Top Ten Tuesday: Signs You’re a Book Lover

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday!  This week’s topic is Signs You’re a Book Lover.  I’m betting most of us here have more than a passing interest in books.  Lets jump right into my list!

You have books in multiple formats.-Hard cover, paperback, e-books, and audio books.  There are so many different ways to enjoy books now!  I’ll admit I don’t have any audio books….yet.

You have the same book in multiple formats.-There are so many gorgeous special editions out there!

You take a book with you everywhere.-I almost always have a book tucked into my purse.  You just never know when you’ll have a few spare minutes to read!

Books are an essential item to pack when traveling.-I always take several books with me when I travel, even if I’m just visiting family for the weekend.  That way I have multiple reading options depending on my mood.

Bookstores are travel destinations.-When I’m on vacation or visiting family/friends, I like to check out the local, independent bookstores.  They all have a unique atmosphere and selection.

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Your local bookstore is a home away from home.-I love my local bookstore!

Anything can be a bookmark.-Scraps of paper, receipts, index cards, envelopes, etc.

You collect bookmarks.-There was a Top Ten Tuesday post on bookmarks a while back.  That list can be found here.

You can’t count the number of times you’ve said, “The book was better than the movie.”-There are very few exceptions to this, in my opinion.

Space for books is a priority.-My husband thought we needed more storage space in the kitchen.  I thought I needed bigger bookshelves….he built me a floor to ceiling bookshelf.

What do you think?  Do you relate to any of these?  What do you think are signs you’re a book lover?

Top Ten Tuesday: Genre Freebie

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday!  This week’s topic is Genre Freebie.  This week I decided to feature some paranormal/urban fantasy series I enjoy, or have enjoyed in the past.  I haven’t read as much paranormal as I used to.  Consequently, most of these series I read years ago.  However, looking back at them has made me miss this genre a bit.  I might need to revisit some of them or find new ones to read!

Mercy Thompson Series by Patricia Briggs-I know I’ve mentioned this one before, and I’m going to again.  It is so consistently good!  I’m a couple books behind, but it remains a favorite.

Cassandra Palmer Series by Karen Chance-I’m not even going to say how far behind in this series I am.  It is too embarrassing.  However, I fully intend to get caught up because I loved the books I have read.

Dorina Basarab Series by Karen Chance-See above

Riley Jenson Guardian Series by Keri Arthur-An interesting series about a werewolf/vampire hybrid.  I must add that I liked how this series ended.  It was a bit rough in places, but it was definitely worth it.

The Vampire Chronicles Series by Anne Rice-I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the series that piqued my interest in the paranormal genre!  I read most of these when I was in high school and college.  I haven’t read the most recent additions to the series.

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Undead Series by Mary Janice Davidson-I have to admit I didn’t finish this series.  I really enjoyed the first five or six books.  They were so much fun!  After that, it wasn’t as fun and I had to make the decision to let it go.

Sookie Stackhouse Series by Charlaine Harris-I really enjoyed this series until the last three or four books.  I was so unhappy with the ending!

Signs of the Zodiac Series by Vicki Pettersson-I read this series a while back.  The “heroes” and “villains” in this series aren’t always clearly defined.

Vampire Huntress Series by L.A. Banks-This was very different from other vampire series I’ve read.

Crimson Moon Series by L.A. Banks-This series focuses on werewolves.

Have you read any of these series?  If so, what did you think?  Do you have any recommendations in the paranormal or urban fantasy genre?

Top Ten Tuesday: Spring 2020 TBR

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

As always, my TBR list is sorted by publication dates that are between the official beginning and end of spring this year, March 19 and June 19.

1. The City We Became: A Novel by N.K. Jemisin

Publication Date: March 24

Why I Want to Read It: I really enjoyed the short story that this is based on and am looking forward to seeing how this world is expanded upon.

2. The Honey-Don’t List by Christina Lauren

Publication Date: March 24

Why I Want to Read It: There’s something fascinating about reality TV, road trips, and home repairs. Mixing all three of these things together is a great way to grab my attention.

3. If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane

Publication Date: March 24

Why I Want to Read It: I can’t imagine having to see an ex at work every day. That plot twist alone is more than enough to make me curious about this romance novel.

 

4. The Loop by Ben Oliver

Publication Date: April 7

Why I Want to Read It: Dystopian novels are always interesting, especially if they involve artificial intelligence.

