Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books on My Summer TBR List – 2015 edition

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 about reading plans for summer. What’s on my to-be-read list? As usual, it’s a mix of new releases and books from my shelves…

1) Another Day by David Levithan

2) What You Left Behind by Jessica Verdi

3) Jesse’s Girl by Miranda Kenneally

4) Circling the Sun by Paula McLain

5) A Window Opens by Elizabeth Egan

6) All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (a book group pick for this summer)

7) The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd (another one for the book group)

8) Ross Poldark by Winston Graham (because I’m dying to watch the BBC version)

9) Depth by Lev AC Rosen

10) Dreams of the Golden Age by Carrie Vaughn (the sequel to After the Golden Age, which I just read and really enjoyed!)

What books are you looking forward to reading this summer?

Share your links, and I’ll come check out your top 10!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider following Bookshelf Fantasies! And don’t forget to check out my regular weekly feature, 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!

4May2015

Top Ten Tuesday: Never Say Never

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 Book I Will Probably Never Read. Never is a pretty strong term, isn’t it? There are very few books I can say with certainty that I’ll never read — so to come up with a list of 10 books, I’ve had to break up the topic into two categories:

Starting with, books I’ll never read because I have little or no interest:

1. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: Since I’ve made it this far in my life without having read War and Peace, I think it’s safe to assume it’ll never happen. And it’s not that I’m opposed to Tolstoy or anything — I actually have read Anna Karenina!

2. The rest of the Millenium trilogy by Stieg Larsson: I truly hated The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and have absolutely no interest in reading further in the series.

3. Any new books by Charlaine Harris: I’m still mad at myself for continuing to read the Sookie series through to the bitter end, when they clearly stopped appealing to me somewhere around the midpoint of the series. I can’t imagine enjoying anything further she’d write.

4. Anything else by Dan Brown: I read The Da Vinci Code (didn’t everyone?) and Angels and Demons, and that was plenty.

5. The Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett: People in my book club adore these books and talk about their complexity and nuances quite a bit… and I’ve just never felt the urge to join in on any of their group reads.

Second category: Books I’ll probably never read, not because I don’t want to… but simply because I’ve had ample opportunity and still haven’t gotten around to them. Lacking motivation, perhaps?

6. Lisey’s Story by Stephen King: I have no idea why I haven’t read this. I bought it when it came out and thought it sounded good. It’s been on my shelf ever since, and every time I think about reading it, I find something else to read instead.

7. The Help by Kathryn Stockett: I picked up a copy right before seeing the movie… and once I’d seen the movie, I didn’t feel any need to read the book.

8. Lonely Werewolf Girl by Martin Millar: Another one that really appealed to me when I bought it… but it’s been years and I still haven’t felt like actually reading it.

9. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield: Same as above. I know it’s supposed to be great. I know plenty of people who loved it. I even own a copy — but I’ve just never found myself wanting to pick it up and start it.

10. The Bronze Horsemen by Paullina Simons: So many people have recommended this series to me. I don’t know why I haven’t wanted to read it, except perhaps that I haven’t wanted to put the time into such chunky books.

So what are your never-gonna-happen books?

Share your links, and I’ll come check out your top 10!

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

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20Apr2015

Top Ten Tuesday: Top 10 All-Time Favorite Authors

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 All-Time Favorite Authors. I had a really hard time narrowing it down, and changed my mind about half a dozen times, but finally decided to focus on living writers whose works I continue to read (and hope to keep reading for a long time to come).

Here we go:

1. Diana Gabaldon (like there was any doubt about this one!)

2. Mary Doria Russell

3. Stephen King

4. Patricia Briggs

5. Jim Butcher

6. Susanna Kearsley

7. Christopher Moore

8. Neil Gaiman

9. Bill Willingham

10. J. K. Rowling

[Note on images: Author photos scavenged from the interwebs; book photos taken by moi!]

I hate having to stop at just 10. This is just scratching the surface — and doesn’t even include some of the late greats, such as Douglas Adams, Kurt Vonnegut, and J. R. R. Tolkien. Ah well, I suppose that’s a list for another day!

Looking forward to seeing everyone else’s lists this week.

Share your links, and I’ll come check out your top 10!

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

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14Apr2015

Top Ten Tuesday: My top 10 memorable book quotes

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 Inspiring Quotes from Books. I don’t necessarily have quotes that inspire me, but I do have a bunch that make me happy, for a variety of reasons, whenever I think about them. For some, I like the mood they create or what they say about the characters involved, but in other cases, it’s merely a matter of liking the words used and the way a phrase sounds.

