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Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.
Today’s topic is Books on My Fall 2025 to-Read List
Most of these books were already included in my September intended TBR but I haven’t gotten to them and we have just about a week left in the month. Hopefully, I’ll get to them some time this fall! I also realize that I have three Stephen King titles on this list, but to be fair, they are all actual buddy reads that I signed up for that have fall deadlines, plus I realized I need to amp up my Stephen King reading if I want to finish my Stephen King Constant Reader Challenge in a timely manner!
Top Ten Books on My Fall 2025 TBR
The Wedding People by Alison Espach – I have heard interesting things about this book. It seems like a light-hearted book but apparently there are some heavy themes, but it looks like there are generally great reviews for it.
The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston – I have read another book by the author, and I really like the sound of the plot for this book.
Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman – It’s the BOTM for my in-person bookclub this month, meeting this weekend! I really hope I can finish it by then!
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab – I have enjoyed several of the author’s books, but I like some more than others. I hope this is one of the good ones!
The Devils by Joe Abercrombie – I really enjoyed The First Law Trilogy and I’d already read the first few chapters of this one and found it really intriguing too! It’s a thicker book but hopefully I can dive in soon.
A Sorceress Comes To Call by T. Kingfisher – I initially started this book a few days ago but realized that I had more time on it (library deadline) than I had on Between Two Fires, so I’m putting it down and reading the other one first!
Falling by T.J. Newman – The plot sounds fascinating when I heard it and I’m excited to get to it soon!
Duma Key by Stephen King – I have read this before and remember loving it, but I don’t remember a single thing about it. It’s a buddy read so I decided to reread it with everyone else for the discussion.
Christine by Stephen King – Another buddy read! I recently watched the movie but haven’t yet read the book. My husband has watched many of King’s film adaptations and is a fan of his works, but the only King book he has read that I have not is this one! I have to remedy that (on both sides)!
The Running Man by Stephen King – And yet another buddy read; my online bookclub has a lot of serious Stephen King fans!
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?
Welcome to the Sunday Post, a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer to share weekly news and updates on what we’ve been up to on our blog, with our books, and book-related happenings.
Our Music is Out!
Last week my husband and I finally released some original music that we’d been working on for ages and ages and ages!! It’s our first collaboration album under the band name SpaceBlaze; we released three songs on Monday but there are more coming soon, so please take a listen and if you like it, please bookmark and come back for the rest!
I have been so excited to share this for such a long time but there have been so many unexpected delays and setbacks because we’re doing everything on our own; from conception to creation, to recording, post-production, and publishing. We had no idea what we were doing!! But we made it, finally!
It’s not perfect, obviously, but I hope you’ll enjoy the effort and I appreciate any feedback!
We’re also on other music platforms, so if Spotify doesn’t work for you, feel free to listen on whichever ones you use. My husband has also released some instrumental covers under the name GuitarLone, if you’re interested in checking that out!
In other news, I had my first exam on Wednesday and got my results back already! The bad news is that I made some silly mistakes, the good news is that I got an A anyway! Yayy! And the next exam is in two weeks… yay…😅
I’m still struggling a little with time management and I’m falling behind on almost everything but I’m feeling just a tiny bit better about it this week because the instructors have graciously extended the due dates for a couple of assignments that were originally due this weekend.
I need to chill and remind myself that as long as I pass the courses, I’m happy! I don’t need to have perfect grades! I don’t need to have a clean house! I can wear my dirty clothes several times before they start smelling! I’m sure the people covering their noses when I get close were just having allergies! I can make my husband cook every day for the foreseeable future, or just eat bread and cereal! For every meal! Sounds like a plan.
The Books
Books I read last week:
Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman – The second book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. More fun, more hijinks. I already love Carl and Donut, but I also love that we are seeing more of other characters. I’m not sure I can say much without giving away spoilers, but I have to say that I can’t imagine a more adorable pet for Donut than Mongo!
The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook by Matt Dinniman – This one was a lot more emotional for me than the first two. Yes, the books are fun and hilarious, but the things that happen in the book are also kind of f’d up and traumatizing, and I think it’s good that they take it seriously and remind us of that occasionally. I love how we are seeing the characters grow and develop more depth.
