top ten tuesday – Page 3 – The Bookish Libra

Top Ten Tuesday – Books with Weather Events in the Title

October 17, 2023/11 Comments/by Suzanne

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 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!

This week’s TTT topic is Books with Weather Events/Words in the Title/on the Cover. This one was harder than I thought it would be, but I did finally manage to find ten titles that fit the topic.

Books with Weather Events in the Title

1. A STORM OF SWORDS by George R. R. Martin

2. THE SNOW CHILD by Eowyn Ivey

3. THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN by Garth Stein

4. A BREATH OF SNOW AND ASHES by Diana Gabaldon

5. LET IT SNOW by Beth Moran

6. HURRICANE SUMMER by Asha Ashanti Bromfield

7. THE FOUR WINDS by Kristin Hannah

8. PERCY JACKSON AND THE LIGHTNING THIEF by Rick Riordan

9. PROJECT HAIL MARY by Andy Weir

10. EMPIRE OF STORMS by Sarah J. Maas

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Question: Have you read any of these or are you planning to read any of them?

Top Ten Tuesday – Bookish Jobs I Would Love to Have

October 10, 2023/17 Comments/by Suzanne

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 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!

This week’s TTT topic is Bookish Jobs I Would Do For Free (Real or Imaginary). I tweaked the topic just a bit since I don’t see myself doing much for free these days, haha. Instead, I’ve broken the jobs down into what I consider to be somewhat realistic options if I were to ever decide to make a career change versus jobs I would love to do if such jobs even existed and if I have the skill/creativity to do them.

Bookish Jobs I Would Love to Have

Semi-Realistic Ones Based on My Actual Skill Set:

1. Any job in publishing – If I could go back in time and plot a different career path for myself, I definitely would have loved to go into publishing and relocate to New York.

2. Librarian – Another option I would love since it would mean interacting with readers all day and helping them find books I hope they will love.

3. Book Shop Owner, ideally the owner of a shop that is part bookstore, part wine bar or bakery – Same as number 2, but with the added bonus of food and/or wine.

4. Literary Agent – What a thrill it would be to discover and represent new authors!

5. Elementary School Reading Teacher – While I was a teacher many years ago, I was a high school English teacher. If I could go back and do things differently, I think I would have loved teaching young children the joys of reading.

Dream Jobs If They Actually Exist and/or I Actually Had the Skill to Do Them:

6. Professional Bookworm – Who wouldn’t want to get paid to just read all day?

7. Book Cover Designer – If I had any artistic ability, this would be such an amazing job.

8. Book Club Coordinator – This doesn’t really exist but I think it would be so much fun to help people who are looking for book clubs to find one that is perfect for them.

9. Designer of Bookish Merchandise – There’s just something about bookish merch that brings me so much joy so I really wish I had the artistic talent to design and sell merch of my own.

10. College Professor who specializes in teaching Contemporary Romance – I think this one springs from both my love of contemporary romance novels and my desire to defend the genre against those who always belittle it.

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Question: What would be your dream bookish job?

Top Ten Tuesday – Reading/Blogging Goals I Still Want to Accomplish Before the End of the Year

October 3, 2023/20 Comments/by Suzanne

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 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!

This week’s TTT topic is Reading Goals I Still Want to Accomplish Before the End of the Year. I’m adding in blogging goals since I focused on both in my initial post about goals for 2023. I have to admit that most of my goals have been a huge fail this year. When Jetpack started trying to charge money to be able to auto-share across platforms – something that had been a free feature ever since I started my blog, I got discouraged. Then I got even more discouraged when good old Elon made it so you can’t use Jetpack to share to twitter, X, or whatever he’s calling it these days. On top of that, I’ve been having so many database corruption issues. I’m hoping those are resolved now that I stopped trying to fix it myself and paid my ISP to figure it out. In the meantime, I’ve been focusing more and more on my Bookstagram account. I still love my blog and the blogging community though so here’s where I stand on my 2023 goals and which ones I think are still doable.

via GIPHY

Revisiting My Reading and Blogging Goals for 2023

1) My number one goal this year is a repeat goal from the past three years and that is to read more of the books I own. My goal for this was 70 and I’ve read 52 so not too bad.

2) This is also a repeat goal from 2022 and 2021. I really want to continue to only participate in blog tours where I have already requested a review book. I’ve only done a handful of blog tours this year and those were almost all for Berkley Romance, specifically some of my most anticipated reads of the year so I’m happy with my progress here.

3) This is also an ongoing goal since my struggle to finish series continues. I’ve not done very well on this one at all.

Series I Want to Finish or Get Caught Up On:

Lifelike by Jay Kristoff (2 books left) – I did finish this series.
The Aurora Cycle (2 books left) – Still have 1 book left as of this post.
The Inheritance Games (2 books left) – I did finish this series.
City of Brass (2 books left) – Haven’t touched this one.
Crescent City (Re-read book 1, then read book 2) – I’m all caught up on this one.
Bridgerton (5 books left) – I’ve only read one Bridgerton book this year but do hope to read more before the end of the year.

