Top Ten Tuesday: My top 10 settings for historical fiction

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is:

Top Ten Historical Settings You Love/ Ten Historical Settings You’d Love To See or Top Futuristic Books You Love/Ten Futuristic Societies I’d Love To Read in Books — basically this week is all about the past or the future….spin it however you choose!

I do love historical fiction, but I almost decided to skip this week’s topic. Part of my problem is that I enjoy reading about lots of different times and places, but if I read too much of any one in particular, it’s like sensory overload, and I end up having to avoid it ever after. Problems, problems… what’s a reader to do?

Still, I have certain favorites when it comes to historical eras and faraway lands. Here are my top 10, along with a stellar example or two for each:

1) Scotland, 1700s, especially around the time of the Jacobite Rising.
Top pick: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (obviously)

2) Colonial America
Top pick: The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

3) Civil War
Top pick: Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell or I Shall Be Near To You by Erin Lindsay McCabe

4) Women’s suffrage movement (US) – early 1900s
Top pick: The Cure For Dreaming by Cat Winters

5) World War I – battlefield dramas or hospitals or post-war mysteries — all good!
Top pick: Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear or In Falling Snow by Mary-Rose MacColl

6) World War II
Top pick: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr; The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult; The Ship of Brides by Jojo Moyes… (the list is endless, but these are three recent ones that I read and loved)

7) Tudor England
Top pick: Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

8) Australian history
Top pick: The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough

9) French Revolution
Top pick: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

10) 1400s Spain
Top pick: People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks or Incantation by Alice Hoffman

Do you have any recommendations for historical novels set during my favorite eras?

Please share your links so I can check out your TTT posts!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider following Bookshelf Fantasies! And don’t forget to check out my regular weekly features, Shelf Control and Thursday Quotables. Happy reading!

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Do you host a book blog meme? Do you participate in a meme that you really, really love? I’m building a Book Blog Meme Directory, and need your help! If you know of a great meme to include — or if you host one yourself — please drop me a note on my Contact page and I’ll be sure to add your info!

25Jan2016

Top Ten Tuesday: Top ten series I want to read in one gulp

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is a freebie, meaning we can choose whatever we feel like writing about. Since I’ve still been thinking about my New Year’s resolutions and whether they’re going to end up being doable, I thought I’d tie my top 10 list this week to one of my resolutions: Reading new-to-me series all in a row, rather than reading individual books in a series as they become available. You can read more about this resolution here.

Here are the series I’ve yet to start (or in some cases, continue past the first book to the end) — but when I do finally read them, I want to read them all in one big gulp, bingeing from start to finish:

Note on images: With the exceptions of #1 and #10 below, all photos are taken by me. What can I say? I was bored and felt like playing!

1) Curse Workers series by Holly Black: I’ve heard these are great, and I’m looking forward to finally reading them!

2) Miss Peregrine series by Ransom Riggs: I’ve read the first book, but by now I’ll need to start again at the beginning if I want to appreciate the rest of the trilogy.

3) The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss: Friends have been pushing me to start this series for years now, but I refuse to begin until I know the final book is on its way

4) Imperial Radch series by Ann Leckie

5) The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh: The second book of this duology comes out this spring, and I’m going to wait until #2 is available before I start the first book.

6) The Last Policeman by Ben Winters: I’ve had these books for a while now, and just need to convince myself to get started.

7) Buffy, season 9 graphic novels: I have all of season 9 and most of season 10, but haven’t read any yet. I enjoy these most when I read a complete season all the way through… and I just need to pick a week to do it.

8) The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch: I guess this series isn’t completely finished yet, but I suppose I could read the first three and then see if I want to stay on the bandwagon.

9) The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny: I read books 1 – 5 of this series so long ago, but never read 6 – 10. I think I should start over again at the beginning and see it through, finally.

10) The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante: I haven’t read any of these, although I do have a copy of My Brilliant Friend on my Kindle. I keep hearing how wonderful these books are, and I think I should make a point of at least starting the series in 2016.

I always love freebie weeks — it’s such fun to see what everyone else has come up with! Please share your links so I can check out your TTT posts!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider following Bookshelf Fantasies! And don’t forget to check out my regular weekly features, Shelf Control and Thursday Quotables. Happy reading!

