Top Ten Tuesday, errr Wednesday: Favourite Sequels

Hey there, I'm a day late, but once again linking up with The Broke and the Bookish.  Today's topic is "Top Ten Sequels".   I tried to avoid series, otherwise this list would be all Harry Potter.  :-)

1.  Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore (sequel to Graceling):  I have read Fire as well, but that was more of a prequel.

2.  Rilla of Ingleside or Anne's House of Dreams by L.M. Montgomery (sequels to Anne of Green Gables):  I like all the Anne books, but I like these in particular as they focus on a different person (Rilla) or put Anne and Gilbert in a new context.  I loved seeing Anne and Gilbert figure out married life and go through struggles that I've also experienced.

3.  The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood (sequel to Oryx and Crake):  This books gives the context of Oryx and Crake from another perspective.  Can you even fathom how excited I am to order MaddAddam with my birthday gift cards???

4.  An Echo in the Darkness by Francine Rivers (sequel to A Voice in the Wind):  Continues the story of Hadassah in first century Rome.

5.  To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis (sequel to Doomsday Book):  More time travel, more antics of Oxford academics, and this time with cats and period clothes, and less plague to boot.  Love it!

I got a bit stuck with this topic, so here are two books that I want to read:

1.  Dreams of Joy by Lisa See (sequel to Shanghai Girls)

2.  The High Road by Terry Fallis (sequel to The Best Laid Plans)

Top Ten Tuesday: Fall TBR List

I'm so sorry for neglecting this blog lately.  I just lost my motivation somewhere, but I'm trying to find it.  Right now I'm having computer issues, but when things get fixed, I plan on writing some posts in advance so my laziness doesn't turn into outright neglect again.

Anyway, it's another Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, and today we're talking about our fall To-Read list.  I actually finished ALL the books on my summer list, which was a pleasant surprise, but this fall I've got some long reads on the list.  Remember how I posted previously about books that intimidate me?  This fall I'm aiming at finally cracking open those scary reads.  Here is my Top Ten Six List:

1.  Les Miserables by Victor Hugo:  I'm still scared at the length, but at least I've got it on Kindle so I can a repetitive strain injury.

2.  Life of Pi by Yann Martel:  I have to read this soon as it's on loan from my mom.

3.  The High Road by Terry Fallis:  Because after some heavy reads, I'll want to laugh my butt off.

4.  MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood:  I've been salivating over this one in the book store for weeks, so I don't think I'll be able to put off buying it for much longer.  The only question is whether I want to re-read Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood beforehand.

5.  A Fruitful Wife by Hayley DiMarco:  This will be the fifth installment of my marriage reading series.

6.  Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde:  The Eyre Affair left me wanting to read the whole series, so when the weather gets cold, I'll treat myself by curling up with this book.

So, what are you all planning to read this fall?

Top Ten Tuesday: Interesting Book Pairings

It's another Top Ten Tuesday at The Broke and the Bookish.  Today's theme is "Top 10 Contemporary Books That Would Be Great Paired With A Required Reading Book".  I almost skipped this one as I had no idea what to choose - I read a lot of classics so it was hard to pick just contemporary pair-ups - but I managed to come up with a few ideas.  

1.  Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet paired with... Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell:  This works because Eleanor and Park actually do discuss Romeo and Juliet in the book.  Both works touch on the intoxication of first love and unlikely couples from two very different backgrounds.

2.  Shakespeare's MacBeth paired with... Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn:  Both deal with very dysfunctional marriages and a woman who has no moral scruples about getting her way.

3.  Catcher in the Rye paired with... Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling:  Okay, I had to sneak Harry in here somewhere.  This probably isn't my best pairing, but Order of the Phoenix is where we see Harry angry, disillusioned, and at his most teen angst-y moment.

4.  To Kill a Mockingbird paired with...  Cape Town by Brenda Hammond:  Both books deal with race relations at a pivotal time in history.  The books each feature a young person realizing the fact that injustice is widespread in our world.  Plus, I think Cape Town would be great required reading in North American schools, as we rarely learn anything about African history.

5.  The Diary of Anne Frank paired with... Between Shades of Gray by Ruth Sepetys:  Both books feature a teenage girl thrown from ordinary life into a nightmare, and finding art/writing as a creative outlet to cope.  We didn't actually read Anne Frank in school, but lots of people did, so it counts, right?

6.  Animal Farm paired with... Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins:  Both books show that the rebels can quickly become the oppressors when they get into power.

7.  Our Town paired with No One Is Here Except All of Us by Ramona Ausubel:  This may seem like a stretch since Ausubel's book deals with the Holocaust, but it's also a look at one town, how people see themselves and how they would write their own story.  While Grover's Corners isn't as isolated as the town in Ausubel, it seems to exist in a void, which is what the townspeople are trying to do in the Ausubel book.

 

8.  John Wyndham's The Chrysalids paired with...  Margaret Atwood's MaddAddam Trilogy OR Fire by Kristin Cashore:  I went back and forth on this one.  The MaddAddam books deal with a dystopian, post-apocalyptic world, which seems to fit The Chrysalids (although I read that book in Grade 9 so I've obviously forgotten a lot).  On the other hand, Fire reminded me of The Chrysalids because of the suspicion and fire of genetic "monsters".

There were some other books we read in school, but I couldn't decided what to pair them with, like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Camus' L'Etranger, Salinger's "A Perfect Day for Bananafish", and Hamlet.  I especially agonized over finding a pairing for Lord of the Flies, but ended up drawing a blank.  I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Medical Mondays: "You mean he works weekends?"

Yesterday was our monthly Medical Monday link-up, and I'm very late, but joining in to the fun a day late.  This month's link up is hosted by by Jane at From a  Doctor's Wife, Emma at Your Doctor's Wife, and Heather at Pretty Strong Medicine.

Today's post is inspired by one of the phrases I hear frequently.  For example, on Friday a colleague asked me about our weekend plans.  I said it would be a quiet weekend because Gil was on-call and he looked at me incredulously:  "Wait?  He has to work weekends?"  It surprises me how many people ask this, as though it is a huge shock and imposition.  I mean, people have heart attacks on weekends and holidays too.  Hospitals never close, so why would doctors work 9-5?

The funny part is that the guy who asked me often works weekends.  Maybe when we have demanding hours, we automatically assume everyone else has it better, even the cardiologists among us?  Who knows.  It's easy to forget how many people work odd hours:  Nurses, police, firefighters, military, customer service, etc.  On top of that, lots of people work from home on their own schedules, and then there are stay-at-home parents who work all the time.  So why does it seem so shocking for a person to have to work over Labour Day?

At any rate, nearly two years in to this Mrs. Doctor gig, I'm pretty used to on-call weekends.  Thankfully I'm an introvert who has lived alone in the past, so I am used to amusing myself.  It's a bit disappointing when the on-call schedule falls over a long weekend, but I can deal with it.  These past few days, I went to the gym, did a lot of reading and treated myself to a marathon viewing of the BBC's Sherlock.  I still feel sad not to have had the chance to enjoy my day off together with my husband, but that's the way it goes with this life.

So friends, how was your long weekend?  Did you do anything fun and exciting?