Top Ten Tuesday: The soundtrack of my reading life

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 has to do with books and music, and since the suggested approach didn’t really call to me, I thought I’d put my own spin on it.

My TTT list this week is about my reading habits, as described by 10 songs:

1) The Sounds of Silence: There’s nothing I like better than having a quiet room to read in. No music, no TV, no people… just me, a book, and maybe some birdsong or rain sounds coming in through the windows.

2) Forever Young: I’m a fully grown adult, but I keep coming back to YA fiction. There’s something so immediate and emotional about YA books, isn’t there?

3) Time Warp: Time travel books are always a favorite.

4) Walking on the Moon: I love to read anything about space travel, whether sci fi, or non-fiction about the space program, or even astronauts’ memoirs.

5) Thrift Shop: Nothing better than a used book store for spending a few hours lost among the stacks! My best finds are all from used book stores.

6) Time After Time: I do love to re-read! If I really and truly love a book, then once is never enough.

7) (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction: I try, and I try, and I try, and I try… but sometimes there’s no choice but to DNF.

8) Let the Sunshine In: One of my very favorite things to do is read outdoors on a sunny day. A blanket in the sun, or sitting somewhere on the grass, with clear blue skies and the sun on my face… bliss!

9) All You Need Is Love: Because even though I don’t read much in the romance genre, I’m still a sucker for a great, momentous, unforgettable love story.

10) Where Do We Go From Here?: Okay, this one might be a stretch — but if you’re a Buffy fan, then no doubt you’ve watched the season 6 musical episode (“Once More With Feeling”) a time or two (or a couple of dozen times, if you’re like me)… in which case, you absolutely know this song (and maybe sing along???). So where do we go from here… is what I ask myself every single time I finish a great book and just can’t imagine what to read next.

What was your musical theme this week? Share your link, 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 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!

9Nov2015

Top Ten Tuesday: Top ten book-to-movie adaptations that I can’t wait to see

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 movie (or TV) adaptations of books which we really want to see. My list is a bit of a mix: Some here are movie/TV adaptations that I’ve finally seen, some are movies that are already out that I just haven’t gotten to, and a few are movies/TV adaptations that are coming up in the next year that I’m really looking forward to.

Recently seen:

1) The Martian by Andy Weir: Finally saw it this past weekend! I loved the book, and I was really wondering whether the movie would do it justice… but I thought it was terrific! Hint: See it while it’s still in theaters — this is a movie that needs the big screen/3D experience!

2) North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell: Even though the BBC mini-series is from 2004, I’d never seen it before this week. I loved the book, and thought the TV version was beautifully done. And also: Richard Armitage. Need I say more?

Need to see:

3) Room by Emma Donoghue: The book was powerful and painful, and so even though the movie version looks like it’s really well done, I’m a little hesitant about sitting through it.

4) Still Alice by Lisa Genova: Another tough subject, which is probably why I’ve held off on seeing the movie, even though I’ve heard such good things about it.

Still to come:

5) Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them by J. K. Rowling: It’ll be interesting to see how a Hogwarts textbook gets turned into a full-length movie! The early photos certainly make it seem intriguing.

6) Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith: Jane Austen and zombies, oh my! I think the trailer looks awesome.

7) 11/22/63 by Stephen King: I loved, loved, loved this book. The TV series airs in February 2016 on Hulu, starring James Franco, and I just hope it sticks to the book!

11-22-63

8) Me Before You by Jojo Moyes: The movie version is due out in March 2016, starring Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin.

9) Into the Forest by Jean Hegland: I had no idea there was going to be a movie version until I started researching this post! I loved the book, so this is super exciting. The movie premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September, but so far, I haven’t found a US release date. Let’s go with 2016, shall we?

And finally…

Why haven’t I ever seen this at any point in my life?

10) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: I don’t know what was wrong with my upbringing, but clearly something was deficient, because I never, ever saw the movie version of To Kill a Mockingbird, and that’s just not okay. Adult me needs to fix this.

What movie adaptations are you most excited about? Let me know in the comments, and 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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21Sep2015

Top Ten Tuesday: Top ten books on my TBR list for fall 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 on our fall to-be-read lists. Sigh… I love these TBR topics. Ten books that I want to read? No problem.

New books, recently released and soon to be released:

1) The Marvels by Brian Selznick

2) The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood

3) Saga, volume 5 by Brian K. Vaughan

4) The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss by Max Wirestone

5) Until We Meet Again by Renee Collins

6) The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher

And some books that I’ve had for a while, but need to actually read:

7) The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

8) Depth by Lev AC Rosen

9) Lock In by John Scalzi

10) And wrapping it all up, I want to finally get to one of the three Austen Project books currently sitting on my shelves:

One more for good luck? Why not? I got all the way to ten, and realized I forgot to include a book that I’m really looking forward to:

So, there you have it — my top ELEVEN reading projects for fall 2015. What books are on your fall TBR list? Share your link, 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 features, Shelf Control and Thursday Quotables. Happy reading!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

14Sep2015

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten books over 1,000 pages… and yes, I’ve read them!

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 is a FREEBIE week, meaning we can choose our own Top Ten topic, whatever strikes our fancy.

