Top Ten Tuesday: Backlist Books to Read (2025 update)

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 is a Freebie/Throwback, with the prompt: Come up with a topic you’d like to do or go back and do an old topic you missed or just want to do again! Looking back at earlier TTT topics, I thought I’d go back and provide an update on my freebie topic from spring 2024: Backlist Books To Read.

What you’ll see below is a duplicate of my 2024 list… but with notes on which books I’ve read, which I’m still interested in, and which I’m not planning to pursue. I’ve actually read a decent amount of these… yay, me!

Here’s my 2025 update on my 2024 backlist post:

1. Kristin Hannah – Backlist titles identified in 2024:

2025 update: I read The Nightingale earlier this year, and loved it! My review is here. I’d still like to get to the other two, and probably more beyond that.

2. TJ Klune: Backlist titles identified in 2024:

(Note: Same book; original cover on the left, new cover for the 2025 reissue on the right)

2025 update: Read it, loved it! My review is here. I do have a few other early books by TJ Klune marked as to-read:

I’m not necessarily rushing to pick these up — but please do let me know if you’ve read them and recommend them!

3. William Kent Krueger: Backlist title (series) identified in 2024:

2025 update: Probably going to pass. I’m not really looking to get involved in even more series at the moment, and mysteries aren’t my go-to genre in any case.

4. Dana Stabenow: Backlist titles identified in 2024:

2025 update: Again, probably not. I do love this author, but I think I’ll hold off on any backlist titles, and will look forward to her upcoming 2026 new release, The Harvey Girl.

5. Abby Jimenez: Backlist titles identified in 2024:

2025 update: Yes! Read them all! I didn’t love this trilogy quite as much as the Part of Your World trilogy… but I still enjoyed all of these (especially the 2nd book) and I’m glad I read them!

6. Rachel Harrison: Backlist titles identified in 2024:

2025 update: Yes! This book was so creepy and disturbing, and I loved it! My review is here. And now, I’m eagerly awaiting her 2025 new release, Play Nice, coming this fall.

7. Kelley Armstrong: Backlist titles identified in 2024 (two different series starters):

2025 update: I read City of the Lost, book #1 in the Rockton series, and I’m eager to continue! In fact, I’m hoping to start the 2nd book this month. As for the Cainsville series, this will remain a “maybe someday” read for me, but I don’t feel any urgency about it.

8. Jenny Colgan: Backlist titles identified in 2024:

2025 update: I did read Where Have All the Boys Gone (review)… and didn’t especially love it. I have a feeling that her earlier books may all feel a bit dated to me at this point, so I don’t think I’ll follow through with any others. (But who knows? Never say never, when it comes to favorite authors…)

9. Eva Ibbotson: Backlist titles identified in 2024:

2025 update: I didn’t get to any of these, but still want to!

10. Katherine Center: Backlist titles identified in 2024:

2025 update: I didn’t get to either of these… but I still intend to! And then I’ll have made it through all of her backlist books.

BONUS PICKS: Because why stop at 10? Here are a few more authors I’m adding to my 2025 list, whose backlists I need to explore:

Victoria Schwab: After loving both The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (review) and Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil (watch for my review later this week!), I’m feeling like I really should try her YA fiction too. Any favorites? Suggestions on where to start?
Jennifer Weiner: I’ve read lots of her books, but there are plenty more that I’ve missed over the years. The two highest on my priority list are Mrs. Everything and Big Summer.
Colleen Oakley: I’ve read her more recent books, but still need to get to You Were There Too and Before I Go.

Have you read any of my backlist picks? Any you especially recommend?

If you wrote a freebie post this week, what topic did you choose? Please share your link!

23Jul2024

Top Ten Tuesday: Debut Novels I Enjoyed

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 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:

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

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

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9Jul2024

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

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. 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:

Where Have All the Boys Gone? by Jenny Colgan (review)
The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper (review)
The Ladies Rewrite the Rules by Suzanne Allain (review)
I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys (review)
A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger
He Gets That From Me by Jacqueline Friedland (review)
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy (review)
I Will Judge You By Your Bookshelf by Grant Snider
Thank You For Listening by Julia Whelan (review)
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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2Jul2024

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

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 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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11Jun2024

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Wishes

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 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!

How to Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley
Daughter of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi
I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle
My Salty Mary by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows
Coming Home by Brittney Griner
Every Summer After by Carley Fortune
The Husbands by Holly Gramazio
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!

