Winston Churchill’s top ten books

Winston Churchill never actually published a “Top Ten” list of his favorite books. But he did read a great many books and was known for his strong opinions. So Jonathan Rose, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of History at Drew University and author of The Literary Churchill: Author, Reader, Actor, was able to speculate that Churchill’s top ten books list might include:

The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck

Churchill was sincerely moved by this saga of China in revolutionary turmoil, though he didn’t entirely get it. On finishing the book, he concluded that the toiling Chinese masses would have been much happier if, like the Indians, they had enjoyed the blessings of British rule—not exactly the message that the author intended to send.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Good Earth is among Evie Wyld's five favorite books about farmers and Tiger Mom's five best books on being a Mother.

My Book, The Movie: The Literary Churchill.

--Marshal Zeringue

Seven archetypes who just can’t seem to catch a literary break

At B & N Reads Tori Telfer tagged seven of the unluckiest archetypes in fiction, including:

The Morally Upstanding Man Who Lives in a Corrupt Society Determined to Bring Him Down

This guy really wants to do good and make things right, but EVERYTHING ALWAYS GOES WRONG. Like Okonkow, from Things Fall Apart, who tries really hard to have a good reputation then accidentally kills someone. Buzzkill, amirite? Or there’s the ethical Charles Darnay from A Tale of Two Cities, who gets unjustly thrown into prison and stays there for a long, long time. Who says you can’t keep a good man down?

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Nine great sci-fi books for people who don't like science fiction

At io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell tagged nine great science fiction books for people who don't like science fiction, including:

Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro

Here’s one that will break your heart. It’s definitely science fiction, but it subverts most of the tropes that go not only with science fiction, but with storytelling in general. It’s not about people witnessing the birth of a new era, and it’s definitely not about them changing their world. It’s about them quietly thinking about a situation that, to us, is unimaginable horror and to them is just the way the world works.

I can’t tell you more, and you probably shouldn’t tell the person you’re recommending it to more. Just tell them to brace themselves.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Never Let Me Go is on Sabrina Rojas Weiss's list of ten favorite boarding school novels, Allegra Frazier's top four list of great dystopian novels that made it to the big screen, James Browning's top ten list of boarding school books, Jason Allen Ashlock and Mink Choi's top ten list of tragic love stories, Allegra Frazier's list of seven characters whose jobs are worse than yours, Shani Boianjiu's list of five top novels about coming of age, Karen Thompson Walker's list of five top "What If?" books, Lloyd Shepherd's top ten list of weird histories, and John Mullan's lists of ten of the best men writing as women in literature and ten of the best sentences as titles.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five top YA books about summer camp

At the B & N Teen Blog, Jenny Kawecki tagged five of the best YA books about summer camp, including:

The Lost Summer, by Kathryn Williams

Helena is headed back to her old camp for the summer, but this time she’s a counselor instead of a camper. Her best friend, Katie, remains stuck in camper mode, and Helena is already worried about how the differences between their camp experiences might affect their friendship. But it’s hard to turn down the chance to go skinny dipping or sneak out to the nearby boys’ camp, especially when it means flirting with her longtime crush, Ransome. Because you know you always wondered what it was like to be a counselor (how were they so old and cool?), you have to check out The Lost Summer.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Top ten most horribly mistreated first wives in Gothic fiction

At io9 Esther Inglis-Arkell tagged the ten most horribly mistreated first wives in Gothic fiction, including:

Bertha Antoinetta Mason Rochester from Jane Eyre

Here’s the star of the list. Thanks to high school English class, almost everyone knows Charlotte Brontë‘s most famous book. But here’s a quick review, from the first wife’s point of view. Bertha is rich. Edward Fairfax Rochester needs money. He marries her. She goes insane, in part, Rochester claims, because she was “unchaste.” He locks her in a single room in his attic with a single alcoholic servant to mind her, and then works off his anguish by slutting his way around Europe in an extremely “unchaste” manner. Finally comes back to England with an illegitimate daughter he barely tolerates and keeps Bertha a secret so he can marry the teenage governess he likes to verbally abuse.

The governess finds out about Bertha, and leaves. Eventually Bertha, who has a habit of being a firebug, sets fire to the entire house. Rochester escapes, and is reunited with Jane Eyre, the governess, but is blinded for many years and scarred for the rest of his life.

