Top 5 Tuesday: Top 5 I want to reread in 2022

Yes, you read that right! This post is a Top 5 Tuesday post — I’m participating in the meme originally created by Shanah @ Bionic Book Worm, now hosted by Meeghan Reads.

My usually Tuesday lists are linked back to the Top Ten Tuesday meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, but I just wasn’t feeling this week’s prompt, so I thought I’d do something different.

Books to re-read!! This topic is definitely in my sweet spot, since I’m a big fan of re-reading my favorite books. I’ll usually let at least a few years go by, although sometimes, when the next book in a series is on the horizon, I’ll do a quick re-read (or audiobook listen) to get a refresher on all the details.

Here are five I plan to re-read in 2022:

  • The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien: I’m actually planning to start a LOTR re-read this year, and I’m leaning toward starting with the audiobook of The Hobbit (narrated by Andy Serkis) — but I also have this illustrated edition on my shelf that I may choose to spend time with instead.
  • Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling: I’m looking forward to enjoying the gorgeous MinaLima edition of HP#2.
  • When Sorrows Come by Seanan McGuire: The newest October Daye book (#16, Be the Serpent) comes out in the fall, so before then, I’ll be doing an audio re-read of #15.
  • Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone by Diana Gabaldon: I read the 9th book in the Outlander series as soon as it was released this past November, but starting next week, my book group will be doing a group read, sharing and discussing two chapters per week.
  • Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller: This is another one for a book group discussion, and I absolutely do not mind the idea of reading it again!

Do you plan to re-read any books in 2022?

As always, if you have a TTT or T5T post this week, please share your link!

Top Ten Tuesday: Books Too Good to Review Properly  

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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 Too Good to Review Properly .

I definitely have plenty of these! Many of these are book group books or literary fiction books that impressed me in different ways or are so well-known and written about that I felt like I had nothing to add. And somehow the idea of reviewing a classic (other than by saying — wow, I read this! and I liked it!) seems a little beyond my scope!

In any case, below are ten books that I loved — but apparently had no words when it came to writing a review (other than just handing out 5 stars, of course).

  • This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger
  • Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
  • Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
  • Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
  • Stardust by Neil Gaiman
  • Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
  • Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
  • The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
  • Deerskin by Robin McKinley
  • The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

What books made your list this week?

Please share your link so I can check out your top 10!

Top Ten Tuesday: Books with Character Names in the 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 Books with Names/Character Names In the Titles. I did something similar for a freebie TTT topic several years ago (here), and although it’s tempting, I’m not going to repeat any for today’s list!

  1. Josh & Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren (review)
  2. Gwendy’s Button Box by Richard Chizmar and Stephen King (review)
  3. Cousin Kate by Georgette Heyer
  4. How the Penguins Saved Veronica by Hazel Prior (review)
  5. Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower by Tamsyn Muir (review)
  6. Dava Shastri’s Last Day by Kirthana Ramisetti (review)
  7. Beth & Amy by Virginia Kantra (review)
  8. Velveteen vs the Junior Super Patriots by Seanan McGuire
  9. Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado
  10. Naomi & Ely’s No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

What books made your list this week?

Please share your link so I can check out your top 10!

Top Ten Tuesday: New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2021

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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 New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2021.

There were way more than 10, and it’s so hard to choose favorites… but I’ll go with these ten, whose books I really enjoyed:

  • Julia Quinn (I read ALL the Bridgerton books!)
  • Rosie Danan
  • Sarah Morgenthaler
  • Crystal Maldonado
  • Kristen O’Neal
  • C. Robert Cargill
  • Adrian Tchaikovsky
  • William Kent Krueger
  • Everina Maxwell
  • Emiko Jean

What new-to-you authors did you discover in 2021? Any particular favorites? Do we have any in common?

Please share your link so I can check out your top 10!

Top Ten Tuesday: 2021 Releases I Was Excited to Read But Didn’t Get To

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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 2021 Releases I Was Excited to Read But Didn’t Get To. So, so many of these!

Here are 10 that fit the topic — all of which I still really want to read!

Have you read any of these? Which ones should I tackle first?

If you posted a TTT list this week, please share your link!

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Recent Additions to My Book Collection

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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 Most Recent Additions to My Book Collection. I did buy a LOT of books at the end of 2021 — but I think I’ve share most of those already.

Usually, I build these posts around my physical books purchases, but to switch things up, here are my 10 most recent additions to my Kindle library:

Have you read any of these? Which ones do you think should be my priorities to read?

If you posted a TTT list this week, please share your link!

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Books Releasing In the First Half of 2022

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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 Most Anticipated Books Releasing In the First Half of 2022. While one of my goals this year is to read the books I already own, I can’t help feeling excited about a bunch of new releases that will be coming my way too!