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18Jan2016

Top Ten Tuesday: Top ten books I’ve recently added to my TBR list

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Top Ten Books I’ve Recently Added To My TBR. I’m actually kind of proud of myself, because last week I went through my Goodreads to-read shelf and deleted 175 books that I realized I’d probably never read (some of which I had no idea why I’d ever added them in the first place). But no worries — my TBR list is still huge and somehow keep growing week by week.

Here are the books I’ve added most recently, including release dates (since all are upcoming releases for 2016):

1) Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave (5/3/2016): A new novel from the author of Little Bee and Gold, set during WWII.

2) My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix (5/17/2016): The title alone makes me giggle… plus, I thought Horrorstor last year was such an inventive twist on a horror story.

3) Defending Taylor by Miranda Kenneally (7/1/2016) — no cover yet, unfortunately… but I’ve loved everything I’ve read so far by this author, so I’m game for whatever’s next.

4) The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem by Sarit Yishai-Levi (4/5/2016): Historical fiction covering four generations of women in Jerusalem.

5) Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke (3/22/2016): I love the sound of this YA book — mysterious and full of secrets.

6) Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughan (4/13/2016): Yes to anything new by Brian K. Vaughan!

7) It’s All Your Fault by Paul Rudnick (1/26/2016): I really enjoyed this author’s previous YA novel, Gorgeous.

8) Up To This Pointe by Jennifer Longo (1/19/2016): I also really enjoyed this author’s previous book, the YA novel Six Feet Over It. The plot has something to do with ballet… and Antarctica… and I don’t know how that fits together, but I want to find out.

9) To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey (8/2/2016): Can’t wait for the new book by the author of The Snow Child.

10) The Midnight Watch: A Novel of the Titanic and the Californian by David Dyer (4/5/2016): I’m always fascinated by anything to do with the Titanic, and this novel sound like it has an interesting and different perspective to share.

What’s new on your TBR shelf? Please share your TTT links!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider following Bookshelf Fantasies! And don’t forget to check out our regular weekly features, Shelf Control and Thursday Quotables. Happy reading!

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11Jan2016

Top Ten Tuesday: Top ten books I bought in 2015… but still haven’t read

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Top Ten 2015 Releases I Meant To Get To But Didn’t. I’m reinterpreting this one to include anything I bought in 2015 but haven’t read yet, not just new releases from 2015. Here are the books that for whatever reason I had to have RIGHT NOW! IMMEDIATELY! GIMME!, but then stuck on my shelf and never picked up again.

1) Carry On by Rainbow Rowell: OF COURSE I bought this one the second it came out. I love Rainbow Rowell and I loved Fangirl and… I have no idea what my problem is.

2) Epitaph by Mary Doria Russell: I love everything by Mary Doria Russell, and loved her Doc Holliday book (appropriately named Doc). I bought Epitaph right when it was released so I’d have a chance to read it before she came to my town on her book tour. And then her book tour appearance was cancelled, and I never got around to the book.

3) The Porcupine of Truth by Bill Konigsberg: I loved the author’s previous novel, Openly Straight (review), and I’m really excited for this one. Plus, a porcupine on the cover!

4) The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber: Really sounds awesome, and I have a friend who loved it — but it’s over 500 pages, and I just haven’t been in the mood to tackle it yet.

5) The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan: I actually have a good excuse for not reading this one yet. I was going to read it as soon as I got a copy last year, and then my book group picked it for this coming spring, so of course I had to wait!

6) Cheating here and listing a trilogy as one entry: I picked up all three books in Holly Black’s Curse Workers series last year, but haven’t touched them yet. Given that one of my resolutions is to binge-read series instead of reading them one book at a time, this might make a good place to start!

7) Conversion by Katherine Howe: This is a 2014 book (described as “Prep meets The Crucible”!) that I bought in 2015, and it’s been sitting on my nightstand ever since.

8) Letters to the Lost by Iona Grey: This one actually is a 2015 release, and it sounds like just the kind of historical fiction that gets me in the heart.

