and Top Tens of the Past Two Years taking a bit of a dive – if you can call it a dive after such a prolonged absence – but hopefully I will be back on schedule next week!

I hope you have all had fantastic weeks and I cannot wait to read all your latest recommendations!

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| Books Read |

Becky Chambers’ A Closed and Common Orbit is so beautifully written and so heartwarming that I had tears in my eyes as it came to a close. It truly is a wonderful space opera and I couldn’t recommend it highly enough! It also means that I am having to restrain myself from opening Record of a Spaceborn Few immediately!

On top of my Wayfarers indulgence, I also read The Man with One Name, a novella in Tom Lloyd’s God Fragments series. Having left such a long period between reading Stranger of Tempest and Princess of Blood, I thought it best if I reintroduced myself to the world through the accompanying prequel before embarking on the next feature length novel – and it must have worked because I cannot wait to start!

I also completed A Pelican at Blandings by P.G. Wodehouse, the eleventh novel in the Blandings series. Although this novel follows the same formula used time and time again throughout this series, A Pelican at Blandings really was quite entertaining and, as usual, didn’t fail to make me smile. 

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| Currently Reading |

Having finally finished A Closed and Common Orbit, I find myself unable to get enough of Becky Chambers’ writing. So, while Record of a Spaceborn Few burns a hole in my Kindle, I have started reading her stand-alone novella, To be Taught, If Fortunate. So far, so good.

With the publishing date looming, I have also started reading Django Wexler’s epic, Ashes of the Sun. This is the first novel of Wexler’s I have ever read and I can’t seem to put it down at all – never a bad sign! I am really looking forward to sharing my thoughts with you all!

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| Upcoming Reviews |

Life, the universe and everything have put me a little behind schedule but, never fear, I will have reviews for Going Postal, A Closed and Common Orbit and The Man with One Name coming up over the next week or so. With all three books over the four star mark, you can expect some very happy responses!

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| Watching |

While the other half and I continue watching Warrior Nun and the second season of The Order, I have finally gotten around to watching The Sinner. Weaving mystery, murder and a complex, layered narrative, the first season starts with Cora’s story and is seriously addictive. If you like dark psychological crime thrillers, this really is for you!

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| Gaming |

In between numerous failed bouts of Apex Legends, I have been playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on the Nintendo Switch. Having never had a console before and having never played Zelda before, this has been a wonderful and addictive introduction! Thank you to everyone who recommended this!

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| Posts |

Review: How to Rule An Empire and Get Away With It

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten… Books That Make Me Smile

Teaser Tuesdays: The Man with One Name by Tom Lloyd

Waiting on Wednesday: Tales from the Folly by Ben Aaronovitch

The Friday Face-Off: Just as it Seems

Friday Firsts: To Be Taught, If Fortunate

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I hope you all have a wonderful, book-filled week!

What have you been reading, watching and playing this week? Have you accomplished any goals?

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This Week by Proxy: 06 – 12 July

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Welcome to This Week by Proxy. Join me as I look back on the past week to see which books I’ve read, the reviews I’ve posted and the goals I’ve completed.

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| This Week by Proxy: 06 – 12 July 2020 |

Ahh my second Sunday and it still feels so good to be back! I have spent a lot of time catching up on your wonderful blogs, reading reviews and generally enjoying this amazing community. I think I may have enjoyed it a little too much though as WordPress decided to confine me to several spam folders on Friday… which I entirely blame on my enthusiasm for commenting following such a prolonged absence!

I hope you have all had wonderful weekends and I can’t wait to see all your posts this coming week!

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| Books Read |

After completing my Top Ten Tuesday, I had a sudden and irresistible urge to read more works by P.G. Wodehouse. Having only ever read stand-alone or Blandings novels, I decided to venture into the realms of Reginald Jeeves and Bertie Wooster. The Inimitable Jeeves is the first full length Jeeves novel out of a series comprising of eleven full length novels and thirty-five short stories – a series which is bound to keep me busy for a lifetime!