5. The New Husband by D.J. Palmer

Publication Date: April 14

Why I Want to Read It: I’ve read very few mysteries so far this year. That needs to change, especially for one that involves starting one’s life over after a tragic event.

6. The Edging Tales of a Heart by Hannah Wade

Publication Date: April 23

Why I Want to Read It: This is one of those titles I’m taking a leap of faith on. The only thing I know about is that it’s part of the fantasy genre, and I like reading fantasy in the springtime.

7. Lobizona (Wolves of No World, #1) by Romina Garber

Publication Date: May 5

Why I Want to Read It: It has witches and werewolves in it. What’s not to love about that?

8. Chasing Lucky by Jenn Bennett

Publication Date: May 5

Why I Want to Read It: Spring is the time of year when I’m most interested in romance novels in general, especially if they involve bad boys.

9. Someday in Paris by Olivia Lara

Publication Date: May 14

Why I Want to Read It: I’ve always wanted to visit Paris. Until I can afford to see it for myself, reading about it sure seems like a good idea. Plus, like I said earlier, this is when I grow most interested in romances.

10. Where Dreams Descend (Kingdom of Cards, #1) by Janella Angeles

Publication Date: June 2

Why I Want to Read It: Is it okay to admit that the cover for this book is half of the reason why I want to read it? Wow, it’s beautiful. I also feel like it’s been far too long since I read a proper story about magicians.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books With Single-Word Titles

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

This week I focused on choosing books that had attention-grabbing titles since I wasn’t exactly sure how else I should be responding to this prompt. I look forward to seeing what everyone else did with it.

1. Astounding! by Kim Fielding

2. Drama by Raina Telgemeier

3. Nemesis (Miss Marple, #12) by Agatha Christie

4. Outlander (Outlander, #1) by Diana Gabaldon

5. Kidnapped (David Balfour, #1) by Robert Louis Stevenson

6. Uprooted by Naomi Novik

7. Postmortem (Kay Scarpetta, #1) by Patricia Daniels Cornwell

8. We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

9. Scythe (Arc of a Scythe, #1) by Neal Shusterman

10. Choke by Chuck Palahniuk

Top Ten Tuesday: Characters I’d Follow On Social Media

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

I’ve been looking forward to this topic for weeks! There are so many characters to choose from that I had trouble narrowing my list down to only ten people.

1. Sherlock Holmes 

Imagine all of the fun he’d have figuring out who the bots and sock puppets were! Once he’d found some genuine people to follow, I think Sherlock would enjoy getting to know them (and potentially discovering their secrets) even more. Facebook seems like it would be his social media platform of choice if he wasn’t still using Myspace.

2. Diana Barry from L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables Series

Diana seems like the sort of person who would love Pinterest for the recipe collections alone. Maybe she’d even convince Anne to sign up, too.

3. James Bond 

His Tinder and OkCupid accounts would be incredibly flirtatious.

His LinkedIn account would not be, although the writing style would be so similar that anyone who had accounts on all of these sites would recognize him even before they looked at his stylish photos.

4. Starr Carter from Angie Thomas’ The Hate U Give 

Her tweets could go viral within a few hours. I suspect she’d keep her Instagram and Snapchat pages private, though, so that she’d have somewhere to go to talk about things she didn’t want the local news reporting on.

5. Fred and George Weasley

Their Instagram stories and Snapchats about all of the pranks they pulled would be legendary. We’d just have to make sure their parents never found out they had accounts on these sites.

6. Bigfoot

Somehow his Facebook account would acquire thousands of followers despite the fact that he rarely if ever would actually update it.

7. Jane Eyre

Imagine all of the long, rambling updates she’d leave on LiveJournal. I’d like to think she’d have an anonymous Twitter account, too, to document the evidence of the ghost that she thought might be haunting her new employer’s house.

8. Albus Dumbledore

His Youtube videos would be a minimum of thirty minutes long. If you aced the quiz at the end, you might get rewarded with some wizardly sweets.

9. Moby Dick

His Instagram feed would be completely devoid of hashtags or or explanations of his oceanic home. All we’d see would be photos of places few humans have ever seen before.

10. The Cat in the Hat 

Would he occasionally troll people on every social media platform he could find? Yes. Would I find his status updates amusing anyway? Yes.

Top Ten Tuesday: Kissing on the Cover

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday!  This week’s topic is Love Freebie.  I decided to do this week’s topic on romantic book covers, specifically covers that feature couples kissing (or almost kissing).  I haven’t read any of these!  I simply looked for covers on Goodreads that caught my eye.

