Top Ten Tuesday: Where do I enroll? Ten fictional schools I want to attend!

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 a Back To School Freebie — which got me thinking about which fictional schools I’d really want to attend.

1) Hogwarts. Obviously.

2) Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Because who wouldn’t want to live in a time loop and have secret powers?

3) Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality, from Gail Carriger’s silly and delightful Finishing School series. A school that’s a dirigible floating over the English countryside? Yes, please. Especially if they’ll teach me the deadly art of wielding a bladed fan.

4) Spence Finishing School. Well, I’m only on the 1st book of the Gemma Doyle trilogy by Libba Bray, but I like the witchiness lurking beneath the surface, even if certain snobby mean girls would just drive me bonkers.

5) Brakebills, from The Magicians. It’s like Hogwarts, but a lot naughtier. I want to hang out with the Physical Kids and play welters.

6) Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children. I guess if I did go to a magical land and then get kicked out, I’d rather lick my wounds at Eleanor West’s Home than anywhere else. (And keep looking for my secret door the whole time, of course.)

7) Watford School of Magicks — because I pretty much love Simon Snow and would want to just go and hang out with him.

8) The Academy from Codex Alera. Because I want to learn to be a Cursor!

9) Oomza Uni from Binti. Granted, I’d have to lick the whole traveling through space to another planet issue, but other than that, it sounds great!

10) Galileo Academy from Martians Abroad by Carrie Vaughn. The school may be located on Earth, but wouldn’t it be awesome to have Martian classmates?

Happy Back to School! Please share your TTT link and I’ll drop by for a visit.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

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!

Save

8Aug2017

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten book-based TV shows to check out

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. The broke & bookish folks are on break from TTT for the summer, but I thought I’d write a list of my own anyway.

This week, it’s all about TV. I’ve been watching A LOT of TV this year, mainly because (a) I finally broke down and signed up for Netflix and (b) I’ve gone on a few serious binges and became obsessed with certain shows *cough*Walking Dead*cough*.

Here are my top 10 shows based on books — most that I’ve already watched and love, plus a few on my to-watch list:

1) Outlander — based on the books by Diana Gabaldon. And if you’ve ever visited my blog before, you’ll know the depths of my love for these books and the TV series.

2) Games of Thrones, based on the books by George R. R. Martin

3) The Expanse, based on the series by James S. A. Corey

4) The Walking Dead, based on the comic series by Robert Kirkman

5) The Handmaid’s Tale, based on the book by Margaret Atwood

6) Big Little Lies, based on the book by Liane Moriarty

7) 13 Reasons Why, based on the book by Jay Asher

And three more that I haven’t seen yet, but want to:

8) Mr. Mercedes, based on the book by Stephen King. It starts tonight, but unfortunately not on a channel that I get. (DirectTV only, maybe?) I just read the book earlier this summer, and loved it. Would love to be able to see this!

9) 11/22/63, also by Stephen King. I missed this when it aired on Hulu, but I believe my library has the DVD set available to borrow.

10) The Leftovers, based on the book by Tom Perrotta. I watched the very first episode when it aired and just wasn’t hooked, but now that the series has ended, I keep hearing how amazing it was. I think I need to give it another try.

What book-to-TV adaptations do you love? Which do you recommend the most? I’m always looking for new shows to check out, so please share your thoughts!

Save

1Aug2017

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten random thoughts about reading, summer, and life in general

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

I only had a brief vacation this summer, but even though short, it gave me time to think deep(ish) thoughts and come up with a few random realizations.

1) After allowing my IPhone to run through my music in A-Z order during long car drives, I came to three conclusions:

I haven’t updated my ITunes in a really long time.
I seem to have stopped listening to music about the same time that I started listening to audiobooks.
I have a disproportionate amount of Kate Bush songs on my phone.

2) Diet, shmiet. I will stop for ice cream every single day that I’m on vacation. My view seems to be that I’ve earned all the indulgences while I’m away from home.

Bonus points for obsessing over the local flavors. In Montana, it was huckleberry ice cream — day in, day out.

3) Different family members are different types of vacation reading buddies.

I just traveled with my husband. With him, we read before bed, and maybe if we have some lounging around on the porch time in the afternoon.
With my son, I fight for every moment of book time. His mantra seems to be “Mom! Stop reading and do something fun!” (*weeping in despair*)
With my daughter, it’s all books, all the time. Books go in the backpacks. Stopping for coffee? Read a book. Sitting by a pretty stream? Read a book. See a cute bookstore? By all means, go spend several hours browsing!

