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 a Freebie — we choose our own topics! Since it’s election day today, and it’s hard to think about anything else, I thought I’d go with a list of books that all tie into voting, the presidency, or elections in some way.
Our War by Craig DiLouie
Election by Tom Perotta
Slapstick by Kurt Vonnegut
Primary Colors by Anonymous
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72 by Hunter S. Thompson
Lately, I’ve been bouncing back and forth for my Tuesday posts, alternating between the Top Ten Tuesday and Top Five Tuesday memes, depending on their topics for the week. This week, both are Halloween themed… so I’m doing them both!!
First up… it’s 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 Halloween freebie! For my Halloween post, I’m going to focus on horror novels on my to-read list (updated for 2024). I’ve done this topic a few times in the past several years, and given the state of my TBR list, it’s time to do it again.
Noted with shame: Some of these books were on my Halloween horror TBR list last year! So, you know, I’m not exactly great at following through…
Still, here are a bunch I really do want to get to… including a few upcoming 2025 new books.
Starling House by Alix E. Harrow
Dread Nation by Justine Ireland
The Changeling by Victor Lavalle
Diavola by Jennifer Thorne
Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong
The Return by Rachel Harrison
Cutting Teeth by Chandler Baker
Overgrowth by Mira Grant (upcoming 2025 new release)
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix (upcoming 2025 new release)
My Ex, the Antichrist by Craig DiLouie (upcoming 2025 new release)
Are any of these on your TBR too? Which ones look best to you? And if you’ve read any, let me know what you thought!
Next, let’s take a look at this week’s 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 books to recommend for Halloween, and the prompt is: It’s trick or treat time — are you going to tell us your best scary books or cutesy Halloween tales?
My picks are mainly ghost stories, plus a funny/clever fantasy that I reread every October!
A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny (review) — I’m reading this one again right now! Such a fun annual tradition.
What books do you recommend for Halloween? I love a good ghost story — do you have any favorites? Save
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In case it’s not obvious, I’ll probably be spending my Halloween with my nose in a book! Wishing you all a happy Halloween, whatever you’ll be doing!Save
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 orange books, and the prompt is: Earlier this year we did yellow books and red books, but it’s now time for Halloween. What are your favourite orange covered books?
What fun… and a great excuse to shuffle books on my bookshelves and check out all the covers! I ended up with more orange books than I expected to find — here are five that stand out:
There There by Tommy Orange (even the author’s name fits the theme!)
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 non-human characters, and the prompt is: So many books have non-human characters — animals or supernatural creatures… maybe even a park bench. Who are your favourite non-human characters?
It’s hard to narrow these down to just five, since there are so many to choose from! Here are five I love:
Mosscap (robot) — A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers: I love everything about Mosscap (full name: Splendid Speckled Mosscap), and this book and its sequel are just so wonderful.
S.T. (crow) — Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton: A crow narrating a post-apocalyptic story with plenty of attitude. Awesome.
Viv (orc) — Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree: An orc, retired from her fighting days, who dreams about a peaceful life with good coffee.
Matthew de Clermont (vampire) — All Souls series by Deborah Harkness: There are any number of great vampires in fiction, but Matthew is so suave and smart that he consistently makes my list of favorites.
Alien (unnamed) — The Humans by Matt Haig: This non-human visitor to our world takes the form of an earthling and learns important truths about being human. Such a great book.
I feel like this list just scratches the surface — I haven’t even included my favorite dogs of fiction! Dogs, cats, horses, and more… they’ll have to wait for another list!
What (or who) are your favorite non-human characters in fiction?
It’s another fun topic for Top 5 Tuesday! This weekly meme is hosted by Meeghan Reads — check out the next batch of upcoming topics here.
This week’s topic is Top 5 award-winning books, and the prompt is: You can pick a specific award or just any book you’ve read that’s ever won an award. What are your faves?
I love following genre-specific awards, and the Hugo picks are always exciting. Here are my top 5 Hugo award winners from recent years:
Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher — Best Novella, 2023
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers — Best Novella, 2022
Wayward Children by Seanan McGuire — Best Series, 2022 (first book: Every Heart a Doorway)
The Expanse by James S. A. Corey — Best Series, 2020 (first book: Leviathan Wakes)
The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal — Best Novel, 2019
Of course, there are plenty more Hugo winners and nominees that I’ve loved… not to mention all the ones I still want to read!
Click here to see the complete Hugo history. So many books for my TBR!
What book awards do you follow? Do you have any favorite award-winners to recommend?
It’s another fun topic for Top 5 Tuesday! This weekly meme is hosted by Meeghan Reads — check out the next batch of upcoming topics here.
This week’s topic is Top 5 anticipated 5 star reads, and the prompt is: What books on your TBR do you think might make your top 5 books of the year, or will get that coveted five-star rating?