9) Pioneer Girl by Bich Minh Nguyen: A Vietnamese-American woman with a possible connection to Laura Ingalls Wilder? Yes, please!

10) Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain: The little bits and pieces I’ve read so far tell me that this is a book designed for me!

If I stick to my plan to read more from my shelves this year, then I should be able to get to these book in 2016!

What 2015 books do you still need to read? Please share your TTT links!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider following Bookshelf Fantasies! And don’t forget to check out our regular weekly features, Shelf Control and Thursday Quotables. Happy reading!

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4Jan2016

Top Ten Tuesday: Top (Almost) Ten Reading Resolutions for 2016

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Top Ten Resolutions for 2016.

I don’t generally go for formal resolutions, but here are a handful that I’ve come up with that relate to my reading life. Will I stick with them? Time will tell.

1) I resolve to concentrate on reading the books I already own.

2) I resolve to ease my guilty conscience by finally catching up on my NetGalley books from last year.

3) I resolve to read all the books I urgently needed in 2015, which I bought as soon as they came out and then left sitting on my shelf.

4) I resolve to resist the urge to participate in challenges or any other sort of activity that tells me what or when or how much to read.

5) I resolve to (attempt to) read series as a whole — all books in a row — rather than reading them as they come out and then forgetting all the details in between volumes.

6) I resolve to attach my backlog of graphic novels. Buffy, I’m looking at you!

7) I resolve to branch out just a wee bit when picking books from the library, sampling genres and subject matter that I might not normally read.

8) I resolved to continue my recent trend of Reading On a Whim! (Stated in bold upper case, because I want to hammer it into my own head…) My best and most enjoyable reading happens when it’s unscheduled, not glued to a calendar, but driven purely by whatever strikes my mood when I’m looking for the next book. It doesn’t always work that way, but it’s certainly the reading pattern I want to strive for.

9) And in non-bookish resolutions… I need to exercise more, explore my city more, and make more of an effort to play and relax.

That’s what I’m aiming for in 2016!

What are your bookish (and non-bookish) resolutions for 2016? Please share your links!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider following Bookshelf Fantasies! And don’t forget to check out our regular weekly features, Shelf Control and Thursday Quotables. Happy reading!

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28Dec2015

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Can’t-Wait Books for the 1st Half of 2016

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Top Ten Most Anticipated Releases For The First Half of 2016.

Organized by release month, here are the books I’ll be dying for in the first six months of 2016… some of which I already have on preorder!

January:

1) All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders: A new sci-fi novel by one of my favorite writers and recappers at io9.

February:

2) Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys: About a WWII-era tragedy. Sounds amazing.

3) All the Winters After by Seré Prince Halverson: Fiction set in Alaska! I’m in.

March:

4) Fire Touched by Patricia Briggs: The new Mercy Thompson book!!! I love this series so much.

5) The Steep and Thorny Way by Cat Winters: After reading three of her novels in 2015, I’ve officially moved Cat Winters onto my “must read no matter what” list of authors.

April:

6) Fellside by M. R. Carey: I loved The Girl With All the Gifts. This new book sounds deliciously creepy.

7) Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld: The newest volume in The Austen Project is a retelling of Pride and Prejudice, and for me, it’s a must!

May:

8) The Fireman by Joe Hill. Yes. Just yes.

9) At the Edge of Summer by Jessica Brockmole: I loved the author’s previous novel, Letters From Skye!

10) Peace Talks by Jim Butcher: the 16th book in the always amazing Dresden Files series!

No cover yet for Peace Talks, but here’s a classic Dresden image.

What books are you most eager to read in 2016? Please share your links!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider following Bookshelf Fantasies! And don’t forget to check out our regular weekly features, Shelf Control and Thursday Quotables. Happy reading!

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21Dec2015

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books (and Bookish Goodies) I’d Love To Get As Gifts (2015)

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Top Ten Books I Wouldn’t Mind Santa Leaving Under My Tree This Year. Since I don’t have a tree and I’m not on Santa’s route (and my winter holiday has already come and gone), I’ll stick with books and bookish items that I’d love to get as gifts — any time at all!