4) Luckily, my husband has had many years to accept how much reading I do. Because otherwise he’d find me incredibly rude.

My rule of thumb on airplanes? Sit down, fasten seatbelt, stick nose in book. Stay that way until landing.
I definitely don’t talk to people near me on planes. And sorry, even the husband barely gets an exception.

5) Have you seen the t-shirts that say “my brain has been replaced by Hamilton lyrics”? It’s so true. At least five times a day, I feel a line from a song dying to come out of my mouth… which can be especially annoying to my travel companions who are not at all familiar with the show.

6) Why does binge-watching start feeling like a chore? The fact that the entire season of a series is available at once makes me feel SO pressured to churn through it all without stopping. And it’s not necessary! The episodes will still be there if I take them one day at a time.

7) I read the news, I follow latest stories on all the social media outlets… and yet I really don’t want to talk about it for more than a few minutes a day. I think I’ve reached my saturation point. How many times can you say “what the hell?” in one day? In one hour? Honestly, I think I read and watch TV so much to hide from reality… needed now more than ever.

8) I know I’ve posted about this many times before, but seriously — I am so much happier as a reader once I let any sort of schedule or planning go. Once again, I requested a bunch of ARCs at the start of the year, and once again, I started feeling less and less happy as the months went by and I had to keep looking at publication dates to make sure I was staying on track.

Why do I do this to myself? I know that I hate reading on a schedule.
I’m also (again) swearing off ARCs. Bad formatting drives me bananas. And look, it’s not doing anyone any favors if I sit down to review a book I’m mad at because it can’t get its line breaks to make sense.
I’m so much happier when I don’t have a list to stick to. I love the freedom of picking up whatever catches my eye, suits my fancy, tickles my funny bone…

9) It’s been interesting having no group reads going on this summer. With Outlander Book Club, we usually have one classic read and one re-read of a Gabaldon book going at the same time, two chapters each per week, and those go on FOREVER. Well, the two most recent wrapped up in June, and I’ve been free as a bird ever since.

I do love our group reads! And I truly am looking forward to starting up again with a classic (Ivanhoe) in August, and the Lord John books in September.
But man, it’s been nice to have no obligations to anyone but myself!

10) And finally, back to the subject of binges… I love reading graphic novels, but I find they go in one ear and out the other (or I suppose that should be in one eye and out the other?) pretty much immediately.

I can remember overall story and character arcs, but details? I can’t seem to keep these straight for more than a day or two after I read them
I love the Saga series, but I end up having the re-read the previous edition each time I get the newest book… which means that I’m two behind by now.
I read all volumes of The Walking Dead trade paperback editions over the last couple of months, and I can tell you the big picture of what happened, but I seem to have lost the particulars within a week of finishing. No idea.
I read the very entertaining limited series We Stand on Guard in June, six issues right in a row. It was fun at the time, but I don’t think I could identify a single individual character at this point, just the overall plot and resolution.
Maybe this is why I still haven’t finished Locke & Key. I can’t read the final volume without going back and rereading the first five, and I just haven’t felt like it so far. Which sucks, because I love this series.
Why don’t these stories stick with me? Is it me? Is it the format? Is there something about the graphic novel approach that leaves me with memory gaps?
Please tell me it’s not just me and my silly brain.

Happy August to all! I hope you all enjoy these last weeks of summer.

Save

26Jun2017

Top Ten Tuesday: My ten favorite books (so far!) in 2017

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 Top Ten Favorite 2017 Releases So Far This Year.

I’m not reading a whole lot of new releases these days, so this list will be about my favorite books read in 2017, regardless of publication date. In no particular order, my top ten are:

1) Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel (review)

2) The Finishing School series by Gail Carriger (review)

3) Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire

4) Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

5) Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey (review)

6) The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (review)

7) Unequal Affection by Lara S. Ormiston (review)

8) Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty (review)

9) Miniatures by John Scalzi (review)

10) Spaceman by Mike Massimino (review)

What are your top books read so far in 2017? Please share your TTT links!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Save

20Mar2017

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten short books that are perfect for a quick read

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:

Read In One Sitting Theme: ten of the shortest books I’ve read, top ten books I read in one sitting, ten books to read when you are short on time, top ten books that will make you read the whole day away, etc.

