Talking about books, food, and life in general…
This one was tough for me … over the years I’ve been able to read lots of good books that were rather unknown. Most of these that I’m including here were review books that I received for review … actually 7 of the 10 on my list were review books. Here’s my list:
Hm. Well, this could be a long list (ha!) But actually when I went through my TBR list I realized that there were really only 3 that really stood out to me.
What Happened … I was pumped when I purchased this one brand spanking new in hardcover at full price (a very rare thing for me) … but I just can’t bring myself to open it yet. đŸ˜¦
Gone Girl … at this point I think I may be the only person on earth who hasn’t read this one.
Outlander … I’m just too intimidated by it. But I will conquer it. Someday. đŸ˜€
Well if you read my 2018 reading recap I posted a few weeks ago you would have seen that in 2018 I read 26 new-to-me authors. Woo! However, I’m only going to share those authors that I will for sure continue to follow in the future, so that pares the list down to a manageable 5. Without further ado:
The first on the list is without a doubt Kristin Hannah. Her novel The Great Alone was my #1 favorite for the entire year of 2018. I still get all the feels when I think back to my reading experience of that book. I’m definitely looking forward to exploring her back list a little bit as well as watching out for her in the future.
S
econd on my list is definitely Riley Sager. I enjoyed his first book, Final Girls so much that I could hardly contain myself when I got my hands on The Last Time I Lied. I can’t wait to see what he does in the future! Whatever it is, I’m sure it’ll be thrilling. Annnnd I totally just peeked at his Goodreads author page – another book coming in July … Can you say BIRTHDAY BOOK?!? đŸ˜€
Next up is Taylor Jenkins Reid. This book caught me by surprise. I’m not going to lie, I chose it basically for the cover (which is saying something for a person who isn’t really a “cover person”) so I wasn’t really expecting to be so caught up in it. But I sure was! I haven’t really spent much time looking through her backlist, but I definitely will keep my out on her future works.
Ruth Ware. This particular book was one of my BOTM selections that I picked up as part of a Goodreads challenge. It was a twisty novel that had me questioning everything and everyone! I have two of her other books already on my shelves that I’m definitely looking forward to getting to!
And last but not least we have Margot Hunt. This book was super good and when I went to her author page I saw her previous work that looked good as well. FYI – Margot Hunt is actually a pseudonym for Whitney Gaskell, who seems to have written 12 books which all appear to be not my cup of tea (romance/chick lit), but I sure hope she continues to write psychological thrillers under her pseudonym because this book was really good!
So the last time I participated in this was the week we did the spring TBR list …. of those 10 books, I read 3 and DNF’d 1. Oops?! Actually that’s a little bit better than I had anticipated đŸ˜€ So … once again, I’m going to make a list. If I read even one of these I’ll probably consider it a win, ha! I’m keeping 3 from my spring list on my fall list. Here we go:
I don’t normally like to make lists like this. Basically because I completely fail and not a single book off this list will be read. Oops?! Whatever. Here’s what I’d “like” to get to this spring, I need to revisit some series books that I’m woefully behind on. And then a few new(ish) acquisitions that have really caught my eye.
So I went back through my entire Goodreads read list (all 647 from the last 11 years!) I went through the list looking for books that were out of my comfort zone that ended up surprising me in a good way. Here’s what I came up with that fit the bill:
This was a Barnes & Noble Serial Reads selection. I think it was the second month I discovered it existed. I decided to give the book a shot and was pleasantly surprised by it. I don’t read a ton of YA and I had actually never read a retelling. But I ended up really enjoying this one! It’s definitely not a book I would have ever picked up on my own, so I’m glad that I took a chance on it!
Okay, so I drug my feet on ever giving this one a shot. Vampires? Not really my thing. But I had read a few other Charlaine Harris books that I enjoyed, and at the time everyone and their brother was talking about the HBO series (which I never did and still haven’t seen a single episode of…) I decided I’d give it a shot. And it actually surprised me! Since then I have read up to the 6th book in the series … and it’s been a while since I visited Sookie, I need to get back into her world!
Young Adult? Dystopian? Buzz book? I mean all of those things  individually are immediately off-putting to me. Putting them all together? I still can’t believe I even gave this one a shot! But for whatever reason, I loved it! I loved it so much I remember very specifically going straight to the bookstore and buying Insurgent and I read that one immediately after this one. I did end up finishing the trilogy, but I still think the first book was the best of the three.
My memory of this one has ultimately failed me. đŸ˜¦ But looking back over my review, I picked it up to fulfill a chit-lit requirement on a Goodreads challenge. And I apparently did not like the ending one bit. But I’m still surprised I rated this book as high as I did. I am no chick-lit convert, but I remember being engaged throughout the book. I haven’t read anything else by Ms. Rowell, I feel like I need to change that!
I read this book 7 years ago and I would still put it on my favorite book list. I picked it up on the recommendation of my grandmother. This is not the type of book she reads at all, so I figured if she loved it as much as she said she did then I would probably love it as well. And I did! If I was a re-reader, I would definitely re-read it. Unfortunately, I am not. However, I do continue to sing its praises. And I’m actually gifting a copy of this book to a friend who “doesn’t read” in the hopes that it will resonate with her in the same way it did for me. … Just don’t eat the chocolate pie đŸ˜€
I’m not a re-reader in general. There’s too many books out there that I want to read for there to be time for me to re-read books. However, there is one exception to this rule.
I have read this book 3 times (so far) and I can’t wait until Garrett is a few years older so we can read it together!
I really need to re-read the entire series … maybe someday đŸ™‚
Well this one is somewhat easy for me to participate in this week. A couple of weeks ago I Â went through my shelves, rearranging and purging (**gasp**). I’m ashamed to admit that the purge was very small (only 17 books) in comparison to the (400+) books that remained. But progress is progress, right?! Anyway … here’s 6 of those 17 that have since left the house.
I have tried to pick this book up on three separate occasions. On all three of those times I have set it aside again. I just cannot get past 100 pages in this book. As a result, it didn’t survive my purge and it’s leaving the house (along with the other two … The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest).
So after reading the first book in this series a few weeks ago, I was left somewhat unimpressed. As a result, I’ve decided that this one (and the third in the series, The Five Greatest Warriors) are being donated.
I picked this one up at Goodwill a while ago on a whim. I think it was more because it has a pink cover (something that I’m always looking for in my Goodreads challenges) than anything else. I highly doubt I’ll ever read it, so out it goes…
I actually bought this one new a few years ago. But it’s just sat and sat. And to be honest, after not being over the moon with the last Griffin book I read, and after reading the blurb on this one, I think a new home would be best for this book.
When I read the blurb on this one, it didn’t even sound remotely interesting to me. Out it goes.
I’m not even sure why I picked this one up to begin with. The blurb does not sound interesting. Another one that had to go.
So I hopped on my Goodreads page to check out my options for this one. The dates are a little skewed on there because when we moved back in 2014, I made a massive purge and so I ended up deleting my entire bookshelf and added everything from scratch as I unpacked them. Embarrassingly enough, I have 132 books still on my shelf that were added in December 2014 đŸ˜® Interestingly enough, paring that selection down to 10 was relatively easy – that’s pretty telling isn’t it…. anyway, on to the books:
So Top Ten Tuesday has a new home! I’m glad that this is being continued on. I look forward to getting more active with it!
Hm…. ok, so I did a post kind of dealing with this back in November. To briefly summarize …..
So I think that’s all I’ve got for right now. Pretty broad and basic.
Basically …. have fun and enjoy whatever I accomplish with my reading đŸ™‚
Tales of a Book Addict 