For the most part, my list consists of books and related things that I’d love to receive, but for whatever reason — high price, feeling like too big an indulgence, a “nice to have” but not really a necessity — I just most likely wouldn’t buy these for myself. (Ahem, secret gift givers — are you paying attention??)

1) The new illustrated Harry Potter: This looks absolutely gorgeous! Next time I find myself with a giftcard in my hands, this will be my treat to myself.

2) Also related to Harry Potter, I’d love to get the complete series as audiobooks:

3) This one has been on my “want” list for years: Firefly: A Celebration by Joss Whedon

Description: Titan’s three bestselling Firefly titles collected together at last, just in time for the 10th anniversary of Joss Whedon’s beloved series. This huge, 544 page full colour volume is simply one of the most lavish books ever produced for a TV show, and is presented in a foil-stamped leather-effect binding. Plus, as an exclusive bonus for this edition, a pocket at the back of the book contains 9 frameable photo prints of the cast, featuring rare and previously unseen images, and a facsimile of one of the prop banknotes used in the show.

4) This one too: Bone: Full Color One Volume Edition by Jeff Smith

Bone is one of my very favorite things ever. I love the artwork, the story, and the ridiculous stupid rat creatures. We have the 9 individual books, but I’m sure lusting after this all-in-one version. However… at about $100, this isn’t an edition I’m likely to buy unless I’m suddenly discovered by some long-lost wealthy relative… I can dream, can’t I?

5) The gorgeous hardcover collected edition of the first three volumes in the Saga series:

6) Sticking with graphic novels, I’d love to own my own set of the Alex + Ada trilogy, which I read this past year thanks to my public library:

7) I have a perfectly functional Kindle — but it’s one of the old-model keyboard Kindles, and I’m kind of itching for an upgrade (for no good reason, really, since it works just fine and I enjoy using it). Still, if I were to get a newer Kindle, I’d probably go for the Kindle Voyage, ‘cuz it just seems cool.

8) I love all the amazing book-related shirts, totebags, mugs, etc over at Out of Print:

9) I’d definitely love to receive pretty much any of the Collectible Edition books available from Barnes and Noble:

Dracula and Other Horror Classics (Barnes & Noble Collectible Editions) The Bronte Sisters: Three Novels (Barnes & Noble Collectible Editions) Anne of Green Gables (Barnes & Noble Collectible Editions)

10) There are several memoirs and non-fiction books that I’ll probably borrow from the library eventually, but wouldn’t mind actually owning — among them:

What are you hoping to find under your tree, in your stocking, or in the UPS driver’s hands this year? Whatever you’re wishing for, I wish you good health, good friends, lots of laughter, and amazing reading!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider following Bookshelf Fantasies! And don’t forget to check out our regular weekly features, Shelf Control and Thursday Quotables. Happy reading!

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14Dec2015

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten (or so) Books I Read in 2015

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Top Ten Books I Read in 2015. I pulled up my Goodreads stats for 2015… and discovered that I gave 5-star ratings to 48 books.

Granted, some of these were re-reads (A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein) or audiobook versions of classics I read long ago (all the works of Jane Austen), but still, it’s kind of thrilling to see how many books I truly loved in 2015!

For the purposes of this list, I’m narrowing it down to the best of the bunch, excluding re-reads and graphic novels, and probably leaving out some of the books I’ve already raved about ad infinitum. In no particular order, here are the best of the bunch:

Note: If you want to know more about any of the books mentioned here, click on the links to see my reviews.

1) Inside the O’Briens by Lisa Genova (review)

2) The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant (review)

3) Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf (review)

4) The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd (review)

5 & 6) The Uninvited (review) and The Cure for Dreaming (review) by Cat Winters

7) The Marvels by Brian Selznick (review)

8) Winger by Andrew Smith (review)

9) Depth by Lev AC Rosen (review)

10) The Bookseller by Cynthia Swanson (review)

Look, I read too many great books this year to stop at 10… so onward we go!

11) You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day (review)

12) The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher (review)

13) The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian (review)

14) All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (review)

15) The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown (review)

What were you favorite books from 2015? Share your links, and I’ll come check out your top 10… or 15!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider following Bookshelf Fantasies! And don’t forget to check out our regular weekly features, Shelf Control and Thursday Quotables. Happy reading!

