Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Read In 2014

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature/meme brought to you by the folks over at The Broke and the Bookish (the button also belongs to them).  This week’s theme is the Top Ten Books I Read In 2014.

I have listed my favorite reads of the year below, in no particular order.  I kept this limited to books I rated 4.5 or 5 stars and there are only 8 of those for this year.

 

              

 

1. Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier– I LOVED this book.  Sorcha is one of my favorite characters of all time.  This book made me feel like I did when I read as a kid– completely, totally lost in another world.  I would never have discovered it if not for blogging, so THANK YOU bloggers for your Juliet Marillier fangirling.

2. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty– This book was smart and entertaining and struck a perfect balance between funny and serious.  I bought a copy for my mom, I loved it so much.

3. The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith– Cormoran Strike is such an interesting character and so is his sidekick, Robin.  I loved getting caught up in a mystery with many suspects and an ending I couldn’t guess.

4. The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith– I liked this even more than the first book in the series.  The crime was a little more grisly, which was interesting, but mostly I liked seeing the character development in Strike and Robin.  Watching their professional relationship grow was my favorite part of the whole book.  Can’t wait for the rest of the series!

 

              

5. Unsticky by Sarra Manning– Well, this might be cheating because I originally read this book in 2013 and reread it again in 2014.  But it was one of the best books I read (again) this year.  It’s a smart romance between two really messed up people who are better together than they are apart.  The reread sent me on a major book hangover.

6. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz– I loved the setting in this book and the parents and it was just a super hopeful and beautiful coming of age story.  I give it props for diversity.  (A book set in the desert!  With Mexican-American characters!  And there is some LGBT stuff in there, too!)

7. After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid– This book caught me by surprise.  I didn’t expect to like the story of a married couple taking a one-year hiatus from one another as much as I did.  The family relationships in this one were so well-depicted.  And I loved the exploration of the different meanings of love and marriage.

8. The Bitter Kingdom by Rae Carson– This series got better as it went on and the finale was great.  I loved seeing Queen Elisa grow up and prove herself in this book.  A great ending to a great series!

What were your favorite books this year?

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite New-To-Me Authors I Read In 2014

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature/meme brought to you by the folks over at The Broke and the Bookish (the button also belongs to them).  This week’s theme is the Top Ten New-To-Me Authors I Read In 2014.

It’s been forever since I’ve done a Top Ten Tuesday, but I have been thinking a lot about new favorite authors lately, so this seemed like a good theme to jump in on.  It has been a good year for me discovering new favorite authors and I have so many backlists to get caught up on!

 

1. Juliet Marillier- I’ve read the first two Sevenwaters Trilogy books and LOVED them.  Marillier’s writing just sweeps me away into a different time and place in a way I haven’t felt since I was a kid.  I’m in the middle of her newest book Dreamer’s Pool and same thing.  She can write fantasy and female characters so well.

2. Liza Palmer- I read Seeing Me Naked and Nowhere But Home this year, I have another one of her books sitting on my shelf at home, and I have already heard great things about her upcoming 2015 release.  She writes smart chick lit.  Her characters are dealing with tough issues, but really come into their own in her books and find happy endings.

3. Liane Moriarty- I have breezed through 3 of Moriarty’s books this fall.  SO GOOD.  I want to say they’re like a chick lit+mystery mash-up, but it’s not even that.  Domestic issues with a dark side, maybe?  Again, it’s smart stuff, with a lot to say about love, marriage, motherhood, choices, etc.

4. Jennifer Close- Girls in White Dresses was a lot more than I had expected.  I bought another book of hers since I felt like her style was such a breath of fresh air in the chick lit world.  I was able to relate well to her characters as they struggled with family, friends, relationships, and work.  It just… felt like a better representation of the real lives of women in their 20s.  It’s not all romance or careers you love and instantly succeed in.

5. Taylor Jenkins Reid- Again, After I Do felt like a fresh story for the chick lit genre.  I appreciated Reid’s message that love means different things for different people and that romantic relationships take all sort of paths and that’s perfectly ok.  I look forward to some more books from her.

