Top Ten Tuesday: New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2024

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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 2024.

I did a Top 5 Tuesday post on this same topic at the end of December… but there are so many new-to-me authors I enjoyed in 2024, so why not highlight even more? Check out my previous post, here, and don’t miss the T5T fun with Meeghan Reads!

First, here are the five new-to-me authors I features on my T5T post:

  1. Carley Fortune — I’ve now read all three of her available novels!
  2. Ali Brady — Same — three read, eagerly awaiting a new release!
  3. Meg Shaffer – Read two!
  4. Emilia Hart – Read one, waiting for her upcoming release in March
  5. Julie Leong – Read her debut, and hope there are more books soon to come

And now, even more! Here are ten more new-to-me authors I read in 2024 — all of whom are authors whose books I’ll be looking for in the future as well:

  1. Douglas Preston
  2. Ayelet Tsabari
  3. Holly Gramazio
  4. Ray Nayler
  5. Sarah Beth Durst
  6. Toshikazu Kawaguchi
  7. Katherine Rundell
  8. Alexa Martin
  9. Hildur Knutsdottir
  10. Virginia Heath

Which new-to-you authors did you discover in 2024?

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

Top Ten Tuesday: The Ten Most Recent Additions to My Kindle Library

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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 The Ten Most Recent Additions to My Book Collection.

I’ve bought a few hardcover editions of favorite books over the last several weeks, but since those are all books that I’ve already read (and in some cases, already have in my e-library), I thought I’d focus on my greatest buying temptation: Kindle books. I can’t resist a good Kindle price break, even though the result is having more e-books than I have time to read. It’s not the worst problem to have!

Here are the ten Kindle books I’ve added most recently:

  1. Burn by Peter Heller
  2. Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce
  3. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
  4. One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware
  5. Ready or Not by Cara Bastone
  6. Says Who? by Anne Curzan
  7. The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters
  8. The Glory by Herman Wouk
  9. The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry
  10. There’s Something About Mira by Sonali Dev

Have you read any of my recent additions? What books have you bought most recently?

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

Top Ten Tuesday & Top 5 Tuesday: Bookish Goals for 2025

It’s Tuesday… the listiest day of the week!

I enjoy two different Tuesday memes, and once again, their topics align this week — so I’m linking up with both.

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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 Bookish Goals for 2025, with the prompt: How many books do you want to read this year? Are you hoping to read outside your comfort zone? Are there books you meant to read last year but never got to? Are there new-to-you authors you’re hoping to read?

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Meeghan Reads — and the topic is Top 5 bookish resolutions for 2025, with the prompt: What are 5 bookish resolutions you want to achieve in 2025? Any reading challenges you will be signing up for? Or would you like to focus on a specific genre or diversity to read more from? (Click here to see Meeghan’s upcoming T5T topics for January – March)

Isn’t it great when Tuesday topics fit together? I’m not necessarily answering their specific prompt questions — focusing more on my reading and book-shelving habits than on the specific books I want to read. (And not that much has changed from this time last year — I could probably just copy and paste my entire post from 2024 and call it a day!)

My goals are less about numbers, genres, or challenges. Instead, I’ll talk about my intentions: I intend to improve some of my reading and bookish habits, although my focus may shift during the year. Below are goals (intentions) that I’ll try to keep in mind as 2025 rolls along.

Read whatever I feel like, as much as I can. I say this every year… and every year it’s worth repeating! I’m always happiest when I read without a plan. It’s a wonderful feeling! Apart from ARCs and book group books, this is the approach that works for me… which is why I tend not to participate in very few (if any) reading challenges.

Keep ARC requests manageable, and keep up with the ARCs I’ve committed to. I’m a little over-extended for the first few months of 2025, but once I read all my February and March ARCs, my commitments should be much more under control. I intend to slow down on requesting any additional ARCs, other than ARCs for books I intend to read upon release no matter what.

Plan ahead to make time for my book group books. We have our book-of-the-month picks all set for 2025, and I’d like to be more thoughtful about planning my reading time so I include these books without feeling pressure or worrying about deadlines.

Commit to reading (or sampling) my priority series for 2025, which I highlighted in my series-to-read post for this year.

Keep my Goodreads challenge goal realistic. I’ve ended up exceeding my Goodreads challenge goal during each of the past several years, but that has a lot to do with including graphic novels and children’s books in the mix. Which is great, and I love when that happens, but I don’t want to assume it’ll be true every year. I’m starting with a more modest number to keep the pressure off and allow time for reading bigger books too, if I feel like it. And if I find myself ahead of target by mid-year, I can always adjust to a more ambitious goal.

