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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 Bookish Superpowers I Wish I Had
I had a lot of fun coming up with ideas for this topic and asked some of my bookish friends this question for fun. I ended up liking some of their answers more than my own, so I’ve stolen their ideas and added them here!
Top Ten Bookish Superpowers I Wish I Had
My own ideas:
Books on my library waitlist always come at exactly the right time, staggered, and not all at once!
Invincibility to FOMO
Books I want to buy always just happen to be on sale when I want to buy them
Ability to stop time while I savor reading
Ability to remember every single detail of books I read – unless I want to reread, in which case, I forget everything except the fact I loved it, and get surprised all over again!
Automatically forget any accidental spoilers so books never get ruined for me
Ideas I stole:
Ability to read in every language
Always picking up the exact books with the exact tropes you want in the moment
Ability to know if you’ll like a book once you pick it up, so you don’t waste your time on books you wouldn’t like
The artistic prowess for bookbinding and fore-edge painting so all my books look unique and beautiful!
Oh, how I wish some of these were real and actual superpowers I could have! What bookish superpowers would you wish for?
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 Love Freebie and I’m doing my Top Ten Favorite Book Relationships
Happy Valentine’s Day! This list will include all kinds of relationships; romantic, platonic, familial, symbiotic… I wanted to feature all the characters I love and their love for each other.
Top Ten Favorite Book Relationships
Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe from Anne of Green Gables – I think the books represent the evolution of their relationship a lot better than the mini-series but it was just so sweet to see them grow up and grow older together. They were horrible to each other when they were children, but once they grew up, they were just perfect together.
Jaime Lannister and Brienne of Tarth from A Song of Ice and Fire – An actual enemies to (sort-of) lovers story? I’d say respected comrade, but it’s clear they trauma-bonded in some way and feel deeply for each other. Look, I’m not saying that it’s a healthy relationship, but it was clearly a meaningful one. It was just amazing to see the way they had to trust each other, first out of necessity, then later out of respect and feelings.
Darrow and Sevro from the Red Rising series – Darrow and Sevro are my ride-or-die people. I can’t bear it when they are at odds with each other. I need them to be okay with each other, more than I need Darrow with Virginia. If anything happened to their relationship, I will riot!
Aurianne and Marcus from The Light Bearer – This is a very underrated book that I love with my whole heart. I love Aurianne because she’s one of the strongest, smartest, bravest woman I’ve ever met (read about), and Marcus is an incredibly intelligent strategist. And while they are both amazing as individuals, together they are the most powerful of power couples, and I love them!
Vargo, Ren, and Gray from the Rook and Rose series – This isn’t a throuple, I promise, but a very unique relationship that comes from complete love and trust for each other. I love Vargo especially because of how badass his reputation is to everyone else, but how vulnerable he is with Ren and Gray. I am in love with them all!
Pi and Richard Parker from Life of Pi – This was one of the most intense relationships I loved reading about. I don’t think Richard Parker loved Pi in any way except symbiotically, but they had such a beautiful relationship, nonetheless. I mean, not that it’s anything I’d want to aspire to, but in the context of the story. From fear of each other, to tolerance, to trust. Oh, I don’t know, it’s just such a complex thing to read about and it elicits so many feelings.
Rocky and Ryland Grace from Project Hail Mary – Amaze! I am in love with Rocky, and I love Ryland Grace more because I see him through Rocky’s POV. I love how they bonded. I love how they learned about each other, how they adapted and respected each other’s needs, customs, and more. It’s just such an example for how we should treat people different from us. Do you agree? Fist my bump!
Peter and Bea from The Book of Strange New Things – Full disclosure, it’s been 10 years since I read this book and I don’t remember very much, but I remember thinking that this was one of most interesting books I’ve ever read that showcased what a marriage was like, and this while Peter and his wife, Bea, lived on different planets for pretty much the whole book! You know what, I should probably reread this sometime soon.
Alice and Leonard from This Time Tomorrow – This was one of the more recent books I read, so you can read more about what I thought about the book here. Alice and Leonard are daughter and father, and I loved how they loved each other. I loved how present Leonard was for his daughter. I loved how Alice realized that having more time with her father was what was most important for her. It was just such a wholesome relationship, with all its beauty and bittersweetness.
