The Terror of Knowing

Welcome one, welcome all, to this rare appearance of Top Ten Tuesday! To say I’ve been somewhat lax about participating in TTT would be a generous way of putting it… the last TTT I did was Best Books You’ve Read in 2017 So Far which was aaaall the way back in June so, yeah, it’s been… a while.

(“How long have you been seventeen?” “A while…” Anyone find remembering that Twilight scene as funny as I did just now? Nope? Ok, moving on…)

For those who are unaware (or who might need a reminder) Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by the book bloggers and list lovers, The Broke and the Bookish, and each week they post a topic for bloggers to respond to. This week’s topic is festive-themed and it’s Top Ten Books I Hope Santa Brings! (Obviously, substitute your holiday of choice if Santa is not your bag.)

For the past few Christmases, me and my parents have come to an understanding that, since they rarely keep up with my reading enough to know what books I’m wishing for at any given moment, they will give me some money to buy myself books from them for Christmas and they get them delivered to home and wrap them up and everything and then I obviously do a whole bit on Christmas morning like ‘omg what could this possibly be?’ for the obviously book-shaped presents. It has become something of a tradition. All of this is to say that I am quite assured that I will actually be receiving some of these books, providing Santa doesn’t decide I’ve been a naughty girl and take them all away! Other ones were on my gift wishlist so if Santa doesn’t miraculously bring them then I’ll definitely be treating myself to them after Christmas!

10. Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman

This book stands in for two other short story collections as well but, basically, if you didn’t get the memo: I love Neil Gaiman’s writing to the ends of the earth but, to my everlasting shame, I’ve never managed to read any of his short stories. I need to correct that, stat! This collection, Trigger Warning, and Smoke and Mirror will help to fill in the gap in my otherwise quite lovely Neil Gaiman collection.

9. Jackaby by William Ritter

This book crossed my radar a while back and then disappeared, until Stephanie from Adventures of a Bibliophile gave it such a glowing review! Ever since then, I’ve wanted to read this book, and I even went as far as ordering myself a used copy from Amazon but unfortunately the bookseller couldn’t fulfil the order after all and I was left saddened by the experience – twas not to be. However, I’m feeling good about this holiday season, it’s gonna be the year when I get it… or buy it for myself when I’m bored and recklessly browsing Amazon on Boxing Day.

8. Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

It’s been difficult to exist in the online book community in the last year or so without coming into contact with this book somehow. I’ve somehow still not managed to read it (probably because it persists in only being available in hardback) but its synopsis gets more and more intriguing every time I hear it so I need it now, damn it, I’ll try to jump on this band wagon even though it has well passed me by!

7. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

It’s been difficult to avoid seeing praise for this book – from your friendly neighbourhood book blogger to the New York Times itself, Celeste Ng’s second book has seemingly been met with nothing but praise, praise, praise. I don’t often read many books nowadays that aren’t somehow fantasy but it’s safe to say I’d make an exception for this one since it has been met with such high acclaim.

6. Magnus Chase and the Ship of the Dead by Rick Riordan

The third book in the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series, anyone who knows me will know that I quite enjoy a good bit of Norse mythology. I never much cared for Rick Riordan’s original series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, but when he started to write books about Norse gods and demi-gods instead, I started to take interest. The first one was SO much fun but I put off reading the sequel until I could get my hands on the third and final book in the trilogy. I have my fingers crossed that Santa has access to my Amazon wishlist.

5. The Elder Edda, translated by Andy Orchard

Penguin publish what looks like a wonderful series called Legends of the Ancient North, of which this is one of the volumes. As previously mentioned, I enjoy a good old bit of Norse mythology but I’ve never actually read either of the Eddas, which are considered the “source material” for a lot of what we consider Norse myths and legends nowadays. I desperately want to get around to reading them and the Penguin editions are such beautiful books that I really hope I’ve been gifted them.

4. The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night by Jen Campbell

The lovely, lovely Jen Campbell makes wonderful Booktube videos and it’s through Booktube that I first discovered her, but she’s also an author. I haven’t read anything of her work (shame on me, I know) other than her hilarious Weird Things Customers Say In Bookshops so I’ve been meaning to right that wrong as soon as possible. This short story collection is marketed as modern fairytales (Jen is an expert on fairytales so I’m sure it will so amazing) and I’m just dying to read it now, so I very much hope I find it under the tree on Christmas morning.

3. Thor Ragnarok: The Art of the Movie

I am a proverbial sucker for “art of the movie” books, and the Marvel ones look particularly stunning. I own Les Mis, Crimson Peak, and Kong: Skull Island art books and I pore over all of them because I’m a nerd about movie-making and love to see all the design work that went into the sets, costumes, make-up etc. as well as the initial research process and inspiration sources for putting together the entire look of a film. Ridiculous though they are, the Thor films are my favourites in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so it’s like the Marvel Gods answered my prayers and produced a book on Ragnarok (which, in case you didn’t know, was by far the best Thor film, go see it if you haven’t!). I’ll be quite disappointed if Santa hasn’t seen fit to deliver my book my Christmas… and it’s definitely touch and go at this point since Forbidden Planet haven’t shipped it yet.

2. Harry Potter Complete Collection by J.K. Rowling

As all good Potter fans know, you can never replace the original copies you had of the books. However, my original hardbacks are more than a little worse for wear (Order of the Phoenix‘s spine fell off years ago, for one) and I don’t want them to get even more damaged with my regular re-reading so I’ve always planned to buy some paperback editions of the books at some point. For years I’ve had my eye on a very specific collection – the paperbacks with Andrew Davidson’s woodcut-esque illustrated covers. They’re definitely not everyone’s cup of tea, but I really like the bold and brash colours so I’ve always wanted them. If it turns out that Santa has lost them in the sleigh I will be very disappointed indeed.

1. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban [Illustrated Edition] by J.K. Rowling

As you may have gleaned, I will never stop buying superfluous editions of the Harry Potter books (can’t stop, won’t stop), so long as Bloomsbury keep churning them out, I’ll keep giving them all my money. The beautiful illustrated editions by Jim Kay are no exception to this rule. I own the first two books and was so thrilled to see the third one be released this year as Prisoner of Azkaban is my favourite book in the series. However, I’ve somehow managed to do the unthinkable and restrain myself from buying it for a couple of months now just so that I could wish for it for Christmas and hope Santa will comply. It is a really nice edition to gift after all… and it would be ever so charitable of Santa to grant my wishes.

That’s all folks, those were the Top Ten Books I Hope Santa Brings this year! What books are you hoping to be gifted this holiday season? Or do you have a Top Ten Tuesday list of your own? Be sure to link it below – I’d love to take a peek at it!

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