Top Ten Tuesday is an original and weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.
~~ Top Ten Things Books Have Made Me ~~
~~ Want To Do Or Learn About ~~
~~ After Reading Them ~~
This week for Top Ten Tuesday, the topic is a difficult one, but not impossible. I've often made little comments here and there about the things I become curious about after reading certain books. So I guess now is the time to list them and maybe, on a subconscious level, remind myself that it isn't so hard to do some research with the Almighty Interwebz so ready with information at hand these days.
1. Learn History. Reading certain books have made me interested in the history of certain places. I've never really been that interested in historical fiction, but the occasional book DOES intrigue me. Back in my youth, watching Chinese wuxia series adaptations of Louis Cha's books made me interested in Chinese history.
A couple years ago, reading Robin LaFever's Grave Mercy made me interested in the history of Brittany as well as the workings of dukedoms. Most recently, reading some historical mystery books have piqued my interest in Scotland Yard or even how life was back in the 1800s of Europe.
2. Become a Criminologist or a Profiler... or something in that line of work. I was always interested in the Forensic Sciences ever since the days of The X-Files. I even have a degree. But my recent obsession with crime thrillers also came with the interest in all the different types of forensic crime scene workers and forensic scientists:
- Laura Griffin's Tracers series has gotten me interested in professions such as DNA Analyst, Forensic Photography, Ballistics, Forensic Cyber Crime Investigation, and so on.
- Kylie Brant's Mindhunters series has gotten me interested in Criminal Profiling, Language and Handwriting Analysis, and so on.
3. Follow current events and learn about the realities of what's going on in the world. I'm an ignorant person and rarely follow news unless it pops up as something on a app as a headline. I DO sometimes skim my Facebook newsreel which is loaded with local news station stuff to see what's going on locally. But by and far, I've always been ignorant of the world.
But reading certain books DOES bring to light prominent problems in our world and in our societies that are bigger problems than anyone would have ever believed, such as Human Trafficking and Black Market Baby Markets. Human Trafficking is a huge problem that many people seem highly ignorant of--the kidnapping or forcing of people into a position of slavery to be sold for someone else's profit gain. The Baby Markets are also a sad issue I recently learned about--stealing or taking another's baby in order to "adopt" them out to families who have "special requests".
4. Learn New Recipes. One of my goals this year is to learn several new recipes. I've always wanted to do that in some sense, but I recently read some books that involve cooking and baking and decided that maybe I should learn how to make new meals or bake new goods aside from my usual boring fare.
5. Read about the Arctic Icecap and it's possible Scientific values. I recently finished reading Dean Koont's Icebound. It got me interested in reading up on some of the stuff he mentioned in the book about the Arctic having the purest water in the world.
6. Read and learn more about different supernatural/paranormal legends, cultures, and stories. Every country and every culture have their own mythologies. As is also know, every culture also have legendary paranormal stories as well. Every time I read another book that is based in the paranormal or supernatural, or uses legends as their springboards, or even creates stories from well-known mythological creatures, or even uses infamous paranormal creatures as the topic, I become interested in reading up on different takes on these subjects.
For instance, if I watch a paranormal series with an episode featuring a Wendigo, I go and look up the creature to find out what it is... and then some. When I read a book about different kinds of psychic talents, I go look up different culture takes on psychics. When I read a book about tarot card readers or fortune tellers, I wonder where the profession started and how it's evolved over the years.
7. Learn more about dust bunnies. I recently started reading Jayne Ann Krentz. It appears that aside from her long-running series and her other two infamous pseudonyms, she is also quite popular for a fictionally created little critter called a "dust bunny". Her Harmony series features the very first appearance of a dust bunny--a predatory alien creature that looks like a gray, fluffy piece of lint with six legs and two sets of eyes--in the very first book of the Harmony series. They are said to be natural predators and by the time you see their teeth, it's already too late.
I did a Google search of dust bunnies. Apparently these little sidekick critters have become so immensely popular among the Harmony and JAK fans that it's expected that there will always be a dust bunny present in every single Harmony installment. I'm not surprised as I love these critters as well. Unfortunately, there's very little data on them on the internet world right now.
8. Travel to Everywhere. I'm a lazy person who likes being home most days. But sometimes, as I read about characters going to various parts of the world, I find myself yearning for a little more adventure.
- When the main couple in Julie James' Suddenly One Summer spent an afternoon at Chicago's annual food fest, I find myself wanting to visit just to experience the foodgasm that is sure to come.
- When the scenic mountainous landscape of Scarlet Springs, Colorado are presented to us in Pamela Clare's Barely Breathing, I find myself wanting to drive to the mountain state just to bask in the wonder and beauty of the Rockies.
- And even when I read about a group of teens running for their life in the vast desert of the Kalahari in Jessica Khoury's Kalahari, I find myself wondering what it would be like to go on a safari--a real one, not the Disney Animal Kingdom one.
I have wanted to visit many, many places:
- Alaska because of Addison Fox's Baby It's Cold Outside;
- New York because of books like the Nikki Heat series or the Heather Wells series;
- Japan because of various manga I've read in the past;
- Old southern plantations and homes in the southern parts of the States because of books like the Doucet series by Tami Hoag, the Graveyard Queen series by Amanda Stevens, or other books set in southern states described with gorgeous settings;
- Peaceful little seaside bed and breakfast locales such as the one featured in Jill Shalvis' Lucky Harbor series;
- Old European castles and mansions, thanks to the various historicals I've been reading lately, or some more Gothic reads from the past.
***
I'm sure there's a whole host of other things books have made me want to do or learn about the the past as well as recently. But for now, this is really all I can think of.
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