Remember to note the format of the books I read. This isn’t a big deal, but I’ve been noticing that I tend to read certain genres via audiobook and others via print, and I probably should say which is which in my reviews. Not that it truly matters, but the audio experience can be very different than the print experience, and even just for my own reference, I’d like to be more consistent about classifying books correctly.

Continue finding time for classics. I’ve been participating in the Classics Club spins for the past couple of years, which I love — but I have a big list of classics yet to read, and I’d like to carve out some time for at least one or two outside of the “spin cycle”.

Continue to pare down the number of physical books on my shelves, and be mindful about which I keep and which I send on their way. 2024 was the year where one of my dreams came true, and I finally installed my very own Little Free Library. I’ve begun sorting my many, many books into keepers and non-keepers. For the ones I no longer feel the need to own, I’m trying to sell the ones in best condition on Pango Books, and most of the others are going into the LFL.

Do a big audiobook reread: I’ve been wanting to do an audio re-read of the Green Creek series by TJ Klune. I haven’t started yet — the books are long, and I only want to start when I know I’ll have both the time and the focus to listen to the four books in the series straight through.

What are your bookish goals for 2025? Whatever they may be… wishing you lots of bookish delights!

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2025

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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 2025.

Despite good intentions (read more from my shelves! request fewer ARCs!), I find myself with an absolute TON of ARCs and preorders for new books releasing over the next few months. Yes, I’m looking forward to reading them all (that’s why I requested/ordered them!), but it feels like a lot to keep up with, no matter how amazing they’ll all be.

Still — I really am excited about reading these upcoming new releases!

Here are (just some of) the books I can’t wait to read in the first half of 2025:

Listed in order of release date:

  1. The Sirens by Emilia Hart (3/4/2025)
  2. The Tomb of Dragons (Cemeteries of Amalo, #3) by Katherine Addison (3/11/2025)
  3. The Martian Contingency (Lady Astronaut, #4) by Mary Robinette Kowal (3/18/2025)
  4. When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi (3/25/2025)
  5. Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez (4/1/2025)
  6. Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (4/22/2025)
  7. Overgrowth by Mira Grant (5/6/2025)
  8. Death at a Highland Wedding (A Rip Through Time, #4) by Kelley Armstrong (5/20/2025)
  9. Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (6/3/2025)
  10. The Battle of the Bookstores by Ali Brady (6/3/2024)
  11. One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune (5/22/2025)

Yes, that’s eleven, not ten: I just couldn’t decide which one to drop!

What upcoming new releases are you most excited for? If you wrote a TTT post, please share your link!

Top Ten Tuesday & Top 5 Tuesday: Favorite books of 2024

It’s that day of the week again…

I enjoy two different Tuesday memes, and once again, their topics align this week — so I’m linking up with both!

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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 2024.

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Meeghan Reads — and the topic is Top 5 books of 2024.

Since we have a top 10 and a top 5, why not combine and list my Top 15 Books of 2024? (That’s actually easier, in a way — fewer hard decisions to make!)

I could have added even more — but I’ll stop at 15. I’m including a mix of genres and topics; some serious books, some upbeat or funny or romantic — but all are books that I really enjoyed and that I’m especially happy to have read!

Without further ado…

Here are my 15 favorite books from my 2024 reading:

  1. The Women by Kristen Hannah
  2. The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden
  3. The Guncle by Steven Rowley
  4. The Ladies Rewrite the Rules by Suzanne Allain
  5. The Secret Countess by Eva Ibottson
  6. Disturbing the Dead by Kelley Armstrong
  7. My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan
  8. The Husbands by Holly Gramazio
  9. The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer
  10. A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher
  11. Songs for the Broken Hearted by Ayelet Tsabari
  12. Close Knit by Jenny Colgan
  13. The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern by Lynda Cohen Loigman
  14. Every Summer After by Carley Fortune
  15. Weyward by Emilia Hart

What were your favorite reads of 2024? Do we have any in common? If you wrote a TTT or T5T post, please share your link!

Top Ten Tuesday & Top 5 Tuesday: Books on my wishlist (winter 2024)

It’s that day of the week again…

I enjoy two different Tuesday memes, and this week, their topics align — so I’m linking up with both!

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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 I Hope Santa Brings/Bookish Wishes. There’s a prompt to include a link to our book wishlists, so people can grant wishes if they choose to — but honestly, I’m not particularly comfortable with that, so I’ll just list a bunch of books that I hope the Book Fairy brings!

Also… as I’ve mentioned in past years, Santa doesn’t visit my house… but I do enjoy looking at new books by the light of my menorah!

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 I want for Jolabokaflod, and the prompt is: The year we were travelling Europe for Christmas is the year I discovered Jolabokaflod — the Icelandic tradition of giving books as gifts on Christmas Eve. Which is honestly like the greatest tradition I’ve ever seen. So, which books would you like to receive if you celebrated Jolabokaflod?

