Top Ten Tuesday: 21st Century Books I Think Will Become Classics

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 21st Century Books I Think Will Become Classics.

This is a hard one! And what do we mean by classics anyway? I’m going with ten books that I think will be read and discussed for many years to come — or at least, for some of these, books that I think SHOULD be read and discussed, even if they’re a bit under the radar right now.

My list skews mostly toward science fiction and fantasy, with a couple of others mixed in as well.

Here are my top 10:

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak: I know this one is already being taught in high schools. So beautiful and powerful.
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel: This book probably got a fresh wave of readers thanks to the TV adaptation.
The Song of Achilles by Madeleine Miller: It was hard to choose between this book and Circe! Both are wonderful. It’s so impressive to see classic stories made so fresh and compelling.
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden: Gorgeous storytelling build on Russian fairy tale elements.
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison: Simply my favorite piece of fantasy world-building! Deserves to be much more widely read.
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor: This novella, combinating Afro-futurism and science fiction storytelling, provides a fresh voice in the sci-fi/fantasy world.
Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey: The entire Expanse series is super impressive — a great achievement in the world of science fiction.
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein: Heart-breaking every time I read it, as well as an innovative approach to storytelling.
The Martian by Andy Weir: Geek fiction for the win! This deserves to be a sci-fi classic.
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke: So strange and beautiful. I think this book needs to be read more than once to fully absorb it.

What books made your list this week? Do we have any in common?

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

22Mar2022

Top Ten Tuesday: Books With an Adjective In the Title

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 Books With an Adjective In the Title. To be honest, it’s nice to get a TTT topic that’s relatively easy to do!

Here are my 10:

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth
Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Good Talk by Mira Jacob
Quiet Girl in a Noisy World by Debbie Tung
Not Your Average Hot Guy by Gwenda Bond
An Artificial Night by Seanan McGuire
A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris

What books made your list this week? Share your links, and I’ll come check out your top 10!

15Mar2022

Top Ten Tuesday: Top ten books on my TBR list for spring 2022

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 about our spring 2022 reading plans. So many exciting new books to choose from!

Here are 10 books I’m especially looking forward to this spring:

Leviathan Falls (Expanse #9) by James S. A. Corey
The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi
Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher
The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian
The Emma Project by Sonali Dev
Reputation by Lex Croucher
To Marry and To Meddle by Martha Waters
The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth
Spear by Nicola Griffith
Something Wilder by Christina Lauren

What books will you be reading this spring? Share your links, and I’ll come check out your top 10!

15Feb2022

Top Ten Tuesday: Books Too Good to Review Properly

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 Books Too Good to Review Properly .

I definitely have plenty of these! Many of these are book group books or literary fiction books that impressed me in different ways or are so well-known and written about that I felt like I had nothing to add. And somehow the idea of reviewing a classic (other than by saying — wow, I read this! and I liked it!) seems a little beyond my scope!

In any case, below are ten books that I loved — but apparently had no words when it came to writing a review (other than just handing out 5 stars, of course).

This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
Stardust by Neil Gaiman
Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
Deerskin by Robin McKinley
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

What books made your list this week?

Please share your link so I can check out your top 10!

1Feb2022

Top Ten Tuesday: Books with Character Names in the 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 Books with Names/Character Names In the Titles. I did something similar for a freebie TTT topic several years ago (here), and although it’s tempting, I’m not going to repeat any for today’s list!

Josh & Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren (review)
Gwendy’s Button Box by Richard Chizmar and Stephen King (review)
Cousin Kate by Georgette Heyer
How the Penguins Saved Veronica by Hazel Prior (review)
Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower by Tamsyn Muir (review)
Dava Shastri’s Last Day by Kirthana Ramisetti (review)
Beth & Amy by Virginia Kantra (review)
Velveteen vs the Junior Super Patriots by Seanan McGuire
Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado
Naomi & Ely’s No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

What books made your list this week?

Please share your link so I can check out your top 10!

25Jan2022

Top Ten Tuesday: New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2021

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 New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2021.

There were way more than 10, and it’s so hard to choose favorites… but I’ll go with these ten, whose books I really enjoyed:

Julia Quinn (I read ALL the Bridgerton books!)
Rosie Danan
Sarah Morgenthaler
Crystal Maldonado
Kristen O’Neal
C. Robert Cargill
Adrian Tchaikovsky
William Kent Krueger
Everina Maxwell
Emiko Jean

What new-to-you authors did you discover in 2021? Any particular favorites? Do we have any in common?

