Category: Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Summer 2019 TBR

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Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.  Click on the link for more info and to find out about future topics.

This weeks theme is:  Books on my Summer 2019 TBR

A Book of Bones by John Connolly – I’ve only very recently discovered the Charlie Parker series. I started with The Woman in the Woods as some of the themes/plots carried over into this latest book, so I cannot wait to see what’s going to happen next. At 700+ pages this one should keep me occupied for a while, and when I’m done I’ll hopefully be able to go back and read earlier books from this series.

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman – I’ve just watched the tv series and it definitely left me wanting to read the book. It was just so different, and I can’t wait to see the similarities/differences with the original story. I also can’t believe that this will be my first Terry Pratchett book.

Tomorrow by Damian Dibben – A 217 year old dog seeking his master across various points in history. Sounds pretty unique to me.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid – I’ve seen so many good reviews for this one that I’m intrigued already.

Circe by Madeline Miller – The number of times I’ve mentioned this book previously and I still haven’t read it!

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie – Continuing my discovering of Christie books, Death on the Nile feels like a good choice for summer reading.

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill – There’s a new series based on this book I think, and I wonder whether I’ll end up watching that before I finally read the book. That’s what usually happens!

I’ll probably try and read at least a couple of Thrillers over the summer months and Twisted by Steve Cavanagh and Conviction by Denise Mina have both caught my eye recently.

More Fantasy definitely needs to feature in my summer reading too, but at the moment I’m not sure what to read. All suggestions welcome…

So, have you read any of the books that made my list this week?  If so, what did you think of them? See you again next time for another Top Ten Tuesday.

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Top Ten Tuesday: From Page to Screen…

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Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.  Click on the link for more info and to find out about future topics.

This weeks theme is:  Page to Screen Freebie

Every so often I’ll read a great book and it strikes me that it would be perfect for either a big screen or tv series adaptation. Here are just a few of the books I would like to see become a movie/tv show:

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton – This one has to be top of my list. I think it would make such a great adaptation, with the mystery, the atmosphere, the body-swapping, time-travel awesomeness. It must be a year now since I first read this. Time for a re-read?

The Dark Tower series by Stephen King – Eight huge books demand a very long tv adaptation I think.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern – I remember this being very visual and thinking at the time it would make a fantastic looking movie.

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon – I’d love to see this adapted for tv. It could take over the spot that will be left when a certain other show featuring dragons and a great mix of characters ends.

The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell – I loved the tension and the general eerie air of this book. Imagine that on the big screen and all those silent companion figures coming to life in that great old house. It gives me a shiver just thinking about it.

The Winternight trilogy by Katherine Arden – A movie trilogy, maybe? Vasya and Morozko and their wonderful world of magic is definitely something I’d love to watch.

The Powder Mage trilogy by Brian McClellan – These books would make such a great tv series. I can just picture the historical-looking settings, the military uniforms and the powers of the mages brought to life. If you’ve not read these books, what are you waiting for?!

The Boy on the Bridge by M. R. Carey – They gave The Girl With All the Gifts the big-screen treatment, didn’t they, so I think the prequel would make a good watch too.

And to conclude, a book that has been given the adaptation treatment that I’m looking forward to seeing, and an open space for any of your suggestions:

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill – I’ve yet to read this book, but it is on my TBR pile, and the series trailer makes me want to get started on it very soon.

? – What have I missed when it comes to books that should definitely make it to the big screen?

So, have you read any of the books that made my list this week?  If so, what did you think of them? See you again next time for another Top Ten Tuesday.

Top Ten Tuesday: Rainy Day Reads

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Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.  Click on the link for more info and to find out about future topics.

This weeks theme is:  Rainy Day Reads

There’s a real pleasure in having the opportunity to sit and read on a rainy day. It’s quiet and cosy, and every so often it’s great to pause and watch the rain trailing down the windows. Give me a mug of tea and a great book and I’ll be a happy reader. So, what would I possibly pick up on one of these occasions? Glad you asked…

Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield – My current read, and it’s an engrossing, meandering tale built upon the power of storytelling and the way stories draw people together. I’m really enjoying discovering all these characters and I keep wondering who the young girl at the heart of the tale will turn out to be.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte – Why not try a classic on a rainy day? It’s been a long time since I last read Jane Eyre, but I remember enjoying it and I think an hour or two in Jane and Rochester’s company would be the perfect choice for a rainy afternoon of reading.

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie – You never know, if it’s cold enough the rain could turn to snow, and then where better than a snow-bound luxury train out in the wilderness in the company of Hercule Poirot and a whole load of suspects?

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie – Or, in the spirit of escapism, you could read yourself away from your rainy afternoon and into the heat of Egypt for a trip on the Nile with Poirot. I haven’t read this one yet, but hopefully this summer I’ll finally get around to it.

11/22/63 by Stephen King – Rediscovering an enjoyable book from one of your favourite authors is another great way to spend a rainy day reading, and this book is certainly long enough to keep you occupied for a whole day and more. Time travel, romance, thriller, this book has a bit of everything.

Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan – I love finding a new series to get hooked on, and the Powder Mage books by Brian McClellan certainly held my attention. These books were so good I would love to go back and start from the beginning again.

The Passage by Justin Cronin – I still want to re-read this one, and then carry on with the rest of the books. I haven’t managed to get to it yet, mostly due to the vast amount of library books I end up with, so a rainy afternoon might give me the perfect excuse to finally pick up my own book and make a start.

Melmoth by Sarah Perry – A book from my TBR list that l am really looking forward to starting. The cover alone, all blue and dark and mysterious looks really suited to a rainy day.

Book Blogs – Sometimes I can be found whiling away a rainy day adding to my already-endless TBR list/pile by reading reviews from other bloggers.

? – Last one this week is open for suggestions. What would you recommend picking up as a Rainy Day Read?

So, have you read any of the books that made my list this week?  If so, what did you think of them? See you again next time for another Top Ten Tuesday.

Top Ten Tuesday: Things That Make Me Pick Up a Book

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Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.  Click on the link for more info and to find out about future topics.

This weeks theme is:  Things That Make Me Pick Up a Book

A striking cover – We all know you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but sometimes it happens. You’re wandering around the bookstore, not quite sure what you’re looking for, then suddenly, you see that cover and you can’t look away. Before you know it you’re checking out the story.

Something very different from my usual reads, or what I’ve been reading lately – Massive brick of a book wearing out your wrists/fingers/hands? Chances are my next read will be a much physically smaller book.
Heavy themes? Next time I may opt for some a little more light-hearted. I like variety in my reading.

A Post-Apocalyptic theme, especially if zombies/other supernatural elements are involved. I love a good post-apocalyptic story. I don’t know why really, but something draws me in to these types of tale.

Certain authors – To name but one, I have been a Stephen King fan for years now, and I’ll always check out his latest offerings. There are so many books from his back catalogue that I need to read too.

Good reviews from bloggers – Although my TBR list/pile extends beyond anything normal sized I do love reading blogs to discover new books, especially fantasy and sci-fi (which I still haven’t read enough of yet).

Library request lists – I get so many of my latest reads from the library that I can’t not mention it here. Sometimes I have to check to see what’s in demand then prioritise that book to avoid returning it late or unread.

Next book in the series – If I’ve enjoyed the previous volume then I always look forward to the release of the next one.

A recommendation from someone in real life – Doesn’t actually happen that often these days for some reason, so if someone pushes a book on me I’ll tend to listen to what they have to say.

A debut author with a fascinating sounding book – I’m always looking out for new and interesting reads.

TV/Movie Adaptations – If something has been adapted and I’ve watched the series/movie, I usually end up checking out the book to see what they changed/kept the same.

So, what makes you pick up a certain book? See you again next time for another Top Ten Tuesday.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Spring 2019 TBR

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Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.  Click on the link for more info and to find out about future topics.

This weeks theme is:  Books on my Spring 2019 TBR

I love it when Top Ten Tuesday gives me the opportunity to have a proper look through my TBR list/pile because sometimes that pile seems so huge and ominous that a quick side-glance as I pick up my next book is all I dare risk. So, here are some of the books, both old and new, that I’m hoping I’ll get around to reading over the next few months.

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon – I’m already reading this one, and at over 800 pages I feel I probably will be for a while. When I collected it from the library I was amazed at how massive and how heavy it is, and said straight away that if it wasn’t great then it was going back.
400+ pages in and I don’t even mind having to lug this huge fantasy novel around because it’s very very good.

A Time of Blood by John Gwynne – Second of the Of Blood and Bone series. I can’t wait to get back into this story and find out what happens next.

The Passage by Justin Cronin – I’ve been watching the new tv series based on this novel and it’s made me want to start the trilogy again. I read the first book a long time ago, but I can’t remember that much about it, it seems quite different from the tv show, so I’d like to start at the beginning and then carry on with the rest of the books.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James – Another very striking cover, and another fantasy novel that I hope I’ll lose myself in soon.

The Rose and the Yew Tree by Agatha Christie writing as Mary Westmacott – Here’s something completely different in more ways than one. A break from the fantasy/post-apocalyptic themes that I love so much, and also a break from Christie as a crime writer.

Last Ones Left Alive by Sarah Davis-Goff – Sounds a little bit post-apocalyptic, and may contain zombies. Sounds like my sort of tale.

Circe by Madeline Miller – I saw some quotes from this novel online a while ago and if the rest of the writing is so good then I think it should be a treat to read. I can’t believe that I’ve had this one on my TBR pile for so long already.

The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker – People are falling asleep and not waking up, and their dreams are becoming increasingly vivid. The set up sounds intriguing, and I can’t wait to read this.