Now I have a bit of a soft spot for Blandings so no sooner had I completed The Inimitable Jeeves, I picked up yet another Blandings novel in order to get my fix of Lord Emsworth and the magnificent Empress. Galahad at Blandings was, as usual, an amusing and chaotic affair which was enjoyed alongside the excellent fantasy novel How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with It by K.J. Parker. 

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| Currently Reading |

While you might think two P.G. Wodehouse novels in one week would keep me ticking over for some time you would, in fact, be entirely wrong. As soon as Galahad at Blandings reached its joyful conclusion I reached for A Pelican at Blandings, another truly dotty book from the master of wit.

As Wodehouse novels tend to be distinctly different and a lot shorter than my ‘main’ reads, I find them relatively easy to squeeze in and around more complex or longer novel, such as the truly wonderful A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers, which I am enjoying immensely!

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| Upcoming Reviews |

For those of you I have spoken to in the week about Terry Pratchett, I apologise. For some reason I have continually referred to Going Postal, an incredibly witty novel about the fantastical postal service of Ankh-Morpork, as ‘Postal Service’, which is literally just describing its contents. This, however, just makes me love the bureaucratic madness that is this book even more…  and I have a sneaking suspicion that Junior Postman Tolliver Groat would approve of such direct and to the point ‘regulation’ descriptions. I hope to have a review out for both Going Postal and How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with It this week!

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| Watching |

While catching up with the third season of Killing Eve and the brilliant I May Destroy You, the other half and I have started to watch Warrior Nun on Netflix. While I expected this to be a cheesy and mediocre offering, I really am rather enjoying it and find myself eagerly awaiting the next episode. I’m also not going to deny that if there is hype for warrior nuns I am all for it as the Book of the Ancestor is just ripe for dramatisation!

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| Gaming |

This week I have continued to play the fifth season of Apex Legends. After achieving rank Gold IV in the season’s first half, I was very close to putting it down and starting an entirely new game (as usually I just play Apex as a ‘filler’ game between larger titles) but lo and behold the ranks and maps reset and I have once again been suckered back in!

The other half and I also purchased a Nintendo Switch but I am yet to play anything as I am still umm-ing and aah-ing over which game I want to play! Let me know if you have any suggestions!

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| Posts |

Review: Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by K.J. Parker

The Friday Face-Off: The Sea Brought You. The Sea Shall Have You Back. 

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten… Authors I’ve Read the Most Books By

Teaser Tuesdays: How to Rule an Empire and Get Away With It by K.J. Parker

Waiting on Wednesday: The Trouble With Peace by Joe Abercrombie

The Friday Face-Off: At the End of Every Light, is a Tunnel of Darkness.

Friday Firsts: A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers

My Top Ten Books of the Past Two Years

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I hope you all have a wonderful, book-filled week!

What have you been reading, watching and playing this week? Have you accomplished any goals?

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Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten… Authors I’ve Read the Most Books By

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Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday – a weekly feature from The Broke and the Bookish, now hosted by ThatArtsyReaderGirl. Expect a new top ten list every week!

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| Top Ten… Authors I’ve Read the Most Books By |

Welcome back to Top Ten Tuesday!

Fantasy and crime fiction are known for their lengthy and world spanning series and, as two of my most read genres, it comes as no surprise that they top this week’s Top Ten. In fact, seven of my top ten authors are tied with ten books read each!

Scroll down for this week’s Top Ten… Authors I’ve Read the Most Books By.

| 1. |

Ellis Peters | 20 Books

| 2. |

Brandon Sanderson | 16 Books

| 3 |

Jim Butcher | 13 Books

| 4. |

P.G. Wodehouse | 10 Books

| 5. |

Adrian Tchaikovsky | 10 Books

| 6. |

Trudi Canavan | 10 Books

| 7. |

Sebastien de Castell | 10 Books

| 8. |

Mark Lawrence | 10 Books

| 9. |

J.R.R. Tolkien | 10 Books

| 10. |

Donna Leon | 10 Books

Who is your most read author? If you would like to join in with Top Ten Tuesday, head on over to ThatArtsyReaderGirl and sign up!

