Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Top Ten Tuesday: Gimme, Gimme, Gimme

This week's Top Ten Tuesday prompt from That Artsy Reader Girl is "things that make me instantly want to read a book."


I thought it was going to be hard to come up with ten things that I gravitate toward, but it turned out to be really easy!  I discovered I'm actually quite predictable when it comes to what will draw me to a book.  

1. It's a mystery.  Amateur detectives, police detectives, private investigators -- I love them all.  I want to know what happened and whodunnit, and I would prefer not to figure out the solution before the author reveals it, thank you very much.  Favorite authors for my favorite genre include Raymond Chandler, A. Conan Doyle, Rex Stout, Dashiell Hammett, Jan Burke, and Laurie R. King.

2. It's historical fiction.  Give me something set in the past, and I am instantly interested.  Two particular historical settings are always magnets for me, which I'll discuss below, but really just saying "historical fiction" gets me intrigued.  

3. It's by an author I already like.  Yes, I'll try new authors.  I routinely do.  But the name of an author whose other books I know I enjoy is always going to attract me to a book.  I am a creature of habit who likes knowing a bit of what to expect, and I love to read a new book by an old favorite author.

4. It has a "found family" vibe.  So many of my favorite books have "found families" in them, like The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton, and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Schafer and Annie Barrows.

5. It's about a close friendship.  I am far more attracted to stories that revolve around a friendship than ones that revolve around a romance.  Give me two people who would kill for, die for, or live for each other, but aren't romantically involved, and I will just eat that story up with a spoon.


6. It's a retelling.  I write retellings.  I read retellings.  I love seeing how an author can build a new story on an existing framework.  I love finding the parallels and the shout-outs and the references.  I don't love every retelling I've read, but I definitely will be attracted to a book just from hearing that it's a retelling.

7. It's a western.  This is really a recent development.  Until the last ten years or so, I infinitely preferred my cowboys to be on the screen, not on the page.  I had read maybe three or four adult westerns up until then.  Now, I gobble them up.  Not sure why it took me so long to get into them, but I'm glad to be here now!

8. It's set during WWII.  If the Old West is where my imagination lives, WWII is where it goes on vacation.  You put "1940s" or "WWII" in that cover blurb and you instantly have my attention.  

9. It's a classic.  I have read a lot of classics.  I have a lot more classics yet to read.  These books and stories and characters remained popular decades and even centuries for a reason -- because they have important and enjoyable things to say.  Also, I love how, every time I read a new classic, some reference in some other book or movie will suddenly make sense.  

10. It's got a horse on the cover.  This is a carryover from my horse-obsessed childhood, but it still holds true.  Put a horse on the cover of your book and I will at least pick it up and read the cover blurb.  Basically every time.  Powerful stuff.


This was an incredibly fun post to write!  I hope you enjoyed reading it.   I think I might do something similar over on my other blog, only about what draws me to movies, actually.

38 comments:

  1. Retellings are my favorite sub genre, especially if they from fairytales

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    1. Anon, I really love fairy tale retellings too! I write them because I enjoy them :-)

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  2. The older I've gotten the more I stick with my favorite authors. :) I try new names too (after reading about the book), but the authors I love means there's that much more of a chance I'll love the book. And we only got time for books that are good reads!! :)

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    1. Rissi, I feel this. SO much. I got a lot more willing to DNF books when I was in my mid 30s because I started to realize... I am under no obligation to read a book I'm not enjoying (usually -- there are some exceptions), and I don't have time to waste that way.

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  3. I love historical fiction too. And the "found family" theme gets me every time. https://bonniereadsandwrites.com/2023/05/23/top-ten-tuesday-things-that-make-me-instantly-want-to-read-a-book/

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    1. Bonnie, historical fiction always makes me feel like I'm learning something as well as enjoying a fictional story :-) I love that! And found families are so comforting and heartening and wonderful. Thanks for the link to your post -- I'll read it this morning!

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  4. Horses are cool for sure!

    Here is my Top Ten Tuesday post.

    Lydia

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    1. Lydia, horses are amazing! So beautiful. Thanks for the link to your post -- I'll check it out this morning :-)

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  5. I like found families, too.

    Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.

    Astilbe

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    1. Astilbe, found families are just so delightful. They make me happy, and they're somehow really wholesome even when they're a bunch of grimy soldiers in the middle of a war, or some scrappy teens with no adults to look out for them. Thanks for linking to your post! I'll read it soon :-)

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  6. Horse on the cover. That's interesting. I haven't seen that one today.

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    1. Deanna, adults can be so boring. I bet if you polled a group of 10-yr-old readers "horse on the cover" would get a lot more love ;-)

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  7. How interesting! I've never thought about what makes me want to read a book. I'm not sure I could come up with ten. Your answers are fun! I definitely agree with the close friendship one!!

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    1. DKoren, this was SO MUCH FUN to think about! I am totally working on a companion piece about what makes me want to watch a movie. Would love to see something similar from you, hint hint hint.

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    2. I think I could do a movie one quite easily. I'm finding the book one quite hard, LOL. It's hard to pin it down.

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    3. DKoren, you know... I can pretty readily predict whether or not you will like a movie, but with books, I only know if it's a mystery or slice-of-life you won't care for it. No idea usually about what you actually WILL care for!

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  8. My reading interests are super predictable, too. I just know what I like, I guess! Except for the last two and #6, all of these things are true for me too. Mysteries and historical fiction are my go-to genres and WWII books always appeal to me.