My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick-This cover looks so cute and sunny!  It sounds like a good read too.

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On the Fence by Kasie West-This book popped up because I looked at the previous book in my list.  I love how bright and warm this cover feels.  I think not being able to see their faces somehow makes it even more interesting.

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Love in the Afternoon by Alison Packard-I love how they are laughing as they kiss!

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Blame it on the Kiss by Robin Bielman-I love the black and white look of this one.

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September Ends by Hunter S. Jones-I like how this cover captures the tension of that moment right before the kiss.

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Fight with Me by Kristen Proby-This cover is definitely sigh worthy.

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Where You Are by Alla Kar-I like how the kiss is in focus and everything else is a just a little blurry.

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Washington Square by Henry James-I thought this cover was a bit unusual for a classic, but I like it.

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The Vampire’s Kiss by Cynthia Eden-I like how she’s leaning back into him with her eyes closed.

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Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles-An unusual kiss for sure, but it made me take a second look.

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What do you think of these covers?  Which do you like most?  As I said, I haven’t read any of these.  If you have, I’d like to know what you think.

Top Ten Tuesday: Winter Book Covers

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday!  This week’s topic is book cover freebie.  Winter has been missing one thing for me this year.  Snow!  Some people love snow and some hate it.  Yes, traveling in snow is stressful, but I still think it is beautiful.  Those delicate, fluffy flakes are one of the things that make the cold temperatures tolerable.  However, my area has only received a couple snow falls this year and they didn’t even last a day before they melted.  While I wait for some real snow, I’ll browse Goodreads for book covers with snow on them.  I’ve read some of these books, but I stumbled upon several of them while browsing.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis-I love both of these covers, and I think they are a fitting way to start my list.

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The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen-Another gorgeous cover I wish I had.  It has been far too long since I read this story.

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The Snowman by Raymond Briggs-This is such a sweet book!  My children love it.

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The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder-This series is a childhood favorite.

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Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Snow Goons by Bill Watterson-Calvin and Hobbes are so much fun!

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The Snowflake: Winter’s Secret Beauty by Kenneth Libbrecht, Patricia Rasmussen-I haven’t read this book, but it sounds interesting!

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Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost, Illustrated by Susan Jeffers-This sounds like a lovely book!

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Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George-I haven’t read this, but I am intrigued!  I’m going to have to add it to my tbr.

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Iced by Carol Higgins Clark-A fun mystery I haven’t read in a long time.

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Which cover is your favorite?  Have you read any of the books I haven’t?  If so, what did you think?

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Recent Additions to My Bookshelf

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Happy Tuesday!  This week’s topic is about the most recent additions to my bookshelf.  I decided not to include e-books and limited my list to physical books on my shelf.

The Saxon Stories books 1-7 by Bernard Cornwell-I recently picked up the first seven books in this series and immediately devoured the first five books.  I’ll definitely be picking up the rest of the series soon!

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My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows-I loved My Lady Jane and just recently picked up this one!  I hope to start reading it soon.

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Silence Fallen by Patricia Briggs-This series is one of my favorites, but I’m slightly behind!

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Brave the Tempest by Karen Chance-I’m sooo far behind in this series, but I keep picking up the books.  I really need to make time to catch up.

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The Fog Ladies by Susan McCormick-I received this for review and really enjoyed it!

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Copper and Goldie: 13 Tails of Mystery and Suspense in Hawaii by Larry and Rosemary Mild-This collection of short stories was a lot of fun!

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The Nexus Mirror by N.E. Michael-I really enjoyed this Fantasy/Sci-Fi adventure, and I’m looking forward to reading the sequel.

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The Beekeeper’s Bullet by Lance Hawvermale-An enjoyable historical romance.

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Nine Elms by Robert Bryndza-A dark and intense thriller.

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The Mystery of the Roman Ransom by Henry Winterfield-I had a lot of fun reading this with my kids!

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What do you think?  Have you read any of these?  What are the most recent additions to your bookshelf?

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Nonfiction Book Releases for the First Half of 2020

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

I had so many ideas for this week’s prompt that I decided to narrow it down to nonfiction titles only. 2020 is shaping up to be an awesome year for finding new stuff to read.

1. The Magical Language of Others: A Memoir by E.J. Koh

Publication Date: January 7

Why I’m Excited for It: This author was abandoned by her parents at age 15. I’m incredibly curious to find out how she survived on her own at such a tender age.

