It’s time for another Top Ten list from That Artsy Reader Girl. The topic today is a look back at our favorite books from the past year. Since I already pick out my favorite book at the end of each month of reading, it wasn’t too hard to narrow the books from the year down to 10. I also made sure there was only 1 book from any series, so I had to add runners-up from some months. Here they are, listed in the order in which I read them throughout the year.
2. The Office BFFs by Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey I specifically enjoyed the audiobook, which is narrated by the authors. Though I also flipped through the ebook to see the pictures they reference now and then. See my full review here.
3. The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder Another audiobook, I anticipated a plodding read through a depressing winter, but it ended up being one of my favorites in the series. See my full review here.
5. Ramona and Her Father by Beverly Cleary Third audiobook on the list, and while I enjoyed all of this series, I especially appreciated this one, where Ramona bonds with her father. See my full review here.
6. The Woman from Lydia by Angela Elwell Hunt Probably one of my favorite Biblical fiction books ever. I’m really looking forward to future books in this new series! See my full review here.
8. Annabel Lee by Mike Nappa This one surprised me by being a stand-out suspense/thriller novel with a Christian worldview. See my full review here.
9. Children of the Shadows by Erica Vetsch I can’t say enough about this series, for which this is the final book, or the series that it follows up! The possibility that this is the end of this story world makes me immensely sad. See my full review here.
It’s time for another Top Ten list from That Artsy Reader Girl. Today’s topic is my fall TBR. I don’t generally choose books based on the season (except at Christmas time), but I do keep a short list of the next 5-10 books I want to read out of the longer TBR. For over three years now, I’ve had a system for how I choose the next 5 books from my full list to move up to the top. Each next 5 books will include (not necessarily in this order):
1 book recommended to me by family/close friends OR a book that was self-published 1 book I own 1 book to continue a series 1 book that’s amongst the oldest on my full TBR list 1 book that’s an ARC, if needed (and it always is)
This keeps me from having any books on my TBR list too long, leaving a series sitting too long before going on to the next book, or ignoring books I’ve acquired for myself in favor of books from the library. And I’m not much of a mood reader. This system keeps me from feeling overwhelmed by my overall TBR (which is considerably small compared to most people). Using the system, here are the first 10 books I expect to read this fall (it’s just a coincidence that so many of them are mysteries, but it sure does work out well for the season).
1. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson Recommended to me by my sister – She’s recommend many good books to me over the years. She also works in the teen section of her local library, a county away from where I live, and chose this to be the book for the teen book club for October. My 13-year-old daughter will be attending that book club and is reading this book now, and I enjoy reading books along with her when I can.
2. The Cat Who Brought Down the House by Lilian Jackson Braun A book I own – I’ve picked up almost all of the books from this series at thrift stores. Though it’s also the continuation of a series (I have a lot of series in progress at any given time, so often more than one book in a set of 5 next up on my TBR are the continuation of a series I’m reading).
3. The Final Spark by Richard Paul Evans A book to continue a series – I’ve had my ups and downs with this series, but I’m 6 books in, so I’m invested now. Though the end keeps getting further away, because the author keeps writing new books…and that’s considering that this one, #7, was clearly billed as the “last book of the series” when it first came out.
4. ‘Twas the Bite Before Christmas by David Rosenfelt ARC from Netgalley – Though this book is set during Christmas, I’ve read another book from this same series that was also set during Christmas, and it wasn’t what I’d call a Christmas read. It just happened to be set during that time. So though I normally prefer to read Christmas books during Christmas, I also like to read Netgalley ARCs before or close to the time they’re published, and this one is set to be released in October.
5. Abby’s Letters by Dana Romanin A book that’s amongst the oldest on my full TBR list – This is the oldest book on my TBR, put there 3 years ago. It’s definitely time I read it.
6. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle A book I own – I picked up a copy of this book at a thrift store. I’ve never read it, but it seems to be one of the most well-known Holmes stories, so I’m looking forward to seeing what the hype is all about.
