Top Ten Tuesday: Top ten authors I’ve read the most books by…

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

For the life of me, I could not come up with a title for this week’s TTT that didn’t end with a preposition. Sigh.

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 Authors I’ve Read The Most Books From. Last July, we did a similar topic (my post is here), focusing on the top ten authors whose books we own — but owning books doesn’t necessarily mean we’ve read them!

This topic was fun to work on, especially since I got to be an Excel geek for a bit. I exported my Goodreads books, sorted the books I’ve actually read, and then did a count by author. So my list is guaranteed to be 100% accurate because numbers.

For anyone who reads my blog from time to time, I don’t think you’ll find any major surprises, given which books and authors I tend to rave about.

My top SEVEN novelists are:

24 books:

Jim Butcher! That number surprised me — but I guess that’s what happens when you get hooked on a long, ongoing series like the Dresden Files books. And, I loved the Codex Alera series too. Kudos to Jim Butcher — top of my list!

22 books:

Charlaine Harris: Okay, it kind of makes me cringe to have these books so high on my list, but the numbers don’t lie! Here’s a case where I should have quit reading when I stopped enjoying a series, but instead kept going to see if it would have a great ending. (It didn’t.) Between the Sookie Stackhouse series and the Harper Connelly books (which I thought were pretty good), that adds up to a big heap of books that I’ve read.

19 books:

Diana Gabaldon: The 8 main books in the Outlander series, of course, plus the Lord John books, assorted collections and novellas, and the handy-dandy reference book, The Outlandish Companion.

Patricia Briggs: The Mercy Thompson series and Alpha & Omega series are so amazing. Can’t imagine ever getting tired of either one! Plus a few random graphic novel versions of her books, just for fun.

Stephen King: No explanation needed. I’m actually surprised this number isn’t higher, but then again, I have a whole bunch of his books still on my to-read shelf.

14 books:

Christopher Moore: This number will go up by one later this month, as soon as I get my hands on his upcoming new release, Secondhand Souls.

13 books:

Robin McKinley: Her fairy tale retellings set the bar for the genre, and her fantasy books are just stellar, especially my favorite, The Blue Sword.

That’s seven. From here, I have a bunch of authors at 11 books each — which, why not? Let’s list them too:

Joe Hill
Anne Rice
J. K. Rowling
George R. R. Martin
Alice Hoffman

But let’s not count these toward my top ten, because I want to wrap up my list with a slightly different focus…

My top THREE graphic novel authors are:

34 read (and it’ll be 35 once I can bring myself to read the final volume of Fables):

Bill Willingham: FABLES! Need I say more? Okay, Fables plus spin-off series Jack of Fables and Fairest, and a handful of terrific stand-alones too.

23 read:

Brian K. Vaughan: I adored Y: The Last Man and am just loving Saga. Runaways was pretty great too.

13 read:

Joss Whedon! Yes, the man can do anything — TV, Shakespeare, big-budget movies, and comic books. I’ve read 13, but I own bunches more. The ongoing Buffy comics are amazing, as are the Spike, Willow, and Angel & Faith editions. Add in the Serenity and Dollhouse comics too, and you’ll understand why my stack of to-be-read graphic novels is 80% Whedon-verse.

Do we have any favorite authors in common? Share your links, please, 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!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

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!

3Aug2015

Top Ten Tuesday: My favorite fairy tale retellings

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 fairy tale retellings — either ones we’ve read or ones we want to read. I’m doing a bit of both.

I’ll start with the fairy tale retellings that I’ve read and loved:

1) Deerskin by Robin McKinley: An incredibly moving and disturbing, yet oddly beautiful, retelling of the somewhat obscure fairy tale Donkeyskin.

2) Robin McKinley writes such amazing reimaginings of fairy tales, that I’m going to include another three as one item: Beauty, Rose Daughter (both retellings of Beauty and the Beast), and Spindle’s End (a retelling of Sleeping Beauty).

3) Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale: I’ll admit to being confused by the tower for a while and assuming this was a retelling of Rapunzel, which it is not. According to the author’s website, it’s a retelling of a lesser known Grimm tale called Maid Maleen. But in any case, no matter which tale it’s based on, I really enjoyed it!

4) The Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine: I think the concept of this book is just so clever — The Twelve Dancing Princesses retold as a tale of harshly confined sisters in Jazz Age New York. (review)

5) Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce: I really liked this retelling of Red Riding Hood (who seems here to be mixed with heaping spoonfuls of Buffy).

6) The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer: I have a sneaking suspicion that these books will be everywhere for this week’s TTT topic! I’ve absolutely loved the books in this series so far, and can’t wait for the final one to be released this fall. (And then the series will be over… sob.) (review)

7) My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me edited by Kate Bernheimer: This collection of rewritten fairy tales includes some really weird and wonderful new versions of classic tales. You can read the collection straight through or pick it up and read stories at random. Either way, very entertaining. Plus, you just can’t beat the title.

8) Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm by Philip Pullman: Another collection of rewritten tales, in this case classic Grimm stories rewritten by the masterful Philip Pullman. Includes both tried-and-true favorites and well as more bizarre or obscure tales — quite fun to read. (review)

9) Fables by Bill Willingham: The Fables series is simply one of my very favorite things ever. Take just about every fairy tale character you can think of, put them into modern day New York, create incredibly complex world-building, and write 150 comic books in the series. The series is available as a series of paperback volumes, and the final volume, #22, was just released last week. I can’t quite bring myself to read it — I just don’t want it to be over! (tribute)

10) Finally, two from my shelves which I haven’t read yet, although I’d like to:

Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth, a retelling of Rapunzel
Bound by Donna Jo Napoli, a retelling of Cinderella

Fairy tale retellings are such fun to read. Which ones do you love?

Share your link, 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!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

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 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!

27Jul2015

Top Ten Tuesday: Book lovers unite! Top ten characters who NEED to 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 about characters who are book nerds, book worms, book lovers… you know, people like us!

My top 10, with links for the ones I’ve reviewed here at Bookshelf Fantasies:

1) Catherine Morland, Northanger Abbey: Sure, her tendency to get swept up in gothic novels leads to trouble (like suspecting her crush’s dad of dastardly deeds)… Still, she’s responsible for one of Jane Austen’s most quoted booklover lines:

2) Tyrion Lannister, A Song of Ice and Fire: Tyrion credits at least a portion of his survival to wits gained through reading. “Sleep is good. And books are better.”

3) Jo March (and her sisters), Little Women: Is there anything better than the March sisters acting out the stories they read, or Jo’s own writing efforts? (Until Amy burns her stories. Curse you, Amy!)

4) Leisel Meminger, The Book Thief: Does this even need explanation?

5) Mori Phelps, Among Others: A girl whose life revolves around interlibrary loans, and who has read pretty much every work of science fiction, ever. I love the fact that this book has its very own book list (put together by fans, I believe) of every book mentioned in the course of the story. See an assortment of bibliography links here on Jo Walton’s website.

And some love for the bookstore owners (and workers):

6) A. J. Fikry, The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry: A man whose entire life can be explained by the books he loves — and whose bookstore is everything I would want in my own bookstore. (review)

7) Chloe Sinclair, The Book of Secrets: Bookstore owner, with a secret past in which book-related clues hold the key to everything. (review)

8) June Andersen, Goodnight June: Owner of a children’s bookstore with a secret connection to Margaret Wise Brown. (review)

9) Maggie Duprès, The Moment of Everything: More bookstores! Gotta love a character who turns from a high-tech job to running a dusty used book store. (review)

10) Jane True, the Jane True series: Jane works in a bookstore with the fabulous name Read It and Weep, and when she’s not learning about her supernatural gifts, she’s busy selling books to the peculiar characters in her small Maine town.

What books about booklovers are on your list this week?

Share your link, 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!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

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!

29Jun2015

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I’ve Read So Far 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 the Top Ten Books I’ve Read So Far In 2015. I love looking back over the year (or in this case, the first half of the year), and seeing the weird and wonderful mix of books that I’ve read.

My top 10 for the 1st half of 2015 includes some new releases, some books from a year or so ago, and some that go way, way back. In case you want to know why these books are on my top 10 list, I’m including the review links for any I’ve reviewed:

1) Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (review)

2) The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant (review)

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

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

5) The Bookseller by Cynthia Swanson (review)

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

7) Winger by Andrew Smith (review)

8) Emma by Jane Austen (re-read via audiobook; no review… but I loved it!)

9) Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (review)

10) The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer (I read most of this series in late 2014, but since I read Fairest in 2015, it counts!) (review)

What are the best books you’ve read so far in 2015?

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!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

22Jun2015

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Favorite TTT Topics!

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, The Broke and the Bookish is celebrating 5 years of Top Ten Tuesdays!

Breaking my own “no GIFs” rule to wish The Broke and The Bookish a very happy 5th anniversary of Top Ten Tuesday!

Congratulations to the blogging team that brings us such a fun weekly gathering place! I always look forward to seeing my blogger friends’ lists, even when I don’t participate. I blame other people’s TTT posts for a big chunk of my out-of-control to-read lists!

In honor of the 5th anniversary, we’re celebrating our favorite Top Ten Tuesday topics. Wheeeeee! Below are some of my favorite top 10 lists, with links included in case you want to check out the original posts that go with. It was hard to stop at just 10 — but here goes:

1) Top ten books when I need something light and fun

2) Top ten books dealing with tough subjects

3) Top ten books I thought I’d like more or less than I did

4) Top ten childhood favorites

5) Top ten books to get in the Halloween mood

6) Top ten things that make my reading & blogging life easier

7) Top ten super long, super funny, or just plain super awesome book titles

8) Top ten TV shows for book lovers (“You watch that? Then read this!”)

9) Top ten characters with essential survival skills

10) Top ten most unique books I’ve read… in five words or less

This little trip down memory lane was fun… and I discovered that I have oodles of TTT posts from my almost three years as a blogger that are a blast to revisit (well, for me, anyway!).

Congrats again to the fine bloggers of TB&TB… wishing you many more!

Raising a glass to five years of TTT!

For all my other blogger buddies — what have been your favorite TTT topics so far?

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!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

15Jun2015

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!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

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!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

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!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

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!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

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!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