This Savage Song by V. E. Schwab – I think I’ll let the summary speak for itself on this one – Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to a divided city—a city where the violence has begun to breed actual monsters. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father, who lets the monsters roam free and makes the humans pay for his protection. All August wants is to be human, as good-hearted as his own father, to play a bigger role in protecting the innocent—but he’s one of the monsters. One who can steal a soul with a simple strain of music. When the chance arises to keep an eye on Kate, who’s just been kicked out of her sixth boarding school and returned home, August jumps at it. But Kate discovers August’s secret, and after a failed assassination attempt the pair must flee for their lives.

A Different Kind of Evil by Andrew Wilson – And for something a little different I might try to pick up the next in the Agatha Christie books as I enjoyed A Talent for Murder. This tale follows Christie on her travels to the Canary Islands to investigate the death of a British agent.

Have you read any of the books that made my list this week? Which should I give a place at the very top of my TBR pile, and what are you hoping to read over the next few months?

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Loved with Fewer than 2,000 Ratings on Goodreads

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Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.  Click on the link for more info and to find out about future topics.

This weeks theme is:   Books I Loved with Fewer than 2,000 Ratings on Goodreads

I must admit that number of ratings on GoodReads is something I don’t very often pay attention to. I’ll look at the average rating, and read reviews, but the number of ratings? Not so much. So, I was really surprised to find out that so many of the books I’ve really enjoyed over recently months have less than 2000 ratings at the time I wrote this post.

Someone Like Me by M. R. Carey – 1312 Ratings – The Girl With all the Gifts started my enjoyment of M. R. Carey’s novels, and I always look out for the latest. This was really good, and I still really like Fran and Jinx. They’ve stayed in my mind since I finished the novel.

The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas – 1344 Ratings – An enjoyable time-travel murder-mystery with a lovely romance and some good characters.

The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths – 1171 Ratings – I love the mix of gothic, ghostly, and murder mystery in this.

The Corset by Laura Purcell – 1239 Ratings – Picked up after loving The Silent Companions, I enjoyed this story too. It was very different from her first novel, which remains one of my favourite recent(ish) reads.

Adrift by Rob Boffard – 400 Ratings – I haven’t read much Sci-Fi until now, but this story of a group of space tourists trapped on a ship after their station is attacked left me wanting to check out more from this genre!

A Time of Dread by John Gwynne – 1323 Ratings – The first book in the Of Blood and Bone series (the new book is out soon!) and my very first John Gwynne novel.

The Ninth Rain by Jen Williams – 958 Ratings – The first Winnowing Flame series book introduces Tor, Vintage and Noon, three characters I really took to straight away as they went off on their fantastical adventures.

The Bitter Twins by Jen Williams – 405 Ratings – Sequel to the above novel, and equally as good as the first. I can’t wait for the final instalment of this trilogy, out later this year.

The Christmas Lights by Karen Swan – 686 Ratings – I always find myself with the latest Karen Swan on my TBR list around Christmas-time, and this one was no exception. They’re very different from my usual reading choices and I like them for that.

A Talent for Murder by Andrew Wilson – 1137 Ratings – An imagining of what happened during those days of Agatha Christie’s unexplained disappearance.

Have you read any of these? Which books were you surprised to discover have fewer than 2000 ratings?

Top Ten Tuesday: Recent TBR Additions

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Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.  Click on the link for more info and to find out about future topics.

This weeks theme is:   Recent TBR Additions


The Passage, The Twelve, The City of Mirrors – all by Justin Cronin

I read The Passage a few years ago and I must have enjoyed it because I bought the rest of the series but somehow never got around to reading them. Now there’s a new tv series based on the book all of a sudden it’s caught my attention again and I really want to get back into the books. I think I’ll start at the beginning because I can’t really remember a great deal about the first book, and now the series is complete I could read them back to back if I fancied that.

Last Ones Left Alive by Sarah Davis-Goff – Give me new post-apocalyptic tales and I’ll be one happy reader. I love all things along this line, and throw in a few zombies and you’ve got a place right at the top of my TBR mountain.

The Last by Hanna Jameson – Sticking with the post-apocalyptic theme here for a murder mystery in a hotel as the world is ending. This really does sound intriguing.

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley – If something is compared to an Agatha Christie story then chances are I’m going to want to check it out. I’m in the mood for a good murder mystery or two.

A Time of Blood by John Gwynne – A Time of Dread was my first John Gwynne novel and I want to find out what happens next!

The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden – I recently finished The Girl in the Tower and I definitely won’t be leaving it too long before I pick up the concluding book of the Winternight trilogy. I really don’t want it to end, but I can’t wait to start reading either.

Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill – Robots? Really? Never thought I’d pick up this sort of book but the cover caught my attention in the library and reading the opening left me very curious.

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon – I want to read more fantasy this year and the gorgeous cover of this book caught my eye. I’ve not read anything else by this author, but am looking forward to checking this out.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James – Another fantasy novel making the list. A comparison to Game of Thrones has been made, so I have high hopes, and another very striking cover.

Dracul by Dacre Stoker and J. D. Barker – Can you ever have enough stories featuring vampires/Dracula? I don’t think so.

So, have you read any of these books already? If so, which should I be putting straight to the top of my ever-expanding TBR Mountain, and what are you hoping to read over the coming weeks?