Here are a bunch of great read, all under 200 pages, that I think are excellent ways to sneak in a quick read!

1) Binti by Nnedi Okorafor. 97 pages. An amazing sci-fi adventure with a remarkable African woman as its main character. (Also, the sequel — Binti: Home — is also a short and sweet 176 pages!)

2) Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf (179 pages): Simply beautiful. (review)

3) Isis by Douglas Clegg (113 pages): A wonderful, spooky little ghost story.

4) The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett (120 pages): A quirky little novel which imagines Queen Elizabeth suddenly becoming an avid fiction reader.

5) Blockade Billy by Stephen King (112 pages): My edition includes two separate stories, both memorable and worth reading. (review)

6) The Travelling Bag and other Ghostly Stories by Susan Hill (160 pages): A collection of four ghost stories in a pint-sized hardcover edition, easy to read and certain to chill.

7) We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (160 pages): Without meaning to, I seem to have picked some truly creepy books for this list. This book is a gothic horror delight — and I think it’s even better as an audiobook.

8) Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher (163 pages): A quick, funny, quirky look at the ups and down of Carrie Fisher’s life.

9) The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan (211 pages): Okay, slightly over 200 pages, but it’s such a quick read, and so powerful, that it just must be on this list! (review)

10) What’s a TTT list without an Outlander mention? Yes, the Outlander books are HUGE — but the novellas that fit into and alongside the series are not. For quick, wonderful reads sure to delight Outlander fans, check out any of these:

What are your favorite short and quick reads?

Whatever your spin on this week’s topic, please share your link so I can check out your list!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Save

13Mar2017

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books on my Spring 2017 TBR List

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 Top Ten Books on My Spring TBR.

Here are a bunch of upcoming new releases that I can’t wait to read!

Organized by release date:

1) Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty (release date 1/31/2017): I need this murder-on-a-spaceship-with-clones book now! Or , as soon as my hold request comes in at the library. I thought this author’s The Shambling Guide to New York City (review) was hilarious — I’m looking forward to seeing what she does with sci-fi.

2) The Book of Polly by Kathy Hepinstall (release date 3/14/2017): I loved Blue Asylum by this author — a beautiful work of historical fiction set during the Civil War. This one looks really different, and I’m intrigued!

3) The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi (release date 3/21/2017): I adore everything I’ve read so far by this author. I have this one on order, and I’m just waiting for it to land in my hands.

4) The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck (release date 3/28/2017): This WWII novel sounds intense!

5) The Boy on the Bridge by M. R. Carey (release date 5/2/2017): I can’t wait for this sequel to The Girl with All the Gifts!

6) Less Than a Treason by Dana Stabenow (release date 5/6/2017): Book #21 in the amazing Kate Shugak series! I binge-read the series over the last year and a half, and I can’t wait to dive back into this amazing world.

7) The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (release date 6/13/2017): I’ve loved all of this author’s contemporary novels, and I”m looking forward to seeing what she does with historical fiction.

8) Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire (release date 6/13/2017): Every Heart A Doorway (review) was one of my favorites reads of 2016, and I cannot wait for the sequel!

9) Seven Stones to Stand or Fall by Diana Gabaldon (release date 6/27/2017): Well, of course I want this book! It includes seven stories set in the world of Outlander, including two that are brand new.

10) Coming Up For Air by Miranda Kenneally (release date 7/1/2017): What’s summer without a new book in Miranda Kenneally’s Hundred Oaks series? I haven’t been disappointed yet.

What books are you most eager to read this spring? Please share your links!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Save

6Mar2017

Top Ten Tuesday: My top 10 bookish firsts

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 another freebie, so I thought I’d dig into my history as a reader and focus on the 10 books that represent various reading firsts for me.

1) My first romance novel: The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss

2) My first classic that I read just for “fun”: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

3) The first poetry book I ever bought: Circles on the Water by Marge Piercy

4) The first Shakespeare play I ever read: Romeo and Juliet

5) The first history book I read that wasn’t for school: Vietnam by Stanley Karnow

6) The first book my husband ever told me about: Letters from Thailand by Botan (and check out our bookish romance, here)

7) The first book series I read out loud in its entirety: Harry Potter, which I read to my son a couple of years ago, over the span of 10 months

8) The first book that introduced me to the Scottish Highlands: Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (hey, it’s been at least a few weeks since I’ve mentioned Outlander in a blog post, so I’m overdue)

9) The first book I read twice in a row: The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

10) The first vampire book that made me swoon: Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice

What’s your TTT topic this week? Please share your link!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

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 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!