6. Cora Carmack- The lady knows what she’s doing with New Adult romances, what can I say?  I liked both of the books I’ve read by her (All Lined Up and Faking It) and definitely have her on the list of romance authors to choose from when I feel like reading another romance.

7. Noelle August- While we’re on the topic of New Adult romance, I am eager to see what else this duo (August is a pseudonym Veronica Rossi and Lorin Oberweger) comes up with. More cute romance is always welcome.

8. Molly O’Keefe- Another great romance novelist I discovered this year.  She seems to push the limits of the genre and the book I read by her was sexy, but also serious and gritty.  I like love stories between two messed up people who are better by being together.  I have another of her books checked out from the library and hope to read it next.

9. Kent Haruf- Well, he recently died, but Benediction was one of the most beautifully written books I’ve read in a long time.  I really admire his sparse language… you can’t mess around when you write like that.  It has to be impeccable.

10. Kurt Vonnegut- Oh, I definitely need to read more Vonnegut.  Such a clever and funny writer.  And my husband owns a bunch of his books, so I have no excuse not to read more of his books.

 

Who were your favorite new-to-you authors this year?  Have you read any of the authors on my list?  What books of theirs were your favorites?

Top Ten Tuesday: Popular Authors I’ve Never Read

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature/meme brought to you by the folks over at The Broke and the Bookish (the button also belongs to them).  This week’s theme is the Top Ten Popular Authors I’ve Never Read.

I relied on Amazon and Goodreads to tell me who the most popular authors are, since, well, they keep track of these things so I don’t have to.  I have also featured the author’s most popular book according to Goodreads because this list looked sad otherwise.

1. Jodi Picoult- Nope, never read My Sister’s Keeper or any of her other books.  I am always afraid they’ll be too cheesy/melodramatic.

2. Neil Gaiman- I’m a little suspicious of fantasy.  It is just not my go-to genre.  And I worry about anyone who seems a little too popular in the blogosphere, as I tend to be super disappointed when I follow the hype.

3. James Patterson- He’s written like 80 million books for a variety of age ranges and genres, but no, never picked one up.  Probably never will.  There is such a thing as being TOO prolific.  It generally suggests to me that you are relying on a formula, a ghostwriter, or both to churn out unoriginal crap.

4. John Grisham- He kind of seems like someone old men read (like my dad or my grandfather-in-law), so I guess I never cared to investigate.  Legal thrillers are sometimes up my alley, but I don’t know that I would ever pick up a Grisham because of the aforementioned too prolific thing.

5. Richelle Mead- Apparently the Vampire Academy books sell like hotcakes.  Hmm.  It never sounded like a series I would really enjoy, but I can see myself buying them at an airport bookstore when stuck in an airport with nothing to read.  (Which is why Nicholas Sparks is not on this list, by the way.)

6. Emily Giffin- I am really not sure how I have never read any of her books, considering I have read both Sophie Kinsella and Jennifer Weiner, as well as a number of other “chick lit” authors.  I remain iffy on whether or not to try her.  I’ve seen mixed reviews and some bad author behavior on her part, which make me think I may pass.

7. Marcus Zusak- Shut up.  I will totally read that copy of The Book Thief that has been sitting on my shelves for years collecting dust.  I will.  (I have an aversion to Holocaust fiction.  It was very overdone in my schooling.  Very.)

8. E.L. James- Although I am immensely curious in the can’t-look-away-from-a-trainwreck sort of way about the Fifty Shades series, I will never ever read them.  I would never live it down.  I’d also probably never finish them if the writing is as bad as they say it is.

 

9. Abbi Glines- I have no idea who this is, but she is on both Amazon and Goodreads as a “popular author.”  It appears she writes romance for the Young Adult and New Adult crowd, so it seems weird I’ve never heard of any of her books.  Her scary author picture makes me think I should avoid them, though.

10. Diana Gabaldon- I have heard things about Outlander that make me think I should read it and things that make me think I shouldn’t.  I don’t know.  Maybe I’ll try the TV series if it catches on.

What popular authors have you never read?  Should I try a book by any of these?