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7Dec2015

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten New-To-Me Authors I Read In 2015

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Top Ten New-To-Me Authors I Read In 2015. What fun! I “met” so many authors this year for the first time. Here are my top 10:

Note: If you want to know more about any of the books mentioned here, click on the links to see my reviews.

1) Cat Winters: I read two Cat Winters books this year — an adult novel, The Uninvited, and a YA novel, The Cure for Dreaming. Both were amazing.

2) Dana Stabenow: On a whim, I started listening to the audiobooks of Dana Stabenow’s Kate Shugak mystery series. I’d always heard good things, and a big plus for me is the Alaska setting. I’m now on my 4th in the series, and it’s so consistently terrific. (Review of book #1, here.)

3) Emily St. John Mandel: I read Station Eleven early in the year, and loved it.

4) Jacqueline Winspear: Another audio discovery! I’d been hearing about the Maisie Dobbs series for a while now, and finally decided to give the first book a try. Well worth it.

5) Benjamin Percy: The Dead Lands was one of the most disturbing things I read all year… and yet, I’m looking forward to reading more by this author.

6) Winston Graham: Thank you, BBC and PBS, for introducing me to the gorgeous world of Poldark. After watching the first couple of episodes, I just knew I had to read the books as well.

7) Chris Pavone: I really enjoyed his sleek spy drama, The Expats, and look forward to reading The Accident in the near future.

8) Elizabeth Gaskell: North and South has been on my to-read list for years, and thanks to my book group, I’ve finally read it!

9) Jack London: Another classic! I can’t believe I never read any of Jack London’s novels before now — but I finally listened to the audiobook of The Call of the Wild, and thought it was great. I’d really like to read more of his books.

10) Felicia Day: Is this cheating? I’ve loved Felicia Day as an actress and nerdy girl hero for a long time, but this year, I can add her to my author list as well! Her memoir, You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) is such fun to read.

I can’t wait to see who I’ll meet in 2016!

Which authors did you discover in 2015?

If you enjoyed this post, please consider following Bookshelf Fantasies! And don’t forget to check out our regular weekly features, Shelf Control and Thursday Quotables. Happy reading!

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23Nov2015

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten books that make me grateful for book groups & book friends

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is a Thankgiving freebie — so we can each come up with our own take on something we’re thankful for this year.

I thought I’d take a moment to reflect on how important my book group is to me. A smarter, kinder, warmer bunch of people I can’t even imagine… and what’s funny is that while I feel that I know them all so well, we’ve never actually met in person! We have such amazing conversations about books in general, our shared love for the Outlander series, and our monthly groups reads… as well as offering one another friendship and support through all our many non-bookish ups and downs.

In addition to spending time with great people, thanks to my book group I’ve read some really wonderful books! Here’s a list of ten books that I might (or might not) have chosen on my own, but which I’m thankful to have read and discussed with my book group friends.

1) The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emma Orczky (review)

2) North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (review)

3) The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown (review)

4) The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd (review)

5) The Day of Atonement by David Liss (review)

6) The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian (review)

7) All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (review)

And these last three are extra special, because not only did we read amazing books and have fabulous discussions, but we were also fortunate enough to have the authors join us to answer questions and participate in the conversations:

8) Henna House by Nomi Eve (review)

9) I Shall Be Near to You by Erin Lindsay McCabe (review)

10) Gathering Storm by Maggie Craig (review)

So, a big virtual hug to my book club friends! Thank you for enriching my life for all of these years — I’m looking forward to many, many more!

What books or bookish things are you most grateful for this Thanksgiving week?

Please share your thoughts, and if you wrote a TTT post, don’t forget to share your link!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider following Bookshelf Fantasies! And don’t forget to check out my regular weekly features, Shelf Control and Thursday Quotables. Happy reading!

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Do you host a book blog meme? Do you participate in a meme that you really, really love? I host a Book Blog Meme Directory, and I’m always looking for new additions! If you know of a great meme to include — or if you host one yourself — please drop me a note on my Contact page and I’ll be sure to add your info!