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Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten… Book Quotes By P.G. Wodehouse

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Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday – a weekly feature from The Broke and the Bookish, now hosted by ThatArtsyReaderGirl. Expect a new top ten list every week!

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| Top Ten… Book Quotes By P. G. Wodehouse |

Welcome back to Top Ten Tuesday! For this week’s top ten I’ve decided to narrow down my favourite quotes to just one author – P. G. Wodehouse.  A master of the metaphor, whose books a consistently laugh out loud funny, P. G. Wodehouse is one of my favourite non-speculative fiction authors. If you’re yet to discover his witty and wonderful novels, scroll down for a taste of the finest 20th Century humour.

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What are your favourite book quotes? If you would like to join in with Top Ten Tuesday, head on over to ThatArtsyReaderGirl and sign up!

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Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten… Classics I’ve Recently Added to my TBR

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Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday – a weekly feature hosted by those lovely bookworms over at The Broke and the Bookish. Expect a new top ten list every week!

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| Top Ten… Classics I’ve Recently Added to my TBR |

This week’s Top Ten features the books I’ve recently added to my TBR. To mix it up a little, however, this Top Ten only features classics as there are far too many I need to read and I keep intending to compile a list – and then don’t! In no particular order, here are this week’s Top Ten… Classics I’ve Recently Added to my TBR:

| 1. |

And Then There Were None

by Agatha Christie

First, there were ten – a curious assortment of strangers summoned as weekend guests to a private island off the coast of Devon. Their host, an eccentric millionaire unknown to all of them, is nowhere to be found. All that the guests have in common is a wicked past they’re unwilling to reveal – and a secret that will seal their fate. For each has been marked for murder. One by one they fall prey. Before the weekend is out, there will be none. And only the dead are above suspicion.

| 2. |

The Master and Margarita

by Mikhail Bulgakov

Mikhail Bulgakov’s devastating satire of Soviet life was written during the darkest period of Stalin’s regime. Combining two distinct yet interwoven parts—one set in ancient Jerusalem, one in contemporary Moscow—the novel veers from moods of wild theatricality with violent storms, vampire attacks, and a Satanic ball; to such somber scenes as the meeting of Pilate and Yeshua, and the murder of Judas in the moonlit garden of Gethsemane; to the substanceless, circus-like reality of Moscow. Its central characters, Woland (Satan) and his retinue—including the vodka-drinking black cat, Behemoth; the poet, Ivan Homeless; Pontius Pilate; and a writer known only as The Master, and his passionate companion, Margarita—exist in a world that blends fantasy and chilling realism, an artful collage of grotesqueries, dark comedy, and timeless ethical questions.

Though completed in 1940, “The Master and Margarita” wasn’t published in Moscow until 1966, when the first part appeared in the magazine “Moskva.” It was an immediate and enduring success: audiences responded with great enthusiasm to its expression of artistic and spiritual freedom.

| 3. |

My Man Jeeves

by P.G. Wodehouse

Who can forget our beloved gentleman’s personal gentleman, Jeeves, who ever comes to the rescue when the hapless Bertie Wooster falls into trouble. My Man Jeeves is sure to please anyone with a taste for pithy buffoonery, moronic misunderstandings, gaffes, and aristocratic slapstick.

| 4. |

Bulldog Drummond

by Sapper

‘Demobilised officer, finding peace incredibly tedious, would welcome diversion. Legitimate, if possible; but crime, if of a comparatively humorous description, no objection. Excitement essential… Reply at once Box X10.’

Hungry for adventure following the First World War, Captain Hugh ‘Bulldog’ Drummond begins a career as the invincible protectorate of his country. His first reply comes from a beautiful young woman, who sends him racing off to investigate what at first looks like blackmail but turns out to be far more complicated and dangerous.