Katniss and Peeta from The Hunger Games series – I’m sorry if it’s overdone and overrated, but there are so many reasons why I love The Hunger Games, and Peeta with Katniss is just one of the reasons. Peeta accepts Katniss as she is, with all her flaws, and he’s totally willing to die for her. It might have taken Katniss some time to feel her feelings, but that’s part of what I loved about their relationship; that it wasn’t insta-love. They had real reasons for falling for each other, each in their own time.
Who are your favorite book relationships? Why do you like them? Have a Happy Valentine’s Day!
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 Recent Books I Read In One Sitting
Some of these books are novellas, and there’s also a gag book, but many of them are full-length novels which I finished very quickly because they were easy reads and so good I couldn’t put them down.
Top Ten Recent Books I Read In One Sitting
10 Blind Dates by Ashley Elston – 336 pages. It’s a fun YA romance set around Christmas season. I didn’t expect to enjoy it so much, but I did!
The September House by Carissa Orlando– 344 pages. It’s so good, I couldn’t put it down! It was scary and horrifying, but also funny and insightful. It’s my favorite book of January!
All My Friends Are Dead by Avery Monsen and Jory John – 96 pages. Funny story; I came across this book while I was looking up another book on this list (Book Love by Debbie Tung), and this book came up in the “Readers also enjoyed…” section. It looked fun, so I went on Libby and it was available so I borrowed it, and opened it intending just to look inside. I ended up finishing the whole thing in maybe… 10 minutes? It was funny and sad, and I felt totally called out by the plant that said to stop buying their friends only to kill them slowly!
Book Love by Debbie Tung – 137 pages. I loved this book! I relate so much to it because of all the book related jokes and tales of the reading life.
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros – 498 pages. This isn’t a short book and it was also pretty intense, but it was so good and I just couldn’t put it down. I finished it way too fast, and I wanted more, but I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir here with most of you.
Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher – 116 pages. I’m a huge fan of T. Kingfisher, and this was a short but really good story! I love this perspective of the Sleeping Beauty fairytale.
You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle – 368 pages. I didn’t expect to love this so much when I started it because I thought they were horrible to each other, but it got really good and I loved how it all went down.
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus – 390 pages. I laughed out loud at so many parts in the story, and also cried at some places. I went in with zero expectations because I didn’t know about the hype at the time, but it became one of my favorite books in 2023.
We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – 65 pages. This is a very short book, but so impactful. It says so much in so few pages, and it really makes you think. I’d highly recommend it to anyone.
Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? What books did you finish in one sitting because they were just so good?
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 New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2023
I wasn’t sure if I had ten new authors I read in 2023, but apparently I did! Some of them I liked better than others, but I’m happy to say all of them are authors whose works I’d read again.
Top Ten New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2023
M.R. Carey – I read the Rampart Trilogy and I loved it. He is also the author of The Girl With All The Gifts series, which was turned into a movie I remember enjoying. I didn’t know at the time it was based on books, but I’m curious to read the series.
Tomi Adeyemi – I read Children of Blood and Bone, the first book in the Legacy of Orisha series, and I’m intending to finish the series this year, hopefully.
Bonnie Garmus – I read Lessons in Chemistry. It looks like she’s only got a single book released, but if/when she writes more, I’ll be reading them.
Sarah Hogle – I read You Deserve Each Other. It was so well-written and I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed it. It looks like she’s got plenty of books in the same vein and I’m going to make my way through them.
Allison Ashley – I read The Roommate Pact. Fun, light-hearted, heartwarming contemporary romance. I’ll be reading her other books as well.
Emma Straub – I read This Time Tomorrow, a time-travel story with a lovely father-daughter relationship I fell in love with. Apparently she’s the daughter of famed author Peter Straub. I’ve never read him, but I’ve seen many of his books around. I’m interested in reading more of her books as well as trying some of Peter Straub’s books.
Rebecca Yarros – I read Fourth Wing and Iron Flame, and I’m obviously going to read the next books in this series!
Louis Erdrich – I read The Sentence. It was not what I expected at all. It was simultaneously so mundane and yet magical. I love the glimpse into the Native American world, and I want to read more from her.
Ashley Elston – I read 10 Blind Dates and it was such a joy to read that now I want to read more. There’s a sequel, and there are several other books I’m looking forward to.
Have you read any of these authors? Did you read any of these books? What did you think of them?
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 I Meant to Read in 2023 but Didn’t Get To
Oh, the shame!
Not only are there so many books that I meant to read in 2023 but didn’t, some of them go so far back on my TBR list, I don’t even remember what they’re about or if I still want to read them! These are just the few that I most want to read, and I really hope I get to them some time this year!