Top Ten Tuesday: Reasons I Love Being a Reader/Blogger

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature/meme brought to you by the folks over at The Broke and the Bookish (the button also belongs to them).  This week’s theme is the Top Ten Reasons I Love Being a Reader and Blogger.

Why I love to read:

1. I am always learning something new when I read.  Recently I’ve learned about diverse topics like Dominican political history, tissue culture, and small-town life on the Plains.

2. Reading makes me think.  Books push me to imagine experiences and events I’ve never conceived of.  They get me thinking about language and art and what makes writing good and effective.  They get me to think about myself and my relationships and my life and what all that means.

3. Reading is entertainment.  So I get to have fun while I learn and think.  And I don’t really feel like I’m rotting my brain and turning into a vegetable when I do it.

4. Reading is my preferred way to fill blank spaces of time.  Stuck waiting in a doctor’s office?  Eating lunch alone?  On a long car ride?  Bring a book/audiobook and you won’t be bored!  And you don’t even have to worry about whether there is Wi-Fi or if your phone is charged!

5. Reading is a relatively low-cost hobby to have.  You don’t have to buy any fancy equipment to read and you can borrow an endless supply of excellent books from your local library.  Even if you don’t go to the library, used books are easily acquired and usually in great shape.

Why I love to blog about books:

6. Blogging about books helps me to think critically about what I read.  I get much more out of my reading when I spend some time reflecting on it.

7. Blogging has given me a source of endless book recommendations and has helped introduce me to excellent books I would not have read or heard of otherwise.

8. Blogging has introduced me to a lot of cool people from all over the country (and world).  It is really fun to develop those friendships and to have people to talk books with!

9. Blogging keeps me on the cutting edge of social media.  I would have never gotten a Twitter without blogging and yeah, I sort of love the Twitter.  I also signed up for an Instagram and Tumblr account recently, though I haven’t really figured out what to do with either.  But without blogging, I’d probably still be a Facebook-only girl.

10. Blogging gives me a hobby, other than reading, to work on.  It is my creative outlet.  It helps give me the drive to try new things and set goals and grow as a person.  And it keeps me accountable for some of those things.

Why do you love reading or blogging?

Top Ten Tuesday: Books That Make Me Swoon

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature/meme brought to you by the folks over at The Broke and the Bookish (the button also belongs to them).  This week’s theme, just in time for Valentine’s Day, is the Top Ten Books That Will Make You Swoon.

I haven’t been doing many Top Ten Tuesdays lately, but I enjoy a good romance, so this should be a fun topic!

1. Unsticky by Sarra Manning- A romance between two messed up people who get together in a very messed up way and somehow make each other better by being in love.  Yeah, that’s the kind of romance I can get behind.

2. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell- Falling in love with a girl you’ve never even seen is super romantic.  And Rainbow Rowell writes guys that are total marriage material.  Lincoln?  Yeah, you’ll want to marry this boy.

3. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë- As a teenager, I used to go back and reread the banter between Jane and Mr. Rochester just so I could swoon at it.   I love good romantic banter.  Also, I’m sort of into tortured, pompous, brooding romantic heroes and heroines that don’t compromise their values for a relationship.

4. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion- This book is just so cute.  And funny.  And cute-funny makes me swoon, what can I say?

5. Wife 22 by Melanie Gideon- I really enjoyed this book when I read it and it has a cute twist to it.  Fun chick lit, for sure.

6. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes- Ok, so this is more tragic love story than happily-ever-after, but I love Will.  And books about people making each others’ worlds a little bigger and brighter.

7. Flat-Out Sexy by Erin McCarthy- A romance where the characters are adults and can actually communicate about their fears and concerns about their relationship.  How novel and refreshing.

8. The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay- Teens with troubled pasts meet and help each other along the road to healing.  There is romantic hand holding.  Enough said.

9. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell- More romantic hand holding.  And another marriage material kind of man (you know, if he wasn’t a teenager).

10. You Had Me at Hello by Mhairi McFarlane- A really enjoyable British chick lit with a best friends fall in love story.

What are your favorite books to swoon over?