The rescue of a kidnapped millionaire, found with his thumbs horribly mangled, leads Drummond to the discovery of a political conspiracy of awesome scope and villainy, masterminded by the ruthless Carl Peterson.

| 5. |

Topper

by Thorne Smith

Thorne Smith is a master of urbane wit and sophisticated repartee. Topper, his best-known work, is the hilarious, ribald comedy on which the hit television show and movie (starring Cary Grant) were based.

It all begins when Cosmo Topper, a law-abiding, mild-mannered bank manager, decides to buy a secondhand car, only to find it haunted by the ghosts of its previous owners–the reckless, feckless, frivolous couple who met their untimely demise when the car careened into an oak tree. The ghosts, George and Marion Kerby, make it their mission to rescue Topper from the drab “summer of suburban Sundays” that is his life–and they commence a series of madcap adventures that leave Topper, and anyone else who crosses their path, in a whirlwind of discomfiture and delight.

As enchanting today as it was when first published in 1926, Topper has set the standard in American pop culture for such mischievous apparitions as those seen in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Heaven Can Wait, Beetlejuice, and Bewitched.

| 6. |

A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder

by James de Mille

Four sailors discover a copper cylinder containing a manuscript written by the adventurer Adam More, who was shipwrecked in the southern hemisphere. They read its contents out loud to one another, and the incredible story unfolds—his journey through a subterranean tunnel to a lost world that survives at the foot of a volcano. This strange utopian society, in which humans coexist with prehistoric animals, is the antithesis of Victorian England, as poverty is preferred to wealth and darkness to light. At once a timeless satire and a pioneering work of the science fiction genre, this story is bound to enthrall readers today and revive James De Mille’s reputation as a writer ahead of his time.

| 7. |

The Woman in White

by Wilkie Collins

‘In one moment, every drop of blood in my body was brought to a stop… There, as if it had that moment sprung out of the earth, stood the figure of a solitary Woman, dressed from head to foot in white’

The Woman in White famously opens with Walter Hartright’s eerie encounter on a moonlit London road. Engaged as a drawing master to the beautiful Laura Fairlie, Walter becomes embroiled in the sinister intrigues of Sir Percival Glyde and his ‘charming’ friend Count Fosco, who has a taste for white mice, vanilla bonbons, and poison. Pursuing questions of identity and insanity along the paths and corridors of English country houses and the madhouse, The Woman in White is the first and most influential of the Victorian genre that combined Gothic horror with psychological realism.

| 8. |

The Thin Man

by Dashiell Hammett

Nick and Nora Charles are Hammett’s most enchanting creations, a rich, glamorous couple who solve homicides in between wisecracks and martinis. At once knowing and unabashedly romantic, The Thin Man is a murder mystery that doubles as a sophisticated comedy of manners.

| 9. |

Brave New World

by Aldous Huxley

Far in the future, the World Controllers have created the ideal society. Through clever use of genetic engineering, brainwashing and recreational sex and drugs, all its members are happy consumers. Bernard Marx seems alone harbouring an ill-defined longing to break free. A visit to one of the few remaining Savage Reservations, where the old, imperfect life still continues, may be the cure for his distress…

Huxley’s ingenious fantasy of the future sheds a blazing light on the present and is considered to be his most enduring masterpiece.

| 10. |

Death in Venice

by Thomas Mann

Published on the eve of World War I, a decade after Buddenbrookshad established Thomas Mann as a literary celebrity, Death in Venice tells the story of Gustav von Aschenbach, a successful but aging writer who follows his wanderlust to Venice in search of spiritual fulfillment that instead leads to his erotic doom.

In the decaying city, besieged by an unnamed epidemic, he becomes obsessed with an exquisite Polish boy, Tadzio. “It is the story of the voluptuousness of doom,” Mann wrote. “But the problem I had especially in mind was that of the artist’s dignity.”

What’s new on your TBR? If you would like to join in with Top Ten Tuesday, head on over to The Broke and the Bookish and sign up!