7. Divergent by Veronica Roth Recommended to me by my sister – She’s asked me multiple times if I’ve read this series, and renewed the suggestion after hearing that I’d recently read and liked The Hunger Games series.
8. The Viper’s Nest by Peter Lerangis A book to continue a series – My husband brought home the entire (main) series that he got for a good deal at a thrift store. I remember this series being a big deal when it was first out, though at the time, I didn’t buy the hype. I’m more than halfway through, though, and it’s been a decent series overall.
9. The Event by Whitney Dineen A book that’s amongst the oldest on my full TBR list – I got a free digital copy of this self-published book 3 years ago, and it’s been waiting on me to get to it ever since.
10. Snow Place for Murder by Diane Kelly ARC from Netgalley – I don’t know why cozy mysteries always have to feature a dog, a cat, or some kind of food, but this wintery book might just end up perfectly timed to read as the weather is turning cold outside.
Have you read any of these? What do you plan to read over the next few months?
It’s time for another Top Ten list from That Artsy Reader Girl, and today’s topic is “Favorite Character Relationships.” I love a close relationship that develops over the course of a book or a series, or even one that is in place at the start of a book and is shown well by the author. For this list, I’ve decided to steer clear of romantic relationships and instead chose those between friends or relatives. I only ended up with 9, and I ran out of time to expound on any of these, so with the book name, I’ve only given the people in the friendship in question and a brief explanation of their relationship to each other. The book title links to the book on Goodreads, and I’ve shared a link to my full review of each book as well. It’s probably no surprise that each of these books is a 4-5-star read for me, mostly 4.5 and up. These are listed in the order in which I read them, longest ago to most recent.
Spoiler notice: For some of these books, the relationship could be a bit of a spoiler. If you see the cover of a book you don’t want to be spoiled on, please skip past it, just in case.
Kevin Parsons and Dr. John Francis – student and professor Thr3e by Ted Dekker – See my review here.
Sophie and Mamie – almost daughter-in-law and mother-in-law / Mamie and Penny, Thea, & Betsy – elderly woman and wards The Indebted Earl by Erica Vetsch – See my review here.
It’s time for another Top Ten list from That Artsy Reader Girl, and today’s topic is “Books That Defied My Expectations.” I came up with more than 10 pretty easily when looking through the list of books I’ve read and reviewed in the last 4 years on this blog and narrowed it down to those that I felt most strongly about, one way or the other.
I am going both ways with this—books that I expected to like that I didn’t and books I didn’t particularly expect to enjoy that I liked a lot. I don’t generally read a book that I don’t expect to like, but it does happen, usually because it was recommended to me by someone I trust or am close to. And there are a lot of books I’ve read that I didn’t end up liking, but to make it on this list, I had to have good reason to suspect I would really like it.
I’m starting, though, with two books that defied my expectations of their purported genre:
Trace of Doubt and Facing the Enemy by DiAnn Mills These are the second and third books I read by this author, and I had liked the first one enough to give it 4 stars. So it was a shock to realize from both of these books that I don’t really like the author’s writing style…like, at all. The 2nd one made me question my sanity a little, since I noted so many confusing and disjointed dialog and narration in it, and yet, the book has almost exclusively 4- and 5-star reviews on Goodreads (it just released today). See my reviews for Trace of Doubt and Facing the Enemy here.
Lost and Found by Orson Scott Card When I was brand new on Netgalley, I was shocked and excited when I was approved to read an ARC by a big name like Orson Scott Card. I’d never read anything written by him, but had always extolled the greatness of Ender’s Game. Suffice it to say, when I did not enjoy the book much at all, it was a huge surprise and letdown. I was a little less surprised when I didn’t really enjoy Ender’s Game either. See my review here.
Click Here to Start by Denis Markell When my daughter (currently 13) recommends books to me, I always read them and I always want to love them. Between her recommendation and the story being about escape rooms, I was really expecting to love this book. Unfortunately, it was probably my love of escape rooms that made this book not really work for me. See my review here.