2. Cold Fusion Presents: New Thinking: From Einstein to Artificial Intelligence, the Science and Technology that Transformed Our World by Dagogo Altraide

Publication Date: January 15

Why I’m Excited for It: Cold fusion honestly isn’t something I understand very well. I’m hoping this book will change that.

3. Denali: A Man, a Dog, and the Friendship of a Lifetime by Ben Moon

Publication Date: January 14

Why I’m Excited for It: Stories about rescue dogs being given wonderful lives never fail to grab my attention. The fact that Mr. Moon was diagnosed with such a serious type of cancer shortly after adopting his dog only makes me more eager to see if they’ll both get the happy ending I’m hoping for.

4. Friendship: The Evolution, Biology, and Extraordinary Power of Life’s Fundamental Bond by Lydia Denworth

Publication Date: January 28

Why I’m Excited for It: I love reading about friendships, especially when they’re explored through a historic or scientific point of view. They’re not given as much attention as romantic relationships, but they’re just as important in my opinion.

5. Almost American Girl by Robin Ha

Publication Date: January 28

Why I’m Excited for It: I’m an immigrant, so I’m always interested in reading other people’s stories of moving from one country to another.

6. A Map Is Only One Story: Twenty Writers on Immigration, Family, and the Meaning of Home   edited by Nicole Chung and Mensah Demary

Publication Date: February 11

Why I’m Excited for It: My reason for anticipating this book is exactly the same as the one I have for wanting to check out Almost American Girl.

7. Opium: An Intimate History of the Flower that Changed the World by John H. Halpern

Publication Date: March 3

Why I’m Excited for It: I know nothing about this topic, so it will be interesting to change that.

8. Wayfinding: The Science and Mystery of How Humans Navigate the World
by M.R. O’Connor

Publication Date: April 30

Why I’m Excited for It: I already know the basics of how humans began finding their way through the oceans, mountains, and other parts of the Earth. Will I learn something new from this book? I sure hope so!

9. A Road Back from Schizophrenia: A Memoir by Arnhild Lauveng

Publication Date: May 5

Why I’m Excited for It: I haven’t run into a lot of books about schizophrenia that were written from by someone who had that illness. This sounds like it will be a great read.

10. When a Cowgirl Goes to Sea: A Memoir of Loss, Courage and Circumnavigation by Kaci Cronkhite

Publication Date: June 23

Why I’m Excited for It: What could be cooler than circumnavigating the Earth? I sure can’t think of many adventures to top that one.

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Picture Books I Read In 2019

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I wonder how many other Top Ten Tuesday bloggers love picture books? They’re something I often turn to when I don’t know what else to read or need something gentle for my mind. There are so many amazing picture books out there. Here are just a few of the ones I enjoyed reading or rereading this year.

1. Do I Look Odd To You by Rebecca McDonald

My extended family is multiracial. Every child in the family eventually asks about the various races that are represented in our family and why we don’t all look alike. I love this book’s approach to those questions.

2. Hello Goodbye Dog by Maria Gianferrari

What a beautiful story this was. It made me wish I could have a dog.

3. Islandborn by Junot Díaz

Lola was seriously one of the cutest protagonists I’ve met all year. I adored her.

4. The Water Princess by Susan Verde

I live in a part of the world that always has enough water and occasionally has far too much of it. This made me grateful for all of the rainy and snowy days I’ve known.

5. Duck for Turkey Day by Jacqueline Jules

We’re either late for Thanksgiving 2019 or early for Thanksgiving 2020 depending on how you look at it. Either way, this is such a lovely way to explore various traditions for this holiday.

6. Dragon Dancer by Joyce Chng

Chinese New Year sounds like such a fun holiday.

7. Sing to the Moon by Nansubuga Nagaddya Isdahl

I totally empathized with this character’s boredom on a rainy day, and his solution for it was delightful.

8. Looking for Lord Ganesh by Mahtab Narsimhan

There were so many delightful plot twists in this tale that I immediately went back and read it again after the first time I finished it.

9. Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China by Ed Young

If you ask me, there’s always room for more adaptations of classic fairy tales. I can’t get enough of them, especially with illustrations as eye-catching as these ones were.

10. Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford

It isn’t always easy to discuss slavery with small children. I like the approach taken here. It’s honest but doesn’t go into more detail than little ones need. And Harriet Tubman is someone everyone should know about!