Category: Top 5

My Top Five Reads of 2014

Posted December 29, 2014 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Top 5 / 18 Comments

It is that time of the year where we talk about the ‘best of’ 2014. When I say ‘best of’ I am referring to my favourites of the year. I have once again divided my list into books released in 2014, the backlist and non-fiction. I have done it this way because I have had a strong focus on non-fiction this year and want to recognise my favourites. I also don’t want my ‘best of’ list to be dominated by classics, thus the reason for the first two lists.

Top Five Reads from 2014
5. Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith
4. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
3. Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson
2. Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer
1. All That is Solid Melts into Air by Darragh McKeon

Top Five Reads from the Backlist in 2014
5. In The First Circle by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
4. The Odyssey by Homer
3. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
2. The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
1. Middlemarch by George Eliot

Top Five Non-Fiction Reads in 2014
5. What We See When We Read by Peter Mendelsund
4. Levels of Life by Julian Barnes
3. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
2. Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman
1. The Dark Path: A Memoir by David Schickler

Now it is your turn to let me know of your favourite books, the new releases and the older books. It doesn’t matter; just what you discovered and loved.

Five Must Read Memoirs from Bibliophiles

Posted October 23, 2014 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Top 5 / 26 Comments

As a book lover, I found that I get a lot of pleasure out of reading books about books. There is something about a book that revolves around other books that really works for me. Judging by the popularity of books like The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón and more recently The Collected Works of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin I know I am not alone. I made a conscious effort to read more non-fiction this year and I quickly discovered a whole new genre that I enjoy; the bibliophile’s memoir. What could be better (also meta) than reading about someone reading, but be warned, it could also be damaging to your TBR list. So I thought I might offer five memoirs that people should read about reading and the reading life.

My Top Five Reads of 2013

Posted December 30, 2013 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Top 5 / 4 Comments

As 2013 comes to an end, it is time to do that “Best of” post. I know it’s one of those posts you are either sick of or love seeing but I have to share my favourites. It’s been a great year; over 160 books read, some amazing books and some painful ones (see Twilight and New Moon). Like last year I’m going to split my list into “Best of 2013 (released this year)” and all other novels, but as I want to focus more on Non-Fiction too I’m adding “Best Non-Fiction of 2013” to the mix.

Top Five Reads Released in 2013
5. The Unknowns by Gabriel Roth
4. Tenth of December by George Saunders
3. The Explorer by James Smythe
2. A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra
1. The Machine by James Smythe

Top Five Reads in 2013
5. The People of Forever Are Not Afraid by Shani Boianjiu
4. The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
2. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
1. If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino

Top 5 Non-Fiction Reads in 2013
5. The Monsters: Mary Shelley and the Curse of Frankenstein by Dorothy & Thomas Hoobler
4. Paddle Your Own Canoe: One Man’s Fundamentals for Delicious Living by Nick Offerman
3. Careless People: Murder, Mayhem and the Invention of The Great Gatsby by Sarah Churchwell
2. Perv: The Sexual Deviant in All of Us by Jesse Bering
1. 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

Now it’s your turn to let me know of your favourite books, the new releases and the older books. It doesn’t matter; just what you discovered and loved.

Five Decent Film Noir Adaptations

Posted July 20, 2013 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Adaptations, Top 5 / 0 Comments

This might be the last in a series of film adaptation posts for a while. Recently I listed ten of the worst adaptations and then five decent adaption; now for Film Noir. I’m a big fan of Hard-Boiled and Noir fiction so it’s time to look at some of the better Film Noir adaptations from these classic novels.

5. They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? by Horace McCoy

4. The Grifters by Jim Thompson

3. L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy

2. Double Indemnity by James M. Cain

1. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

I’m not going to go into too much explanation about these movies; some of them are faithful to the novel and some very different but they are all decent books and film noir classics. I could have also added The Post Man Always Rings Twice, The Black Dahlia, The Long Goodbye and even The Maltese Falcon but I didn’t want to have too many of the same author on the list. Now if you are a fan of Film noir and pulp novels, let me know what I’ve missed.

Five Decent Movie Adaptation

Posted July 10, 2013 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Adaptations, Top 5 / 0 Comments

Yesterday I did a Top Ten Tuesday list where I looked at ten of the Worst Movie Adaptations in my opinion. These were books that really don’t translate well to the screen. But as a counter balance I thought I would give you five good movie adaptations. Yes only five, there are not many adaptations that I feel work as well as the book. So in no particular order:

5. Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding

4. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

3. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

1. Scott Pilgrim Verse the World by Bryan Lee O’Malley

Also I would like to include The Virgin Suicides, Revolutionary Road, Perfume, Fight Club, The Road, American Psycho and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy which are not perfect but they are still pretty decent compared to some of the other adaptations out there. Now it’s your turn, what do you like that worked well as a book adaptation? Maybe next time I’ll look at decent Noir adaptations.