Honestly, I love this question, and I think celebrating Jolabokaflod is going to have to become my family’s next/newest holiday tradition!

Getting down to business…

Here are my top bookish wishes this holiday season!

  1. A Darkness Absolute by Kelley Armstrong: This is the 2nd Rockton book, and I’d be happy to own any and all volumes in the series!
  2. The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon: An upcoming book group read.
  3. I’ll Be Waiting by Kelley Armstrong: I’ve already read this book as an ARC, but would love to have a hardcover edition for my shelves. A signed copy would be even better!
  4. The Mercy of Gods by James S. A. Corey: Another that I’ve read in e-book format — but a hardcover would go so well with my Expanse series books.
  5. The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore by Evan Friss: I don’t tend to buy myself non-fiction books, but I think this one would be a great gift to receive.
  6. Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell: This book has gotten so much buzz this year, and after reading a different book by this author, I’m eager to check it out.
  7. You Like It Darker by Stephen King: I usually try to keep up with Stephen King’s new releases, except when they’re story collections. Still, I wouldn’t say no if this showed up at my house!
  8. The Morning Gift by Eva Ibbotson: There are actually a bunch of books by this author that I’d like to read.
  9. The Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis: I’ve been wanting to get my hands on this book since I first heard of it, but I’ve been waiting (and waiting, and waiting) for the Kindle or hardcover price to drop.
  10. The Bewitching Hour by Ashley Poston: It’s a Buffy prequel! About Tara! I don’t think I’d buy it, but I’d be happy if it fell into my lap (and if not, there’s always the library).

What books are you wishing for? If you wrote a TTT or T5T post, please share your link!

Top Ten Tuesday: Top ten books on my TBR list for winter 2024/2025

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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 on My Winter 2024-2025 to-Read List.

I’ll have a slew of new releases and ARCs to read from about February onward, but before then, I’m going to try to focus on books I’ve been meaning to get to for a while… with maybe one or two new releases mixed in as well.

My top 10 books on my winter TBR:

  1. The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley: I keep saying this is a priority read, and yet I still haven’t read it! I’d like to get to it before the end of 2024… but the clock is ticking.
  2. The Naturalist Society by Carrie Vaughn: A new release from a favorite author! I haven’t seen any chatter about it yet, but it sounds so interesting.
  3. The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer: Another one I’ve been wanting to get to. I loved this author’s more recent book, The Lost Story.
  4. Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear by Seanan McGuire: The 10th Wayward Children book will be released in January. I’m always up for another book in this series.
  5. Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix: Upcoming new release for January. I love the sound of it.
  6. The Bones Beneath My Skin by TJ Klune: This backlist title is being reissued (with a gorgeous new cover) in Februrary — meanwhile, I have the Kindle version, and can’t wait to dive in.
  7. The Truth According to Ember by Danica Nava: My library hold is (finally) almost ready!
  8. Hogfather by Terry Pratchett: It’s been a while since I’ve picked up a Discworld book, but this one seems like a great choice for this time of year!
  9. Ready or Not by Cara Bastone: I stumbled across a description of this romance, and it caught my attention… and was available from the library when I went looking for it.
  10. A Darkness Absolute by Kelley Armstrong: This is the 2nd book in the Rockton series; I’m about 50% through with book #1 (City of the Lost), and I know I’ll want to keep going!

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

Tuesday’s topic: Favorite book covers from 2024

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:

  1. Weyward by Emilia Hart
  2. The Answer is No by Fredrik Backman
  3. Schemes & Scandals by Kelley Armstrong
  4. The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler
  5. Until Next Summer by Ali Brady
  6. The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong
  7. Hula by Jasmin Iolani Hakes
  8. Camp by L. C. Rosen
  9. The Guncle by Steven Rowley
  10. 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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Top Ten Tuesday: Thankful titles (a Thanksgiving freebie)

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!):

  1. Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan
  2. Thank You for Sharing by Rachel Kunya Katz
  3. So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish by Douglas Adams
  4. Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? by Dr. Seuss
  5. Thank You, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse
  6. The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord
  7. The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
  8. This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith
  9. Yours Cheerfully by AJ Pearce
  10. All Things Wise and Wonderful by James Herriot
  11. 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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Top Ten Tuesday: Oldest (aka Earliest Published) Books On My TBR 

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!

  1. Belinda by Maria Edgeworth (1801)
  2. Waverley by Sir Walter Scott (1814)
  3. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818)
  4. The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper (1826)
  5. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte (1848)
  6. Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1862)
  7. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (1850)
  8. The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot (1860)
  9. Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne (1872)
  10. Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott (1875)
  11. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell (1877)
  12. 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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