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 Halloween freebie! For this year’s Halloween post, I’m taking inspiration from classic trick-or-treating costumes — witches, ghosts, and vampires (oh my!).
Here are ten eleven light-hearted books featuring some of these classic Halloween characters… yes, eleven, because I couldn’t decide which one to leave out!
A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna
Mr. and Mrs. Witch by Gwenda Bond
Haunted Ever After by Jen DeLuca
My Roommate Is a Vampire by Jenna Levine
Bite Me by Christopher Moore
Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris
The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston
The Love of My Afterlife by Kirsty Greenwood
Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune
What’s on your Halloween TTT this week? Share your link, please, and I’ll come check out your top 10!
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 Things That Make Up My Perfect Day, with the prompt: share the people, places, activities, foods, circumstances, etc. that make a day perfect for you. Go into as much or as little detail as possible!
My first instinct was to go with the dream of a perfect day — a tropical beach somewhere, white sand, cool breezes, fresh fruit, a great book… but I think instead I’ll keep my focus on the here and now. Here are little things that contribute to a great (maybe even perfect!) day for me:
Long walk, preferably with great views out in nature somewhere
Good coffee
Uninterrupted reading time for at least a couple of hours
Sitting down for a delicious dinner with my family
Catching up by phone with a long-distance friend or two
Dancing (preferably outdoors, with a mix of old and new dances, and my favorite dance companions)
Binge-watching an episode or two of a great drama or comedy series
Word games and jigsaw puzzles
Planning my next trip
Spending time with the people I love
It’s rare to get all of these in one day… but I’ll take any combination I can get!
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 Book Covers Featuring Autumnal Colors.
My list includes books I’ve read plus a bunch from my TBR. My top 10 are:
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 that Conjure Up Happy Memories.
I ran out of time to really think this one through, so I’m stopping at just 8 for this week’s list! Here’s my selection of books that I associate with happy memories:
1) Outlander by Diana Gabaldon: I picked up this paperback for the first time while on a family trip near Yosemite. I went out to the meadow behind our cabin, sat on a big rock, and started reading. I’ll always associate this book with that gorgeous setting!
2) A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith: This one is a little bittersweet. The book was a gift from a very dear friend who has since passed away, and I miss her all the time. But whenever I come across this book, it makes me think of her, and that’s worth smiling about.
3) The Emily Starr trilogy by L. M. Montgomery: Another choice that mixes happiness with a bit of sadness. During the pandemic, I did a lot of traveling back and forth to spend time (in full protective gear!) with my elderly father. My only distraction was going to the hotel fitness room at the end of each day and getting on the treadmill, and the Emily books were my workout companions. They’re so joyful and wonderful, and always lifted my spirits.
4) Letters from Thailand by Botan: This book is part of my love story with my husband! Our conversation about this book was the first time we really connected on a level beyond being casual acquaintances. And of course, talking about books was the key to my heart!
5) Alanna: The First Adventure (Song of the Lioness, #1) by Tamora Pierce: My daughter fell in love with this series when she was in middle school and insisted that I read it. What a great shared reading experience!
6) All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor: I loved these books as a kid, and later shared them with my own kids!
7 & 8: Historical fiction from James Michener: I read this author’s massive historical novels, Alaska and Hawaii, before traveling to each place for the first time, years ago. I loved the books, and loved how they made the visits to each place so much richer and meaningful.
Do you have certain books that bring up happy memories for you?
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 Fall-Themed Freebie… so we all come up with whatever take on the theme we choose. I’m keeping it simple and very literal… so here are ten books I’ve read with some variation of the word “fall” in the title.
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 Fall 2026 to-Read List.
Where did all that leisurely summer reading time go? It’s hard to believe autumn is here already. From my 2026 summer TBR list, I read 8 out of the 11 books I’d hoped to read (yes, eleven — ten new books, plus one holdover from my spring list, which I did finally read!). I do intend to read the remaining three, but probably two of them will get deferred for a bit, and one will be via audiobook whenever my library hold comes in.
The spring holdovers are:
And as for a new batch of picks…
For my fall TBR, I’m going with a fresh list of even more books I plan to read! My top 10 are:
As You Wake, Break the Shell by Becky Chambers
Dive Bar at the End of the Road by Kelley Armstrong
Monsters of Ohio by John Scalzi
Murmuration by TJ Klune
A Divided Duty (October Daye, #20) by Seanan McGuire
Eight Ways To Say I Love You by Amanda Elliot
Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel
A Symphony of Echoes (The Chronicles of St. Mary’s, #2) by Jodi Taylor
Life Out of Order by Audrey Niffenegger
Wool by Hugh Howey
I should also mention that I have three book group books coming up this fall as well… and being a responsible book group member, I fully intend to read them in time for our discussions!
What books are on your fall TBR? Do we have any in common?
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 April Showers, with the prompt: Interpret this however you’d like: rainy day reads, books that make you cry, books that give you happy tears, books to wash away a bad reading experience, books set in rainy places, books with rain/raindrops/umbrellas on the cover, blue book covers, etc.
