First, my apologies for the excessive alliteration. I just can't seem to help myself.
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week we're talking about words that instantly make us want to read a book. We all have those few words, settings, or subjects which make a novel irresistible, and you can be sure publishers utilize them to their fullest in cover blurbs.
Here are are my ten tempting tags:
- multigenerational saga
- Maine
- beach/summer house
- alternating points-of-view
- English village (extra points for the Cotswolds)
- epistolary
- foodie memoir, recipe inclusion a bonus
- Italy
- reminiscent of Downton Abbey
- boarding school/academia
What blurb words do you fall for every time?
For more Top Ten Tuesday posts, visit The Broke and the Bookish.
Photos from my 2008 trip through the Cotswolds.
I'm also intrigued by boarding schools and Maine! Have you read The Staboard Sea and also The Cider House Rules? Both pick up those themes (although the later is an orphanage). I recently bought 'Maine' by J. Courtney Sullivan simply because of the title!
ReplyDeleteBooksaremyfavoriteandbest - I read Cider House Rules years ago and remember really liking it, but not much else. The Starboard Sea is on my wish list and sounds like a book I'd love. Maine was excellent. It covered the first four of my 'tempting tags'- hope you enjoy it, too!
DeleteI like mystery, Cotswolds, Greece, and anything set in international settings!
ReplyDeleteBook Dilettante - Oh, yes... Greece, definitely!
DeleteGreat list! I like books with alternate point of views too.
ReplyDeleteChrissireads - Yes, love those alternating POV's... they give an interesting perspective on what's happening.
DeleteI love dual POVS - it makes the story so much richer!
ReplyDeleteCheck out my TTT!
Krista - Definitely!!
DeleteI have family sagas on my list, too. I just love delving so deeply into one group of people and watching how they relate to each other over the years.
ReplyDeleteAnd, Maine -- it seems like I've read TONS of books set in Maine lately. It seems like a fascinating place!
Susan - I think family sagas were they first type of book I fell in love with... especially loved it when a family tree was included! Maine is such a beautiful state - from the rocky coast, to the beautiful mountains, forests, and inland lakes. I've visited many times and just can't get enough.
DeleteI read a lot of stories set in Maine, but that's probably because I read a fair bit of Stephen King.
ReplyDeleteLoni - I forgot about all Stephen King's stuff set in Maine... it's been a long time since I read him. It's such a beautiful state!
DeleteSo many of those trip my trigger, too!
ReplyDeleteLisa - Somehow that doesn't surprise me ;-)
DeleteGreat list! =)
ReplyDeleteHere's Top Ten!
~Stephanie @ Bookfever
Thanks, Stephanie!
DeleteDid I ever mention that I rode a bike through the Cotswolds with a friend once, stopping wherever we got tired and finding a B&B hopefully with cats? See I should write a book about that, and at least you would buy it! Ha! I like all your topics here, but would like to add gothic to the list!
ReplyDeleteSandy - Oh, I forgot gothic!! I wish we'd been on bikes in the Cotswolds... you're more 'one with the land' on a bike than in a car. I'd definitely buy your book ;-)
DeleteOh I see you're reading The Thirteen Tale! It was one of the first books I read and reviewed when I started blogging. It is awesome!
ReplyDeleteBooksandreviews - I've only just started The Thirteenth Tale (it's for my book club), but I'm already enjoying it. Glad to know you loved it!
DeleteWhat would be on my list? Venice, certainly. I'll have to think about the rest.
ReplyDeleteCarol - Oh yes, definitely Venice!
DeleteI am drawn to multigenerational sagas too.
ReplyDeleteNise' - I've loved those multigenerational sagas for as long as I can remember!
DeleteThis is harder than it looks! I like your list, so I think I'll just adopt it. :)
ReplyDeleteAudrey - Adopt away -my list is your list ;-)
ReplyDeleteI'm a sucker for any story that is told through letters or journals. I also love anything in New England, it doesn't have to be Maine. The words "small town" also get my attention. Oh, and when I was a kid, if the plot had a secret/hidden room, I had to read it!
ReplyDeleteLilea - It sounds like we have pretty similar tastes in books! I think Harriet the Spy made me love books with journals and diaries, from there letters seemed like a natural progression.
DeleteAll of those tempt me!!!
ReplyDeleteStaci - They are hard to resist, aren't they?
DeleteOh... multigenerational sagas - good one! I read The Thorn Birds over Christmas and absolutely loved it. It reminded me that I shouldn't avoid big saga's as much as I do. Great list!
ReplyDeleteBrie - Thanks! I loved The Thorn Birds, but it's literally been decades since I read it. There was a TV miniseries back in the day, too.
DeleteYes, I just recently found out about it! I'm planning on ordering it through amazon - my dad (of all people! haha) said he really liked the TV series.
DeleteI'm with you on English village and Italy. Thriller will usually draw me in too!
ReplyDeleteStacybuckeye - I especially like psychological thrillers.
DeleteNow I see why we like so many of the same books! I would add immigrant theme, Ireland, London and NYC to the list.
ReplyDeleteColleen - And those four you listed would be next on my list!
DeleteThis is quite an original list! Totally different from mine, though I also love boarding schools/academia (but didn't include them as they're on another, earlier Top Ten).
ReplyDeleteJulianne - YOu have a great list, too, especially the 1920's.
DeleteI LOVE reminiscent of Downton Abbey! I think that's why I'm such an F. Scott Fitzgerald fan. He was a master of that jazz age theme. I also like foodie memoirs and academia. Great list. I should have participated this week, but alas.
ReplyDeleteTrish - I'm an FSF fan, too... love the jazz age!
DeleteI didn't get the chance to do Top Ten Tuesday myself this week, but I like and resonant with many items on your list. Love those English country village stories, whether mysteries or novels of manners or between the wars riffs, the setting just works. I'm also fond of the boarding school setting--I reread A Separate Peace a couple of years ago, and my love of this kind of book was definitely rekindled. My dad used to like Tom Brown's Schooldays, which I think is the granddaddy of the genre.
ReplyDeleteJaneGS - I've never read Tom Brown's Schooldays, but I did love Old School by Tobias Wolff, David Lodge's Campus Trilogy and Straight Man by Richard Russo.
Delete