1. “Speaking of ways, pet, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract.” – from A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

2. “It’s like being in love, discovering your best friend.” – from Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

3. “They meant no harm.” – from The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

4. “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” – from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling

5. “Think now and then that there is a man who would give his life, to keep a life you love beside you.” – from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

6. “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.” – from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

7. “When the day shall come that we do part,” he said softly, and turned to look at me, “if my last words are not ‘I love you’ – ye’ll ken it was because I didna have time.” – from The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon (you didn’t really think I’d get through a whole TTT post without an Outlander reference, did you?)

9. “If you wish to make a wish, you may swish for fish with my Ish wish dish.” – from One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss (I just love to say this one)

10. “Go then, there are other worlds than these.” – from The Gunslinger by Stephen King

Oh, what the heck, one more for good luck:

“The way I saw it, one of the single greatest advantages of being in a relationship was that you got to eat off the other person’s plate.” – from Tempest’s Fury by Nicole Peeler.

What quotes made your list this week?

Share your links, and I’ll come check out your top 10!

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

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6Apr2015

Top Ten Tuesday: Hey, what’s up? Top 10 characters I’d like to catch up with…

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 Characters You’d Like To Check In With (meaning, the book or series is over and you so just wish you could peek in on the “life” you imagine they are leading years down the line after the story ends).

Which characters would I most like to catch up with, see how they’re doing, maybe find out if that Happily-Ever-After really worked out for them in the end? Read on to find out!

[Note: There may be minor spoilers, because how can you talk about what happened after “The End” without referencing the ending?]

1) Jamie and Claire Fraser, Outlander series: Kind of obvious, since this is where my head is right now. This is the only book/series on my list this week that’s still ongoing… but I’m including Jamie and Claire because it’s been 10 months since the last book came out and I’m dying to know what they’ve been up to since then!

2) Edward and Bella, Twilight series: I’d love to know how a never-ending and never-changing life (with no sleep!) is working out for these two. Is Bella still glad she gave up human life for Edward? Did that little scamp Renesmee grow up and get with Jacob? How’s Edward handling having Jacob as a son-in-law?

3) EVERYONE from the Harry Potter series: I love them all so much. I know J. K. Rowling has released information on how their lives all turned out, but I’d love to visit them all again. I want to see grown-up Harry at home with Ginny, maybe having Ron and Hermione over for Sunday brunch. Is anyone living at the Burrow? How’s Molly Weasley doing? What about Teddy Lupin?

4) Nick and Amy Dunne, Gone Girl: Not a happily ever after by a long shot, and not at all likeable people. I’d love to know, though, how the rest of their lives turned out. Terrifying and awful, I’m sure. What about the baby? Any chance that the kid didn’t grow up to be a psychopath?

5) Eleanor and Park (Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell): I just hope these two managed to reconnect and find happiness, and most of all, I hope that Eleanor finally got a chance at a safe and happy life.

6) Clare and Alba DeTamble, The Time Traveler’s Wife: [SPOILER] I’d love to know that Clare had a good life after Henry’s death, and hope that she found love again. And I’d also love to know how things worked out for Alba, and whether her time traveling was easier, based on all the work and research Henry did.

7) Emilio Sandoz, The Sparrow and Children of Men: After all of the trauma, I hope that Emilio finally found peace and a measure of solace when all of his space travel ended. I’m envisioning him growing old, surrounded by grandchildren, loved and adored. Wouldn’t that be lovely?

8) Tavi and Kitai, Codex Alera series: It certainly seemed as though these two (and others) got the happy ending they deserved, but I imagine that they still have a long life ahead of them as rulers of Alera… and I’m guessing there are still plenty of adventures yet to come.

9) Jane True and Anyan Barghest, Jane True series: I have no doubt that these two are having a marvelous happily-ever-after, but they’re just so much fun to hang out with that I’d like the chance to visit with them again.

10) Matthew and Diana, All Soul’s trilogy: I have no problem with how the trilogy ended, but I enjoyed all of the characters so much that I’d like more of them! I want to know about Matthew and Diana’s children, as well as the rest of the big, extended family. Oh, and let’s not forget Gallowglass!

What characters are on your list this week?

Share your links, and I’ll come check out your top 10!

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

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30Mar2015

Top Ten Tuesday: Top 10 books recently added to my (never-ending) 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 Ten Books You Recently Added To Your To-Be-Read List. Since my list seems to grow day by day and week by week, this should be easy!

In no particular order, books I’ve recently added to my to-be-read list — some not yet released, some newly published, and some that have been around for a while but are still new to me!

1) Sweet Forgiveness by Lori Nelson Spielman

2) Rook by Sharon Cameron: A YA re-telling of The Scarlet Pimpernel? Yes, please!

3) Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson: Because a little history is sometimes just what I need!