Top Ten Books I Meant to Read in 2023 but Didn’t Get To
Top-Bottom, Left-Right:
The Rook by Daniel O’Malley – Well, the whole Checquy series, actually. This is the first book in the series, and I’ve read it a while ago. I meant to reread this and then the rest of the series in 2022, but I didn’t, and then I meant to read it in 2023, but didn’t. The good news is, I got the audiobook last week and have started reading it, finally! So hopefully I’ll actually finish the series this year.
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir – I keep meaning to read this and the rest of the series too, but this one isn’t my fault. It took a long time to get to me on the waitlist, and I had other books in the queue as well, and didn’t manage to get to it before I had to return it again for the next reader. Let’s hope the timing works out for this year!
Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer – And yet another series I meant to read. I hear great things about it, I just haven’t gotten around to it.
The Glass Chateau by Stephen P. Kiernan – This is one of my favorite authors and I’ve read all his other books. I was so excited when this book came out last year, and I meant to read it, but I took it for granted and before I knew it, the year ended and it’s still unread!
The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang – I loved the first book in this series, and I have this and the next book on my high priority list. The first book was good but a little heavy, and I’m afraid the next books will be too, so I’m procrastinating a bit.
Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller – By all accounts, I think I’d love this book and I keep meaning to read it but I just haven’t picked it up yet.
Between Us by Mhairi McFarlane – I’m not too ashamed of this one because it’s relatively new, but I originally planned to read it as soon as it came out, so I hope I get to it this year.
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster – I’ve had this on my physical bookshelf for a couple of years and I keep meaning to read it. It was supposed to be one of the first books I meant to read this year too, but I haven’t gotten to it yet.
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon – I won’t lie, I’m a bit intimidated by the size, but then again I do love big books. I’m not in a hurry to read this, but I do want to try to get to it before the end of 2024.
Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder – This series has been on my TBR for years and years and years. I hope to at least read the first book this year!
Did you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Are they worth still keeping on my TBR for 2024?
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 Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2024
There are so many that I’m so excited for!!! Almost all of these are authors I have read and loved, and I would read anything they write so that’s why I can’t wait for these. I know they are going to be good!
Top Ten Most Anticipated Books Releasing Jan-Jun 2024
Top-Bottom, Left-Right:
The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo – releasing Feb 13. She’s a Malaysian author writing about Malaysian Chinese folklore. I’ve read The Ghost Bride and The Night Tiger, both written by her and I loved them. I’m very excited for this one.
The Bride Bet by Tessa Dare – releasing Jan 15. This is the fourth book in the Girl Meets Duke series, and I’ve read the first three, so obviously this is next on the list!
What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher – releasing Feb 13. I love T. Kingfisher, and I loved the first book in this series. I didn’t even know there was going to be a second book, but of course I have to read it too!
Funny Story by Emily Henry – releasing Apr 23. I’ve read several of Emily Henry’s books and always enjoy them. This one has a storyline that is just too good to pass up.
The Girl in Question by Tess Sharpe – releasing May 14. The first book I read by Tess Sharpe is the first book in this series, The Girls I’ve Been, and I was hooked. I love her strong female protagonists, and I was so excited to find out she wrote a sequel.
The Dark Fable by Katherine Harbour – releasing Jan 30. The only author on this list whom I’ve never read. I’m not sure what to expect and I hope I won’t be disappointed, but I love the premise and I love fantasy stories, so I’m excited to read this!
You Like It Darker by Stephen King – releasing Mar 21. I mean, it’s Stephen King. I haven’t read all his books but I’m sure going to try, and his new stories keep getting better so of course I’m going to read this.
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo – releasing Apr 9. I loved many of Leigh Bardugo’s books, and I am very interested in this story too. Anticipating it very much!
The Bad Weather Friend by Dean Koontz – releasing Jan 23. I’ve only read one of Koontz books so far and I loved it, and I keep meaning to read more. I love the premise of this book, it sounds so deliciously creepy and I just can’t wait to read it.
Have you read any of these authors? What did you think of them? What are your most anticipated books this year?
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 Favorite Books of 2023.
Happy New Year 2024, everyone!
2023 wasn’t the best reading year for me because I felt like there were way too many books I read that I didn’t like, did not finish, or otherwise felt lukewarm about. But there were a few books that were amazing and some that have found a place as my all-time favorite books in my heart.
I hope 2024 will be an incredible reading year for all of us with lots of great books!