Series I Want to Start:

The Consortium Rebellion – Fail
Six Crimson Cranes – Read both books.
The Celestial Kingdom – Fail
The Great Library – Fail – I’m no longer interested in reading this one.
The Invisible Library – Fail – I’m no longer interested in reading this one.
The Bloodsworn Saga – Fail

4) This is also a repeat goal from the past two years. I really want to continue to grow my Bookstagram account. This is probably the goal I’ve done the best with all year, having reached 10K followers last week. If you have a bookstagram account and are not already following me, you can give me a follow at https://instagram.com/thebookishlibra

5) Re-reading more. This is also a repeat goal and one I failed at in 2022. And I’m failing again in 2023, lol. I re-read the first three on this list and haven’t touched the others.

House of Earth and Blood
Aurora Rising
Ninth House
The Handmaid’s Tale
The Invisible Life of Addie Larue
The Chronicles of Narnia (5 books) – I did manage to re-read the second book in the series in 2022.
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre

6) I am aiming to keep my Netgalley percentage at 85% or above in 2023. I’m doing well with this goal too and am actually at 93%, although with 53 arcs waiting to be read and reviewed, I’m clearly failing the whole requesting less ARCs goal. I obviously just love new releases too much to ever succeed at that one, haha.

7) I say this every year, but in 2023, I want to read more Nonfiction. Another huge fail for me. I’ve not read any of these, although I do hope to at least read Michelle Obama’s new one before the end of the year.

What Unites Us by Dan Rather
The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama
We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win WWII by Liza Mundy
D-Day Girls: The Spies Who Armed the Resistance, Sabotaged the Nazis, and Helped Win WWII by Sarah Rose
Spare by Prince Harry
Untamed by Glennon Doyle
Where the Light Enters, Building a Family, Discovering Myself by Jill Biden

8) This is a forever goal, haha. In 2023, I really want to work on being better organized, particularly when it comes to blogging ahead. Nope, still a fail.

9) Revisit Shakespeare. Fail unless revisiting him through retellings counts, lol.

10) I am doing the Goodreads Challenge and have set my goal at 175 books. I’ve read 156 so far so I think I’ll exceed this goal pretty easily considering I still have 3 months to go.

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How are you doing with your reading/blogging goals this year?

Top Ten Tuesday – Books I Own That are on My Fall 2023 TBR

September 26, 2023/13 Comments/by Suzanne

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 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!

This week’s TTT topic is actually supposed to be about secondary characters who deserve their own book, but I completely blanked out on that and decided to go rogue. Instead, I’m continuing last week’s topic and sharing more of the books I’m hoping to read this fall. Last week I shared all new and upcoming releases so this week I’m going to share ten of the books I’ve owned for a while and need to read.

Books I Own That are on My Fall 2023 TBR

1. YOU SHOULD SMILE MORE by Anastasia Ryan – “When Vanessa Blair is fired because of her “resting bitch face,” her friends help her launch a revenge plan that’ll bring down the whole company.”

2. BLOODMARKED by Tracy Deonn – I had DNF’ed Legendborn, the first book in this King Arthur retelling, during the pandemic but recently revisited it and loved it, so I’m looking forward to reading the next book as soon as possible.

3. HIS & HERS by Alice Feeney – “There are two sides to every story: yours and mine, ours and theirs, His & Hers. Which means someone is always lying.”

4. DIVINE RIVALS by Rebecca Ross – “When two young rival journalists find love through a magical connection, they must face the depths of hell, in a war among gods, to seal their fate forever.“

5. BY A THREAD by Lucy Score – “A steamy, swoony workplace romantic comedy with a grumpy boss hero determined to save the day and a plucky heroine who is starting to wonder if there might actually be a beating heart just beneath her boss’s sexy vests.”

6. POWERLESS by Elsie Silver – “Two childhood friends. Two broken hearts. One impromptu road trip to get away from everything. That’s all this was supposed to be. Afterall, I’ve been living in the friend zone for years now. But hockey heartthrob Jasper Gervais isn’t looking at me like a friend anymore. And he isn’t touching me like one either.”

7. THE HOUSEMAID’S SECRET by Freida McFadden – I recently read and loved The Housemaid so I can’t wait to read more from this author.

8. GREENWICH PARK by Katherine Faulkner – “When Rachel threatens to expose a past crime that could destroy all of their lives, it becomes clear that there are more than a few secrets laying beneath the broad-leaved trees and warm lamplight of Greenwich Park.”