Books I’m reading:
The Gate of the Feral Gods by Matt Dinniman – Just started at Ch 2. I can’t seem to stop reading about Carl and Donut!
A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher – I love Kingfisher and I really want to read this book but I’m on a roll with DCC, and the only reason I also started this book is because it’s a borrowed library book and there’s a deadline, and I want to make sure I finish it before I have to return it!
At this point, I’m not sure if I’ll get to any of my intended TBR for the month since I have been very engrossed in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series and absolutely loving them! I would love to finish the whole series back-to-back, but I do want to finish A Sorceress Comes to Call before I have to return it, and I also have an in-person bookclub happening the coming weekend and I need to read the BOTM!
How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!
Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.
Today’s topic is Literary/Bookish Candles I’d Make
I used to love scented candles and aromatherapy, but since having cats and learning that some aromatherapy oils can be dangerous to them, I haven’t had any in the home for a while now. So I’m going with Books Beginning with E. These are all books I haven’t read but want to. Some hopefully sooner rather than later.
Top Ten Books Beginning with E
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman – I actually got a couple of chapters in a few years ago but for some reason never finished it. I hear so much praise about it that I feel like I should try again though.
Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green – This one intrigues me specifically because of Nicky @ The Bibliophibian who has featured and talked about this book a lot! If you search for the book on their blog, you’ll find quite a few entries with very interesting writeups.
Emma by Jane Austen – I’ve only read two books by Austen but I keep meaning to read more. There are other Austen books I’m more interested in reading first, but this one starts with E.
Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn – I love the idea of this book but haven’t read it yet. It seems like a quick and easy read so I don’t know why I haven’t gotten to it. Maybe I’ve been taking it a little bit for granted.
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty – I had no intention of ever reading this book initially, but a couple of my bookclub friends were discussing it so animatedly that it’s gotten me really curious. I still can’t say for sure that I will read it, but I am curious!
Educated by Tara Westover – This has been on my TBR forever and it has gotten so much praise that I know I have to read it.
The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee – I’m a cancer survivor, but to be honest, I still don’t know very much about cancer at all. This sounds very interesting to me and I guess it’s never too late to educate myself.
Everything’s Eventual by Stephen King – I mean, if a Stephen King book fits in a TTT, you know I’m gonna add it there. I haven’t read so many of his books yet, but I’m looking forward to them all!
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton – I’m doing the Classics Club challenge, and the one thing I love about this book is that it’s only 99 pages!
Eve by Cat Bohannon – A nonfiction book about the female body and its evolution? Sign me up! It’s seriously ridiculous how little we know about the female body. It’s seriously ridiculous how little I, as a woman, know about my own body! I don’t know if this book will answer all the questions, but I’m pretty sure I will learn some new things!
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?
Welcome to the Sunday Post, a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer to share weekly news and updates on what we’ve been up to on our blog, with our books, and book-related happenings.
All’s Well That Ends Well
I was hoping the second week of school would be easier but the Universe had other plans for me. This time again, it wasn’t school kicking my butt although I have to admit I’m finding myself using parts of my brain I haven’t accessed in years and that’s a challenge in itself.
Nope, what happened was we had a plumbing issue on Monday, and we were lucky enough that we got the plumber to come on Tuesday, but those couple of days weren’t fun, let me tell you. And then on Thursday, we woke up to one of our cats, Pepper, limping, and after having Loki just passing a few months ago, I was perhaps a tad paranoid and worried about something bad happening to Pepper as well. I was anxiously monitoring and babying her the whole day. Fortunately, she seemed a lot better the next morning and is pretty much back to normal now. (I’m still babying her a little bit though.)
So yeah, it was an emotionally difficult and anxiety-ridden week for me. I didn’t get much sleep, which made it difficult for me to concentrate in class as well. I was so glad for the weekend! Everything is looking up this weekend!
Please let the coming week be as easy breezy as can be! I should mention I have my first exam this week, but the sentiment stands! Please let this week be so easy breezy that I’ll ease and breeze through the exam too!
The Books
Books I read last week:
Dragons of Spring Dawning by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman – It was so much more intense than I remembered! To be fair, it’s been maybe 30 years since I last read it, but I still love it! I was initially going to read the Dragons of Summer Flame after this one but just found out that there’s another book that I don’t have in between these two, so I’m putting the series on hold.
