Top Ten Tuesday

Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl invited us to share our top ten "Books I Read Because Someone Recommended Them to Me." This may be tough. I can generally remember that someone recommended a book but I might not remember exactly who recommended it. I'll give it a try. Ahab's Wife; or the Star-Gazer by Sena Jeter Naslund--One of my aunts recommended this to me years ago and I loved it. I've re-read it a couple of times since then. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling--Another aunt (I have a large family) recommended that my mom buy the Harry Potter series (I believe four books at that point) for my sister one Christmas. I, of course, read them when my sister wasn't and the rest is history. I received my own set shortly afterwards. These two aunts have supplied me with endless awesome recommendations all on their own. I've tried to keep this list to one recommendation per person though. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones--Fiona at The Book Coop (who seems to have moved to a private site) loves all things Diana Wynne Jones and recommends her books shamelessly. Howl's Moving Castle was everything she promised it would be! All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot--My parents are both readers too. I would occasionally rummage through their shelves when I finished my library books before our weekly trip to pick up more. I found this gem on my dad's shelves. It's another book I've read countless times. I did eventually receive my own set of this series. Un Lun Dun by China Miéville --I don't remember if Jensownzoo, one of my friends on GoodReads, directly recommended this or if her review grabbed my attention, but either way, she introduced me to this Wonderland-inspired…

Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl invited us to share our top ten long book titles this week. I decided to choose from books I've actually read. I also decided to choose five compound titles and five simple titles. Compound Titles: Don't Know Much About Mythology: Everything You Need to Know About the Greatest Stories in Human History but Never Learned Huck: The Remarkable True Story of How One Lost Puppy Taught a Family - and a Whole Town - About Hope and Happy Endings The Horrific Sufferings of the Mind-Reading Monster Hercules Barefoot: His Wonderful Love and His Terrible Hatred The Book of Awesome: Snow Days, Bakery Air, Finding Money in Your Pocket, and Other Simple, Brilliant Things The Sweet Potato Queens' First Big-Ass Novel: Stuff We Didn't Actually Do, But Could Have, and May Yet Simple Titles And now for the simple titles that don't have colons or other dividing punctuation. The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making Mama Makes Up Her Mind and Other Dangers of Southern Living The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore Authors I didn't want the author names to make the titles look even longer so I'll add them here, in order: Kenneth C. DavisJanet ElderCarl-Johan VallgrenNeil PasrichaJill Conner BrowneJonas JonassonCatherynne M. VolanteBailey WhiteMary Ann Shaffer and Annie BarrowsWilliam Joyce That's my list! Have you read any of these? What are long book titles you've come across? Link up every Tuesday at That Artsy Reader Girl! I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe in beautiful Asheville, NC. I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase merchandise through links on my site.

This week, That Artsy Reader Girl prompts us to share "Book Covers with Fall Colors/Vibes." I chose books that I've either read or that are on my TBR. I also tried to avoid horror covers (I have plenty of those) although I did veer into some Gothic covers. Here's what I found for my top ten fall book covers. First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen--That frosty apple shouts "autumn" to me. If you haven't read Sarah Addison Allen, you should fix that now. Black Rabbit Hall by Eve Chase, read by Nathalie Buscombe, Katie Scarfe, and Cassandra Campbell--The Gothic vibes coming off this cover are irresistible. I listened to this during my blogging break and don't remember much about it. The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin, read by Maggie Hoffman--I don't know how one tree has all the colors of fall but this one most definitely does. I found this book to be so sad. Big Cherry Holler by Adriana Trigiani--I'm a Blue Ridge Mountain girl, which is exactly where this series is primarily set. This cover feels just like early fall in the mountains of home to me. The Cider House Rules by John Irving--I'm not a huge fan of Irving. I don't dislike his works by any means but I don't love him the way most readers seem to. Still, this might be my favorite of his books so far, possibly because I read it "on location" while my husband was working in Maine. I love the blazing red tree and apples on this cover. A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny--One of my best friends loves this book and bought it for me a few years ago. It takes all the tropes of classic horror novels (as pictured on the cover) and combines them into something…

This week's Top Ten Tuesday prompt at That Artsy Reader Girl is Books On My Fall 2020 TBR. I'm not that organized; I just read whatever looks good when it's time to choose a new one. So I decided to list the Top Ten Books I Read in Elementary School. Beverly Cleary has been on my mind lately because she lived in Portland, Oregon, where I am now. I posted a walking tour of sites from her life and books last week and have a review of Beezus and Ramona scheduled for tomorrow, so this seemed like good timing. I'm going to date myself with this list! I'm currently 42 so I was reading these in the mid- to late-80s. A few may creep into middle school territory. I tried to choose the covers I remember for the sheer nostalgia of it. Anastasia Krupnik by Lois Lowry--I remember checking for more books in this series every week at my local library. Betsy-Tacy by Maud Hart Lovelace--I remember checking this series out from my elementary school library. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein--My sister and I owned all of Mr. Silverstein's poetry. Somehow, I think she got all of those books when I moved out. Hmmmm.... The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis--Who doesn't love Narnia? Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery--Ask what my favorite book is and odds are, this will be the first book I list. Little Men by Louisa May Alcott--I have never cared for Little Women. I'm not even sure if I've ever finished it. I know I got to Beth's scene. You know the one. I don't think I've ever made it much past that point. I got Little Men in one of those book fair grab bags…