My Top of the First Half of 2013

Posted July 4, 2013 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Top 5 / 0 Comments

It’s that time of year, like most serious readers, we get to half way through the year and we start to reflect on what we liked most in the past six months of reading. I thought I might as well do a post about what I thought was great, but I always struggling with posts like this. Do you pick the best books you’ve read in the past six months or the best books released in that period? So normally I do a bit of both; a top five list of each to make a top ten list (which seems the norm). When I started doing top five lists on this blog, I picked the number five because I thought I hadn’t read enough books to necessitate a top ten list, but it turns out maybe it was just easier, so I stuck with it.

Top Five Reads Released In the First Half Of 2013

5. TransAtlantic by Colum McCann

4. The Love Song to Jonny Valentine by Teddy Wayne

3. Tenth of December by George Saunders

2. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

1. The Son by Phillipp Meyer

Top Five Reads Of the First Half Of 2013

5. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

4. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

3. The People of Forever Are Not Afraid by Shani Boianjiu

2. The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

With honourable mentions to Black Vodka, Gentlemen & Players, Main Street, The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Seating Arrangements. Also some great rereads include Lolita, The Great Gatsby and Heart of Darkness (which I really got a lot out the second time around).

Now it’s your turn to let me know of your favourite books, the new releases and the older books. It doesn’t matter; just what you discovered and loved.

My Top Five Bookish Podcasts

Posted June 25, 2013 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Top 5 / 0 Comments

There are millions of podcasts out there so I recently decided to listen to more of the literature based ones. Problem is there seems to be heaps of interesting podcasts out there but I found I’m more interested in the ones that banter about books rather listening to people talking about a particular book. The podcast is an interesting medium to talk about books and really helps show people’s passion about different bookish topics. I thought I would suggest some of the book podcasts that I love and my advantages/disadvantages of each series. Hope this gives some good ideas for which book podcasts to check out and maybe get some suggestions for others worth checking out.

The Bookriot Podcast (iTunes, website)

While I have some issues with this site, I have to respect what they’ve done in book blogging and just how many pies they have their fingers in. This is a pretty good format based around what has been happening that week in book news but the huge downsides include too American focused, limited show notes and sponsorship.

You Wrote the Book! (iTunes, website)

I’m always happy to see Simon Savidge throw his hat into another project. I first discovered Simon via The Readers and then his blog. This is a fortnightly podcast where Simon interviews an author about life as a writer and a reader. Advantage is that it’s nice to know there are more male book bloggers out there and he has a real eclectic taste in books; my only problem with this podcast is that it takes time away from The Readers.

Bookrageous (iTunes, website)

Bookrageous is a podcast where their hosts, Josh, Jenn and Rebecca just talk about what books they have been reading and banter about those books before moving onto an interesting bookish news piece or a monthly book club pick. Major disadvantage of this show is it airs irregularly and their website doesn’t offer much information other than basic show notes.

Books on the Nightstand (iTunes, website)

Books on the Nightstand state that they strive to bring great book recommendations as well as a behind the scenes look into the world of books. Michael Kindness and Ann Kingman both work in the book publishing industry (Random House) but consider this a personal project to talk all things book. I love the general podcast here but sometimes they do author talks from their many Booktopia events which I mostly skip due to sound quality. I understand they are extremely busy and it would be hard to do a weekly show but I think they are well worth checking out even if you go for weeks waiting for a non-Booktopia show.

The Readers (iTunes, website)

The Readers is my favourite out of all the book podcasts I regularly listen to, Simon Savidge (also hosts You Wrote the Book!) and Gavin Pugh are both book bloggers. While they both have very different tastes in book (Gavin more interested in speculative fiction and Simon, literary fiction) every fortnight they come together and just banter about books. I think The Readers Is the only podcast where I have listened to every episode; always entertaining, both are passionate about books and pick interesting topics to talk about. Disadvantage for me is the fact that it went from a weekly to fortnightly show but I’m all for them doing other projects (as long as it doesn’t effect this one). Highly recommend The Readers to book bloggers just for the entertainment and even for some interesting book blogging ideas.

There are so many podcasts out there but I thought I would leave you with five that I regularly listen to. Other interesting podcasts worth checking out include Literary Disco (which talks a book an episode including once a Hardy Boys book) and The Writer and the Critic (covers two books an episode and focuses mainly on speculative fiction). Also a special shout out to fellow Aussie book bloggers Angelya and Philippa who are starting up a YA/Spec Fiction podcast called Tea in the Treetops.

Now it’s your turn, do you listen to podcasts, if so how about bookish ones? I want to know what works and doesn’t work in a podcast. It’s an interesting medium and most of these podcasts that I’ve mentioned do it really well. This has been a little project I’ve been working on, trying out different book related podcasts and I think I’ve come up with a good selection. My next project is to find some interesting book vloggers so please recommend me some if you know of any.