Top Ten Tuesday: Words/Topics That Make Me NOT Pick Up A Book

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature/meme brought to you by the folks over at The Broke and the Bookish (the button also belongs to them).  This week’s theme is the Top Ten Words/Topics That Make Me NOT Pick Up A Book.

I heard a lot that this was a hard list for people.  I laughed because I have a long list of things that make me avoid a book.  I am not very open-minded when it comes to books, so this is a good topic for me, hahaha.

1. The Holocaust– Public schools made me read A LOT of Holocaust books growing up to the point where I avoid books that I know will be good because they have to do with the Holocaust (see: The Book Thief).

2. Mermaids– I’m ok with fantasy creatures in my books, but mermaids just sound SO lame.  I don’t know how you make them cool.  Or scary.  Or even really relevant to human beings since, you know, they live in the ocean and humans don’t/can’t.

3. Rape– I don’t really like issue books, but I’d have to say that rape books are high on my list of books to avoid because it is just too easy for an author to mess up this issue and tumble into the world of victim-blaming.

4. Incest– I tried reading Middlesex but once I got to the part where the brother and sister were sexually attracted to one another, I had to quit.  It was just gross.

5. Drugs– Again, I don’t like issue books.  I don’t really know how you can write a book about drug use that isn’t moralizing.  Or glorifying.  If there are books that handle the drug problem like The Wire did, then maybe you could change my mind on this one, but all I can think of when I think drug books is Go Ask Alice.

6. Fairy Tale Retellings– I have heard that Cinder is really cool and that I would like it and I probably would, but I can’t get over how lame the premise of a robot Cinderella on the moon sounds.  I don’t even really like fairy tales to begin with, I don’t think.

7. Suicide/Attempted Suicide– This topic hits a little too close to home for me to want to read about.  I just think it needs to be treated really delicately and that all too often it is not.  (Like… I won’t read Thirteen Reasons Why because I think the premise of someone blaming other people for her suicide is irresponsible.)

8. Zombies– The zombie books I have read have just been boring.  I mean, zombies are slow-witted, right?  There is just nothing interesting about an enemy that can be beaten that easily.  And nothing that fascinating about a monster that is so gross there is no romantic potential either.

9. Self-Discovery through Travel– You know those books about middle age women (or alternately, college students) who go off to India or Italy or what-have-you and find out that the world is bigger than them?  And maybe they fall in love with some exotic stranger?  It’s like the book equivalent of the study-abroad-changed-my-life kid from your college classes.  Just annoying and navel-gazing.

10. Horses– Ok, I can’t really think of any adult books that are horse-obsessed, but as a kid I wouldn’t read any of the series about horses.  I just don’t like horses that much.

What topics make you back away from a book?  Are you a little better about stepping outside your comfort zone than I am?

Top Ten Tuesday: Series I’d Like to Start

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature/meme brought to you by the folks over at The Broke and the Bookish (the button also belongs to them).  This week’s theme is the Top Ten Series I’d Like To Start But Haven’t Yet.

There are quite a few series on my TBR list.  It will certainly take me a long time to get through all these series, but here are the nine (I figured nine was plenty to commit to) I’d like to try one of these days!

1. The Across the Universe series by Beth Revis– I hear a lot of good things about this sci-fi mystery series.  I have the audiobook of the first one, but I keep forgetting to put it in my car to listen to it.  So uhh, this will get started sooner rather than later.

2. The Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld– This dytopian series gets more mixed reviews, but I’ve been curious about it for a while.  I just took a long break from dystopia and haven’t really made my way back yet.

3. The Birthmarked series by Caragh O’Brien– Another dystopian series I just haven’t made it to yet.  This one is about a midwife, so that keeps piquing my interest, as I’m sort of interested in midwifery and childbirth (though I’m sure this book isn’t really about that).

4. The Shades of London series by Maureen Johnson– I had heard good things about the first book, The Name of the Star, which has something to do with Jack the Ripper.  What can I say?  Unsolved serial killer books sound interesting.

