Tag Archives: top 10 tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday: Destination Titles

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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 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:

  1. Moloka’i by Alan Brennert
  2. The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem by Sarit Yishai-Levi (review)
  3. My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan (review)
  4. South Pole Station by Ashley Shelby (review)
  5. The Paris Diversion by Chris Pavone (review)
  6. The Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore (review)
  7. Letters from Skye by Jessica Brockmole (review)
  8. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
  9. The Shambling Guide to New York City by Mur Lafferty (review)
  10. 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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Top Ten Tuesday: Books with BOOKSTORES on the cover

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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 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:

  1. Midnight at the Christmas Bookshop by Jenny Colgan (review)
  2. The Bookshop of Second Chances by Jackie Fraser (review)
  3. The Bookshop on the Shore by Jenny Colgan (review)
  4. The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan
  5. Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree (review)
  6. 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
  7. The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted by Robert Hillman (review)
  8. The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald
  9. Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa
  10. 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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Top Ten Tuesday: Living up to the hype… or not.

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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 Read/Avoided Because of the Hype (and did you make the right choice?).

The hype machine can be crazy at times, and my first instinct is usually to avoid books where it’s in overdrive. You know the ones — the books that everyone seems to be gushing about at all possible times. And yet, sometimes those books end up being just what I need, despite my initial hesitation.

My list is focused on hyped books that I’ve read… some with good results, and some definitely the opposite.

These ultra-hyped books did not work for me:

  • Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros: I disliked so much about this book.
  • The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern: I know people loved this book, but it never clicked for me. In general, I don’t do well with books about people performing magic in this way. What are the rules? What are the limits? I didn’t buy into it at all.
  • It End with Us by Colleen Hoover: Hiding the fact that this book is about an abusive relationship is just one of its many faults.
  • Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus: Promoting this book as laugh-out-loud funny and then starting it off with a rape scene is not okay.
  • The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins: I liked the sound of the setup, but too many coincidences sank this story for me.

Not to fear! Some much-hyped books really deserve all the buzz and more! Among my favorites:

  • Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto: This book is so silly and over the top, but really hits the spot when you need something ridiculous to escape into.
  • Me Before You by Jojo Moyes: Tears! Tears everywhere! And I couldn’t put it down.
  • The Martian by Andy Weir: I feel like a lot of books have tried to mimic the vibe of The Martian in the years since it was published, but the hype about this book was so well deserved.
  • Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree: Loved everything about this cozy fantasy.
  • The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid: I couldn’t decide which of these two books to include on this week’s list… so added them both! I feel like these two books pushed TJR into a whole new level of hype… and amazing writing.
  • Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin: When the buzz was building for this book, I scoffed. How could I possibly enjoy a book about gaming? Fortunately, the hype for this one was spot on, and I’m so glad I read it. One of the best books of 2022.

Yes, that’s more than ten books in all. I just couldn’t narrow down the second part of my list!

Which hyped books worked for you? Which didn’t?

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

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Top Ten Tuesday: Debut Novels I Enjoyed

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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 Debut Novels I Enjoyed.

I had to go digging a bit, since I don’t necessarily know which of the books I’ve loved have been debut novels. But after a little research, here’s what I’ve come up with.

My top ten debut novels:

  1. Rosemary & Rue (October Daye, #1) by Seanan McGuire (review)
  2. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (review)
  3. Old Man’s War (Old Man’s War, #1) by John Scalzi
  4. The Martian by Andy Weir (review)
  5. The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow (review)
  6. Shades of Milk and Honey (Glamourist Histories, #1) by Mary Robinette Kowal (review)
  7. My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan (review)
  8. Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson
  9. The Measure by Nikki Erlick (review)
  10. The Husbands by Holly Gramazio (review)

Which debut novels have you really enjoyed? Please share your links!

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Top Ten Tuesday — Throwback Freebie: Book Titles That Are Complete Sentences 

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Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. The prompt for this week’s TTT is: Throwback Freebie (Pick a TTT topic that has been previously done. Maybe you missed it, weren’t blogging then, or you’d like to update an old list you made.)

I decided to go with a topic that I last did in 2021 and really liked: Book Titles That Are Complete Sentences . My 2021 post is here; read on for a new, refreshed list. All books listed are books I’ve read since then.

I managed to find many more than I expected to! For purposes of this post, I’m sticking to ten… but I’m bookmarking this topic for myself, so I can come back to it next time I need a freebie theme.

My top ten picks for books with complete sentences as titles:

  1. Where Have All the Boys Gone? by Jenny Colgan (review)
  2. The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper (review)
  3. The Ladies Rewrite the Rules by Suzanne Allain (review)
  4. I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys (review)
  5. A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger
  6. He Gets That From Me by Jacqueline Friedland (review)
  7. I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy (review)
  8. I Will Judge You By Your Bookshelf by Grant Snider
  9. Thank You For Listening by Julia Whelan (review)
  10. Good Girls Don’t Die by Christina Henry (review)

What throwback freebie topic did you choose for this week’s TTT? Please share your links!

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Top Ten Tuesday: Books with my favorite color on the cover

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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 with My Favorite Color on the Cover.

I don’t know if this is my favorite color… but at this time of year, it’s the color I most yearn for: The blue of a beautiful sea!

Summer sea blue… I don’t know if that’s an actual color name, but it’s something I love. I guess I’m just dying for a beach vacation!

Here are ten books with shades of sea blue:

Don’t these book covers make you want to head to the beach?