This week's Top 10 Tuesday is a fun one: "Cover Freebie (choose your own topic, centered on book covers or cover art)." I decided to list the top 10 book covers on my Overdrive wish list. In alphabetical order: Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly--The art deco font and flourishes really catch my eye in this stylized cover. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi--I don't think anyone can walk by this cover without looking twice. The white hair against the black background leads you down to the red headband and then those striking eyes. Well done. Heart of Iron by Ashley Poston--First of all, those are the shades of blue and purple that I love. Also, what is that flowery thing floating in space? I want to know more. Juliet Immortal by Stacey Jay--Romeo and Juliet is not my favorite story, by any means. But the red font and the red dress in that almost monochromatic ocean scene draw me in. Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton--Oh my goodness. That dress. I dress for comfort rather than fashion but when I do have to dress up, I'm drawn to vintage looks like this. Perfection. Renegades by Marissa Meyer--I believe this is a story about superheroes (I could be wrong), so I love that at first glance, I primarily notice the very Gotham-esque skyscraper sideline. Then I notice the figures on either side of the tallest building. That very stark color scheme with all the blues, blacks, and red highlights is another plus. The Round House by Louise Erdrich--At first glance, this cover isn't that exciting. A red smear across a white cover? Whatever. But then I notice the figure of a woman underneath what becomes a red blanket. Is she dead? I need to know. Small Spaces by…

I'm obviously not the only bibliophile who reads a book and thinks, "Wow! I wish I'd read this when I was younger." I know that I would have appreciated some books even more as a younger reader. I know that other books that speak to me now would have spoken even louder back then and maybe clarified some decisions and smoothed [...]

Well, this is a fun idea! Top Ten Books That Make Me Hungry! I'm not a foodie by any means. I used to be a ridiculously picky eater, in fact. But my husband is a bit of a foodie and as I get older, I'm trying to incorporate more new things into my diet. I could be a lot better but I used to be a lot worse. I don't actively seek out books about food, and I'm definitely not a cookbook browser (I still despise cooking), but I have stumbled on some books that incidentally made me hungry. The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert Bliss by Kathryn Littlewood Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie, read by Deanna Hurst Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen--Most if not all of Sarah Addison Allen's books involve food in some fashion. Catering to Nobody by Diane Mott Davidson--This entire cozy mystery series centers around a caterer. Each book ends with pages of recipes. By Bread Alone by Sarah-Kate Lynch The Food of Love by Anthony Capella Sourdough by Robin Sloan, read by Thérèse Plummer Delicious! by Ruth Reichl, read by Julia Whelan That's my list! Have you read any of these? Did they make you hungry? Which books did/would you choose? Link up every Tuesday at That Artsy Reader Girl!

No, I didn't link to the wrong post. This week's Top Ten Tuesday prompt is actually "Questions I Would Ask My Favorite Authors" but that wasn't doing much for me. Since I just joined this meme last week, I missed out on the "Books I Read but Never Reviewed" topic. That spoke to me a lot so that's what I'm doing! There are so many that I broke out the nonfiction books into their own post this week. Bearwallow: A Personal History of a Mountain Homeland by Jeremy B. Jones--Bearwallow is a mountain back home in the Blue Ridge of North Carolina and this memoir/collection of essays felt a lot like home. The author and I must be about the same age so we've shared a lot of the same experiences. I don't know how wide the appeal is, but themes of rural communities in flux and clinging to the past feel pretty universal. We Took to the Woods by Louise Dickinson Rich--I like to think that this author and I would have been fast friends if we'd ever met. She details her family's life and all of their daily mishaps living in the Maine woods in the 1940s. Her writing style is much like my in-person storytelling style, with plenty of dry, self-deprecating humor that kept me laughing out loud and reading endless passages to my husband. Adventures in the Rocky Mountains by Isabella Lucy Bird--I've been thinking about this book a lot lately as I've been hiking in the Cascades. Miss Bird embarked on something of a world tour all on her own in the late 1800s and wrote regular letters back home to her sister in Great Britain. This particular volume details her time hiking and mountain climbing in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado--in her proper British-lady…

I think this might be my very first Top Ten Tuesday! I blogged for seven years from 2009 - 2016 and just started blogging again at the end of June. I was certainly aware of these weekly lists, so I don't know why I've never joined in before! Anyway, on to my list of books for Netflix adaptations! Books I Would Choose for Netflix Adaptations This is a tough list for me to start with! Screen adaptations almost always disappoint me. I do very rarely wish that someone would make a faithful film of a book I enjoy though. A Shadow Bright and Burning by Jessica Cluess--I just finished listening to the second book in this series and I described it to my husband as Godzilla or Pacific Rim meets sorcerers in Victorian London. You want to see it now, don't you? The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher--I'm well aware that there was a short-lived series based on these books but here's the thing--I liked it. I liked it a lot. And it only lasted one season. As I searched for a link for this post, I saw that Fox optioned the series rights in 2018, so maybe we will get a reboot. Fingers crossed. Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Wright--I tend to read The Dresden Files and the Mercy Thompson books in cycles together for some reason, so of course my above choice triggered this option. This is another fantastic series that would adapt well to the screen. The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang--I'm not much of a romance reader but this book was absolutely charming. It's a great #ownvoices choice as the main character and the author are both on the Autism Spectrum. It looks like a screen adaptation is in development already. Bloody Jack series by L.…