My Top Five Reads of 2012

Posted December 27, 2012 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Top 5 / 0 Comments

I’ve already done a post about 2012 but I wanted to do another. The typical top five post of the best books you’ve read in 2012 but because I split my books into released in 2012 and all others, I think I need two top five lists here. So here are my top reads for the year;

Top Five Reads Released in 2012

5. Talulla Rising by Glen Duncan

4. Dare Me by Megan Abbott

3. Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain

2. The Fault in our Stars by John Green

1. Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway

Honourable mentions need to be made to Colour of Milk, The Yellow Birds, The Cocktail Waitress, Tigers in Red Weather, The Dinner and The Age of Miracles.

Top Five Reads in 2012

5. We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

4. Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes

3. Swimming Home by Deborah Levy

2. The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

1. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

With honourable mentions to When Gravity Fails, The Little Prince, Factotum, He Died With His Eyes Open, The Devil All the Time, The Master and Magarita and Ethan Frome.

Now it’s your turn to let me know of your favourite books, the new releases and the older books. It doesn’t matter; just what you discovered and loved.

Top 5 Sci-Fi Recommendations from the 60’s

Posted June 29, 2012 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Top 5 / 0 Comments

I wanted to do something different for my next top five post and I was thinking about what genres I could probably do but I thought why not take it one step further. So I thought I might focus more on the pulp sci-fi genre and take it a little further than that with the addition of psychological science fiction novels. So here is my list of the top five Science Fiction recommendations from the 1960’s.

5. Dune by Frank Herbert (1965)
Far in the future, two powerful families are locked in a bitter feud; this classic series is not only a great example of a space opera but this book has some interesting political aspects as well.

4. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (1962)
This fantastical world has elements of time travel, philosophy and religion. For a children’s book, this really has a whole load to offer and can be easy to read but complex to diagnose.

3. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein (1966)
I have nothing bad to say about this book; The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is a sci-fi masterpiece. Without giving too much away this book has a strong political message but done in such a way that the story and climax is never effected.

2. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick (1962)
Of course there was always going to be a Philip K. Dick novel here, the man is the master of writing sci-fi that will keep you thinking well after the book has ended. This book will challenge your views on society by showing what life could be like if the war turned out differently.

1. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (1969)
The whole story just has too many layers to try to explain, this was a book that just grows on you. It really highlights the effects of war on the survivors and what could be considered schizophrenia.

I would love to know what others would recommend when it comes to 1960’s sci-fi or even just psychological science fiction.

ArmchairBEA 2012: Top Tips for Book Blogging

Posted June 8, 2012 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in ArmchairBEA, Top 5 / 0 Comments

While I’m supposed to be talking about the top tips for getting beyond the blog, I think for me my blog has been my top tip. It has led me to connect with some great people and organisations within the community that do book related events and I think I’ve started to create a name for myself with that. So I thought I would focus more on the blogging side of things. I don’t want to give my top 5 tips for book blogging because I think The Oaken Bookcase did a great job doing that in a post recently so I want to give you my top five essential tools needed to be a good book blogger.

5. eReader

I know paperback books are probably better but when you are a book blogger you will run out of bookcase space quickly so an eReader is a great way to carry books easily. Also as an added bonus, places like NetGalley and Edelweiss are a great way to request digital ARCs to read and review on your blog.

4. Notepad

or anything to write notes on while reading a book. When you are reading a lot of books I’ve found it helps to write down your thoughts of a book or a new blog idea before you forget them. There are too many times in my life where I’ve had an interesting idea half way through the night and lose it in the morning.

3. Google Reader

As a blogger you want to connect with other bloggers so instead of getting bombarded with emails or having to remember to check each blog why not just add them all into your Google reader and have a central location to look at and read all the blogs you want to follow.

2. Goodreads

I know there are other book social networks like Shelfari and LibraryThing but let’s face it; Goodreads is the biggest of them all. As a book blogger you want to be able to look at what is being read by others, what is trending and what people think of the books. I’ve found all the book bloggers I follow are on Goodreads as well and it makes it easier to see what books are trending so you can get onto that book before the public. Also there is a great Aussie book blogger community as well as the Literary Exploration book club on Goodreads to join.

1. Twitter

Out of all the social networks, for a book blogger, Twitter is the essential one. You can create lists of authors, publishers, readers and book bloggers; this way you will always have your finger on the pulse of what is happening in the world of literature. Make sure all your posts are going onto twitter as well. This is a place to network and while all the other social networks are good to have; you won’t get the same effect as you would on twitter. Keep an eye out for bookish chats on twitter as well, like #armchairBEA, and for the Australians and South Pacific, #spbkchat. Also follow me @knowledgelost

ArmchairBEA is a virtual convention for book blogger who can’t attend Book Expo America and the Book Blogger Convention. Banner by Nina of Nina Reads and button by Sarah of Puss Reboots