My 10 most anticipated new releases for the first half of 2022 are:

  1. Where the Drowned Girls Go (Wayward Children, #7) by Seanan McGuire (1/4 — my copy arrives today!)
  2. An Impossible Imposter (Veronica Speedwell, #7) by Deanna Raybourn (2/14)
  3. One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle (3/1)
  4. Spelunking Through Hell (Incryptids, #11) by Seanan McGuire (3/1)
  5. The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi (3/15)
  6. Reputation by Lex Croucher (4/5)
  7. The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth (4/5)
  8. To Marry and to Meddle (The Regency Vows, #3) by Martha Waters (4/5)
  9. Book of Night by Holly Black (5/3)
  10. Tokyo Dreaming by Emiko Jean (5/31)

What new releases are you most looking forward to in 2022? Share your links, and I’ll come check out your top 10!

Top Ten Tuesday: Give me more! Authors whose entire works I NEEDED after reading just one of their books…

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 Loved that Made Me Want More Books Like Them — which can be interpreted a bunch of different ways.

For my purposes, I thought I’d focus on authors whose works I feel in love with after just one book. For all of the authors below, once I read my first book by them, I immediately needed to read ALL (or, okay, A LOT) of their books!

My top ten are:

  1. Diana Gabaldon: Once I read Outlander, I was a goner!
  2. Jojo Moyes: I think my first book of her was The Ship of Brides, but I’ve made it my business to read as many of her books as I could get my hands on. I think there are a still a few earlier books that I haven’t gotten to yet, but I’ve now read 10 of her books!
  3. C. Robert Cargill: This is a recent addition for me, but now that I’ve read Day Zero, I need to read everything else he’s written. (Fun fact: He’s also a screenwriter — for movies including Marvel’s Doctor Strange, which I just watched last night and hadn’t realized he’d written!)
  4. John Scalzi: My first book by this author was Redshirts, and it was a case of insta-love for me. I’ve now read everything of his except a book of essays, I believe.
  5. TJ Klune: I adored The House on the Cerulean Sea, and absolutely want to read more.
  6. Octavia Butler: Kindred felt like a life-changing read for me, and I immediately picked up copies of Parable of the Sower, Parable of the Talents, and Fledgling as soon as I finished. I still have a big chunk of her oeuvre yet to read.
  7. Georgette Heyer: My book group picked a GH book for a discussion a few years ago, and it made me want to read more and more and more of her works! I’ve made a point since then of looking for her books whenever I’m in a used book store, and have quite a collection so far.
  8. Jenny Colgan: My first Jenny Colgan books was The Bookshop on the Corner, and I was totally smitten with her rosy-eyed view of quirky village life. I’ve read a whole slew of her books since then, and still have more to go!
  9. Mary Robinette Kowal: The Calculating Stars blew me away, and I’ve since read the next two books in that series, plus her Glamourist Histories books (loved them!) and a collection of short stories. More, please!
  10. Seanan McGuire: I don’t even remember which book of hers came first for me, but once I started, I was totally hooked. And considering she publishes about four books per year, that’s a lot to keep up with!

Have you ever read a single book by a new-to-you author, then turned around and read ALL the books? Bookworm problems, amirite?

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

Top Ten Tuesday: My daughter’s favorite reads from the past 12 months

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week is a Freebie week, so we all come up with our own topics. Since my wonderful, amazing, book-loving daughter is home this week, I thought I’d make her the star, and have her pick her top 10 reads from the past year.

Here are the books she’s loved recently:

(She couldn’t quite narrow it down to 10, so here are the 11 top books!)

  1. Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory by Raphael Bob-Waksberg
  2. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
  3. Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
  4. Milk Blood Heat by Dantiel W. Moniz
  5. Happily Ever Afters by Elise Bryant
  6. Umami by Laia Jufresa
  7. Yes Please by Amy Poehler
  8. The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air trilogy) by Holly Black
  9. Good Talk by Mira Jacobs
  10. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
  11. Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

Have you read any of these? If so, what did you think? (I’ve read 5 of her 11, and clearly need to read at least a few of the others!)

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

Top Ten Tuesday: Book Titles That Are Complete Sentences

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 Are Complete Sentences.

I was surprised by how many I found just by looking at my review archives! Here are 10 of my favorites:

  1. Miss Kopp Just Won’t Quit by Amy Stewart
  2. The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness
  3. Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
  4. Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan
  5. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez
  6. Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone by Diana Gabaldon (New Outlander book! Coming November 2021!!!)
  7. Please Send Help by Gaby Dunn & Allison Raskin
  8. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
  9. Do You Dream of Terra-Two by Temi Oh
  10. Everyone Dies Famous in a Small Town by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock

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