9. SOMEONE ELSE’S SHOES by Jojo Moyes – “A story of mix-ups, mess-ups and making the most of second chances, this is the new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Jojo Moyes, author of Me Before You and The Giver of Stars.”

10. THE LIGHT WE CARRY by Michelle Obama – “In an inspiring follow-up to her critically acclaimed, #1 bestselling memoir Becoming, former First Lady Michelle Obama shares practical wisdom and powerful strategies for staying hopeful and balanced in today’s highly uncertain world.” My goal to read one nonfiction book a month has been an absolute fail in 2023, but this is one I definitely want to read before the end of the year.

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Question: Have you read any of these or are you planning to read any of them?

Top Ten Tuesday – Books on my Fall 2023 TBR

September 19, 2023/17 Comments/by Suzanne

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 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!

This week’s TTT topic is Books on My Fall 2023 TBR. I always enjoy this topic because I’m curious to see what my fellow book bloggers are planning to read next. I have a lot of ARCs to read this fall so my focus will primarily be on those, although I do hope to squeeze in a few of the books from my shelves as well.

Books on My Fall 2023 TBR

1. BETTER HATE THAN NEVER by Chloe Liese – “Childhood enemies discover the fine line between love and loathing in this heartfelt reimagining of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.”

2. A DEMON’S GUIDE TO WOOING A WITCH by Sarah Hawley – “Calladia Cunnington curses the day she met Astaroth the demon, but when he shows up memoryless, why does she find him so helpless . . . and sort of hot?”

3. THE FRAGILE THREADS OF POWER by V.E. Schwab – “From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, and set in the world of A Darker Shade of Magic, V. E. Schwab opens a new door into perilous adventure and tangled schemes with The Fragile Threads of Power.”

4. THE FAKE MATE by Lana Ferguson – “Two wolf shifters agree to be fake mates but unexpectedly find something real in this steamy paranormal romantic comedy by Lana Ferguson.“

5. STARLING HOUSE by Alix E. Harrow – “A grim and gothic new tale from author Alix E. Harrow about a small town haunted by secrets that can’t stay buried and the sinister house that sits at the crossroads of it all.”

6. IRIS KELLY DOESN’T DATE by Ashley Herring Blake – “To get her mind off everything and overcome her writer’s block, Iris tries out for a local play, but comes face-to-face with Stefania—or, Stevie, her real name. When Stevie desperately asks Iris to play along as her girlfriend, Iris is shocked, but goes along with it because maybe this fake relationship will actually get her creative juices flowing and she can get her book written. As the two women play the part of a couple, they turn into a constant state of hot-and-bothered and soon it just comes down to who will make the real first move…”

7. MIDNIGHT IS THE DARKEST HOUR by Ashley Winstead – “From the critically acclaimed author of In My Dreams I Hold A Knife and The Last Housewife comes a gothic Southern thriller about a killer haunting a small Louisiana town, where two outcasts—the preacher’s daughter and the boy from the wrong side of the tracks—hold the key to uncovering the truth.“

8. WRECK THE HALLS by Tessa Bailey – “A sexy, hilarious standalone holiday rom-com about the adult children of two former rock stars who team up to convince their estranged mothers to play a Christmas Eve concert.”

9. THE UNMAKING OF JUNE FARROW by Adrienne Young – “A woman risks everything to end her family’s centuries-old curse, solve her mother’s disappearance, and find love in this mesmerizing novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Spells for Forgetting.”

10. A WINTER IN NEW YORK by Josie Silver – “A young chef stumbles on a secret family recipe that might lead her to the love—and life—she’s been looking for in this stunning novel.”

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Question: Have you read any of these or are you planning to read any of them?

Top Ten Tuesday – Some of My Favorite Friendships in Books

September 12, 2023/26 Comments/by Suzanne

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 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!

This week’s TTT topic is Favorite Character Relationships (These can be platonic or not. Romantic relationships, parent/child, siblings, family bonds, friendships, found families, pet/human, etc.). I decided it would be fun to share some of my favorite friendships in books that I’ve read. I love friendships that feel like family and I think most of these fit that bill. They might tease and give each other hell, but when it comes down to it, they always have each other’s back.

Some of My Favorite Friendships in Books

THE BOYS FROM THE BROMANCE BOOK CLUB SERIES

FINLAY & VERO FROM THE FINLAY DONOVAN SERIES

RYLAND & ROCKY FROM PROJECT HAIL MARY

HARRY & RON FROM THE HARRY POTTER SERIES

STEPHANIE & LULA FROM THE STEPHANIE PLUM SERIES

KAZ BREKKER’S CREW IN THE SIX OF CROWS DUOLOGY

THE BAT BOYS FROM THE ACOTAR SERIES (ALSO, MOR & FEYRE)

ELOISE & PENELOPE FROM THE BRIDGERTON SERIES

THE REN FAIRE FAMILY FROM THE WELL MET SERIES

THE RAVEN BOYS FROM THE RAVEN CYCLE SERIES

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Have you read any of these?