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman – I read this last year and loved it, but haven’t finished the series, so I reread to refresh my memory and I intend to finish the series this time!
Books I’m reading:
Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman – I also read this last year and stopped halfway through book 3. Rereading it for a refresher and finishing the rest of the books. I’m on Ch 7 now!
The Devils by Joe Abercrombie – I’m only on the third chapter, which is only 3% in, but it’s already really interesting and the characters are really standing out.
Last Week on The Blog
I missed out on Top Ten Tuesday last week, but I got a couple of reviews done!
I have temporarily given up on S. by JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst. I don’t have the mental power for an intellectual book like that right now. The Dungeon Crawler Carl series weren’t really in my plans this month, but I just needed something fun and it fits the bill!
How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!
Welcome to the Sunday Post, a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer to share weekly news and updates on what we’ve been up to on our blog, with our books, and book-related happenings.
The First Week of School
I was quite overwhelmed this first week of school! It wasn’t so much the courses, but all the setups and signups and logins, and apps and softwares I had to install for the courses. It’s been such a long while since I went to college as a young adult and now everything has been digitized! I don’t necessarily have a problem with technology, and in fact, I like having the courses available online, but I don’t like having so many different apps for so many different things!
Maybe this is karma; I used to complain about my parents being technology dinosaurs when I was a teenager and this is the Universe’s way of paying me back! 😂
It was a really busy week nevertheless, and I wasn’t able to read as much as I wanted but I did manage a couple of books! Plus I caught up on a few reviews! Hopefully, things will settle down once I get all the setups done, but I know I also have a lot of study and assignments and exams ahead of me. Is it too soon to start complaining? 😅
The Books
Books I read last week:
Dragons of Winter Night by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman – The second book in the Dragonlance Chronicles series. Things escalated a lot faster than I expected but I am still very invested in the story and the characters. The ending was crazy but I started the next book already because I needed to find out what happens next!
Taste by Stanley Tucci – I loved listening to Tucci talk about his relationship with the people in his life through the lens of food and the meals he has with them. He’s such a personable character and I love his work in the acting world as well.
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami – I picked up this book because of the subject matter and not the author. I’ve never read a single book by Murakami before this one, but I’m very impressed and inspired by his dedication to everything he does in life, including his running, and it has made me curious and wanting to read his books.
Books I’m reading:
Dragons of Spring Dawning by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman – Just recently started so there’s not much to say yet. I just really want all my favorite characters to be okay!
If I can, I’ll get the rest of the Dragonlance Chronicles finished this week. It’s been so many years, I just want to feel that resolution to the story. But I do have a couple of other series in the Dragonlance universe to read after this, though I will try to finish other series I’ve started before starting a new one!
How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!
Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.
Today’s topic is Books With Occupations in the Title
Apparently, I have a lot of books with occupations in the title on my TBR list. I had a hard time narrowing it down to ten but these are the ones higher up on my TBR, so hopefully I’ll actually read some of them soon!
Top Ten Books With Occupations in the Title
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie – This has been on my TBR the longest and I don’t even remember why I was interested in it at the time, but it’s relatively short, so I’m curious to get it read and crossed off my list.
The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan – I’m actually interested in many of Amy Tan’s books, but this is the only one that had an occupation on the title. I’ll make my way through her portfolio eventually!
The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed – This one calls to me. I love fantasy and horror and it gives me dark fairytale vibes. For some reason, I’m reminded about the Grimm Brother’s fairytales, the dark ones, not the Disney ones, and I hope I’ll get something like that here.
Call The Midwife by Jennifer Worth – The TV series charmed me although I only watched the first couple of seasons. I just googled it and I’m surprised to learn it’s apparently still ongoing and on its 14th season now! I’m sure it has deviated a lot from the book already, but I’ve lost interest in the show anyway, and I’m curious to read the book itself.
Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller – I really need to get to this one soon. It calls to the adventurous, swash-buckling feminist in me, and I just want to immerse myself in adventure. It’s the first of a series though, and I’m trying to finish series I’ve already started before starting more.