Top Ten Favorite Books of 2023
Top-Bottom, Left-Right:
Labyrinth’s Heart by M.A. Carrick – The third and final book in one of the most incredible trilogies I have ever read. The world-building and magical system in this book is so rich and detailed, the authors ended up creating a real-life divination deck that reflects the one in the book. They had a very successful Kickstarter launch, but I missed it and I’m sad.
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros – One of the most hyped books I’ve read this year. At first I was skeptical, because it can’t be that good, right? But it is! The plot kept moving, there was so much action and drama and emotions, I just couldn’t stop reading! Admittedly there were a few cliches and eye-rolling moments, but everything else was so good it’s worth overlooking the problems.
Jade War by Fonda Lee – I read both the second and final book in this trilogy this year and they were both so good. I mean, the whole series is amazing! The scope of the books, the story, is so vast. The character development is incomparable. This might be one of the best books in terms of character development. It’s just so good.
Morning Star by Pierce Brown – I read books 2 through 5 of the Red Rising series this year, and I’m currently waiting on the 6th book. The whole series is great, but I think the 3rd book is my favorite so far. I’m hesitant because the 5th book left me on an uncertain note, and I’m holding back my heart until I read the 6th book and know that my beloved characters are doing okay.
Barbed Wire Heart by Tess Sharpe – This is the second book I’ve read by Tess Sharpe and I have to say that I am loving her writing and her books! They have such bad-ass young female MCs, and the stories are so compelling and completely just sucks you in.
This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub – This one hits me in the feels. It’s a time-travel story, which I love, but ultimately, it’s the everyday mundaneness of the story that gets me. It’s the things you take for granted.
The Book of Koli by M.R. Carey – The first book in another amazing series. It’s so interesting from beginning to end, and I love how technology is presented as artifacts in the story, and I love seeing how the characters learn to work with the technology.
Sooley by John Grisham – This is not your typical John Grisham story. It is not a legal thriller, it’s a story about an athlete. I’m not typically a fan of sport stories, but this one… It’s not really about the sport, anyway, it’s about the people.
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes – This one hurts. Those of you who have read it know what I mean. I have so much awe and respect for the author’s portrayal of Charlie and the way he changes throughout the book, and yet he’s still the same character talking to us. So masterful.
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 Winter 2023-2024 To-Read List. I don’t typically read a lot of Christmas-themed or winter-themed books on purpose. If they happen to be set in winter or at Christmas, that’s fine and I enjoy them, but I don’t seek them out, so my winter TBR are just regular books I want to read. I do love watching a lot of cheesy Christmas-themed movies during the season though!
Below are the books I hope to read this winter. Many are library books that I’m on the waitlist for, and I’m estimating that they’ll be getting to me this winter, so fingers crossed!
Top Ten Books on my Winter 2023-2024 To-Read List
Top-Bottom, Left-Right:
The Switch by Beth O’Leary – I read and loved a couple of her other books but I haven’t gotten around to this one yet.
Holly by Stephen King – I really enjoyed the Mr. Mercedes series where we first got to know Holly, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of her here.
Light Bringer by Pierce Brown – I am stuck in limbo waiting for this one to get to me because it’s Book 6 in the Red Rising series, and I was in pain seeing my beloved characters suffer in Book 5. I need to know what happens next!
Slewfoot by Brom – I don’t actually know what this is about. I just heard a lot of good things about the book and author. I did just recently read a different book by this same author and didn’t like it, so I’m tempering my expectations.
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett – It’s the title that got me for this one. I would’ve read it even if it was an actual nonfic encyclopedia. In fact, I’d probably want to read it more if it was a real encyclopedia of faeries!
Watership Down by Richard Adams – This has been on my TBR for ages and ages. It’s one of those books you take for granted because it’s a classic and you know it will always be relevant so you can read it any time.
A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid – Not sure if I should be embarrassed to admit that Bookstagram is responsible for this one.
The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson – Also this one. What can I say? I’m weak and easily influenced!
Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross – I actually have a different book by this author on my TBR, A River Enchanted, but yes, Bookstagram is making me want to read this first. We have already established I’m weak.
The Glass Chateau by Stephen P. Kiernan – This is one of my favorite authors and I’ve read everything he’s written so far, except this one which is his latest. His books are beautiful and profound and beautiful and lyrical, and did I say beautiful? I cannot recommend him enough.
I am very much looking forward to these books! Have you read any of them? I’d love to hear your thoughts. What books are you excited for this winter?