Top Ten Tuesday – Sea You Later: 10 Books with “Sea” in the Title

August 29, 2023/32 Comments/by Suzanne

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 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!

This week’s TTT topic is Water (This can be covers with water on them, books with bodies of water in them, titles with bodies of water in them, etc.). I looked over at my shelves, saw a few books with Sea in the title and decided to go for it and see if I could think of ten titles. Then after I found ten titles, I realized I had already done this topic before and so I started over again to see if I could find ten more I hadn’t already used, haha. Below is what I came up with and you can click on the links below to read the synopsis of each of these books.

10 Books with “Sea” in the Title

THE HOUSE IN THE CERULEAN SEA by TJ Klune

THE MAGIC OF SEA GLASS by Jenny Hale

COTTAGE BY THE SEA by Debbie Macomber

THE STARLESS SEA by Erin Morgenstern

SUNRISE BY THE SEA by Jenny Colgan

TO SLEEP IN A SEA OF STARS by Christopher Paolini

A LONG PETAL OF THE SEA by Isabel Allende

SEA SWEPT by Nora Roberts

SKIN OF THE SEA by Natasha Bowen

THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA by Ernest Hemingway

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Have you read any of these?

Top Ten Tuesday – 10 Holiday Books I’m Planning to Read This Year

August 22, 2023/18 Comments/by Suzanne

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 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!

This week’s TTT topic is Genre Freebie (Pick a genre and build a list around it.). Since I recently shared my spooky season TBR, I thought it would be fun to go ahead and share my holiday TBR since I have already started looking ahead to see what books I want to read this holiday season. If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I love a good holiday read, particularly if it gives off Hallmark Christmas movie vibes, so that’s mostly what you can expect here. There are books from some of my favorites like Kerry Winfrey, Tessa Bailey, and Mary Kay Andrews, as well as some new-to-me authors I’m looking forward to trying like Ginny Baird and Zoe Allison.

You can click on the links below to read synopsis of each of these books. Some of them also already have giveaways up on Goodreads, so be sure to enter those if any sound good to you. 🙂

10 Holiday Books I’m Planning to Read This Year

FAKING CHRISTMAS by Kerry Winfrey

BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CHRISTMAS by Mary Kay Andrews

LOVE, HOLLY by Emily Stone

THREE HOLIDAYS AND A WEDDING by Uzma Jalaluddin and Marissa Stapley

WRECK THE HALLS by Tessa Bailey

THE BOOK CLUB HOTEL by Sarah Morgan

A WINTER IN NEW YORK by Josie Silver

THE HOLIDAY MIX-UP by Ginny Baird

EMERGENCY CONTACT by Lauren Layne & Anthony Ledonne

THE EX-MAS HOLIDAYS by Zoe Allison

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Are you planning to read any of these?

Top Ten Tuesday – 10 Books I’m Planning to Read During Spooky Season This Year

August 15, 2023/34 Comments/by Suzanne

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 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!

This week’s TTT topic is supposed to be Characters from Different Books Who Should Team Up (or date, be friends with, etc.) (Submitted by Cathy @ WhatCathyReadNext). I unfortunately blanked out and couldn’t think of anyone so I decided to go rogue this week and share some books I’m planning to read during spooky season this year. I know it’s only August, but these books are already calling to me, thanks in part to a virtual event I attended recently where several of Berkley’s wonderful authors gave presentations to tease their upcoming releases. It was such a fun event and I’m now even more excited than I already was about their new books.

You can click on the links below to read synopsis of each of these books.

10 Books I’m Planning to Read During Spooky Season This Year

VAMPIRES OF EL NORTE by Isabel Cañas

MY ROOMMATE IS A VAMPIRE by Jenna Levine

BLACK SHEEP by Rachel Harrison

IN CHARM’S WAY by Lana Harper

THE FAKE MATE by Lana Ferguson

A DEMON’S GUIDE TO WOOING A WITCH by Sarah Hawley

GOOD BAD GIRL by Alice Feeney

HUNT ON DARK WATERS by Katee Robert

THE ONLY ONE LEFT by Riley Sager

THE SEPTEMBER HOUSE by Carissa Orlando

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Are you planning to read any of these?

Top Ten Tuesday – 10 Books I Was Influenced to Read because of Top Ten Tuesday

August 8, 2023/21 Comments/by Suzanne

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 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!

This week’s TTT topic is Books I’ve Read/Want to Read Because of Top Ten Tuesday (books you discovered through Top Ten Tuesday, or they kept appearing in top tens and you got intrigued). This is a great topic because there are so many books I probably never would have read if not for seeing them on other bloggers’ Top Ten Tuesday lists that have since gone on to become favorite reads of mine. Here are a few that immediately came to mind.