Get Lost in Literature

Today's Top Ten Tuesday  (hosted by ThatArtsyReaderGirl ) was listed as Top Ten Freebie/Throwback , where you get to pick your own subject. Today I'm covering the Top Ten Author's I've Read: First Book, Last Book, and Favorite Book. This is a prompt I saw on (and stole with permission) Louise @ Foxes and Fairytales blog, who borrowed it from A Book Fiend Named Mel who was inspired by ChelseaZhao . The concept of this list is to pick authors you've read multiple books by, and say what was the first book you read, the last one you read, and your favorite by that author. 1. John Ajivde Lindqvist      First: Let the Right One In      Last: I Am Behind You      Favorite: Let the Right One In 2. JK Rowling      First: Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone      Last: The Running Grave      Favorite: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 3. Edgar Allan Poe      First: The Cask of Am...

  Today's Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by ThatArtsyReaderGirl , is Books On My Summer 2025 To-Read List. I didn't have to work hard this week to find titles, I conveniently keep a list of my reading materials on my 'Upcoming Reviews' tab. Pay no attention to my 'Currently Reading' tab... It's not that accurate. Justify: 111 Days to Triple Crown Glory by Lenny Shulman Iron Flame Rebecca Yarros The Midnight Library by Matt Haig 1984 by George Orwell Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo Book of Night by Holly Black The Brides of Maracoor by Gregory Maguire Kiss the Girls by James Patterson I promised myself not to acquire any more books, new or library, until these are read. Have you heard of or read any of these? What did you think of them?

Today's Top Ten Tuesday theme was listed as Animal Companions (These animals can be real or fantasy!) (submitted by P.S. I Love Books) . Back in August 2024 I did a Top Ten Literary Animal Friends list, which is basically the same, and I didn't think my list had changed since then. So instead of doing a repeat list, I'm doing the Top Ten Books with Horses. The horses will be both real and fictional. 1. American Pharoah: The Untold Story of the Triple Crown Champion's Legendary Rise by Joe Drape - The true story about the life of the first Triple Crown winner after a 37 year drought. 2. Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin - A fantasy about a thief named Peter Lake, seemingly immortal, who is watched over by his guardian, a pure white horse depicted as a deity, Athansor. 3. Battleship: A Daring Heiress, a Teenage Jockey, and America's Horse by Dorothy Ours - A nonfiction about Battleship, the undersized son of Man O'War, who despite his failings at flat racin...

Today's Top Ten Tuesday , hosted by ThatArtsyReaderGirl , is a list of the Top Ten Books I Never Reviewed. I liked all of these books, so it's a surprise to me that I never made time to review them. And at this point, it'd be necessary to reread them to make sure they were getting the rave reviews they all deserve which I don't really have time for right now.  1. Wicked by Gregory Maguire 2. The Host by Stephenie Meyer 3. Dracula by Bram Stoker 4. Ursula Under  by Ingrid Hill 5. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien 6. Castaways of the Flying Dutchman by Brian Jacques 7. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemsin 8. The City and The City by China Mieville 9. Enchantment by Orson Scott Card 10. The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint Have you read any of these? What's a book you loved but never reviewed?

Valentine's Day approaches! And I have a confession: I don't really care. I don't mean that to be facetious but the reality is I haven't got much of a romantic bone in my body. I actually like the day after Valentine's a little better, because I can buy chocolate at next to nothing because it was all poured into a heartshaped mold that stopped being relevant the moment the clock hit midnight. Given all that, it probably won't come as a shock to you that I don't read a lot of romance novels, and when I do, it's not usually the romantic elements that made me pick it up in the first place. My GoodReads 'Romance' shelf list 27 books in all, and some of them are sequels so I'm not sure they count. Because picking up romance is such a rarity for me, and it is Valentine's Day (almost), I decided my list today should be Top Ten Romantic Books & Why I Read Them . (hosted by ThatArtsyReaderGirl ) 1. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. I like vampire...

Today's Top Ten Tuesday hosted by ThatArtsyReaderGirl , is listed as New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2024 ... I didn't have time this week to decorate my blog post with photos and/or links to reviews, but I suppose that makes it easier and quicker to read.   1. Patricia Cornwell 2. S.A. Chakraborty 3. Harlan Coben 4. Robert McCammon 5. Kasey LeBlanc 6. Kate Alice Marshall 7. Colin Dickey 8. Jess Lourey 9. Stephen Graham Jones 10. Grady Hendrix Have you read any of these? Feel free to leave a link to your TTT!