4) Peace Talks by Jim Butcher: Can’t wait for book #16 in the amazing Dresden Files series! Not due out until spring of 2016, but worth waiting for!

Found on Pinterest…

5) A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

6) The Buffalo Soldier by Chris Bohjalian: I’ve been on a roll with books by this amazing author, and I need more!

7) The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

8) Winter by Marissa Meyer: Okay, technically this has been on my TBR list ever since I read the rest of the series, but since the cover was just recently revealed, I think it counts!

9) This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance! by Jonathan Evison

10) Fire Touched by Patricia Briggs: The 9th Mercy Thompson book doesn’t have a cover image yet and isn’t due out until spring of 2016… but you can be sure I’ll be preordering this one the second it becomes available!

My Briggs shelf… just waiting for new additions!

What books made your list this week?

Share your links, and I’ll come check out your top 10!

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

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23Mar2015

Top Ten Tuesday: Top 10 kid/tween/teen books that I’d love to revisit

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 10 Books From My Childhood (or Teen Years) That I Would Love To Revisit. Putting together this list is a little bit harder than I’d first thought. Since it’s all about books that I want to re-read, I’m going to rule out books that I’ve already revisited with my own kids… making my brain work a bit harder to remember my childhood favorites!

Books I loved as a kid/tween/teen — and which I should surely revisit one of these days:

1) Tall and Proud by Vian Smith: A girl, a horse, polio, bad guys, a dramatic rescue… is this book really as amazing as I remember it? Or did it just perfectly suit 11-year-old me at the time?

2) Light a Single Candle by Beverly Butler: Anyone else remember this book about a 14-year-old girl losing her eyesight, learning Braille, and getting a seeing eye dog? In my tween mind, this was the best thing ever.

3) Merry Rose and Christmas-Tree June by Doris Orgel: It took me years as an adult to track down a copy of this childhood favorite about a girl separated from her beloved dolls. I remember this book as being awesome. I did not remember that the illustrations are by Edward Gorey!

4) Mustang, Wild Spirit of the West by Marguerite Henry: Despite never taking a single riding lesson, I went through the standard-issue young girl horse phase, as evidenced by my obsessive reading of the works of Marguerite Henry. I loved them all, but Mustang, Wild Spirit of the West was my absolute favorite:

5) The works of Judy Blume, especially Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret and Deenie. Judy Blume was THE way to learn about bras, boys, periods, and scoliosis.

6) The All-of-a-Kind Family books by Sydney Taylor: I absolutely wanted to be one of the girls in this large, rambunctious family. Somehow, in the books, living in a cramped apartment on the Lower East Side of New York in the early 1900s sounded so glamorous!

7) Lisa, Bright and Dark by John Neufeld: Another tween/early teen obsession: Reading about teens with all sorts of physical and mental illnesses. I remember thinking this one was SO GOOD, but maybe it was just because of the main character’s name…

8) Knight’s Castle by Edward Eager: I had no idea what this book was called for many, many years. I just remember loving a story about a group of kids who kept ending up inside the imaginary worlds that they set up in their playroom each night. Finally finding this book as an adult was a major achievement!

9) The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare: I’d love to read this one again! I remember utterly loving it.

10) And finally, two childhood classics that sparked fantasies and countless short stories focused on running away from home to exciting destinations: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg and My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George.

Which childhood (or tween/teen) favorites would you most like to revisit?

Share your links, and I’ll come check out your top 10!

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

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16Mar2015

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books on My Spring 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 about reading plans for spring. What’s on my to-be-read list? Well, I suppose I could start with the six books from my winter TBR post which I still haven’t read… but where’s the fun in that?

So, to welcome spring, here’s a brand new set of 10 books that I’m looking forward to reading:

1) Epitaph by Mary Doria Russell

2) Prudence by Gail Carriger

3) A Desperate Fortune by Susanna Kearsley

4) A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab

5) Inside the O’Briens by Lisa Genova

6) The Bookseller by Cynthia Swanson

7) The Secrets We Keep by Trisha Leaver

8) The Well by Catherine Chanter

9) Eight Hundred Grapes by Laura Dave

And turning to books that have been on my to-read list for far too long…

10) With the passing last week of Sir Terry Pratchett, I realize that it’s time for me to stop saying that I’ll eventually read some Discworld books and just go ahead and get started! Or, you know, finally read the copy of Good Omens that’s been calling my name for a few years now. RIP, Terry Pratchett.

What books are you looking forward to reading this spring?

Share your links, and I’ll come check out your top 10!

