top ten tuesday

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Ten Books on my Wishlist

- Meg 7 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly discussion hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl (and formerly hosted by The Broke and the Bookish), and this week’s topic is “Books on My Wishlist”! There’s an Amazon link below to my wishlist, but absolutely do not feel obligated to purchase anything for me! These also in no particular order, just in the order I found them through my Goodreads to-read list.

  • The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid– So many fairy tale and myth retellings are coming out, and I’ve seen such good things about this!
  • Half Sick of Shadows by Laura Sebastian – Give me all of the Arthurian revisits, especially about the female characters.
  • Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch by Rivka Galchen – I keep looking at this at the bookstore, and the cover is so pretty that I want to own a physical copy!
  • Son of the Storm by Suyi Davis Okungbowa – Everything in Orbit’s pipeline lately has been and looks incredible, and this is no exception.
  • The Library of the Dead by T.L. Huchu – I love books about books/libraries, and this looks delightfully spooky.
  • Ariadne by Jennifer Saint – This keeps catching my attention every time I go to the bookstore and see it on Instagram, and I’m totally digging these Greek mythology retellings.
  • Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell – This keeps being touted as Finn/Poe-esque, and tbh I want it for that reason alone.
  • The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo – A The Great Gatsby retelling from the perspective of Jordan??? I’ve been wanting to read this ever since it was announced.
  • She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan – This is another one I’ve been hearing so much about and it just looks amazing.
  • Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim – Aside from this cover being one of the most beautiful, striking covers I’ve seen in a while, the story sounds incredible too.

> > > Amazon Wishlist < < <

Do not feel obligated to purchase anything off the wishlist!

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Books on My Summer 2021 TBR

- Meg 2 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly discussion hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl (and formerly hosted by The Broke and the Bookish), and last week’s topic (that I’m doing this week instead) is “Books on my Summer TBR” and all of these are books I currently have with me in my car or on my Kindle. I read exactly ZERO of my spring books, but to be fair I also moved and probably packed half of them in a hurry. I should call these possibility piles because set TBRs don’t always work for me, but when I’m sitting there wondering what to read, having this list put out there in the world is a great reference and starting point for me.

  • Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manasala – I saw this on a table and on a couple of Instagram posts, and it looks like the perfect summer cozy mystery!
  • Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid – I have enjoyed all of Reid’s recent releases, so I’m sure I will love this one!! I also want to knock out her backlist prior to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, but first things first!
  • Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto – I love everything about this cover and the premise, and I hope it’s an alphabet series!
  • The Duke Heist by Erica Ridley – Let’s be real, I just need some historical romance fluff to balance out this current chaos.
  • Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth – This was sent to me by HMH (thank you!!!) and I’m very interested in the premise! I enjoyed the Divergent series, didn’t quite enjoy what came next, but I’m looking forward to reading Roth’s foray into adult fiction!
  • The Pariah by Anthony Ryan – Access to this was included as part of me being a bookseller, and I’m always in the mood to try some new fantasy even though I’m terrible at keeping up with series. However, this one looks gritty and something to balance out everything else I’m reading and wanting to read!
  • Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia – Listen, I am in the mood for mysteries and thrillers, probably because they are pageturner likelihoods and I desperately need those, but the cover of this initially caught my attention and then it being queer??? YES thank you.
  • Anne of Manhattan by Brina Starler – I just need more Anne of Green Gables in my life, and this contemporary romance retelling set in New York has already ticked off a lot of my yay boxes.
  • The Ninth Metal by Benjamin Percy – Something about the cover and the premise caught my attention, and everything I’ve heard about this weird sci-fi has been good things!
  • One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston – This has been on my radar since it was announced but then I recently found out that it’s kind of a reinvention of Kate & Leopold which is one of my favorite movies???

What’s on your summer TBR?

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Books on my Spring TBR

- Meg

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly discussion hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl (and formerly hosted by The Broke and the Bookish), and last week’s topic (that I’m doing this week instead) is “Books on my Spring TBR” and some of these have been on some form of a TBR at some point or another, and I’m going to read them by the time the spring season is over!! I read seven of the ten I chose for winter, and I’m currently in the middle of the eighth! The other two will be read eventually, but I am going to pursue this list as it’s something new and exciting!