5. The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon– I have really no idea if I’d like this series, but I hear good things, especially about the romance.  I have been super intimidated by the size of the book and the series, though, and have been holding off on reading it as a result.

6. A Song of Fire and Ice by George R.R. Martin– I feel really late to the game in trying to decide whether to start (or not) this fantasy series.  Fantasy is pretty hit or miss with me and my mother-in-law insists that Game of Thrones was a really boring book, but I sort of want to try it out for myself.  Again, though, I’ve been intimidated by the size of the books!

7. Dublin Murder Squad by Tana French– I hear really good things about her thrillers and have had the first book in the series, In The Woods, on my list for about six months.  I just keep waiting for it to have fewer holds at the library (without putting myself on the list… really, I make no sense sometimes).

8. Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer– My mother-in-law raves about this children’s series and usually she has pretty good judgment… I just haven’t heard much else about it.

9. Myron Bolitar by Harlan Coben– This mystery series has been around for a while, but I never really paid attention to it.  More recently, though, it was recommended by a blogging buddy who has good taste.  I definitely mean to try it out sometime.  Mystery series are fun!

What series are you hoping to try in the near future?  Have you read any of mine?  Are they worth investing the time/money/energy a series takes?

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Favorite Romances

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature/meme brought to you by the folks over at The Broke and the Bookish (the button also belongs to them).  This week’s theme is the Top Ten Favorite Romances.

1. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell– This book is the ultimate love-before-first-sight situation… Lincoln falls for Beth through the emails she exchanges with friend/co-worker, Jennifer.

2. Wife 22 by Melanie Gideon– This is a book about finding love and happiness in an unexpected time and place.  I really loved it when I read it, but it hasn’t stuck with me very well… still, I think it’s worth a read if you are in the mood for a romantic twist.

3. Flat-Out Sexy by Erin McCarthy– Now this book actually fits into the romance genre (the first two are more chick lit) and is probably one of the best romances I’ve ever read.  The characters have real fears and problems going into their relationship, yet they talk about their problems.  And interact like adults.  It also has a hot racecar driver as the male lead, so there is that plus, too.

4. On the Island by Tracey Garvis Graves– Another actual romance.  This one has two people stranded on a deserted island.  I mean to reread it one of these days, as it was quite fun.

5. Bad Boys Do by Victoria Dahl– This romance involved academia and a microbrewery…  and those are a couple of things I really enjoy.

6. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte– I will never get tired of the Jane-Rochester romance.

7. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn– Yeah, I’m totally crazy, I know.  But Nick and Amy’s relationship was definitely the most interesting marital relationship I’ve ever read.  And while “romantic” isn’t the best word for it… there is certainly an element of love gone wrong to it.

8. The Stephanie Plum love triangle– I am usually not a huge fan of love triangles because there is never much mystery to me who is the better choice for the protagonist.  But even though Joe Morelli is clearly Stephanie’s better choice, Ranger is irresistible.  So yeah, here is a love triangle I like because I want both dudes to win somehow.

9. The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay– It’s always nice to see two very damaged people learning to love and heal.

10. Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris– Oh, Eric, you handsome Viking vampire.  These books were pretty much just fun little throwaways, but I really enjoyed the Eric+Sookie times.

What are some of your favorite romances?  Also, am I the only one who has been craving chocolate like mad because of all the chocolate commercials this time of year?

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Bookish Memories

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature/meme brought to you by the folks over at The Broke and the Bookish (the button also belongs to them).  This week’s theme is the Top Ten Best Bookish Memories (waiting in line for a new release, meeting an author, or some sort of great experience with a particular book that was unlike others).

1. Getting my husband to read The Hunger Games books and Sherman Alexie’s works (we’ve been sharing Blasphemy, so it’s got two bookmarks in it right now, lol).  He’s not big into fiction, so I love when we can find some books and authors to share.

2. Book fairs in elementary school.  Particularly the one where I picked up my first American Girl book, Happy Birthday, Kirsten!.  That started my addiction to historical fiction about the frontier which I think led me to take a class on the American frontier in college which landed me in graduate school.  Good work, American Girl.