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2015: A Year in Review

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| Books by Proxy – A Year in Review |

Welcome to my first end of year post – and what a year it has been! I started this blog on the last day of July and, over the last half of 2015, have found myself as part of a wonderful community of readers and bloggers. In my albeit limited experience, we book bloggers are lucky to enjoy a very friendly and supportive community, where sharing our books, our reviews and our experiences is all done for a love of reading and can be enjoyed by many. So thank you readers and thank you bloggers for making 2015 such an enjoyable year. I hope you all have a fantastic 2016!

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| A Year in Books |

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I think we can all agree these two very similar and equally profound books, Blood Song by Anthony Ryan and The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, deservedly made it into my longest and shortest book categories.

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Donna Leon

with ten books in her Commissario Brunetti series

P.G. Wodehouse

with nine books in total including seven from his Blandings series

Jim Butcher

with eight books in The Dresden Files series

Agatha Christie

with six books in her Hercule Poirot series

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Blood Song

Book One of the Raven’s Shadow Series

by Anthony Ryan

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Red Rising

Book One of the Red Rising Trilogy

by Pierce Brown

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The Serpent

The Gameshouse I

by Claire North

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The Few

A Leone Scamarcio Thriller

by Nadia Dalbuono

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Lamentation

Book Six of the Matthew Shardlake Series

by C.J. Sansom

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Something Fresh

Book One of the Blandings Series

by P.G. Wodehouse

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There were so many more amazing books which deserve to be on this list but then it would just be most of 2015’s books!

Thank you all for reading and have a wonderful 2016!

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Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten… Classics of 2015

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Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday – a weekly feature hosted by those lovely bookworms over at The Broke and the Bookish. Expect a new top ten list every week!

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| Top Ten… Classics of 2015 |

This year i have been determined to read more classics and amongst those dusty tomes I’ve discovered some fantastic literature, many of which are almost poetic in narrative and are often full of understated (if not blatant.. cough… Wodehouse) humour. For this week’s Top Ten, and to avoid any repeats with last week, I’m bringing you my top ten classics of 2015 – and hopefully I’ll unearth many more literary masters in 2016!

| 1. |

Picadilly Jim

by P.G. Wodehouse

This is the book which started my love affair with Wodehouse. No author has brought tears of laughter to my eyes quite so much as this comedic genius, and with an inordinate number of books to his name, I expect to be crying with laughter for many more years to come!

| 2. |

Murder on the Orient Express

by Agatha Christie

I have been an Agatha Christie fan for some time now, dipping into and out of her work ever since I was a child, so it was about time then that I made a concerted effort to make my way through her catalogue in some semblance of order. Murder on the Orient Express most certainly lives up to its reputation as a whodunnit masterpiece and has fuelled my passion for Christie’s crime classics.

| 3. |

Sense and Sensibility

by Jane Austen

I had first read Sense and Sensibility as a young girl and, despite my love for both both literary and televised Austen, I hadn’t re-read a number of her novels until this year. Sense and Sensibility is social commentary at its finest, full of wit and humour with a sometimes heartbreaking storyline, which made me fall in love with Austen all over again.

| 4. |

Hard Times

by Charles Dickens

I cannot begin to describe how much I love this book. Charles Dickens is a master of the literary charicature and it is done so well in Hard Times. And not only that, we have some of the most beautiful and evocative descriptions of the industrial revolution that I’ve ever come across. A definite highlight in this year’s list of classics.

| 5. |

Around the World in Eighty Days

by Jules Verne

I was determined to read more Jules Verne this year but only ended up reading one novel – Around the World in Eighty Days. This delightful adventure, undertaken as a bet and chock full of a multitude of intriguing characters,  has definitely spurred me on to read more of Verne’s work.

| 6. |

The Thirty-Nine Steps

by John Buchan

Having never even heard of this novel until this year, The Thirty-Nine Steps took me by complete surprise. Reading just like one of the military escape memoirs I love so much, The Thirty-Nine Steps has me determined to add more John Buchan novels to my 2016 reading list.

