Top Ten Tuesday: 10 Books That Are Light and Fun!

This is definitely an easy Top Ten for me… especially now that the sun is bright and warm, these are fun little reads hat I stand by for lovely summer park reading. As usual, Top Ten Tuesday is brought to you by the lovelies over at The Broke and The Bookish.

In no particular order:

1. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

I raved about this book a few weeks ago -- I absolutely LOVED this book.It was so much fun and such a joy to read that I literally almost cried because it was like playtime was over. 

2. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Always fun, funny and about trying to find your place in the universe. Really strange circumstances, interesting characters. This has always been a fallback for me when I read a heavy book and need a good pick me up.

3. Fool by Christopher Moore

Christopher Moore has a way of making Shakespeare tragedy awfully fun to laugh at. Honestly, any of Moore's books are great when you need something to laugh at - he's made it an art form!

4. Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson

Not a novel, but comics! You'll probably see me reviewing comics in the future, too, by the way. Calvin and Hobbes has always been a childhood favourite and I've related them heavily to my sister. I'm not at all close with my sister but this is one thing we definitely share in common and the laughs together has given me warm touchy-feelies.

5. Any of Roald Dahl's children's stories. (Fantastic Mr. Fox, Matilda, James and the Giant Peach)

Nostalgic children's books. So good!

6. The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks

Because it's amusing…and well, everyone needs to read this just in case.

7. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman always writes some amusingly fun books. I chose Neverwhere due to the strange characters and sarcastic wit he writes with. 

8. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling

The books get darker and darker the further you read into the series, but this first book is quite delightful and joyful for the most part. It certainly sends you on a great adventure, if anything.

9. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

Another childhood favourite full of heart warming loveliness and happiness.

10. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Although there is some heavy subject matter such as war, this book has bits that make you giggle, and it's a very quick read, but an excellent one.

Review: The Magicians

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Published 2009 Viking/Penguin Books

Synopsis: "Quentin Coldwater is brillant but miserable. He's a senior in high school, and a certifiable genius, but he's still secretly obsessed with a series of fantasy novels he read as a kid, about the adventures of five children in a magical land called Fillory. Compared to that, anything in his real life just seems gray and colorless. 

Everything changes when Quentin finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York, where he receives a thorough and rigorous education in the practice of modern sorcery. He also discovers all the other things people learn in college: friendship, love, sex, booze, and boredom. But something is still missing. Magic doesn't bring Quentin the happiness and adventure he though it would.

Then, after graduation, he and his friends make a stunning discovery: Fillory is real."

Review: I admit it. I didn't finish this book. I think I made it through about 30 pages before I shook my head, disgruntled, and abandoned trying to read this.

I actually went looking for this book at my local library, was excited to pick it up as I had researched into it. John Green, writer of The Fault in Our Stars and Looking for Alaska actually commented on this book in a Vlogbrothers video, saying that if we enjoyed Harry Potter then this would be an interesting take on the magic school genre. Not that this book is any of John Green's fault but I had heard that this book has been called the "Harry Potter for adults." Well, everyone, I'm sorry to say, but whoever said that originally is a liar, liar pants on fire.

Harry Potter has this charming, quirky quality to it. From the get-go you're engaged with Harry's character, the strange things that happen to him and how he interacts with the world. I think the important thing is that in that first book, you really like Harry. He's humble and genuine - he has good intent.

The Magicians is meant for an older audience (16+, I would say) and no, it's not Harry Potter. I get that.  But if you're going to compare it to that; don't. Even if it's to make a crude comparison. I would have been happy with it just being categorized in the likes of "magic school kind of story."

I feel like Quentin is a poor protagonist. I feel like the writer was trying too hard to make him out to be a horny teenager. In the pages I did read, he whined about how a girl didn't like him and tried to not look down the blouses of two other female characters. Was it necessary to mention it multiple times? Probably not. I get it. He's a young and filled with hormones and I really don't care. I can barely stand people whine about how they can't get the girl/guy in real life, let alone in the beginning of my novel when I'm trying to just get to know the character.

Also, something I really dislike is when writers make "genius" characters and make them extremely pretentious. I also especially questions the logitics of Quentin's characters when he's writing an exam and claims that the stuff happening on his paper was "hi-tech paper" and that it was "hi-res." Hey, genius, have you... I dunno, questioned your whereabouts and what's happening around you or anything? Oh right, you didn't because you're still pretentious.

Does this book get any better? I don't know, and I don't care to find out. Maybe it does get better, maybe the character develops into something more likeable... maybe this read wasn't for me.

Rating: 1/5 Bookworms