3. Reading Alane Ferguson’s Stardust in one day.  Multiple times.  I don’t know what it was about this book about a former TV star learning to be true to herself, but I LOVED it as a kid and reread it to death.

4. When I was a child, I had numerous pen pals (this sounds so old-fashioned now).  One was the daughter of my mom’s friend who lived in Ohio.  She was a couple years older than me and we used to send each other books through the mail.  Pretty sure she introduced me to some great books, but the only specific thing I can remember getting is a couple of BSC books from her.

5. In elementary school I was really into biographies and read them about all sorts of people, including Harriet Beecher Stowe.  This inspired me to ask the very surprised elementary school librarian if I could check out Uncle Tom’s Cabin.  As I remember it, she told me they probably had it at the high school and that it might be a little too advanced for me.

6. When I lived in the dorms in college, I subscribed to get mail-order Harlequin romances.  It was the best dorm mail ever, especially since I was carless and the university library didn’t really carry my brand of trash romance.

7. Jane Eyre is one of my all-time favorite books and is probably the book I’ve reread the most times in my life.  My obsession with it started in 8th grade when we got to choose between reading it or Treasure Island.  I happened to catch an old movie version of Jane Eyre on TV (I think it must have been the Orson Welles one, but I don’t really know for sure) before we made our decisions and was so into the story, I knew I had to read the book!

8. When authors have tweeted me to thank me for my reviews of their books… this has happened three or four times, I think, and it always makes me feel weird and proud at the same time.  I’m just glad to know that my reviews are appreciated by the people whose works I’ve spent so much time reading and reviewing.

9. I spent a summer shelving books at a public library.  I found tons to read, just by sorting through returned books and by shelving.  And I got to assist with story time a couple of times.  It was a pretty fun (and bookish) summer job!

10. In elementary school, we used to have a month or week where we’d do DEAR (Drop Everything and Read).  We’d carry a book around all day and when they announced it on the loudspeaker, we’d all get to sit down and read for 15 minutes or so.  The DEAR time that sticks out most in my memory is when it got called during gym class.  I was more than happy to sit and read instead of running around.  I wish we could implement DEAR into adult life somehow!

What are some of your most fond bookish memories?

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Frustrating Characters

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature/meme brought to you by the folks over at The Broke and the Bookish (the button also belongs to them).  This week’s theme is the Top Ten Most Frustrating Characters Ever.

1. Caro from The Opposite of Hallelujah, a book I did not finish because Caro frustrated the heck out of me.  She’s a stereotypical self-centered teen and I could not deal with that!

2. Hannah from When She Woke.  Hannah’s motivations confused me quite a bit and I didn’t like her or sympathize with her as much as I had hoped I would.  Her character was frustrating because of how disappointing it was!

3. Ranger from the Stephanie Plum series.  He’s frustrating because he’s so mysterious and sexy and you just can’t pin him down.  Also, as much as I like Ranger, we all know he’s not the man for Stephanie.

4. Jessica Darling from the Jessica Darling series.  I became increasingly frustrated with Jessica as the series goes on and she makes a bunch of stupid decisions and is all angsty and pretentious.

5. Doug Swieteck from Okay for Now.  I love Doug, but a couple of times he gives up when things get tough and that is pretty frustrating to see from a character you want to see succeed so badly!

6. Tris from Insurgent.  Badass Tris suddenly becomes weepy and annoying and unable to take care of herself in the sequel.  Frustrated just begins to describe how I felt about her in this one.

7. Alaska from Looking for Alaska.  Frustrating because we never really know the whys of Alaska.

8. St. John Rivers from Jane Eyre.  He’s just so stubborn and single-minded and repressive.  I always have trouble understanding why Jane even cares about him to begin with.

9. Ethan from Beautiful Creatures.  While I’d more file him under “didn’t care about” characters, it did mildly frustrate me that he doesn’t come off like a teenage boy at all.

10. Starkey from UnWholly.  I know he’s meant to be the villain of the story and that I’m not supposed to like him, but I was pretty frustrated by his manipulativeness and his unwillingness to listen to reason and his reckless actions.

Who are some of the book characters that have frustrated you the most?