Please share your link so I can check out your top 10!

18Jan2022

Top Ten Tuesday: 2021 Releases I Was Excited to Read But Didn’t Get To

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 2021 Releases I Was Excited to Read But Didn’t Get To. So, so many of these!

Here are 10 that fit the topic — all of which I still really want to read!

Have you read any of these? Which ones should I tackle first?

If you posted a TTT list this week, please share your link!

11Jan2022

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Recent Additions to My Book Collection

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 Most Recent Additions to My Book Collection. I did buy a LOT of books at the end of 2021 — but I think I’ve share most of those already.

Usually, I build these posts around my physical books purchases, but to switch things up, here are my 10 most recent additions to my Kindle library:

Have you read any of these? Which ones do you think should be my priorities to read?

If you posted a TTT list this week, please share your link!

4Jan2022

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Books Releasing In the First Half of 2022

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 Most Anticipated Books Releasing In the First Half of 2022. While one of my goals this year is to read the books I already own, I can’t help feeling excited about a bunch of new releases that will be coming my way too!

My 10 most anticipated new releases for the first half of 2022 are:

Where the Drowned Girls Go (Wayward Children, #7) by Seanan McGuire (1/4 — my copy arrives today!)
An Impossible Imposter (Veronica Speedwell, #7) by Deanna Raybourn (2/14)
One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle (3/1)
Spelunking Through Hell (Incryptids, #11) by Seanan McGuire (3/1)
The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi (3/15)
Reputation by Lex Croucher (4/5)
The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth (4/5)
To Marry and to Meddle (The Regency Vows, #3) by Martha Waters (4/5)
Book of Night by Holly Black (5/3)
Tokyo Dreaming by Emiko Jean (5/31)

What new releases are you most looking forward to in 2022? Share your links, and I’ll come check out your top 10!

28Dec2021

Top Ten Tuesday: Best Books I Read In 2021

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 Best Books I Read In 2021.

According to Goodreads, I have over 40 books that I rated 5 stars in 2021! I guess it truly was an excellent year for reading. Excluding all the re-reads in the mix, that still leaves me with way more than 10 — and since this is a situation where my list, my rules apply, I’m going to go with 20 of my favorite reads (and even that hurts my heart, having to leave out so many others!).

In no particular order, my top TWENTY books of 2021:

The Fall of Koli by M. R. Carey: A fabulous wrap-up to a compelling trilogy. (review)
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir: Everyone raved about this book, and with good reason! (review)
The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah: This book about the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression was a tough read, but so moving and powerful. (review)
This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger: Simply a beautifully written historical novel — and yet another reason to be thankful for my book group’s terrific reading choices.
That Summer by Jennifer Weiner: Totally engrossing contemporary fiction. (review)
Flash Fire by TJ Klune: Book #2 in the author’s Extraordinaries YA series moved me to tears and to hysterical bursts of laughter. I love these books. (review)
The Apocalypse Seven by Gene Doucette: I feel like this was an under-the-radar book for 2021, but I thoroughly enjoyed this strange apocalyptic sci-fi tale. (review)
The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline: Another powerful historical novel, with a focus on transportation of British prisoners to Australia. (review)
Emily of New Moon trilogy by L. M. Montgomery: These books are beautiful and optimistic and just all around wonderful. (review)
Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean: This YA novel, kind of like The Princess Diaries but set in Japan, is sweet and funny and just so good. (review)
The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: This author writes in so many genres, and while I’ve enjoyed quite a few of her books, I think this one is my favorite. (review)
The Sweetest Remedy by Jane Igharo: Sensitive and sweet contemporary romance about family and heritage and connecting the past with the present. (review)
Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon: Another great YA read! (review)
The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey: Ooh, this sci-fi thriller really got to me! (review)
Dava Shastri’s Last Day by Kirthana Ramisetti: I’m actually at about 90% as of when I’m writing this post, but I’m loving this book enough to include it on my “best of” list!
Horseman by Christina Henry: Terrific, spooky retelling of the Headless Horseman legend. (review)
So Many Beginnings by Bethany C. Morrow: As the subtitle says, this is a “remix” of Little Women, and it’s wonderful. (review)
Day Zero by C. Robert Cargill: The aftermath of a robot uprising, starring an animatronic tiger nannybot. What more do you really need to know? (review)
A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny: This is going to be my new annual Halloween tradition. (review)
The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Marie Benedict: Fascinating historical fiction about a real event in the life of Agatha Christie. (review)