  • Walk the Wild With Me by Rachel Atwood – This is a revisit to the mythology of Robin Hood, and I’ve been in the mood for these kinds of retellings, so when I saw this out on the shelves at my store, I immediately grabbed it and have kept my eye on it since. It feels like a spring read to me, so this is the perfect time to read it.
  • Phoenix Unbound by Grace Draven – I want to read more fantasy and romance, especially after catching up completely on the A Court of Thorns and Roses series, and this feels right along the lines of what I’m wanting to read.
  • Yellow Jessamine by Caitlin Starling – I loved her debut novel The Luminous Dead and this looks and feels very gothic fantasy.
  • Cherry by Nico Walker – This has been on my radar since its release, mostly because that cover is compelling, but now that it’s a movie with Tom Holland, it’s moved up my TBR a little bit.
  • The Wolf of Oren-Yaro by K.S. Villoso – The Chronicles of the Bitch Queen trilogy is complete this year, and now I can finally start it! I’ve heard so many good things about this book and its sequel, and for some series, I’m very weird and only like to read them if I can get my hands on the entire series…
  • The Princess Will Save You by Sarah Henning – This is a feminist retelling of The Princess Bride, and the second part of the duology releases this year, and I’m a super in the mood for fantasy everything.
  • Star Wars The High Republic: Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule – So many new Star Wars books have come out in the last year and I’ve bought so many of them, and I’ve been really excited for this next chapter in the Star Wars saga!
  • A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer – This trilogy is complete now, and the hardcovers all look beautiful, and again, I am in the mood for fantasy trilogies.
  • Persephone Station by Stina Leicht – I bought this on release day in January, and this is the only title I’m carrying over officially from the Winter TBR!
  • Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas – I don’t know why I’ve been putting off reading this, but after finishing A Court of Silver Flames I want to get caught up on everything she’s released so far because I’ve also not read the last three books in the Throne of Glass series!

What’s on your spring TBR?

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Books On My TBR Published Before I Was Born

- Meg

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly discussion hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl (and formerly hosted by The Broke and the Bookish), and this week’s topic is “books on my TBR published before I was born.” These are all books I own, so I just looked at my nightstand and TBR cart for inspiration! Some of these were part of my challenge last year that I never completed, but that’s okay! I’m already a little more organized this year than I was last year.

  • Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf – I am that English major who has never read any Woolf…
  • The Shining by Stephen King – The only King I’ve ever read is On Writing, and I’m definitely changing that this year.
  • And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie – I want to read more of her mysteries, and I found a little mass market at the thrift store the other day!
  • Animal Farm by George Orwell – I feel like one should read both 1984 and this, so I want to get to this one this year.
  • Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen – I’m trying to read the rest of Jane Austen, but I definitely wasn’t feeling the last one I tried to read.
  • The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas – I read the abridged version of this, and the movie that came out a while ago is one of my favorites, so I should definitely read the unabridged version!
  • North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell – This is another one where I loved the mini series but have never read the book!
  • The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin – Le Guin is one of my favorite writers, and I’m working on reading all of her work.
  • East of Eden by John Steinbeck – Another one where I feel like a bad English major, but I just read Of Mice and Men a couple years ago, and now it’s time to read this.
  • If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin – The two other books of his I’ve read have been amazing, so I want to read this one before I watch the movie.

What is your favorite book published before you were born?

 

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Favorite Books of 2020

- Meg

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly discussion hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl (and formerly hosted by The Broke and the Bookish), and this week’s topic is “Favorite Books of 2020.” I thought it would be difficult to pick ten, but once I went through my Goodreads, the final choices weren’t too difficult. I did choose books released in 2020 and earlier as I read two due out in 2021 that I loved but I didn’t feel like they fit this list. I will list them at the end as bonuses! These are in no particular order!

  • The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow – I was so engrossed in this world, and it made me want to read more portal/historical fantasies.
  • Sin Eater by Megan Campisi – This alternate Tudor history captivated me from the get go and almost a year later, I’m still thinking about this.
  • Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson – Magical libraries? Yes, please. This also reminds me of like… Robin McKinley’s world building and style a little bit, and I think that’s one of the things that has kept me coming back to Rogerson’s work. I can’t wait for her next one!
  • Middlegame by Seanan McGuire – This was something unlike anything else I’ve really read before, and I’m intrigued by the concept of twins and their connections.
  • Little Weirds by Jenny Slate – I don’t know why this made me sob so much, but I related to a lot of things about Slate’s personal life that she’s revealed in this essays, and I eventually want to add a copy of this to my shelves since this was a library read!
  • The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab – I knew this would be a favorite before I even read it, and it lived up to all of my expectations!
  • Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia – I keep recommending this to people because it appeals to so many different readers. I’d been intrigued by the concept since it’s announcement, and when I got around to reading it, it just surpassed every hope I had for it. If I truly had to choose, Mexican Gothic is my second favorite read of the year.
  • Fable by Adrienne Young – I love YA pirate fantasy, and this was a delight for me to read. I don’t usually immediately run to request the sequel after reading, but I did for this one and I’m glad the release dates between the duology are not far apart!
  • Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse – My favorite book of the year, hands down.
  • Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey –  I’ve enjoyed every book by Gailey, and this was no exception! A post-apocalyptic wild west in which librarians are spies and transport contraband on the fringes of society??? YES.

BONUS!

  • Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir – This was so much fun and really evoked the fun, campy, science vibes of The Martian (which I thought was lacking in Artemis). I don’t want to spoil it too much, but the characters in this are hilarious and great.
  • The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey – I read this a few months ago and literally think about it once a week because this domestic sci-fi thriller is just that good. Gailey can do anything and I’ll read anything they write.

What are your favorite books of the year?