Lesson: Arson is usually the answer.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Jane Eyre also made Martine Bailey’s top six list of the best marriage plots in novels, Radhika Sanghani's top ten list of books to make sure you've read before graduating college, Lauren Passell's top five list of Gothic novels, Molly Schoemann-McCann's lists of ten fictional men who have ruined real live romance and five of the best--and more familiar--tropes in fiction, Becky Ferreira's lists of seven of the best fictional depictions of female friendship and the top six most momentous weddings in fiction, Julia Sawalha's six best books list, Honeysuckle Weeks's six best books list, Kathryn Harrison's list of six favorite books with parentless protagonists, Megan Abbott's top ten list of novels of teenage friendship, a list of Bettany Hughes's six best books, the Guardian's top 10 lists of "outsider books" and "romantic fiction;" it appears on Lorraine Kelly's six best books list, Esther Freud's top ten list of love stories, and Jessica Duchen's top ten list of literary Gypsies, and on John Mullan's lists of ten of the best governesses in literature, ten of the best men dressed as women, ten of the best weddings in literature, ten of the best locked rooms in literature, ten of the best pianos in literature, ten of the best breakfasts in literature, ten of the best smokes in fiction, and ten of the best cases of blindness in literature. It is one of Kate Kellaway's ten best love stories in fiction.

The Page 99 Test: Jane Eyre.

--Marshal Zeringue

Four books that changed Maureen McCarthy

Maureen McCarthy is one of Australia's most popular young adult authors. One of four books that changed the author, as shared at the Sydney Morning Herald:

The Commitments
Roddy Doyle

For many years I assumed seriously good writing had to be serious. Then I read The Commitments, about a group of working-class kids in Dublin trying to put a soul band together, and I realised my mistake. There are no long descriptive passages, no amazing epiphanies or huge satisfying conclusions. Nothing gets tied up neatly or comes right in the end. But the sheer exuberance and subtlety of the writing, the tight, edgy dialogue along with those funny, sharply drawn characters showed me that hilarious writing could also be seriously good.

Read about the other books on the list.

The Commitments is among Dorian Lynskey's ten best fictional musicians and Tiffany Murray's top ten rock'n'roll novels.

--Marshal Zeringue

The top ten summers in fiction

Tim Lott's new novel is The Last Summer of the Water Strider. One of his top ten summers in fiction, as shared at the Guardian:

Becoming Strangers by Louise Dean

In 2006, when I had the privilege of running the ultimate summer literary prize, the Le Prince Maurice Prize in Mauritius, this book won easily against the field. A work of humour and tenderness, set at a Caribbean resort and focused on two married couples, it was Dean’s debut and her finest novel to date.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Six fabulous fictional female prestidigitators

Sarah Skilton is the author of Bruised, a martial arts drama for young adults; and High and Dry, a hardboiled teen mystery. At the B&N Reads blog she tagged six fabulous fictional female prestidigitators, including:

Ceony Twill (The Paper Magician Series, by Charlie N. Holmberg)

Fans of fantasy and steampunk (circa late Victorian England) will devour this story about 19-year-old Ceony, a confident graduate of the Praff School for the Magically Inclined. Each magician has the ability to manipulate a particular type of object, but despite our heroine’s affinity for metal, Ceony is chosen to apprentice for a paper magician, which frustrates her no end. And when a mage from her instructor’s past unleashes her powers in a deadly attack, Ceony is tested to the limit. Good news: the third book in the trilogy comes out July 21!

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

Eleven adult SF novels to turn teens into genre fans for life

At the B & N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog Ceridwen Christensen tagged eleven works of science fiction and fantasy that were written for grown-ups, but, if read by precocious teens, are likely to turn them into genre readers for life. One title on the list:

The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord

The Best of All Possible Worlds feels very original Star Trek, with mannered near-Vulcans rubbing elbows with more pluralistic Federation types. As the novel opens, the Sadiri home world is destroyed; the only Sadiri left are the ones off-world at the time. Due to a number of factors, most of them are men. An ambassador comes to Cynus Beta in order to investigate possible lost Sadiri colonies, and is paired with a local, Grace, to guide him through her world. This is a pure road trip novel, stopping off to visit a number of various sub-cultures, but the stakes are high: if they can’t find a solution, Sadiri culture is going to die off. It’s about the big questions of society and culture, written in the most personal of ways.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