The Drunken Botanist by Amy Stewart – I have a fascination with plants and what they can do and the author has another book called Wicked Plants that’s on my TBR too! This book is about plants that go into alcoholic beverages and I don’t drink, so I’m not as excited about this one compared to Wicked Plants, which is about dangerous and poisonous plants. Perhaps I should clarify that I don’t do poison either! 😂
Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett – Who doesn’t like Terry Pratchett and the Discworld books? Unfortunately, I haven’t read many of them because I have this thing about series. I find it hard to read them out of order (unless I didn’t know they were a part of a series) even if they’re not sequentially related. One day I’ll either read them all, or I’ll break the series-in-order rule!
The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi – I found this book in a Little Free Library and brought it home because it caught my attention. I’m not sure when I’ll get to this one; it sounds a little heavy and I think I need to be in the right frame of mind for it.
The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich – I’ve read The Sentence by the author and loved it, and I have The Mighty Red higher up on the TBR. I intend to read this one after, because I really like the author’s writing style so far and I hope to read more from her.
The Soul of a Chef by Michael Ruhlman – I read The Main Dish and The Making of a Chef by the author and loved them, and of course immediately added this book to my TBR as well. I just love the way he talks about food and cooking. I want more!
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?
Welcome to the Sunday Post, a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer to share weekly news and updates on what we’ve been up to on our blog, with our books, and book-related happenings.
School Starts This Week!
I had my orientation last week and I’m excited and anxious as hell. Honestly, I wish I was too cool for school, but I’m feeling very, very uncool right now! 😂
In some ways, I feel like I’m ready and overprepared, in other ways, I feel so unprepared it’s not even funny. Also, I’m fully aware that I’m being really annoying now with all the school talk and how excited I am, but give it a few weeks and I’ll probably start complaining about school then! Hopefully not though!
Yeah, I don’t have much to share other than about going back to school. It’s my whole personality right now! Thank goodness I do have some books to talk about too!
The Books
Books I read last week:
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins – This is a reread. I resisted reading this for a long time because I just didn’t feel a need for more books in the THG world, but a friend talked it up and I was pleasantly surprised that I ended up liking it. Reading it the second time now, I’m seeing more of the details I missed before and I love it even more now!
Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa – I don’t usually like “slice of life” novels, but this was my online bookclub’s BOTM, and it was relatively short, so I decided to give it a chance. I didn’t love it, but it wasn’t bad and I liked it well enough.
Books I’m reading:
S. by J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst – I haven’t touched it since the week before! I haven’t had time to immerse myself but I don’t want to leave it too long, otherwise I’ll have to start over.
Dragons of Winter Night by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman – The second book in the Dragonlance Chronicles I’m working through. I’m about 45% in.
I will try to get some reading in for S. I’m also hoping to finish Dragons of Winter Night early in the week so I can start Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab.
How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!
Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.
Today’s topic is Non-Bookish Freebie
Taking the opportunity with today’s topic to post pictures of my cats! We lost Loki (the white-ish one) a few months ago, but he’s not forgotten and he’s still a very important part of the three MeowsCateers. Some of the pictures aren’t the best quality but I hope their cuteness comes through!
The Three MeowsCateers
Basking on the windowsill
Staring into your soul
Dozing cats
Nom-noms
Cuddle pile
Do you have any pets? Share stories about them in the comments! I’d love to hear them!
Welcome to the Sunday Post, a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer to share weekly news and updates on what we’ve been up to on our blog, with our books, and book-related happenings.
School On My Mind
I’m ramping up preparations for school. We have an online “orientation” course that I’ve been working through these last few days that I haven’t finished yet. I’ve been organizing my notebooks and getting my textbooks, and kind of going overboard with colored highlighters and tabs – I am well aware I’m being a little extra but I love the idea of aesthetic notes! I’m pretty sure when the time comes for taking notes, all aesthetics will go out the window though!
I also had a wonderful Saturday spent with a friend who used to go to the school I’m going to. She offered to take me on a tour of her favorite spots on campus, which was really fun, and then we went for lunch after, which was really fun too! I think I’m ready for school…? 😅
The Books
Books I read last week:
Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang – I am shooketh by this book! I didn’t expect it to be so hard-hitting but yeah, it’s incredible and gave me so much to think about. Now I’m even more excited to read The Sword of Kaigen.
Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman – I just finished this today. I actually just read this last year and was supposed to read the rest of the series as well, but never got to them, so I’m rereading this to refresh my memory before getting to the next books.