I have high hopes for so many of my upcoming reads! Sticking to books to read (or being released) in 2024, my top five are:
Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune
So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison
The Life Impossible by Matt Haig
The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke
I’ll Be Waiting by Kelley Armstrong
What are your 5-star predictions for the rest of 2024?
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 Involving Food (That are Not Cookbooks). Yummmmm.
Here are ten (mostly) recent reads that feature food… and which left me hungry!
1. Songs for the Broken-Hearted by Ayelet Tsabari: So many wonderful descriptions of Yemenite Jewish food! (review)
2. The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais: About restaurants and family, and filled with mouth-watering dishes. (review)
3. Recipe for Persuasion by Sonali Dev: Love on a cooking reality show! (review)
4. The Cafe by the Sea by Jenny Colgan: You could really include most Jenny Colgan books on this list! So many of her books center around bakeries or sweetshops, and even include recipes! (review)
5. Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki: I just finished this book over the weekend, and it left me with huge cravings for donuts. Especially cake donuts… (review)
6. Donut Fall in Love by Jackie Lau: Speaking of donuts… (review)
7. The Vintage Village Bake Off by Judy Leigh: Among other delights, this book includes a scone-baking competition. Delish… (review)
8. A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey: A YA book with a main character whose cooking is central to her journey. (review)
9. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han: Throughout this YA trilogy, the main character bakes and bakes and bakes.
10. A Twist of Fate by Kelley Armstong: In this timeslip romance, the main character supports herself and her sisters by opening a bakery, and thanks to her time-traveling ways, introduces chocolate chip cookies to her Victorian-era family. (review)
What books have you read recently that feature amazing food? If you wrote a TTT post this week, please share your link!
It’s been a while since I’ve done a Top 5 Tuesday post — but this week’s topic is too good to pass up! It’s always fun to see what topics the meme’s host comes up with, and I really should make the effort to participate more often. This weekly meme is hosted by Meeghan Reads — check out the next batch of upcoming topics here.
This week’s topic is Top 5 books with found family — which just happens to be a storytelling trope that I love. Found family, to me, is unrelated people coming together and forming a bond that creates a new, meaningful family connection — oftentimes, more supportive and reliable than whatever biological/legal family they came from. Found family stories can be found in many different genres — some of my favorites occur in fantasy, but there are plenty more to choose from.
As always, it’s hard to stick to only five, but I’ve done my best to focus on true favorites:
My favorite found families:
The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss: The daughters of famous and infamous (fictional) scientists come together and form a sisterhood of their own. (review)
The Bell in the Fog by Lev AC Rosen: The 2nd book in an excellent detective series, this is my only non-fantasy pick on this week’s list. Set in 1950s San Francisco, a gay detective forced off the police force after being violently outed finds a new family within the LGBTQ+ community… and solves crimes too! (review)
Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire: The children who find their way to Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children have journeyed to strange new lands through magical portals, then found themselves without a place to belong back in the real world. But together, they create a new, supportive family, and find a true home. There are 9 books available so far; #10 will be released in January. (See my review of #9, here)
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune: There are no words for the loveliness of this story of outcast children and the adults who protect them and give them a family for the first time in their lives. (review)
October Daye series by Seanan McGuire: Oops, that’s two out of five by Seanan McGuire! But this series is just a marvelous example of people choosing one another and making an explicit decision to become a family. The found family aspect grows as the series progresses — there are 18 books so far, and more to come! (Here’s my review of the book shown above.)
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 Relationship Freebie (Pick a relationship type and choose characters who fit that relationship as it relates to you. So, characters you’d like to date, be friends with, be enemies with, etc. Bookish families you’d like to be a part of, characters you’d want as your siblings, pets you’d like to take for yourself, etc.).
I love reading about big or unusual or quirky bookish families, so that’s my theme for this week. Below are ten families I’d love to join… or at least, have Sunday brunch with or visit for the holidays… or just pop in for tea now and then.
Frasers – Outlander – Was there any doubt that I’d include Outlander folks on this list? I wouldn’t want to be around for all the terrible things that happen to these people, but would happily attend one of their big (joyful) gatherings on Fraser’s Ridge.
Weasleys – Harry Potter — I want Molly to knit me a sweater!
Bridgertons — I mean, no, I could do without all the pressure to make a good match, but I’d down for afternoon tea and cakes with Violet and whoever else is around.
Price-Healy family – Incryptids – Yes, there’s a lot of weaponry involved… but this family of cryptozoologists is all sorts of awesome (and there are religious talking mice involved!)
Bennetts – Green Creek series – So a family of werewolves might not be the safest place to be on an ongoing basis, but their Sunday traditions are awesome.