    Happy TTT!

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    1. Susan, I have an important question for you, since you are also able to easily predict what you will like. Do you also end up giving out a really high percentage of 4 and 5 star ratings? Someone once said they didn't trust people who give out mostly high ratings like that, and I thought that was a bit silly because I mostly read things that I know I will enjoy, and if I enjoy them, they get 4 or 5 stars, not because I don't have discerning taste, but because I know what I like and that's what I read.

      So I'm just curious if that holds true for you too.

      Happy TTT!

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    2. I'm really stingy with 5-star (or the A grades that I use on my blog) ratings, but I do give out a lot of 3 - 4 star ratings. If I can tell that a book is only going to get a 1-2 star rating from me, then I DNF it. I'm definitely not a person who loves everything they read, even in my favorite genre, but I'm also not the type who's going to keep reading a terrible book just to finish it. Life's too short for that nonsense!

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  9. We share quite a lot of these. Found family is one of my absolute favourite tropes, so I'm definitely very likely to pick up a book that promises to feature one of those. I'm also more of friendship person than a romance one so any book that promises to feature a strong friendship immediately has my interest piqued. I love historical fiction and I do really like and read a lot WWII fiction but I am trying to expand my horizons in the genre a little bit (whilst always coming back a lot to WWII stories because I've found authors have so many different and fascinating angles to take on that era). Books by authors I already like pretty much always immediately go on the TBR list as well unless for some reason it's something I'm just really not interested in. I do enjoy mysteries but I have a bit of a hit and miss relationship with them as I'm hard to impress with twists and a lot of them underwhelm me.
    My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2023/05/23/top-ten-tuesday-421-the-literary-dinner-party-2022-tag/

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    1. Heartland, yeah, I like to try new authors or subgenres... but I come back to my favorites regularly too :-) Always trying to balance it!

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  10. Yes! I love this. We have so many in common! (Although that last one made me chuckle inwardly, because my two older sisters were EXACTLY the same and I was so sick of hearing about and watching stuff with horses that I AVOID books with horses on them now. xD

    You know, it's such a delicious feeling when you've found an author you love and actually love ALL their books, but it also pulls me back down to earth when I read one that I love and then read another of theirs and don't like it at all. :'(

    FOUND FAMILIES. <3 WE LOVE THEM.

    Friendship > Romance, YES, WW11 YES (I actually just went to a 1940's swing dance for a friend's 21st last weekend and it was honestly the BEST. Also I can now swing dance yahoo!!) and classics YES YES YES. I think the majority of my reading can be summed up under that one. I'm a classics gal.

    I kind of want to do the tag but also don't because it would basically be a replica of your own. xD I'll have a think and see if there would be enough differences to make it worth while, haha.

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    1. Gabby, very nice!

      Most of my favorite authors have written at least one book or some stories that I don't like. Even Jane Austen, heh. I don't mind that, though, as I find it a really good reminder that nobody likes everything, and so no one is going to like everything I write, either. But that doesn't make me a bad writer, or make a specific thing I wrote bad, it just means... every person has their own taste.

      I learned a bit of swing dancing back in college and it was so much fun! What a great way to celebrate a 21st birthday!

      This isn't exactly a tag, so feel free to build a post based on the idea if you want, or fiddle with it to make it more your own!

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  11. Some of my all time favorite books are historical fiction, happy to see this on your list. Happy reading! My TTT https://readwithstefani.com/things-getting-in-the-way-of-reading/

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    1. Stefani, that's great that you love historical fiction too! Thanks for the link to your TTT :-)

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  12. So much fun!! I want to try this tag now! :D

    WW2 and the Old West are my favorite periods for historical fiction as well. There's so much potential for gritty drama, but also for people coming together and supporting each other and fighting for good.

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    1. Katie, have at it! Turn it into a tag or do a post riffing on it, whatever.

      As you say, WWII and the Old West provide a huge number of opportunities for drama, for heartwarming heroics, and so on. Which is why they draw me, besides the fact that I know a lot about the real history of those two eras too.

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  13. I love Found Families. Great list.

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    1. Thanks, Rebecca! Found families can be such a versatile trope.

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  14. Found family is one of my favorites too. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, Lauren! Found family is just soooooo full of good storytelling potential. And can be used in so many ways!

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  15. My ears immediately perk up whenever I hear of a new retelling. Fairytale retellings, mythology retellings, 19th century classic retellings...I love them all!

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    1. Eva, same here :-) I really like seeing how someone can build a new story on an existing framework.

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  16. I love retellings! I love how random the things in your list are! Its so neat to see other readers' reading preferences / tastes.

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    1. Thanks, Yvan! Yes, this was such a fun, engaging prompt :-)

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  17. Historical fiction is one of my favorites, too! Although I'm actually quite picky about when in history it's set...there are some settings that I just can't get into for some reason. (Including Old West. *hides* But I do really like WWII!)

    Retellings seem to be a lot of peoples' favorite, and I am no exception...but because there are so many, I tend to have a pretty high bar for them.

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    1. Samantha, high five for historical fiction enjoyment! I'm not sure there are any time periods I don't enjoy reading books set in, come to think of it. I do gravitate more toward some than others, but pretty much if it is set in the past, I'm interested.

      Retellings can definitely be tricky to do in a new and fresh way.

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