Books I enjoyed but didn’t really expect to:
Lock In by John Scalzi When I first started looking for sci fi and fantasy books to read to help me with my own writing, this was one of the first ones on my radar. My husband owned it, and I’d see it sitting around the house and know that it had some similarities to my own book. But at that time, I hadn’t read much sci fi, if any, certainly none written for adults. I thought it would be dry and that I would struggle to follow the worldbuilding, but it was quite the opposite. I thoroughly enjoyed it and plan to re-read it at least once in the future. See my review here.
4 Years Trapped in My Mind Palace by Johan Twiss As a self-published author, I never want to assume that other self-published books aren’t going to be good. But the sad fact is, so many of them really needed more work before they were published. So I don’t avoid reading self-published books, but I tend to go into them with low expectations. This one blew my expectations right out of the water! It’s creative and well-written, an unusual take on historical fiction with some fantasy thrown in. See my review here.
The Giver by Lois Lowry Knowing that this is a book read in schools (though I never read it in school), combined with the cover, I think I’d filed this book away in my mind as some boring drama. My sister bought the whole series for me for Christmas, so I gave it a chance. I guess it’s a classic case of not judging a book by its cover—not only was I completely wrong about what the book is about, it was anything but boring. I loved it! See my review here.
Dragon and Thief by Timothy Zahn My husband bought me this book (he hadn’t read it, but recognized the author as the writer of several Star Wars books that he liked), the first in a space opera series. Space opera is really not my thing, though, and based on that and the synopsis, I had made the decision to pass on reading it. Then I thought—I already own the book and it’s not exactly long; it won’t take long to give it a try. I’m so glad I did, because I ended up really enjoying it. See my review here.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins From my review: “I didn’t want to read this book. I never planned to and was content with knowing nothing more about it than the basic premise. (I’ve never seen any of the movies either.) The main reason I stayed away is due to an aversion to heavy violence and death, and of course a book that involves a couple dozen teenagers being forced to kill each other is going to have plenty of that. I finally decided to read it after my son (who has seen the movies, but not read the books) tried to tell me that I might not be giving it a fair assessment, and of course, he was absolutely correct. And I did struggle still early on in the book, considering walking away because I was dreading what was to come. But I stuck it out, and boy, did I not expect to like it this much.” I have now read the entire series, including the prequel, and am already looking forward to re-reading it someday. I haven’t watched the movies yet and will probably wait until after I read them again to do so. See the rest of my review here.
Have you read any of these? What’s on your list this week?
It’s time for another Top Ten list from That Artsy Reader Girl, and today’s topic is a genre freebie. To come up with an idea for my post, I started by looking at the list of shelves on my Goodreads page, since mine is almost exclusively genres, hoping for inspiration. What stood out to me was how many audiobooks I’ve read, when a few years ago, I didn’t think I’d really like listening to audiobooks. Of course, “audiobook” isn’t a genre, but that did get me thinking about some of the more special audiobooks I’ve listened to—those that are narrated by the author or narrated by a notable actor. Sometimes, when I see a narrator like that for an audiobook, I decide to listen to it even if I didn’t otherwise have much interest in the book.
For example, I only listened to A Series of Unfortunate Events because Tim Curry narrated them (except 3 narrated by the author). It turns out I’m not a fan. And though I didn’t like The Great Gatsby when I read it in high school, the narration by Sean Astin compelled me to give it another try.
For the books in my list, though, I picked books for 2 specific reasons: 1.) The book is narrated by the author. 2.) The book is narrated by an actor in a movie or TV show related to the book.
As You Wish by Cary Elwes with Joe Layden (read by the author) What’s better than reading about Cary Elwes’s experience on the set of The Princess Bride? Hearing him tell about them himself! See my review here.
And on a related note, if you’re a fan of The Princess Bride and one of the “An Inconceivable Evening with Cary Elwes” events, where the audience watches the movie on a theater screen (quoting along with the movie) and Cary Elwes answers questions submitted by the audience in advance, is anywhere near you, consider going! It was so much fun!