Save

27Feb2017

Top Ten Tuesday: The top 10 places I love to read

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 a freebie, so I thought I’d go with something simple and fun — it’s all about going to my happy place. Because my happy place always involves books!

Here are ten places I love, love, love to read:

1) In a big, cozy chair

2) On my back porch, on a sunny day

3) IN BED!

4) On an airplane

5) In a park

6) In a room full of books

7) At the beach

8) In a coffee shop

9) Any beautiful outdoor location

and, obviously…

10) Wherever I happen to be!

What’s your TTT topic this week? Please share your link!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Save

30Jan2017

Top Ten Tuesday: My top 10 favorites in graphic novels, comics, & illustrated books

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 All about the visuals: Top Ten Favorite Graphic Novels/Comics or Ten Comics on My TBR or Top Ten Favorite Picture Books.

That’s a pretty broad range of choices, but I think I’ll stick with my favorites in graphic novels (some of which might more properly be called comics, but I don’t mind lumping them all together, as people tend to do). I needed to expand the topic to include other types of illustrated books as well. You’ll see why.

Starting with the serious and historically important:

1) Maus by Art Spiegelman: This modern classic is a must-read.

2) Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi: The story of a girl’s adolescence and young adulthood in Iran is moving and beautifully drawn.

Moving on to more fantastical fare:

3) Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan (review): One of my favorites ever! I love this “saga” of a worldwide mysterious event that leaves exactly one human male left on Earth. Brilliant.

And speaking of sagas by Brian K. Vaughan…

4) Saga by Brian K. Vaughan: Such a wonderful bit of storytelling — war, love, child-raising, plus wings and horns and TV monitors for heads.

5) Fables by Bill Willingham: I love everything about Fables, except the fact that it ended.

6) Buffy the Vampire Slayer (season 8, 9, 10) by Joss Whedon et. al.: No such thing as too much Buffy! The TV series may have ended after 7 seasons, but the official Buffy storyline lives on in comic book format. And don’t miss the spin-offs about Angel, Faith, Spike, and Willow.

7) Alex + Ada by Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn (review): I stumbled across this trilogy purely by accident at the library one day. The drawing are spare, but the storytelling (about a human and a robot who fall in love, and explore what it means to be a real person) is really terrific.

8) Through the Woods by Emily Carroll: Spooky, eerie stories and illustrations make this one a must (and a great gift for anyone who enjoys the darker side of life).

Ack! I’m running out of room! So tied for number 9 (cheating!) are two different works that scare the pants off me:

9a) N by Stephen King: Oh my sweet heavens. This is a terrifying book. Nightmares, nightmares, nightmares. But read it anyway!

9b) The Locke & Key series by Joe Hill: I’m ashamed to admit that I STILL haven’t read the final volume in the incredibly creative and horribly creepy Locke & Key series. Mainly, I haven’t finished because it’s been too long since I’ve read volumes 1 – 5, and I think I need to do a re-read. But the books are so scary that I’m not sure I want to do a re-read! Seriously, I love Locke & Key, but they make me want to lock all the doors and windows and never, ever go near wells or keys.

And finally, an illustrated novel:

10) Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick: Really, I’d pick just about any of this author’s three wonderful illustrated books (the others being The Invention of Hugo Cabret and The Marvels). I love how the drawings are part of the narrative itself, rather than simply decoration. Wonderstruck made me cry, so it deserves a spot on my top 10 list!

What books made your list this week? Please share your link!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Save

23Jan2017

Top Ten Tuesday: The next 10 ARCs I plan to read

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 a FREEBIE. I love freebie weeks — it’s such fun to see all the unique top 10 lists everyone comes up with.

My top 10 topic? It’s all about the ARCs.

I’m working hard on getting my reading life organized, keeping track of my pending review copies, and making time for all the other books I want to read too. I’d taken a rather big pause in terms of requesting ARCs last year, but somehow I’ve ended up with quite a few for the first half of 2017. So, without further ado, here are 10 upcoming books, to be published between February and July, that I plan to read on or about their respective release dates. The ARCs are just sitting there on my Kindle, calling my name…

Going by release date:

1) Always by Sarah Jio (2/7/2017)