Books I’m reading:
S. by J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst – I had never heard of this book until my bookclub started reading it, but it’s essentially a book within a book; the book in question is basically a “prop” of sorts, it’s a fake book that exists for this story. It’s got annotations on the margins made to look like two characters communicating with each other, there are papers, articles, letters, and more stuffed within the pages of the fake book. I’ve just finished the intro and not yet even gotten to the first chapter yet. I’m anticipating that this will take me longer to finish than a regular book!
It’s the last week I have to read the books with an August deadline; two BOTMs with two bookclubs – Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa, and The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell. I could possibly do the first because it’s shorter but I don’t think I’ll be able to finish The Power of Myth since it requires more focus. We shall see.
How was your week? I hope you had a great week last week, and I hope you have a great one again this week!
Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.
Today’s topic is Books with a High Page Count
I did a previous TTT topic with Chonky Books, but I’ve read a few more chonkers since then and thought I’d add them here. Not all of them are the most chonky books in the world, some are only about 600+ pages, and where there are series, I featured the first book in the series even though the later books are chonkier. I’ll state them in the descriptions though.
I’m a huge fan of chonkers because you get more time with the story and characters, and you get to live in that world a little longer. What chonkers have you read and loved?
Top Ten More Chonkers
11/22/63 by Stephen King – 849 pages. It’s like I can’t do a TTT without having at least one SK book on the list. But to be fair, it actually did come in at 10th place when I went through my most recent chonkers read (that wasn’t already featured or part of a series)! It’s time travel, historical fiction, and such an adventure!
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky – 671 pages. This one felt like a fever dream. I enjoyed the reading experience but I didn’t connect to the characters and I don’t think it’s one that will stay with me. There’s a lot of philosophizing and justification, which makes sense for the topic, but I couldn’t agree with the characters’ points.
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt – 771 pages. I loved this one. It had David Copperfield/Demon Copperhead vibes, and I love how immersive it is. It’s a coming-of-age story and we see the protagonist as a young child up to adulthood. His best friend is also one of the most interesting and exasperating characters I’ve read!
Super Powereds by Drew Hayes – 814 pages. This one was such a pleasant surprise and it has become one of my favorite series! A group of super powered young adults going to a super powered school; it’s so smart and action-packed, and there’s also such a strong found family element to the story. How could I resist? There are four books and the first one is 814 pages, the next three are 822 pages, 1104 pages, and a whopping 1981 pages, respectively!
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson – 1007 pages. I’ve finished up to Book 3, and the next two books are on my immediate TBR. I’m enjoying it so far but I need to read them faster because I’m forgetting details the longer I’m taking to read them. Books 2 and 3 are 1088 pages and 1248 pages, respectively.
The Terror by Dan Simmons – 835 pages. This one was so good! It has a slow start but the tension just kept building and building. It’s based on the real-life expedition that failed, but there are some fantastical elements in this story.
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky – 608 pages. I’ve read this and the second book with 597 pages. There is a third book but I haven’t read it yet. It’s about humans colonizing other planets, and somehow creating intelligent life in other species through some kind of nanovirus. It’s very interesting to see the evolution of these species throughout thousands and thousands of years, and I love how much more evolved they become than even humans!
Perdido Street Station by China Mieville – 710 pages. This one lives in my mind rent-free. I love the world-building, the different alien species we see living together, and I love how the pursuit of science and art is presented here. It is also extremely gut-wrenching and devastating, and I’m still not over it.
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo – 1463 pages. I loved the experience of reading this one as well, even the parts where the author goes on long tangents on things that are not necessarily directly related to the story! I don’t like the characters as people, but I think they are really interesting as characters and I love that they stayed true to the title of their story!
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy – 964 pages. This book has been on my TBR for ages and now that I’ve finally read it I can say that Tolstoy is a genius and I am enthralled by his writing! To be clear, I hate Anna Karenina as a character, and I got so tired of her by the time I was halfway through the story, and I also didn’t much like the other characters so there was nothing to keep me invested. But somehow, Tolstoy did! He is a master at character study and like them or not, the characters and their thought processes and behaviors kept me interested! I’m looking forward to reading Tolstoy’s War and Peace!
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Would you read any of these books?
