Top 5 Tuesday: Top 5 “old” authors of 2024

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.

This week’s topic is Top 5 old authors of 2024, and the prompt is: This was a newbie wrap up topic last year, but you guys loved it!! Tell us about your fave authors you read books from this year who you’ve previously read books by.

Fun idea! Sorry to the authors I’m calling “old”!! You know what I mean… Here are five not-new-to-me authors whose books I read this year:

1: Abby Jimenez

Read in 2024:

The Friend Zone
The Happy Ever After Playlist
Life’s Too Short

Previously read:

Part of Your World
Yours Truly
Just for the Summer

2: Suzanne Allain

Read in 2024:

The Ladies Rewrite the Rules
Miss Lattimore’s Letter
The Wrong Lady Meets Lord Right

Previously read:

Mr. Malcolm’s List

3: Rachel Harrison

Read in 2024:

The Veil
So Thirsty
The Return

Previously read:

Cackle
Such Sharp Teeth
Black Sheep

4: Kelly Armstrong

Read in 2024:

Finding Mr. Write
I’ll Be Waiting
Disturbing the Dead
Schemes & Scandals

Previously read:

A Stitch in Time series (four books plus novellas)
A Rip Through Time series (books 1 and 2)

5: Lev AC Rosen

Read in 2024:

Rough Pages
Camp
Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts)

Previously read:

Lavender House series (books 1 and 2)
Depth
All Men of Genius
Emmett

I could go on — looking at my 2024 reading list, I see so many authors who’ve been on my reading lists in previous years! But I’ll stop at five. These are all authors I can count on for great reading!

Which “old” authors did you enjoy in 2024?

3Dec2024

Tuesday’s topic: Favorite book covers from 2024

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Lately, I’ve been bouncing back and forth for my Tuesday posts, switching between the Top Ten Tuesday and Top Five Tuesday memes, depending on their topics for the week. This week, I’m doing them both!!

First up… Top Ten Tuesday:

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 freebie… and since I like the Top 5 Tuesday topic this week, I’ll use it for both memes.

And speaking of Top 5 Tuesday:

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

This week’s topic is Top 5 covers of 2024, and the prompt is: What are some of your favourite covers that you have seen this year? Maybe these were reprints, redesigns or alternate covers that came out this year, or maybe they are brand new books!! Whatever they are, tell us all the pretties you have been coveting.

For my list of favorite covers, I’m looking at books I’ve read in 2024 — not necessarily books published in 2024. (My list, my rules!)

Here’s a selection of covers I loved this past year:

Weyward by Emilia Hart
The Answer is No by Fredrik Backman
Schemes & Scandals by Kelley Armstrong
The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler
Until Next Summer by Ali Brady
The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong
Hula by Jasmin Iolani Hakes
Camp by L. C. Rosen
The Guncle by Steven Rowley
The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer

What do you think of my cover choices? Do any particularly catch your eye? What were your favorite book covers this past year?

Also, I’d love to know what freebie topics other people came up with!

If you posted a list for TTT or T5T, please share your link!

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26Nov2024

Top Ten Tuesday: Thankful titles (a Thanksgiving freebie)

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 Thanksgiving Freebie — we choose our own topic related to Thanksgiving.

After playing around with a few different options, I decided to go with books that express some sort of thanks, gratitude, or good cheer in their titles. Here’s my list of 10 11 (sticking to ten has gotten hard for me!):

Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan
Thank You for Sharing by Rachel Kunya Katz
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish by Douglas Adams
Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? by Dr. Seuss
Thank You, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse
The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord
The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith
Yours Cheerfully by AJ Pearce
All Things Wise and Wonderful by James Herriot
Joy in the Morning by Betty Smith

Can you think of other books with “thankful” titles?

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

Wishing everyone a very happy Thanksgiving!

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19Nov2024

Top Ten Tuesday: Oldest (aka Earliest Published) Books On My TBR

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 Oldest (aka Earliest Published) Books On My TBR.

At first, I went to my Goodreads to-read shelf to sort by publication year and look for the earliest, but then realized that I was missing many of the classics I want to get to. So… I went to my handy-dandy Excel spreadsheet (yes, I’m an Excel nerd!) dedicated to my future classics reading, and then did a little mixing and matching.

The results originally showed a few instances of multiple books by the same author, and I made the executive decision to limit it to one book each. In the end, it was very hard to whittle the list down, so…

Here is my list of 10 12 of the oldest books on my to-read shelf!

Belinda by Maria Edgeworth (1801)
Waverley by Sir Walter Scott (1814)
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818)
The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper (1826)
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte (1848)
Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1862)
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (1850)
The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot (1860)
Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne (1872)
Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott (1875)
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell (1877)
The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy (1878)

Note: I’ve read Frankenstein, but it was so long ago that I feel a reread is needed!

Have you read any of the books on my list? Any thoughts or recommendations?

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

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12Nov2024

Top Ten Tuesday: Destination Titles

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 Destination Titles, and the prompt is titles with name of places in them. These places can be real or fiction!

I’m going with real place names, and have found more than expected on my shelves!

Here is my selection of 10 destination titles:

Moloka’i by Alan Brennert
The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem by Sarit Yishai-Levi (review)
My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan (review)
South Pole Station by Ashley Shelby (review)
The Paris Diversion by Chris Pavone (review)
The Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore (review)
Letters from Skye by Jessica Brockmole (review)
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
The Shambling Guide to New York City by Mur Lafferty (review)
Denali‘s Howl by Andy Hall

What destinations made your list this week?

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

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5Nov2024

Top Ten Tuesday: Books with BOOKSTORES on the cover

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 Covers with [Item] on the Cover (You choose the item! It can be anything at all.)

Last time this topic came up for a TTT post, I went with books on the cover… and this time I’m doing books with bookstores on the cover. So, yeah, I’m not particularly thinking outside the box here!

Without further ado, my bookstore book covers are:

Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan (review)
The Bookshop of Second Chances by Jackie Fraser (review)
The Bookshop on the Shore by Jenny Colgan (review)
The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan
Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree (review)
84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted by Robert Hillman (review)
The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald
Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa
Better Than Fiction by Alexa Martin (review)

Yes, that’s three by Jenny Colgan! What can I say? Her bookshop books are hard to resist!

I’ve read all of the above except #6 and #9, and both are on my to-read list.

Do you have any great books to recommend with bookshops on the cover?

What was your cover topic this week? If you wrote a TTT post, please share your link!

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5Nov2024

Top 5 Tuesday: (Freebie) A handful of books for election day

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.

This week’s topic is a Freebie — we choose our own topics! Since it’s election day today, and it’s hard to think about anything else, I thought I’d go with a list of books that all tie into voting, the presidency, or elections in some way.

Our War by Craig DiLouie
Election by Tom Perotta
Slapstick by Kurt Vonnegut
Primary Colors by Anonymous
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72 by Hunter S. Thompson

What was your freebie topic today?

29Oct2024

Halloween posts for Tuesday!

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Lately, I’ve been bouncing back and forth for my Tuesday posts, alternating between the Top Ten Tuesday and Top Five Tuesday memes, depending on their topics for the week. This week, both are Halloween themed… so I’m doing them both!!

First up… it’s Top Ten Tuesday:

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 (updated for 2024). 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.

Noted with shame: Some of these books were on my Halloween horror TBR list last year! So, you know, I’m not exactly great at following through…

Still, here are a bunch I really do want to get to… including a few upcoming 2025 new books.

Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
Dread Nation by Justine Ireland
The Changeling by Victor Lavalle
Diavola by Jennifer Thorne
Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong
The Return by Rachel Harrison
Cutting Teeth by Chandler Baker
Overgrowth by Mira Grant (upcoming 2025 new release)
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix (upcoming 2025 new release)
My Ex, the Antichrist by Craig DiLouie (upcoming 2025 new release)

Are any of these on your TBR too? Which ones look best to you? And if you’ve read any, let me know what you thought!

Next, let’s take a look at this week’s Top 5 Tuesday:

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

This week’s topic is Top 5 books to recommend for Halloween, and the prompt is: It’s trick or treat time — are you going to tell us your best scary books or cutesy Halloween tales?

My picks are mainly ghost stories, plus a funny/clever fantasy that I reread every October!

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The Uninvited by Cat Winters (review)
The Veil by Rachel Harrison (review)
Thornhill by Pam Smy (review)
I’ll be Waiting by Kelley Armstrong (review)
A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny (review) — I’m reading this one again right now! Such a fun annual tradition.

What books do you recommend for Halloween? I love a good ghost story — do you have any favorites? Save

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In case it’s not obvious, I’ll probably be spending my Halloween with my nose in a book! Wishing you all a happy Halloween, whatever you’ll be doing!Save

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22Oct2024

Top 5 Tuesday: Top 5 orange books

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.

This week’s topic is Top 5 orange books, and the prompt is: Earlier this year we did yellow books and red books, but it’s now time for Halloween. What are your favourite orange covered books?

What fun… and a great excuse to shuffle books on my bookshelves and check out all the covers! I ended up with more orange books than I expected to find — here are five that stand out:

There There by Tommy Orange (even the author’s name fits the theme!)
Never Fall for Your Fiancé by Virginia Heath
The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston
Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
Ravensong by TJ Klune

Definitely getting a fall vibe from all these!

What orange books are on your shelves?

15Oct2024

Top 5 Tuesday: Top 5 non-human characters

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.

This week’s topic is Top 5 non-human characters, and the prompt is: So many books have non-human characters — animals or supernatural creatures… maybe even a park bench. Who are your favourite non-human characters?

It’s hard to narrow these down to just five, since there are so many to choose from! Here are five I love:

Mosscap (robot) — A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers: I love everything about Mosscap (full name: Splendid Speckled Mosscap), and this book and its sequel are just so wonderful.
S.T. (crow) — Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton: A crow narrating a post-apocalyptic story with plenty of attitude. Awesome.
Viv (orc) — Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree: An orc, retired from her fighting days, who dreams about a peaceful life with good coffee.
Matthew de Clermont (vampire) — All Souls series by Deborah Harkness: There are any number of great vampires in fiction, but Matthew is so suave and smart that he consistently makes my list of favorites.
Alien (unnamed) — The Humans by Matt Haig: This non-human visitor to our world takes the form of an earthling and learns important truths about being human. Such a great book.

I feel like this list just scratches the surface — I haven’t even included my favorite dogs of fiction! Dogs, cats, horses, and more… they’ll have to wait for another list!

What (or who) are your favorite non-human characters in fiction?