Top Ten Tuesday: Halloween freebie — Ten horror books on my TBR list (2025 edition)

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Happy Halloween!

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is a Halloween freebie! For my Halloween post, I’m going to focus on horror novels on my to-read list. (I’ve done this topic a few times in the past several years, and given the state of my TBR list, it’s time to do it again.)

About half of these are holdovers from last year’s Halloween TBR… giving you some idea of how behind I am when I comes to keeping up with my reading plans! Of the books on my list, most have been around a while, and a couple are upcoming new releases:

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
Needful Things by Stephen King
Dread Nation by Justine Ireland
Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong
A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix
A Dowry of Blood by S. T. Gibson
Dead Weight by Hildur Knutsdottir
The Place Where They Buried Your Heart by Christina Henry
Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon

Have you read any of these (or for the upcoming new releases, do you plan to read them)? Which ones look best to you?

What’s on your Halloween TTT this week? Share your link, please, and I’ll come check out your top 10!

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21Oct2025

Top Ten Tuesday: Cozy Reads

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Cozy Reads. Cozy fantasy is having a moment, but there are so many other types of cozy books too.

I tend to think of cozy fiction as anything with a focus on cuteness, baked goods, restoring an old building, settling in a small town, bookshops, cats… you get the idea!

Here are my top ten:

A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna (review)
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree (review)
The Keeper of Magical Things by Julie Leong (review)
The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald (review)
The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst (review)
Jane of Lantern Hill by L. M. Montgomery (review)
Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne (review)
Mandy by Julie Andrews Edwards
Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan (review)
The Vintage Village Bake-off by Judy Leigh (review)

What cozy books made your list this week? If you wrote a TTT post, please share your link!

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14Oct2025

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Wish I Could Read Again for the First Time

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Books I Wish I Could Read Again for the First Time. To me, that means books that made a huge impact the first time around — anything from an intense emotional experience to sheer delight to big twists and surprises I never saw coming.

Here are my top ten:

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon: As a die-hard fan of the series, I can’t help but think back on how powerfully the first book affected me.
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell: The opening pages knocked me for a loop.
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger: The jumps between times confused me and delighted me so much.
Fingersmith by Sara Waters: This book made me literally gasp out loud at certain twists.
The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans: I just remember sobbing. That’s it.
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison: Such an incredible reading experience. I find something new to appreciate with each reread, but the first time was especially mind-blowing.
The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal: My heart was in my throat.
Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn: Such a delightful, playful story.
The BFG by Roald Dahl: I don’t know if I’d appreciate it on my own, but I read this for the first time with my kiddo when he was about 9 or 10, and his laughter was everything.
Rolling in the Deep by Mira Grant: This horror novella is like nothing I’d read before, and the key horror element is a knock-out.

What books do you wish you could read again for the first time? Do we have any in common?

If you wrote a TTT post, please share your link!

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6Oct2025

Top Ten Tuesday: Satisfying Book Series

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Satisfying Book Series, with the prompt: Maybe all the books were amazing or there wasn’t any second book syndrome or the final book wrapped everything up soooo perfectly

The prompt seems to put the focus on series that are already completed, but there are at least a few I can think of that really satisfy me even though they’re not done! Here are some favorites:

Series: A Stitch in Time
Author: Kelley Armstrong
# of books: 4 (plus novellas)
Completed? Yes

Amazing timeslip romances with threads to link the stories together, great lead characters, and real emotion!

Series: Folk of the Air
Author: Holly Black
# of books: 3 (plus stories and a related duology)
Completed? Yes

The original trilogy is practically perfect!

Series: Well Met
Author: Jen DeLuca
# of books: 4
Completed? Yes

This Ren Faire-centered series has great characters, interesting plot complications, and a fabulous setting!

Series: The Expanse
Author: James S. A. Corey
# of books: 9 (plus stories)
Completed? Yes

I absolutely did not want to see this series come to an end! But it comes to such a perfect ending that it’s hard to complain. Love the characters, the complex universe… really, just everything about this series.

Series: October Daye
Author: Seanan McGuire
# of books: 19 and counting!
Completed? No

I honestly hope we never reach the end of this series! I love it to pieces, and there’s not a weak book in the bunch.

Series: Lady Astronaut
Author: Mary Robinette Kowal
# of books: 4
Completed? Unclear

The Calculating Stars blew me away, and is a fabulous read. The following three books are all good, but none have quite the emotional impact of the first. Still, it’s a great series! And while I thought the 4th book was supposed to be the last one, it now seems that there may be more to come in this world.

Series: The Glamourist Histories
Author: Mary Robinette Kowal
# of books: 5
Completed? Yes

“Jane Austen with magic” is the short-hand description for this series, but it’s so much more! These five books feature terrific characters, an intricately crafted system of magic, compelling relationships, and high stakes. Completely satisfying from start to finish!

Series: The Interdependency
Author: John Scalzi
# of books: 3
Completed? Yes

Such an interesting sci-fi world! And yes, it’s funny, even while being more along the lines of “hard” science fiction. I feel like this trilogy is much less well known than the Old Man’s War series (also amazing!), and I think these books deserve more attention! Terrific storytelling.

Series: The Parasol Protectorate
Author: Gail Carriger
# of books: 4 (plus other related series and many stories)
Completed? Yes

I love everything about the Parasol-verse, and this four-book series started it all! The Finishing School and Custard Protocol series are both terrific too!

Series: Gunnie Rose
Author: Charlaine Harris
# of books: 6
Completed? Yes

Some books in this series are stronger than others, but overall, it’s a terrific alternate world, and I ended up loving the main characters. The series wraps up well… the only unsatisfying thing about it is that I wish the story would continue!