I Can Only Imagine by Bart Millard with Robert Noland (read by the author) The story of Bart Millard’s relationship with his abusive dad and his dad’s transformation shortly before his death is emotional enough, but hearing it from his own mouth makes it so much more real. See my review here.
The Office BFFs by Jenna Fischer & Angela Kinsey (read by the authors) For fans of The Office, the audiobook is the best way to experience this behind-the-scenes look at the show. People like Rainn Wilson and Creed Bratton even make appearances. Though there’s something to be said for the text version, too, since there are pictures all throughout it. See my review here.
Keep Moving by Dick Van Dyke (read by the author) I have long been a fan of Dick Van Dyke, and I appreciate how much energy he has, even in his 90s. Though I’m not the target audience for this book, I still enjoyed hearing him talk about his life and growing old. See my review here.
The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson (read by the author) Andrew Peterson is ridiculously talented! Not only are these books amazing, but he does the most fun and engaging character voices when he narrates them. He started out reading the first book live on Facebook during the quarantine, a few chapters a week, and eventually went on to read them all. Though the pictures in the books are worth seeing too, the audiobooks are great! See my reviews here.
The Veritas Project series by Frank E. Peretti (read by the author) Full disclosure—I haven’t listened to these yet. I didn’t know he narrated them until today. I have, however, listened to his narration of some kids books he wrote. Peretti is my all-time favorite author, and I also really appreciate him in the various movie and kids’ show roles he’s done, so it’s not a surprise that I enjoyed his narration. I had tried to find versions of some of his adult books that I know he narrated in the past but didn’t have easy access to them. This series of young adult books are amongst my absolute favorites of his, so now that I know he narrated them and that I have access to them through my library, they’re near the top of my “to listen” list. See my reviews of the (print) books here.
The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot (read by Anne Hathaway) I like the movie but never cared to read the books. But somehow, finding out that the first are narrated by by Anne Hathaway made me give them a try. I didn’t decide to continue past those 3, but they were fun to listen to. See my reviews here.
The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas & Jennifer Graham (read by Kristen Bell) I love Veronica Mars, so it was an easy choice to listen to this book when I heard about it and that it’s narrated by Veronica herself. She does a pretty good job imitating her fellow actors/characters from the show, too. It’s just too bad that the 2nd book wasn’t narrated by her too. See my review here.
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (read by Andy Serkis) From my review: It’s no surprise that Andy Serkis does a great job with the different voices for different characters. Though I’ve only seen the movies based on this book a small handful of times, it seemed to me that some of his characters sounded similar to how they did in those movies. It may have been a coincidence (excepting, of course, for his portrayal of Gollum, which is just how you would expect), but Thorin sure did sound like Richard Armitage. Considering that this audiobook came out several years after the movies, I did go into it wondering how much from the movies might seep into it, and since my favorite thing about the movies (which were otherwise just kinda okay, to me) is the music, I was thrilled to hear a few familiar melodies in Serkis’s narration. See the rest of my review here.
Have you read any of these? What’s on your list this week?
It’s time for another Top Ten list from That Artsy Reader Girl, and I’ve poked my head back in just time to thank my fellow TTT’ers for their recommendations! I can’t tell you who recommended each of these for sure, and some were in multiple posts, but they’re all books that I know I learned about because of a past TTT post. The first six in this list I’ve read and are ordered from lowest to highest ratings (by me), and the last 4 are on my TBR, but I haven’t gotten to them yet. I won’t say much about any of these, but I’ll post links to my reviews for those I’ve read. Though they didn’t all become favorites, I never regret any book I read, no matter the rating I give, and am always thankful for recommendations that help me expand my reading horizons.
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead I’ve already read this twice and recommended it to my 12-year-old daughter, who also loved it. My rating: 5 / 5 stars—see my review here.
The Pawn by Steven James I’ve read one book by this author and look forward to trying another.
Book Love by Debbie Tung Comics for book lovers? Count me in!
Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss Maybe a book about the decline of proper pronunciation will turn out to be pretentious, but I’m still intrigued.
Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion One of many movies I’ve seen and liked that I found out later was originally a book, I learned about this one from a TTT post and plan to read it soon.
Have you read any of these? What’s on your list this week?
It’s time for another Top Ten list from That Artsy Reader Girl, which I haven’t done in a while now. The topic today is a look back at our favorite books from the past year. Since I already pick out my favorite book at the end of each month of reading, it wasn’t too hard to narrow the books from the year down to 10. Here they are, listed in the order in which I read them throughout the year.
2. I Can Only Imagine by Bart Millard with Robert Noland I have recently discovered that I like listening to autobiographies or memoirs read by the author, especially when the author is someone of whom I am a fan already. This did not disappoint. See my full review here.
4. Mr. Lemoncello’s Very First Game by Chris Grabenstein I didn’t expect to like this book all that much, but I gave it a chance because I’ve overall enjoyed the series for which it is a prequel. I ended up loving it! See my full review here.
5. The Debutante’s Code by Erica Vetsch The beginning of a mystery series that I have fully enjoyed so far. It helps that it is set in the same world as another trilogy that I loved! See my full review here.
6. The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau I haven’t finished the series yet, though I’m actually currently reading the that is technically #4, but #3 in the sequence of the actual story. I’m enjoying this one more than I did the 2nd, but I loved the first one. See my full review here.
7. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton Jurassic Park is one of my top 3 favorite movie franchises, if not the top, even though I can certainly admit that there are some duds in there. I just don’t care; I love them anyway. I did read this book once, back in high school, most likely because of how much I already liked the first couple of movies then. This is the first time I’ve read it in 20+ years, and I loved it all over again. See my full review here.
8. Lightning by Dean Koontz I also read this book back when I was in high school, or maybe just after. It took me a long time to re-read it, but I’m so glad I did! See my full review here.
9. Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder Just one in a long list of books or series that are classics or at least have been around a long time, but I’ve never read them. I’ve only read 3 of this series yet, but I’ve enjoyed them all. This one was my favorite. See my full review here.
10. Ruth by Ellen Gunderson Traylor Ruth is my favorite book in the Bible, and the account of Ruth and Boaz has long held a kind of romance for me, so I have been picky about fictionalized versions of it. I’d almost given up on reading any more and finding one that I really liked, but this one was just what I was looking for! See my full review here.
Have you read any of these? What were some of your favorite reads this year?
It’s time for another Top Ten list from That Artsy Reader Girl. The topic today is “Books With Numbers In the Title.” It’s interesting to me that in the fairly short amount of time I’ve been doing these posts, I’ve done this topic before. But when I looked through the list of books I’ve read since then and my current TBR, I was able to easily come up with 10 more. Whereas last time, I decided to find 1 book for each number 1-10, this time I just went with any numbers. The first 7 books are in the order of when I read them, and the last 3 books I haven’t read, but are on my TBR.
8. The Prisoner of Cell 25 by Richard Paul Evans The rest of these books I have not read. This series was recommended to me by my husband.
9. I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore I watched this movie long ago, but the only thing I remember about it is that I liked it more than I expected to.
10. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry Since I ran out of books with a number in the title, have one with the word number! I read this in middle school, or maybe earlier than that, but I don’t remember it much. I plan to re-read it soon(ish).
Have you read any of these books? What’s on your list of books with numbers in the titles?
It’s time for another Top Ten list from That Artsy Reader Girl. The topic today is “Books I Wish I Could Read Again for the First Time.” Several books came to mind almost immediately when I saw this topic, so it wasn’t too hard to fill the list. Though apparently it wasn’t too easy, either, since I stopped at 9. Most of the books on the list I wish I could forget because something about the plot, story, characters, or climax was grand, epic, or twisty and made the first reading spectacular in a way that no successive reading can possibly be (at least until I’m old enough to have memory issues…and then I could probably read all of my favorites like it was the first time again). In no particular order, here are 9 books I wish I could completely forget so I could read it for the first time again.