What color did you choose for this week’s TTT? Please share your links!

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Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Wishes

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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 Wishes.

The prompt is: Bookish Wishes (List the top 10 books you’d love to own and include a link to your wishlist so that people can grant your wishes. Make sure you link your wishlist to your mailing address or include the email address associated with your e-reader in the list description so people know how to get the book to you. After you post, jump around the Linky and grant a wish or two if you’d like. Please don’t feel obligated to send anything to anyone!)

I’m not comfortable linking to a wishlist — I’m not asking anyone to send me anything! At most, if someone owns a copy of a book on my list and wants to do a book swap, I’m open to it — but actually buying me something? No, but thanks anyway!

All that being said… consider this an FYI post about books I hope to read! Here are the ten books most recently added to my Amazon wishlist**:

**which I maintain mainly as a reminder to myself to keep an eye out for price drops!

  1. How to Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley
  2. Daughter of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts
  3. The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
  4. Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi
  5. I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle
  6. My Salty Mary by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows
  7. Coming Home by Brittney Griner
  8. Every Summer After by Carley Fortune
  9. The Husbands by Holly Gramazio
  10. Thank You for Sharing by Rachel Runya Katz

What are your most wished-for books?

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

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Had VERY Strong Emotions About

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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 Had VERY Strong Emotions About.

Some of my favorite books are the ones that make me FEEL… good, bad, happy, sad, but never indifferent! (Okay, a certain book that made me mad isn’t actually a favorite — but it absolutely gave me some very strong feelings… of anger.)

Here are my top ten:

  1. Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery: Joy, delight, feelings of being totally charmed.
  2. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt: A sense of wonder and connection.
  3. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling: Sorrow… you know why.
  4. Anxious People by Fredrik Backman: Such a mix of emotions! Entertainment, but really getting to experience all the ups and downs of all the various characters.
  5. The Guncle by Steven Rowley: Heart-warming happiness, but with threads of sympathetic sadness too.
  6. The Extraordinaries by T. J. Klune: Hilarity… but also intense embarassment over the characters’ most cringe behavior (which is still intensely funny)
  7. Hunter’s Moon by Dana Stabenow: Grief, no other way to put it.
  8. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon: Is “swoon” an emotion? Okay, love and sadness and fear and delight, over and over and over.
  9. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer: This is the book that made me so angry that I wanted to throw it across the room. There’s a certain point where I was just NOPE.
  10. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness: Grief and sympathy.
Who knew there were so many emotion scale memes out there???

What books made you feel all the feelings?

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

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Was Super Excited to Get My Hands on but Still Haven’t Read

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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 Was Super Excited to Get My Hands on but Still Haven’t Read.

I know I have a tendency to buy (and even pre-order) books by favorite authors as soon as a new book becomes available, but these book can often end up sitting on my shelf for months (or longer). And sometimes, I’ll stumble across a mention of an older book and feel like I MUST HAVE IT right away… and once again, the book ends up sitting on my shelf for months (or years), just waiting to be read.

Here are ten I was in a hurry to buy… but still haven’t gotten around to reading.

  1. The Prisoner’s Throne by Holly Black
  2. Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong
  3. Needful Things by Stephen King
  4. Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner
  5. And Put Away Childish Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky
  6. Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
  7. Gilded by Marissa Meyer
  8. Green Rider by Kristen Britain
  9. Time’s Convert by Deborah Harkness**
  10. Diana: Her True Story by Andrew Morton

**As I was putting together this post, I reminded myself that a 5th book in the All Souls series is coming out this summer, so it’s about time I finally read #4, Time’s Convert… and so as of this week, at long last, I’m doing it!

What books are on your list this week?

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

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors I’d Love a New Book From

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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 Authors I’d Love a New Book From.

The prompt includes: These could be authors that have passed away, who have retired from writing, who have inexplicably gone quiet, or who might jut not be able to keep up with how quickly you read their books!)

My focus is on authors whose next book I’m eagerly awaiting. And while I can definitely come up with some no-longer-with-us authors I’d love another book from (hi, Jane Austen and L. M. Montgomery!), I’m sticking with living, breathing, writing authors for this list.

My ten are:

  1. Diana Gabaldon — of course! Waiting for the 10th Outlander book…
  2. Amy Stewart — She’s shifted her focus to non-fiction and artwork, but I’d love more in the Kopp Sisters series (or any new fiction, for that matter).
  3. Becky Chambers — I haven’t found any info on what her next book will be, but I’ve loved every single book of hers so far.
  4. Travis Baldree — I can’t wait to see what he writes next!
  5. Lily Chu – I really enjoyed the audiobooks she’s released up to now, and hope there will be a new one soon.
  6. Trish Doller – I loved the Beck Sisters trilogy (which I read last year), but haven’t been able to find info on whether there are any new books coming up.
  7. Susanna Kearsley — On the other hand, there is a new book on the way for this author! But while it has a 2024 release date in the UK, we readers here in the US will have to wait until 2025.
  8. Sarah Gailey — I don’t see any new books since 2022, and I’d love to read whatever they write next.
  9. Fredrik Backman — Another author who doesn’t have a next book listed yet on Goodreads! Whatever it is, and whenever it arrives, I’m sure it’ll be great.
  10. George R. R. Martin — I mean, I debated whether to even include GRRM on this list, because honestly, I’m not sure I even care any more. Will book #6 ever actually be released??

What authors made your list this week?

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