All-of-a-Kind Family – What is their last name??? I couldn’t find it… but they must have one, right? In any case, I grew up on these stories, and thought living with these five sisters must have been the ideal childhood.
Chen family (Aunties) – Dial A for Aunties series – Oh, the Aunties would drive me batty… but isn’t it good to know that your family will have your back no matter what, even when it comes to hiding a body?
Hastings – A Stitch in Time – The sisters in this family all get an adventure going through a time stitch, and I’d like to join them!
De Clermonts – All Souls – I’m not saying I’d actually want to be a vampire or witch… but I’d enjoy hanging out at one of the family’s fabulous castles and hear about how they lived over the centuries.
Not a single family – Game of Thrones – Too many opportunities to end up dead, gruesomely. (Clearly, my ideas failed me by #10)
Would you want to join any of these families? Are there other fictional families you love?
What was your TTT topic this week? Please share your link!
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 Ten Favorite Books from Ten Series.
I almost skipped this week’s TTT — this topic is a tough one! I love so many series, and choosing a favorite book from a favorite series is like choosing a favorite child. Don’t make me pick!!
I’d be tempted to just go with the first book from each series, because hey — if the first book didn’t hook me, why would I keep going? But, I feel like I’ve featured first books in series before (for example, here), so instead I’m focusing on books other than the first. The books I’ve chosen all have something about them that makes them stand out. I’m not playing favorites… but all these books are noteworthy!
My top ten are:
Without a Summer by Mary Robinette Kowal
Series: The Glamourist Histories Book #: 3 (of 5) Published: 2013
Why this book? The entire series is excellent, so picking a favorite is especially hard. Here in book #3, the setup is just so good, and I really enjoyed the introduction of new political realities and new directions for certain characters.
Zoe’s Tale by John Scalzi
Series: Old Man’s War Book #: 4 (of 6) Published: 2008
Why this book? I actually love the first book in the series best of all, but Zoe’s Tale is just so clever. Basically, this 4th book retells everything that’s already happened in the series, but from a different character’s perspective. I know some people who’ve stopped after book 3, but I always urge them to give Zoe’s Tale a try.
Leviathan Falls by James S. A. Corey
Series: The Expanse Book #: 9 (of 9) Published: 2021
Why this book? Because it pulls off the seemingly impossible feat of providing a stellar ending to a complicated (and excellent) series.
Pocket Apocalypse by Seanan McGuire
Series: Incryptids Book #: 4 (of 13 – so far) Published: 2015
Why this book? This is a somewhat random choice, since the whole series is really fun. This one shifts the action to Australia, which is new for the series, and introduces new characters and monsters in a really engaging way. With this many books in an ongoing series, it’s notable when an earlier book really sticks with a reader, and this one does.
Incense and Sensibility by Sonali Dev
Series: The Rajes Book #: 3 (of 4) Published: 2021
Why this book? Each of the four books in the series retells a Jane Austen novel, and this one works especially well. I loved the setup, the characters, and the plot development.
Breakup by Dana Stabenow
Series: Kate Shugak Book #: 7 (of 23 – so far) Published: 1997
Why this book? For a series that goes to some pretty dark places, this 7th book is actually very funny. If you’re binging the series, it’s a really enjoyable moment of lightness before more tragic events come in the next few books.
A Twist of Fate by Kelley Armstrong
Series: A Stitch in Time Book #: 2 (of 4) Published: 2021
Why this book? The timeslip story in this installment resolves a mystery introduced in the first book. The characters are terrific, and there’s a lot of emotion mixed in with the adventure.
Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn
Series: Bridgertons Book #: 4 (of 8) Published: 2002
Why this book? First of all, it’s the only one I’ve read twice! I love all the Bridgerton kids, but Colin and Penelope’s romance is a special treat. (And it’s my most recent foray into the series, since I just reread it, so it’s freshest in my mind…)
Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire
Series: Wayward Children Book #: 2 (of 9 – so far) Published: 2017
Why this book? The story in this installment is particularly haunting and beautifully written. I’ve enjoyed each book, but this one is a stand-out.
A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows by Diana Gabaldon
Series: Outlander Book #: 8.5 (of 9 – so far) Published: 2012
Why this book? OK, let’s be real. My choice for a favorite in the Outlander series should absolutely be (and truly is) the first book, Outlander. But that’s kind of obvious… so instead I’ll highlight this excellent novella, which fills in the blanks of a particular character’s family history and is simply excellent storytelling. I know a lot of Outlander fans focus just on the main novels (or, Big Enormous Books, as the author refers to them) — but skipping the novellas and other related novels means missing out on a lot of content that adds so much to the overall Outlander-verse.
How did you do with this week’s topic? Did you have as hard a time as I did with narrowing down the choices?
If you wrote a TTT post this week, please share your link!
Bookshelf Fantasies 