1. The Oath by Frank Peretti This has long been my absolute favorite book, written by my single favorite author. I’ve read it many times in the last 20ish years, but would love the chance to read it again with fresh eyes. See my review here.
2. Three by Ted Dekker I first read this book at least 15 years ago. I actually started it, put it down before the end of the first chapter, and took quite some time to get back to it. But when I started it again, I got into it. This is one of those stories with a Big Twist at the end that I, at least, did not see coming. The way the whole thing played together was great! And while it can be fun to read it again and see all of the clues, I wish I could wipe my memory of the ending and be surprised again. See my review here.
3. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead I actually read this book based on the recommendation of a fellow TTT participant, and I really wish I could remember who it was so I could thank them profusely. I loved it, and have already read it a second time. It’s another one with a twist, and while I actually saw the twist coming, I just loved how it all worked together. I wish I could read it again without any foreknowledge of it and relive the joy of getting to that ending. See my review here.
4. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton The mystery in this book was interesting enough, but the way it was presented and unfolded were unique and pretty amazing. It was such a great ride that might not be quite as exciting the 2nd time around. See my review here.
5. Holes by Louis Sachar The beauty of this book is the way multiple seemingly unrelated storylines come together by the end of the book. I’ve read the book and seen the movie quite a few times, so I know the story really well, but I think it’d be fun to be able to experience the whole thing for the first time again. See my review here.
6. 4 Years Trapped in My Mind Palace by Johan Twiss I was amazed by this book, a little-known gem that was self-published by the author. There’s no huge twist in the story, but the way it plays out is beautiful and touching. I am already looking forward to re-reading it some time, but it probably won’t be the same as the first time. See my review here.
7. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir Oh my gosh, this book…I loved this book so much. It made me laugh, cry, and cheer. I know I will enjoy re-reading it, but nothing will ever compare to that first time the story unfolded before me. My husband recently listened to the audiobook, after strong prompting from me, and seeing it through the eyes of a new reader was the next best thing to reading it again for the first time myself. See my review here.
8. The Warden and the Wolf King by Andrew Peterson As the culmination of an epic middle-grade fantasy series, this book had all the feels. Seeing the triumph and tragedy for the first time was amazing, and I know it can never quite be that way again. See my review here.
9. Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters This is a divergence from the rest of the books on the list. It’s not the first time I’ve mentioned this in a TTT post, but I did not like the narrator of the audiobook, at least the version I listened to. The story itself wasn’t bad, though, and I can imagine really liking the series. I have plans to give the books another try, but I worry that I won’t be able to forget how this narrator made me dislike the main character. It would certainly be helpful if I could re-do the first reading of this book. See my review here.
10. Outcast by Kristi Drillien Another divergence from the most common reason I wish I could read a book for the first time again. I’m sure I’m not alone here amongst authors in wishing that I could see my story through the eyes of someone who doesn’t already know the story.
Have you read any of these books? What books do you wish you could read again for the first time?
It’s time for another Top Ten list from That Artsy Reader Girl. The topic today is “Books I Loved that Made Me Want More Books Like Them.” My time of serious reading is short enough that if I did this topic straight, it’d resemble many past TTT posts, simply restating my favorite books over the last 2 years. So I’m changing it up just a bit. Most of the books on this list are books that I didn’t like, but make me want to try to find other books like them. Maybe the premise was super interesting, but the execution was poor. Or it didn’t turn out to be the type of book I was expecting at all, so now I want to go find something that actually is what I was looking for. I’ve ordered them lower ratings to higher ratings (as rated by me), and the last few actually are books I did like that made me want to read more like them.
10. The Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson While I’m not much of a horror fan, the idea of a group of kids investigating local ghost stories and urban legends sounds like it could be fun. Sadly, the urban legends and such are a much smaller part of the book than I expected, and the book seemed more drama than anything to me. See my review here.
9. