Top Ten Tuesday: Best Books of the Year (So Far)

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by the Broke and the Bookish) asks what are the top ten books you’ve read in the first half of 2017.  So, here we go…

1.  Goodbye Days by Jeff Zentner
2. The Magicians by Lev Grossman
3. Vicious by V.E. Schwab
4. Coming Up For Air by Miranda Kenneally
5. Gwendy’s Button Box by Stephen King & Richard Chimzar
6. All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Matasi
7. High Noon: The Hollywood Blacklist and the Making of an American Classic by Glen Frankel
8. Dark Knight: A True Batman Story by Paul Dini
9. Camino Island by John Grisham
10. The Serpent King by Jeff Zetner

Top Ten Tuesday: Book On My Summer Reading List

Time again for Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by the Broke and the Bookish).  This week’s theme is a “summer freebie” so I’m going to make a list of the books I hope to read this summer.  (We just signed up for our library’s summer reading program yesterday and I’m ready to go!)

1.  Lockdown by Laurie R. King
2. The Magician’s Land by Lev Grossman
3. Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker
4. Bad Girl Gone by Temple Matthews
5. Ten Dead Comedians by Fred Van Lente
6. Doctor Who: The Pirate Planet by James Goss
7. Vicious by V.E. Schwaub
8. Mississippi Blood by Greg Iles
9. It by Stephen King (re-read)
10. The Waking Fire by Anthony Ryan

That should keep me busy this summer! And, of course, there will be reading to Shortcake so she can get prizes too!

Top Ten Tuesday: Pick It Up

 

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by the Broke and the Bookish) asks us what are some of the factors that go into picking up a book to read.  There are a couple of things that will lead me to pick up a book or put it on reserve at the library.

1.  I have certain authors who are on my “automatic” list.  Among them are Stephen King, Elizabeth George, Laura Lippman, Michael Connolly Garrison Keillor and John Scalzi.
2. If it’s a Star Trek: New Frontier offering from Peter David.  I love this series. One of the few on-going series I’m not behind on reading, too!
3. If the book is recommended by Stephen King.  King used to have a regular column in Entertainment Weekly that offered his thoughts and recommendations from pop culture. I found that nine times out of ten if King recommends a book, I will probably enjoy it.
4. If the book gets good buzz from reviewers with whom I share similar tastes.
5. The cover grabs my attention.  Yes, I know we aren’t supposed to judge a book by it’s cover, but if you’ve got good cover art that grabs my attention, odds are I’ll at least try the book.
6. If it’s a series that I enjoy and the last installment ended on a cliffhanger.
7. If I see a trailer for a movie or TV show based on the book.
8. If it examines the making of a favorite TV show or movie.  It’s kind of like an extended, in-depth special feature on the DVD or Blu-Ray!

Those are a couple of things for this week.  I’m sure I could think of a half dozen or so more, but those are some of the big ones.

Top Ten Tuesday: Meeting Writers

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by the Broke and the Bookish) reflects on the authors we’ve met or would like to meet.

Authors I’ve Met:

1.  Garrison Keillor.  I’ve had the pleasure of speaking to Garrison Keillor twice and each time has been a pleasure.  I attended a concert Keillor gave at Wolf Trap and sent a couple of my books backstage to see if he’d sign them.  After the show, a small group gathered by the stage door to retrieve our signed items and Keillor delivered them himself, taking a few minutes per person to engage us in conversation.   Years later, a good friend and I attended a reading at the Nashville library by Keillor and I got to talk to him again.  Just like the first time, Keillor took time with each of us to engage in conversation.
2. Phillip Gulley.  Gulley came for a reading at our local library and then signed books after the event.  Like Keillor, Gulley took the time to engage in conversation with the people in line and not rush anyone aside to get to the next person.
3. Peter David.  I used to read every Star Trek tie-in novel that came out and Peter David’s were among the ones I looked forward to most.  I’ve fallen behind on my Trek novels in the past several years, but I still go out of my way get the ones written by David.  I met David at the only DragonCon I’ve attended.  He signed a couple of my first edition favorite Trek novels, including Q-Squared.
4. Rick Burgess and Bill “Bubba” Bussey.  I’ve been to multiple book signings by the “two sexiest fat men alive.”  I think I’ve got a full set of signed books by the duo.
5. Ray Stevens.  One of my favorite entertainers, I’ve wanted to see him in concert since I bought my first album on vinyl by him years ago.  And while I haven’t ever seen him in concert, he did write a memoir.  So, I met him there, bought an autographed copy and listened to him talk about his history with the Nashville music scene for an hour.
6. J.P. Bauman.  I spent several evenings working at the Tennesee State Fair last summer and Bauman’s booth was the one next to mine.  Got a chance to meet him, hear his stories about writing and the chance to buy several autographed copies of his books.

Top Ten Tuesday: Spring TBR List

 

After a hiatus, Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by the Broke and the Bookish) is back!

And this week, we’re asked what books are we looking forward to reading this spring.

1.  The Magician’s Land by Lev Grossman
2. A Gathering of Shadow by V.E. Schwab
3. A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab
4. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
5. The Run of His Life: The People vs. O.J. Simpson by Jeffrey Toobin
6. The Last of August by Brittany Cavallaro
7. Star Trek: Face of the Unknown by Christopher L. Bennett
8. Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan

Top Ten Tuesday: Under the Tree

With only a few days left until Shortcake’s first Christmas, it’s time for the Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by the Broke and the Bookish).  This week’s topic asks us what book-ish items we’d like to find under the tree.  I’m breaking this down into a couple of books I’d like and some items I’d like to read and share with Shortcake.

1.  The Fifty Year Mission, Volumes 1 and 2.  The oral history of Star Trek from the original series to the Kelvin films covers over 1,o00 pages and I’d love to have hardback copies on my shelf.
2. These Are the Voyages, Volumes 1, 2 and 3.  The Fifty Year Mission gives a great overview of the original series.  These books take a look at the series episode by episode.
3.  Illustrated Harry Potter books.  When it’s the appropriate time, I hope that Shortcake will like Harry Potter.  I think these would be fun to read to her.
4. Green Eggs and Ham and Other Servings of Dr. Seuss.  I love reading to Shortcake but some of the good Seuss’s books are a bit of a challenge.  This two-disc CD has some of the more tongue-twisting stories on it read by professional thespians.  We checked this one out from the library and listened while riding in the car.  She seemed to enjoy it.
5. The Golden Book versions of the Star Wars saga.  These look like a lot of fun to read with Shortcake.
6. The Little Blue Truck.  I love reading this board book to Shortcake.  Part of it could be that it encourages the reader to make silly sounds while reading it.
7. Corduroy.  We checked this out of the library and enjoyed it.  I’d love for Shortcake to have her own copy.
8. DC Super Heroes Board Books.  There are several books in this series that look like a lot of fun to read with Shortcake.

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Movies

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday (hosted by the Broke and the Bookish) takes a break from the printed page and looks to the silver screen with the top ten favorite movies.  Here are ten of my favorite movies.  (One criteria I use is if I surf past the movie, I may stop to watch from whatever point I drop in until the end).