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 2016. I love this topic! 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) Blake Crouch: I thought Dark Matter was amazing!

2) Shirley Barrett: Author of Rush Oh!, a book that proves that reading about whaling in early 20th century Australia can be loads of fun!

3) Seré Prince Halverson: All the Winters After was one of my favorite books of 2016.

4) Fredrik Backman: I know, I know — A Man Called Ove got so much buzz this year… and I have to admit, it lives up to the hype!

5) Christina Baker Kline: I finally read Orphan Train with my book group, and thought it was wonderful. I look forward to reading more by this author.

6) Amy Stewart: Girl Waits With Gun was one of my favorites this year, and I can’t wait to read the sequel, Lady Cop Makes Trouble.

7) Sally Hepworth: The Things We Keep was such a sad but lovely book. I have the author’s previous novel, The Secrets of Midwives, on my TBR, so that’s one that I’ll need to make a priority in the new year.

8) Amy Schumer: Does Amy Schumer count? I’ve enjoyed her comedy for years, and had a blast with her book, The Girl With The Lower Back Tattoo.

9) Sylvain Neuvel: I thought Sleeping Giants was so inventive! I can’t wait for the next book.

10) Laura Barnett: The Versions of Us is a great take on the Sliding Doors style of storytelling. What if things went one way instead of the other? This book explores the different possible outcomes of a chance meeting and how people’s lives veer off into unexpected directions. Loved it.

I can’t wait to see who I’ll meet in 2017!

Which authors did you discover in 2016? Please leave me your link!

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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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!

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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!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

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!

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 2014. What fun! I “met” so many authors this year for the first time. 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) Erin Lindsay McCabe: One of my very favorite books of 2014 was Erin Lindsay McCabe’s debut novel I Shall Be Near To You. A simply stunning love story set during the Civil War, written with power, grace, and true emotion.

2) Liane Moriarty: I’m thrilled to have discovered this talented Australian writer. In 2014, I read The Husband’s Secret and Big Little Lies, and absolutely want to read more.

3) Jamie Ford: I finally read Jamie Ford’s break-out bestseller, The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, and loved it. I’m really looking forward to reading Songs of Willow Frost in the coming months.

4) Andy Weir: The Martian was one of my biggest surprises this year! I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did.

5) M. R. Carey: Just when I thought the topic of zombies was completely played out, along came The Girl With All The Gifts!

6) Patricia C. Wrede: Thanks to reading with my son, I finally caught up with this children’s author who excels at magical world-building! I enjoyed her Frontier Magic trilogy, and I’m currently 3/4 of the way through her Enchanted Forest Chronicles. I’m looking forward to reading more by this author, especially Sorcery & Cecilia, which people have been recommending to me for years.

7) Mur Lafferty: If you like your paranormal fiction on the light and snarky side, then check out Mur Lafferty’s two very funny books, The Shambling Guide to New York City and The Ghost Train to New Orleans. The conceit wears a tiny bit thin by the second book, but I still had a lot of fun with both.

8) Andrew Smith: Grasshopper Jungle was one of the weirdest books I read in 2014 — and I loved it. I haven’t read anything else by this author yet, but I intend to.

9) Alexander McCall Smith: Okay, here I’m extremely late to the party — but I finally read The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, and thought it was terrific! I picked up a stack of books from the series at a used book sale this fall, and I look forward to reading these on and off during the coming year.

10) Nomi Eve: Henna House is moving and lovely, and I’m looking forward to reading it again when my book club reads it in 2015.

I can’t wait to see who I’ll meet in 2015!

Which authors did you discover in 2014?

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

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 2013. What fun! I “met” so many authors this year for the first time. 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) Bee Ridgway: One of my very favorite books of 2013 was Bee Ridgway’s debut novel The River of No Return. It’s time travel plus historical fiction plus secret societies plus mystery plus romance… seriously, just overall excellent and so worth reading! I can’t wait for the sequel!

2) Rainbow Rowell: 2013 seems to have been the year of Rainbow Rowell! Eleanor & Park got everyone’s attention, and then we all gobbled up Attachments and Fangirl as well. Wonderful characters, wonderful writing!

3) Graeme Simsion: The Rosie Project made me so happy! I happened to read this terrific books right in the midst of a bunch of particularly dark reading choices, and I then went on to pretty much force The Rosie Project into the hands of everyone I know.

4) Hilary Mantel: Call me late to the party, but I’d never made time for Hilary Mantel’s award winning Tudor-era books until I went on vacation this past summer. Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies are simply amazing literary accomplishments. And now I know what all the hoopla was about!

5) Jasper Fforde: Another one of those authors that I always thought I’d enjoy, but just never got around to… until this year! I finally read The Eyre Affair, and thought it was great fun. The Tuesday Next series is definitely one I’ll keep coming back to.

6) Brian K. Vaughan: I’m just in awe. I love this man’s inventiveness and the skill he uses in laying out a complex story through the medium of graphic novels. Y: The Last Man is one of the best series I’ve ever read, and I really enjoyed the first two volumes in his new Saga series as well.

7) Gayle Forman: I loved Just One Day and Just One Year, and now really want to go back and read her earlier books, If I Stay and Where She Went.

8) William Kuhn: Mrs. Queen Takes The Train is a delight. I look forward to whatever he writes next!

9) Jojo Moyes: The Girl You Left Behind was my first Jojo Moyes book, but it certainly won’t be my last! I’ve recently picked up copies of Me Before You and The Last Letter From Your Lover, and can’t wait to read them both.

10) C. S. Lewis: Talk about old school! Finally, I’ve been to Narnia. After a woefully deficient childhood, this was the year when I made up for what I was missing by reading the seven Narnia books with my son. And even though we probably could have skipped the last one, all in all I’d say the series was a big success for both of us.

Which authors did you discover in 2013?

I can’t wait to see who I’ll meet in 2014!

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