I’ve decided to go with the rain theme: “Rain” in the title, or rain on the cover, or a cover/title that’s rain-adjacent (hence the umbrella covers!). Here are my ten:
In Mercy, Rain by Seanan McGuire: Story set in the world of the Wayward Children series
Nothing But the Rain by Naomi Salman: On my TBR
Fifty Words for Rain by Asha Lemmie: I have a copy of the paperback on my shelf, but haven’t read it yet
Sheltering Rain by Jojo Moyes: And yet another owned but not read!
Rainwater by Sandra Brown: A book group book from over five years ago
The Book Witch by Meg Shaffer: An umbrella not just on the cover, but important to the plot! (amazing book)
The Umbrella Academy graphic novel series: I’ve read the first volume in this series — this is the image from the Netflix series, but I like the look of it much better than the book cover
Gathering Storm by Maggie Craig: Terrific historical fiction… and storms are rain-adjacent!
Soulless by Gail Carriger: OK, granted, it’s the Parasol Protectorate series… but the cover image looks much more like an umbrella than a parasol to me
Red Earth and Pouring Rain by Vikram Chandra: Read with a book group something like 20 years ago! I don’t think I understood more than half of it… but I do like the title and cover
What April Showers books did you feature this week?
Share your link, and I’ll come check out your top 10!
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 Book Titles That Describe Me/My Life, with the prompt: Example titles: Well Traveled could describe you if you like to travel, Hotshot Doc could describe you if you’re an awesome doctor, Falling into Place could describe a life where things are starting to work out, An Infinite Love Story could describe your relationship, It Could Have Been Her could describe a thing you’re happy you avoided or a path you could have taken but didn’t. You can explain your choices or not, and they can be as specific or as abstract as you’d like.
Fun challenge! I searched my bookshelves, and here’s what I’ve come up with:
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree: Coffee and books sum up my life pretty accurately!
The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan: My husband is the family cook… and yes, I know how lucky I am!
This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune: I love planning vacations, and try to find something new to explore each summer.
Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire: Fields, trails, paths by the beach… get me outside with space to walk and appreciate the views, and I’m happy.
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain: I haven’t made it to Camelot, but I’m originally from Connecticut, and even though it still feels like home, I’ve lived far away from there most of my adult life.
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell: My fandoms bring me joy! It’s the little pop culture moments that add a bit of zing.
Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan: Sweets are my weakness, and I will never say no to meeting a friend at a bakery
Finding Fraser by KC Dyer: Reading Outlander for the first time, over 15 years ago, not only introduced me to a favorite series and characters but also led me to my book group, which brings me so much joy.
Chaos Choreography by Seanan McGuire: Dancing has been a big part of my life since childhood! Not in a polished performance — but in the chaotic way that recreational dancing brings people together and provides endless enjoyment and fresh challenges
A House for Happy Mothers by Amulya Malladi: Being a mom — even now that my kids are grown — means the world to me.
Do you have book titles that describe your life?
Share your link, and I’ll come check out your top 10!
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 About/Set In Places on My Bucket List. I think this list will be very similar to a recent TTT about armchair travel… but I’ll try to avoid too much duplication (although books #1 and #2 just can’t be helped!)
Here are my top 10 books with bucket list destinations:
1. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon Bucket list destination: Scotland
Not exactly shocking to see Outlander on a TTT list of mine… but this is the book that first made me dream of a trip to Scotland, and I’m still determined to make it happen!
2. Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery Bucket list destination: Prince Edward Island
3. A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute Bucket list destination: Australia
4. Love & Olives by Jenna Evans Welch Bucket list destination: Santorini, Greece
5. Jane Was Here by Nicole Jacobsen & Devynn Dayton Bucket list destination: A Jane Austen tour of England!
6. Diavola by Jennifer Thorne Bucket list destination: Tuscany
(although the experiences described in this horror book are definitely not on my bucket list!)
7. The Love Haters by Katherine Center Bucket list destination: Florida Keys
8. Off the Map by Trish Doller Bucket list destination: Ireland
9. Every Summer After by Carley Fortune Bucket list destination: Ontario (ideally, summer by a lake in Ontario!)
10. Moloka’i by Alan Brennert Bucket list destination: Moloka’i, Hawaii
(I’ve been to other of the Hawaiian islands, but not Moloka’i — and I’ll take any excuse for a trip to Hawaii!)
What books made your list this week?
Share your link, and I’ll come check out your top 10!
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 Green Book Covers (In honor of St. Patrick’s Day today!)
Here are ten twelve from my shelves — some that I’ve read, and some on my TBR. Yes, I’m including more than 10 — I added a whole bunch, and couldn’t decide which to cut!
Voyager by Diana Gabaldon
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K Rowling
Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett
The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman
The Heartbreak Hotel by Ellen O’Clover
The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali
The Perils of Lady Catherine de Bourgh by Claudia Grey