| 7. |

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There

by Lewis Carroll

And no list of classics for me would be complete without the delightful and nonsensical work of Lewis Carroll. This is pure and unadulterated fuel for the imagination, like a fever dream… on acid. And this year’s re-read only re-fuelled my love for this wonderful piece of literature.

| 8. |

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

by Robert Louis Stevenson

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde remains one of the most well known classic horror stories so it’s unsurprising that this short book, packed full of mystery, shock and suspense, made its way into this week’s Top Ten.

| 9. |

Something Fresh

by P.G. Wodehouse

Something Fresh is the first book in the Blandings series which I’ve wholeheartedly devoured in 2015. With the delightfully dotty Lord Emsworth, many an imposter and something of a whodunnit… involving scarabs… this is a fine example of comedic literature which had me reaching for the next book in an instant.

| 10. |

The Mystery of the Blue Train

by Agatha Christie

Another Christie classic (and another which involves trains!) tops this week’s list. Full of intriguing (and highly suspicious) characters, exotic jewels and even more exotic locations, this is one of my favourite Christie novels to date.

Which are your favourite novels of 2015? Do any classics top your list? If you would like to join in with Top Ten Tuesday, head on over to The Broke and the Bookish and sign up!

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Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten… Author Duos Which Should Exist

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Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday – a weekly feature hosted by those lovely bookworms over at The Broke and the Bookish. Expect a new top ten list every week!

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| Top Ten… Author Duos Which Should Exist |

This Tuesday we’re pairing up the authors we’d love to see write a book together. This Top Ten will combine two authors from very different genres, one deceased and one living, to create some fascinating and comic duos. In no particular order, here are my dream team of duos:

| 1. |

Roald Dahl & Joe Abercrombie

“Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be outrageous. Go the whole hog. Make sure everything you do is so completely crazy it’s unbelievable…”

~ Matilda by Roald Dahl

In a new set of books for children, the humour of Roald Dahl and the bloody violence of Joe Abercrombie meet to create a non-stop, whizzpopping, exceedingly dark series. Man eating giants hunger for small children, a young girl uses her telekinetic powers to wield axes and exact bloody vengeance, and Miss Trunchbull and Sand dan Glokta have a whirlwind romance. Illustrated by Quentin Blake of course.

| 2. |

P.G. Wodehouse & Scott Lynch

“What’s the use of a great city having temptations if fellows don’t yield to them?” 

~ Carry on, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

Forget Blandings Castle or The Drones Club, this series will be based in one of the Five Towers of Camorr – Raven’s Reach. Duke Nicovante is going dotty, scandals and rumours abound, relations are getting into all sorts of mischief, and scheming fraudsters are after the Duke’s money.  And no Wodehouse novel would be complete without an imposter or two – enter Locke Lamora and Jean Tannen. Lynch brings the intricacy and detailing of plot and Wodehouse brings a riot of humour and tomfoolery for a very gritty witty novel.

| 3. |

C.S. Lewis & Adrian Tchaikovsky

“She looked back over her shoulder and there, between the dark tree-trunks, she could still see the open doorway of the wardrobe and even catch a glimpse of the empty room from which she had set out.”

~ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

Send four children through a wardrobe into a land of insectoid, warlike humans and see how they react when Peter waves about a sword and declares himself King. But that’s his problem. Susan wields a snapbow to avenge her brother, Edmund sinks into psychotic insanity for lack of Turkish Delight, and Lucy is enslaved on the battlefields to forever resurrect fallen soldiers with her magic cordial. All jolly good fun!

| 4. |

J.R.R. Tolkien & C.J. Sansom

“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

~ The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Because who wouldn’t love a crime solving Bilbo! The depth of history in Middle Earth provides a perfect playing field for a spectacular series of crime novels. Who stole Farmer Maggot’s crops? Who squashed Bilbo’s begonias? And that’s just the beginning! A darkness is spreading over Middle Earth, there’s murder afoot and only one little Hobbit can stop it. Armed with his trusty walking stick, spotted hanky and brass buttons, Bilbo must travel to the far flung reaches of the land to solve the mysteries that ensue. If only that meddling wizard would show up.

| 5. |

Jane Austen & Bernard Cornwell

“Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance.”

~ Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Especially when the husband decides to go on campaign to subdue the French and thinks it appropriate to take his wife and her female companions with him. Bonnets will go flying! Petticoats will be six inches deep in mud, blood and various other vile excretions! Not to mention the possibility of being garrotted by ribbons or bound by lace! Austen’s wit and sublime characterisation meets Cornwell’s action-packed descriptive excellence in the bloodiest romance of any century.

| 6. |

Charles Dickens & Jim Butcher

“About the Fairies, sir, and the Dwarf, and the Hunchback, and the Genies,’ she sobbed out; ‘and about — ‘ ‘Hush!’ said Mr. Gradgrind, ‘that is enough. Never breathe a word of such destructive nonsense any more.’”

~ Hard Times by Charles Dickens

Harry Dresden, Wizard PI, finds himself in Victorian England in the midst of the industrial revolution. Poverty, disease and the Red Court of vampires are running rampant across the country; the Wizard hierarchy is even more insufferable; and orphans, pickpockets and general ne’er-do-wells are developing a dangerous affinity for magic. The descriptive genius of Dickens meets the action and dark humour of Butcher. Magic (and industrial machinery) – It can get a guy killed.

| 7. |

Mary Shelley & Karen Maitland

“Unhappy man! Do you share my madness? Have you drunk also of the intoxicating draught? Hear me; let me reveal my tale, and you will dash the cup from your lips!” 

~ Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Company of Reanimated Corpses? The Gallows Curse: A Guide to the Acquisition of Body Parts? Gothic horror and medieval mystery meet to create a tale of murder and superstition and raise those philosophical questions of what it means to be human in a world of myth and magic. The supernatural haunts every page, twists and turns abound and the terror of the unknown threaten all mankind in this medieval monster mash-up.

| 8. |

Lewis Carroll & George R.R. Martin

“We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad”

~ Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by C.S. Lewis

Alice’s Adventures in Westeros: After falling down a rabbit hole and finding herself in the middle of King’s Landing, can Alice find a way to survive the clash between warring dynasties. Alice must outrun disgusting perverts, bloodthirsty maniacs, dragons and jabberwockys to find her way home. The nonsensical, witty and utterly absurd meets the complex, bloody and thoroughly epic in this merging of literary masters.

| 9. |

David Gemmell & Kaye Umansky

“A cynic by experience, a romantic by inclination and now a hero by necessity.” 

~ Legend by David Gemmell

After sampling one of Pongwiffy’s terrible potions, Pongwiffy, Hugo the Hamster, a hoard of goblins and Grandwitch Sourmuddle’s birthday cake find themselves transported to a world of dark knights, thirsty (non-hamster) vampires, bloody battles and axe wielding warriors. Will Pongwiffy forsake her dirty habits to lead an army to victory? Can Hugo subdue the goblin horde? And, most importantly, will the cake survive a battlefield encounter?

| 10. |

Frances Hodgson Burnett & Guillermo del Toro

“A house with a hundred rooms, nearly all shut up and with their doors locked—a house on the edge of a moor—whatsoever a moor was—sounded dreary. A man with a crooked back who shut himself up also!”

~ The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Mistlethwaite Manor will never be the same again after an injection of del Toro magic. Terrifying monsters lurk in hidden passages, The Cravens harbour a dark secret and Mrs. Medlock isn’t at all what she appears – and that’s before Mary even reaches the garden! When Mary decides to do a spot of gardening in Mrs. Craven’s old patch, the secrets she unearths and the horrors which she disturbs will change her life forever. This is a tale of enchanting mystery and surreal horror which will certainly not be for children.

Which authors would you love to see as a duo? If you would like to join in with Top Ten Tuesday, head on over to The Broke and the Bookish and sign up!

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