Today's Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by ThatArtsyReaderGirl, is Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2025.   I, for the most part, haven't got a clue about upcoming novels or debuts or anything of that sort, unless it's for an author I habitually stalk. Today what I'm going to do instead is recommend the Top Ten ARCs I read last year. I didn't read ten of them, but I did read 7 & 1/8 (I'm not going to recommend the 1/8). 1.  What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher  The sequel to What Moves the Dead  an Edgar Allen Poe inspired series. It doesn't count toward this year, it actually came out in 2024, but if you like gothic horror you might like these books. 2.  Salem's Cipher by Jess Lourey  A mystery/thriller in the style of The DaVinci Code,  Salem a cryptoanalyst and her best friend Bel, are trying to crack a code to bring their kidnapped mothers home. 3.  A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall  A woman marrying into an afflue...

Today's Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by ThatArtsyReaderGirl , was listed as the Top Ten Best Books I Read in 2024. A few of them were re-reads but I'm including them anyways: there's a reason why they were good enough to re-read in the first place. I've linked my favorite titles of the year to my reviews. 1. The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith 2. The Call of the Wild by Jack London 3. Black Woods Blue Sky by Eowyn Ivey 4. Forging Silver into Stars by Brigid Kemmerer 5. The Unidentified by Colin Dickey 6. Spare by Prince Harry 7. A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab 8. What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher 9. The Abominable by Dan Simmons 10. The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty What was your favorite book of the year?

Today's Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by ThatArtsyReaderGirl , was listed as a Freebie. Since I have two rather sizeable tote bags of books donated to me by friends over the years, I decided to list Ten Unread Books I Own in no particular order. 1. The Fall of Giants by Ken Follett 2. The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks 3. The House Next Door by James Patterson 4. Kiss the Girls by James Patterson 5. Stars and Soil by Dax Murray 6. Weekend in Paris by Robyn Sisman 7. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson 8. Oogy by Larry Levin 9. Picture Maker by Penina Keen Spinka 10. State of Fear by Michael Crichton Some of these books I'm not really likely to read and should probably rehome to someone who would enjoy them more, but some of them I'm just waiting for the mood to strike. Have you read any of these? Do you own any books you haven't read yet?

Today's Top Ten Tuesday hosted by ThatArtsyReaderGirl was listed as Thanksgiving Freebie and I decided to go with 10 authors I want to give thanks to for the positive impacts they've had on my life. Thank you, 1. Jack London - for teaching me all about survival of the fittest. 2. Brian Jacques - for taking me on so many adventures. 3. Chris Paolini - for letting me ride a dragon and inspiring me to become a writer myself. 4. J.K. Rowling - for never letting me forget the power of friendship, even if your political and humanitarian agendas are not the same as my own. 5. Gregory Maguire - for keeping the magic alive. 6. Bram Stoker - for writing Dracula because that book was epic. 7. John Ajvide Lindqvist - for knowing exactly how to scare me. 8. Edgar Allan Poe - for writing horror as if it were poetry. 9. V.E. Schwab - for the many worlds she's breathed to life. 10. J.R.R. Tolkien - for teaching me to dream big in a world where I'm small and reminding me that 'not ...

Today's topic for Tuesday Top Ten hosted by ThatArtsyReaderGirl  is officially listed as the Oldest (aka Earliest Published) Books On My TBR (submitted by Nicole @ BookWyrm Knits) . The reality is I don't know and my TBR list is so big I couldn't possibly sort through them all to find out. So this Tuesday, I'm doing Books with Red on the Cover. 1. Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben 2. Elphie: A Wicked Childhood by Gregory Maguire 3. Gone South by Robert McCammon 4. What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher 5. A Vow So Bold and Deadly by Brigid Kemmerer 6. Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth 7.Devolution by Max Brooks 8. Vicious by V.E. Schwab 9. NOS4A2 by Joe Hill 10. Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

 Today's Top Ten Tuesday is a book blog meme hosted by ThatArtsyReaderGirl . Today's topic is  Destination Titles (titles with name of places in them.)  1. Redwall by Brian Jacques 2. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan 3. The City of Brass by SA Chakraborty 4. Babel by RF Kuang 5. The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse 6. Beacon 23 by Hugh Howey 7. Zodiac Station by Tom Harper 8. Jurassic Park by Michael Chrichton 9. Hollow City by Ransom Riggs 10. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett Have you read any of these? What's your favorite fictional place?

Today's Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by ThatArtsyReaderGirl , was listed as Halloween Freebie, so I present to you my Top Ten Favorite Horror Stories. 1. Dracula by Bram Stoker 2. Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist 3. The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty 4. Summer of Night by Dan Simmons 5. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley 6. Devolution by Max Brooks 7. The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe 8. The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix 9. Leech by Hiron Ennes 10. Little Star by John Ajvide Lindqvist What's your favorite horror novel?