4Jun2024

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Had VERY Strong Emotions About

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 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:

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery: Joy, delight, feelings of being totally charmed.
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt: A sense of wonder and connection.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling: Sorrow… you know why.
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.
The Guncle by Steven Rowley: Heart-warming happiness, but with threads of sympathetic sadness too.
The Extraordinaries by T. J. Klune: Hilarity… but also intense embarassment over the characters’ most cringe behavior (which is still intensely funny)
Hunter’s Moon by Dana Stabenow: Grief, no other way to put it.
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon: Is “swoon” an emotion? Okay, love and sadness and fear and delight, over and over and over.
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.
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!

28May2024

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

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 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.

The Prisoner’s Throne by Holly Black
Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong
Needful Things by Stephen King
Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner
And Put Away Childish Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
Gilded by Marissa Meyer
Green Rider by Kristen Britain
Time’s Convert by Deborah Harkness**
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!

21May2024

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

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 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:

Diana Gabaldon — of course! Waiting for the 10th Outlander book…
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).
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.
Travis Baldree — I can’t wait to see what he writes next!
Lily Chu – I really enjoyed the audiobooks she’s released up to now, and hope there will be a new one soon.
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.
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.
Sarah Gailey — I don’t see any new books since 2022, and I’d love to read whatever they write next.
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.
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!

7May2024

Top Ten Tuesday: May Flowers

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 May Flowers — open to however we want to approach it (titles, covers, plots, characters…)

I’m going with flowers in the titles, and to challenge myself, I’m only including books I’ve actually read. I also decided to see if I could come up with 10 without repeating any flowers… although I couldn’t resist adding in all the “rose” possibilities after the fact.

Here are ten books for my May Flowers list:

Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke
A Red-Rose Chain by Seanan McGuire
Peony by Pearl S. Buck (want to read)
Dash & Lily‘s Book of Dares by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn
The Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland
Lavender House by Lev AC Rosen
Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Tulip Eaters by Antoinette van Heugten
A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner
The Red Lotus by Chris Bohjalian
White Oleander by Janet Fitch

Oh, okay, here are a bunch of rose books from my shelves!

Hmmm, I supposed I could have save all these rose books for a future freebie post! Oh well… I’m having too much fun to wait.

What books have you read with flowers in the title?

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

30Apr2024

Top Ten Tuesday: Reasons I’ve DNFd books

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 Petty Reasons You’ve DNF’d a Book.

I can’t quite go with this topic — I don’t consider any reason for DNFing to be petty. I read for my own enjoyment — no one pays me to do it (can you imagine?) and the only stake I have is the pleasure I get from reading. If a book isn’t working for me, for any reason, I don’t feel bad (or petty) if I put it aside.

Here are a few reasons why I might DNF a book:

Wrong book, wrong time: Sometimes a book just doesn’t suit my mood in the moment. These are books I may come back to at some point… but not always.
Misleading cover and/or synopsis: A book that’s blurbed as laugh-out-loud funny or that has a cute contemporary cover — and then turns out to be heavy or overly serious — can be a real turn-off.
Unexpected graphic violence: I know what to expect when I pick up a horror novel, and that’s a choice I make. But I don’t want to encounter guts and gore out of the blue.
Purple prose: Bad metaphors, weird descriptions, sentences that I have to stop and parse — if the writing itself isn’t enjoyable, then even a compelling story will lose me.
Unsatisfying world-building: When the world-building (especially in fantasy) isn’t well-enough developed – or at the other extreme, is so overly complicated that it’s impossible to follow — I pretty much check out.
Nonsensical plotting: Plain and simple, it has to make sense… or at the very least, have a smidge of logic.
No oomph: This might be kind of vague, but if a book doesn’t grab me in the first 10-20%, I’m not going to stick with it.
Obnoxious formatting issues: I don’t mean for ARCs — I know to expect formatting issues with these. But for finished books, some types of formatting drive me batty, including novels that over-use footnotes; no chapters (not acceptable to me in anything but short stories or novellas); not using quotation marks (ugh).
Late or disconnected sequels: This may be a case of “it’s not you, it’s me”, but if a sequel comes out waaaaay after the previous book, I just may not care enough to put the pieces back together. I’ve found myself DNFing when I realize I can’t be bothered to figure out where the story left off or what I’m supposed to remember from a few years back. Similarly, if a book is billed as a sequel but only has a vague connection to the previous book, I may not feel like making the effort to keep going.
It’s just a matter of taste: Beyond the reasons above, sometimes a book simply doesn’t appeal to me, and there may not be a specific reason. Could be the writing style, or the subject matter, or the tone… but I’ve had many experiences where a book just hasn’t worked me (even though it might be great for someone else).