Do we have any series in common? What series do you consider most satisfying?

If you wrote a TTT post, please share your link!

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30Sep2025

Top Ten Tuesday: Book Covers that Give off Autumn Vibes (2025 edition!)

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Book Covers that Give off Fall Vibes. I last did this TTT topic in 2020 and 2019 — let’s see if I can come up with a fresh batch of 10!

When I think of autumn, I think of browns and oranges and yellows — so here are a selection of books from my shelves with cover colors in a fall palette.

What books make you think of autumn? Please share your TTT link!

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23Sep2025

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on My Fall 2025 TBR List

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Books on My Fall 2025 to-Read List.

Once again, summer whooshed by! I read 8 out of 10 books on my summer TBR list, and I’m including one of the two remaining on my TBR for fall. (I do still want to read the other one… eventually.) Looking ahead now that fall is here, I have a new set of books to prioritize — and hope to do a decent job balancing commitment books (ARCs, book group books) with books that I just feel like reading!

In the interest of not repeating myself, I’m not including any of the books already featured in my list of anticipated new releases for the 2nd half of 2025… but yes, I still intend to read the five remaining from that list too!

My top 10 for fall are:

Green Rider by Kristen Britain: I swore I’d start this series in 2025, and the clock is ticking!
Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree: These books are always so much fun.
Alone in the Wild (Rockton, #5) by Kelley Armstrong: I’ve been loving this series, and I’m kinda, sorta hoping to get through the three books I have left by the end of the year.
My Friends by Fredrik Backman: I’ve been waiting for the mood to strike to pick up this book, and I think it’s about time I make it happen.
Swordheart by T. Kingfisher: My summer holdover. Again, I’ve just been waiting to be in the mood… which hasn’t happened yet, but I know I always end up loving this author’s books, so I think I just need to commit and get started.
A Pirate’s Life for Tea by Rebecca Thorne: The first book in this cozy fantasy series was sweet and entertaining — just waiting for my library hold to come in for book #2.
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky: Another series that I swore I’d finally start, and since this book also checks a box on a reading challenge I’m trying to finish, I think it’s about time to read it.
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman: I think everyone has read these books but me!
The Austen Affair by Madeline Bell: I apparently have an insatiable appetite for Austen retellings!
A Town with Half the Lights On by Page Getz: I randomly grabbed a copy of this book when I saw I price drop, and I think it sounds like fun.

What books are you most excited to read this fall? Do we have any in common?

If you wrote a TTT post, please share your link!

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16Sep2025

Top 5 Tuesday: Top 5 classics I’m not interested in reading

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Meeghan Reads — check out the next batch of upcoming topics here.

The theme for September is classics, and the this week’s topic is Top 5 classics I’m not interested in reading. I struggled at first — I have plenty of classics that I do want to read, but I’ve never really thought about identifying books NOT to read!

After some thought, plus random scrolling through my reading history and a bunch of Goodreads lists, I came up with the following five classics that I just can’t see myself ever picking up:

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: Never gonna happen! And I actually read Anna Karenina (many years ago), so it’s not like I refuse this author absolutely. I just can’t see myself feeling motivated enough to try this one.
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner: On the other hand, I can safely say that I will never read a Faulkner novel, after a truly dismal experience with one of his books way back in my college days.
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas: Honestly, it’s mainly the length of this book that’s so off-putting for me! Someone from my book group keeps suggesting this book as a group read… and if that actually happens, I may give in. But on my own? Nope.
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf: Another author I just don’t get along with. I’ve tried!
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky: No interest whatsoever!

What classics are on your “never gonna read” list? And are there any of mine that you think I should reconsider?

If you wrote a T5T post, please share your link!

9Sep2025

Top 5 Tuesday: Top 5 classics I want to read (but haven’t gotten around to)

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Meeghan Reads — check out the next batch of upcoming topics here. It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these… and she always has such fun prompts, so I’m going to try to be more regular with my T5T posts!

This week’s topic is Top 5 classics I meant to read (but never got around to). I’ve got plenty! I keep a whole spreadsheet (Excel nerd alert!!) of classics I want to read… here are five that are high on my list.

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (technically, a reread — but it’s been so long since I first read this book that it feels like it would be practically new to me)
The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
Tevye the Dairyman and Motl the Cantor’s Son by Sholem Aleichem

What classics have you been meaning to read?

If you wrote a T5T post, please share your link!

2Sep2025

Top Ten Tuesday: You’re Hired! Books With Occupations in the Title

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Books With Occupations in the Title.

This is a fun one! Here are books from my recent reading years that fit the prompt:

The Lieutenant’s Nurse by Sara Ackerman (review)
The King’s Messenger by Susanna Kearsley (review)
The Hebrew Teacher by Maya Arad (review)
The Auctioneer by Joan Samson (review)
The Mystery Writer by Sulari Gentill (review)
Midwives by Chris Bohjalian
The Bookseller of Inverness by S. G. Maclean (review)
Disappearance of a Scribe by Dana Stabenow (review)
The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray (review)
The Bodyguard by Katherine Center (review)

Which books made your list this week?

If you wrote a TTT list, please share your link!

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19Aug2025

Top Ten Tuesday: Books with a High Page Count

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Books with a High Page Count. I’ve definitely done variations on this topic before, focusing on the longest books I’ve ever read, plus the longest read in particular years (here are my lists from 2021 and 2017/2018) — but it’s been a while, so why not give the topic an update?

To kick things off, here are (more or less*) the longest books I’ve ever read, according to my Goodreads stats:

*this is actually somewhat changeable, depending on the edition… but let’s just say these are among the longest I’ve ever read!