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

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2Mar2015

Top Ten Tuesday: My top 10 favorite books from the past 5 years

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 You Would Classify As ALL TIME FAVORITE BOOKS from the past 3 years (you can extend it to 5 if you need to)”. I feel like I’ve posted about my favorites a lot already — and I’m not sure that my all-time favorite books would come from the past 3 – 5 years — but anyway…

Here are the books (or series) from the past 5 years that have made a lasting impression! I’m trying to throw in a few besides the ones I always rave about… we’ll see how well I do.

In no particular order (well, except for #1, which is always my #1):

1) The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon: Considering how much these books have come to rule my life, it’s funny when I stop to realize that I didn’t read Outlander for the first time until the fall of 2010!

My Outlander shelf!

2) The Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs (and the Alpha & Omega books too): Another series that was pretty much love at first read for me.

3) The Shining and Doctor Sleep by Stephen King: I re-read The Shining for the first time in decades right before the release of Doctor Sleep, and reading the two books back-to-back was such a fantastically creepy reading experience.

And now for some stand-alones that I find myself recommending all the time:

4) I Shall Be Near To You by Erin Lindsay McCabe

5) Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

6) The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

7) The Winter Sea and The Firebird by Susanna Kearsley. Really, just about any book by Susanna Kearsley — yet another author who quickly became a favorite during the last five years.

8) Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel. Can’t wait for the third book!

9) The Ship of Brides by Jojo Moyes — an author who was new to me just a couple of years ago, but whose books I’ve been devouring! The Ship of Brides is one of my favorites.

10) And finally, I just have to include the graphic novels I’ve fallen for in the last 3 – 5 years, especially the world of Fables by Bill Willingham and Y: The Last Man and Saga by Brian K. Vaughan.

What are your favorite books from the last 3 – 5 years? Please share your links!

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

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23Feb2015

Top Ten Tuesday: My top 10 favorite heroic women in fiction (plus a few extra… )

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 Favorite Heroines From Books (or movies or TV)”. The term “heroines” suggests a certain amount of adventure and thrilling heroics, and we’ve got plenty of that here. These women (and girls) take the lead, take charge, and are just overall amazing.

1) Claire Elizabeth Beauchamp Randall Fraser (Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon): Claire is the strongest, smartest woman around in any century. Fiercely loyal, dedicated to her friends and family, a gifted scientist, and a passionate lover, Claire’s got it all. Plus, who else do you know who makes home-made penicillin?

2) Mercy Thompson (The Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs): Auto mechanic, martial arts master, magical shape-shifter, and just overall an incredibly brave woman. Definitely the person you’d want on your side when the big baddies come to call.

3) Lyra (His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman): Lyra is dedicated to her friends, loves adventure, is highly curious, and puts herself at risk even when she’s afraid, if there’s something important on the line.

4) Diana Bishop (All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness): Witch and historian, Diana is a perfect combination of brains and magic.

5) Cassie Sullivan (The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey): How do you keep going when everything you know is gone? Bravery, commitment to a promise, and a sheer determination to make things right or die trying.

6) Scout Finch (To Kill A Mockingbird): Okay, what’s not to love? Scout is a little Southern tomboy who learned her values from an amazing father. Scout stands up for the people she loves and doesn’t understand injustice. Love her.

7) Harry Crewe (The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley): Harry goes from sheltered daughter to a wielder of a magical sword and one hell of a horsewoman, among other achievements. She’s a perfect example of a fantasy fiction woman who most definitely is not a damsel in distress.

I want to use the rest of my list to give shout-outs to a few bunches of amazing women:

8) The women of Fables (by Bill WIllingham): I love just about everything about this graphic novel series, especially the amazing female characters such as Snow White, Rose Red, Cinderella, and Beauty, to name but a few. These are no Disney princesses. Really, if you haven’t read Fables, go get volume one immediately! You’ll be happy you did, I promise.

9) The Stark women (A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin): Arya, Catelyn, even Sansa — all have been through enormous trauma, and manage to hold onto their courage even in the face of unbearable loss and misery.

10) The women of Harry Potter (the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling): Hermione is amazing, but so are Molly Weasley and Minerva McGonagall, not to mention Luna Lovegood, Lily Potter, Nymphadora Tonks, and so many more.

Okay, that’s 10 — but I do want to give three cheers to some of my favorite women on TV right now:

Elizabeth Jennings (The Americans)
Peggy Carter (Agent Carter)
Jane Villanueva (Jane the Virgin)
Zoe Hart (Hart of Dixie)
The women of Black Sails: Eleanor Guthrie, Anne Bonny, and Max. (Does Max have a last name? Couldn’t find it.)

Oh, and one more just because no list of powerful women is complete without the one and only Slayer, Buffy Summers:

Who are your favorite heroines? Please share your links!

(Note: All images scavenged from miscellaneous Pinterest boards…)

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

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