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by ThatArtsyReaderGirl . Today's topic is: How My Reading Habits Have Changed Over Time (submitted by Lydia @ https://lydiaschoch.com). But today's answer couldn't be shoved into a neat and tidy list; instead, I offer a paragraph or two of then and now. When I was a kid, I read over a hundred books a year. It was a hobby that drove my teachers crazy as they tried to shove textbooks into my hands while removing the novels from them. I could read anywhere: the car, the beach, my bed, the backyard. I'd read on the bus, the playground, sit down on the floor of the grocery store (no lie), and at parties. I'd carry a book everywhere with me... and I do mean everywhere, which might be how I read so many books in a year. Now I'm lucky if I read 12 books a year, although this year I'm doing pretty good hitting the 20s so far. I read less than everywhere now, still in the backyard, sometimes in the car, most often in my rocking chair. We can...

Today's Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by ThatArtsyReaderGirl , is all about Books I Was Assigned to Read in School. I've been a lifelong avid reader, but I was always that student that once a story was assigned, I was unlikely to want to read it. Like accidental reverse psychology, I can count on one hand the number of books assigned that I actually liked... three of which made today's list. 1. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck - I've read 2 Steinbeck novels, this one, and The Red Pony  and I hated them both. I don't get the fascination with him. 2. Animal Farm by George Orwell - This is about communist pigs, if you like that sort of thing which I didn't. 3. The Outsiders by SE Hinton - I know a lot of people absolutely love this book, I'm just not one of them. 4. The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings - I was too young to be reading a story this upsetting. 5. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls - This was also upsetting. 6. The Eye in the Door by Pat ...

Today's Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by ThatArtsyReaderGirl) subject was supposed to be Books I Read/Avoided Because of the Hype , but I couldn't really think of more than two. So today I've decided to post my own list, Books That Should Be TV Shows , because sometimes you think, "Yeah, I'd watch that." The Unidentified by Colin Dickey.  - This book is a paranormal documentary, and while I'm sure some of the stories and subjects in this book have been covered by other paranormal documentaries, this is the first one I found that was trying to explain why we hold on so tightly to things that in all probability, just aren't real. It deserves to be a mini series at least. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue  by VE Schwab  - A book about a girl possessing the gift of immortality and the curse of forgettability.  Wanderers by Chuck Wendig . - A dystopia about a mysterious pandemic; I'm don't think a movie could do it justice... I'm not a hundred percen...

Top Ten Tuesday is brought to you by That Artsy Reader Girl. Here's my list for Books That Provide a Much Needed Escape.   Harry Potter. All of them. The City of Brass by SA Chakraborty Forging Silver into Stars by Brigid Kemmerer The Night Circus by Erin Morganstern Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini Shades of Magic trilogy by VE Schwab The Broken Earth trilogy by NK Jemisin The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly World War Z by Max Brooks Have you read any of these? What's on your list?

Today's Top Ten Tuesday topic (hosted by  That Artsy Reader Girl ) was listed as 'Relationship Freebie'. I went with Top Ten Literary Animal Friends. 1. Despereaux - from the The Tale of Despereaux  by Kate DiCamillo 2. Black Beauty - from Black Beauty by Anna Sewell 3. Manchee - from The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness 4. Buck - from The Call of the Wild by Jack London 5. Hedwig - from Harry Potter by JK Rowling 6. Athansor - from Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin 7. Ned - from Castaways of the Flying Dutchman by Brian Jacques 8. Rosie - from Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen 9. Richard Parker - from Life of Pi by Yann Martel 10. Jaws - from Jaws by Peter Benchley. (Okay, so this fish didn't make many friends but how cool would it be to have a shark friend. You'd have a swimming buddy for life, and someone to feed your enemies to...) Do you have any favorite animal characters?

This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic is Ten Favorite Books from Ten Series submitted by A Hot Cup of Pleasure and hosted by   That Artsy Reader Girl . These are my picks. Wicked (The Wicked Years) by Gregory Maguire Feed (Newsflesh Trilogy) by Mira Grant Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter series) by JK Rowling The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking) by Patrick Ness Wool (Silo) by Hugh Howey Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children) by Ransom Riggs A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic) by Victoria Schwab Mattimeo (Novels of Redwall) by Brian Jacques The Island Stallion (The Black Stallion) by Walter Farley The Map of Time (Victorian Trilogy) by Felix J Palma

 This week's TTT was listed as Debut Novels I Enjoyed (submitted by Angela @ Reading Frenzy),  hosted by    That Artsy Reader Girl . I'm not sure I've read ten debuts, and if I have, I don't know which ones they are. So I decided to make my own list today, hence my Top Ten Songs That Should Have Been Books.  I hope the videos play alright; I've never added them to a blog before. 1. "The Fighter" by The Fray 2. "Careful What You Wish For" by Jack Harris 3. "In the Woods Somewhere" by Hozier 4. "Painters" by Jewel 5. "Radioactive" by Imagine Dragons 6. "Paparazzi" by Lady Gaga 7. "Blown Away" by Carrie Underwood 8. "Medicine" by Grace Potter & the Nocturnals 9. "Hotel California" by Eagles 10. "House of the Rising Sun" by The Animals What about you? Can you name a song you wish had been a book?