The ten best fictional holidays

At the Guardian Kate Kellaway tagged the ten best fictional holidays, including:

The Beach
Alex Garland, 1996

The atmosphere of this unforgettably unsettling, bestselling novel is also what happens when people live on holiday and off-limits – beyond themselves. It is an idyll turned inside out. When Richard, a British backpacker, is given a map by a mysterious Scotsman about a hidden beach on the gulf of Thailand, inaccessible to tourists, it sounds like paradise. But what follows is a hip, drug-laden, grown-up version of Lord of the Flies. Chapter titles read as if torn from a breezy tourist guide: “Getting there” and “Beach life”.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Beach also appears on Eleanor Muffitt top 12 list of books that make you want to pack your bags and trot the globe, Anna Wilson's top ten list of books set on the seaside, Kate Kellaway's ten best list of fictional holidays, the Guardian editors' list of the 50 best summer reads ever, John Mullan's list of ten of the best swimming scenes in literature, and Sloane Crosley's list of five depressing beach reads.

--Marshal Zeringue

Four books that changed Angelica Banks

Angelica Banks is not one writer but two. Heather Rose and Danielle Wood are old friends who live in Tasmania. Both are award-winning authors of adult fiction and together they write children's fantasy.

One of four books that changed the authors, as shared with the Sydney Morning Herald:

The Bloody Chamber
Angela Carter

This book was my first and best lesson in how old stories can be made magnificently new. But it was also a liberating book thanks to the dense, elaborate, gorgeous language. Angela Carter was never afraid of adverbs or adjectives. She wasn't afraid to layer image over image, or to pull out heavy-duty vocabulary that would send me off to the dictionary (the Macquarie, which I own in three editions—and yes, this is a sneaky way of squeezing in a fifth life-changing book). (Danielle)

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Bloody Chamber is among four books that changed Justine Larbalestier, Stephanie Feldman's ten creepiest books, and Jonathan Stroud's favorite fantasy books.

--Marshal Zeringue

The eight best, worst, and weirdest dad/child pairs in sci-fi & fantasy

Jeff Somers is the author of Lifers, the Avery Cates series from Orbit Books, Chum from Tyrus Books, and We Are Not Good People from Pocket/Gallery. He has published over thirty short stories as well.

At the B & N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog Somers tagged eight good, bad, and weird dad/child pairs in science fiction and fantasy. One good pairs:

The Father and Son (The Road, by Cormac McCarthy)

One thing people never seem to note when discussing McCarthy’s bleak, incredible book is how inspiring the central relationship is. The world is literally ending in the worst way possible (slow, grinding starvation and despair, peppered with a spice of cannibalism), and yet the unnamed man and his son maintain a loving bond. The father tries to shield his son from the worst of this dying world while struggling to keep them both alive, and even feeds his son spiritually with his stories of carrying the Light, giving the child a sense of hope and purpose he himself doesn’t share. If the value of our relationships is truly shown when the chips are down, these two may well be the greatest father/son duo in literary history.

Read about the other entries on the list.

The Road appears on Amelia Gray's ten best dark books list, Weston Williams's top fifteen list of books with memorable dads, ShortList's roundup of the twenty greatest dystopian novels, Mary Miller's top ten list of the best road books, Joel Cunningham's list of eleven "literary" novels that include elements of science fiction, fantasy or horror, Claire Cameron's list of five favorite stories about unlikely survivors, Isabel Allende's six favorite books list, the Telegraph's list of the 15 most depressing books, Joseph D’Lacey's top ten list of horror books, the Barnes & Noble Review's list of five unforgettable fathers from fiction, Ken Jennings's list of eight top books about parents and kids, Anthony Horowitz's top ten list of apocalypse books, Karen Thompson Walker's list of five notable "What If?" books, John Mullan's list of ten of the top long walks in literature, Tony Bradman's top ten list of father and son stories, Ramin Karimloo's six favorite books list, Jon Krakauer's five best list of books about mortality and existential angst, William Skidelsky's list of the top ten most vivid accounts of being marooned in literature, Liz Jensen's top 10 list of environmental disaster stories, the Guardian's list of books to change the climate, David Nicholls' top ten list of literary tear jerkers, and the Times (of London) list of the 100 best books of the decade. In 2009 Sam Anderson of New York magazine claimed "that we'll still be talking about [The Road] in ten years."

--Marshal Zeringue