I came up with a bunch of ideas, but then thought I’d keep it simple and go by the numbers — in this case, page numbers. I can’t say for sure that these are absolutely the ten longest books I’ve ever read, since it was hard to be certain if I was always comparing similar editions. For consistency’s sake, whenever possible, I’m using the page count from the mass market paperback edition, just to get an apples-to-apples comparison — but I can’t be 100% sure that I’ve always picked the right version. So let’s just say that my figures are using the *close enough* standard…

Without further ado, here are (according to Goodreads) ten of the longest books I’ve ever read:

1. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (1,463 pages)

2. The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon (1, 443 pages)

3. A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon (1,439 pages)

4. A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin (1,177 pages)

5. The Stand by Stephen King (1,167 pages)

6. Shogun by James Clavell (1,210 pages)

7. War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk (1,056 pages)

8. The Witching Hour by Anne Rice (1,038 pages)

9. Hawaii by James Michener (1,036 pages)

10. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell (1,011 pages)

Honorable mention: In some cases, it was really too close to call. Depending on the edition, I could also easily have included:

A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon
It or Under the Dome by Stephen King
Alaska by James Michener
The Autobiography of Henry VIII by Margaret George
The Far Pavilions by M. M. Kaye

What’s the longest book you’ve ever read? Let me know if we have any of these HUGE books in common.

And hey — what was your freebie topic this week? Share your links, please, and I’ll come check out your top 10!

NEW THIS WEEK! I’m starting a new Wednesday Feature… please come back tomorrow and check it out!

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!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

8Sep2015

Coming soon… Shelf Control!

Posted in The Reading Life by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Thank you to one and all who voted in my poll over the weekend to help me choose a title for my new weekly feature here at Bookshelf Fantasies.

Drumroll, please…

We have a name!

I’m excited to introduce you to…

Up to now, my Wednesday posts (Wishing & Waiting on Wednesday) — inspired by Waiting on Wednesday and Wishlist Wednesday — have been focused on upcoming new releases, highlighting not-yet-published books that I want to read. And while I’ll never run out of those, I’m realizing more and more that I need to regroup and focus on the books I already have. (Want to know more? Check out my recent post, Counting up the books).

With that in mind, I’m bouncing with joy as I introduce Shelf Control. My Shelf Control feature will run each Wednesday (starting next week) — and much like my Wishing & Waiting posts, will focus on a book that I really want to read. But with a catch!

What’s the catch? Quite simple. My Shelf Control picks will be books that I already own — either physical copies from my overflowing shelves, or one of the many unread titles elbowing each other out of the way on my Kindle.

I was originally thinking of this as something I’d do myself each week, but based on some comments received, it sounds like there might be interest out there for others to join in! So, I’ll be adding in a linky tool, and would love to share the love!

I’m looking forward to highlighting some of the goodies from my shelves… and I’m hoping this will give me the added motivation to start focusing on reading books I already have!

Because some days, when I look at my shelves, I worry that I’ll end up like this:

See you next week for Shelf Control!

7Sep2015

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten completed series that I never finished reading

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 Finished Series I Have YET to Finish.

Well, I have plenty of those. And this is why I’m trying not to start new series, at least not while they’re still in progress. Because I lose interest between books, or just never care enough in the first place to continue — or by the time the next book comes out, I’d have to go back and re-read the earlier ones to remember what’s happened, and who has time for that?

My top ten didn’t-finish-’em series (with pictures of the book I’d need to read next, if I ever ended up reading further):

1. Locke & Key by Joe Hill: This one is a crying shame, and I swear I will finish! I absolutely adored this scary, creepy graphic novel series, and I’ve read five of the six volumes. But when #6 came out, I thought I should read #1 – 5 again first so that I’d fully appreciate the grand finale… and then I just didn’t make time for it. So, I do intend to finish reading this series. This year, maybe?

2. The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. I read the first three books in the series and thought they were great, then decided to take a little break — and I’ve just never gone back. No particular reason, except that every time I picked up the 4th book, I’d always find something else I was more in the mood to read at that moment. Someday, perhaps.

3. Birthright series by Gabrielle Zevin: I liked the first two books well enough, but by the time the third came out, I just didn’t have the story on my mind any more, and didn’t feel a need to go back to it.

4. Mara Dyer series by Michelle Hodkin: This was a weird one for me. I really liked the first book, started the 2nd, and just didn’t feel at all drawn into the story. I ended up DNFing the 2nd book, and haven’t been curious enough to give it another try.

5. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series by Stieg Larsson: I finished the first book, but hated it, and had no interest at all in reading any further.

6. The Finishing School series by Gail Carriger: This one isn’t a perfect fit for the topic, since the final book doesn’t come out until November. I adored the Parasol Protectorate series, but after reading the 1st book in this YA series (Etiquette and Espionage), I decided I’d pass. I didn’t particularly enjoy the main character or the younger tone, and I haven’t heard anything yet about the rest of the series that’s been enough to make me want to give it another try.

7. Inheritance Cycle by Chris Paolini: I read Eragon as a joint reading project with my son, and I thought we’d continue with the rest of the books. But as he doesn’t seem interested in the 2nd book, Eldest, I’m not going to bother either. I didn’t really enjoy Eragon all that much, and I’d only continue if I had my kiddo to share the experience with.

8.Sally Lockhart Quartet by Philip Pullman: This one was not intentional. I read The Ruby in the Smoke after picking it up at a used book sale and really liked it, but since I didn’t have the next book, I forgot about it for a while. I would like to finish the series, but I’d have to start over again from the beginning.

9. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams: I read three (or perhaps four?) of these books way back when, and I know I have at least one more to go. Maybe I just didn’t have the remaining one(s) at that time? I have no idea why I never finished, because I adore these books!

10. The Last Werewolf trilogy by Glen Duncan: I really liked the first two (ultra violent and bloody) books in this trilogy, and I do have the 3rd… but just haven’t felt like reading it yet. To be honest, I’m not sure I care enough anymore to go back to this story, and I’m not sure why. Still, I do own the book, so I’m not ruling it out!

Do we have any unfinished series in common? Or can you convince me to give any on my list another try?

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

NEW THIS WEEK! I’m starting a new Wednesday Feature… please come back tomorrow and check it out!

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!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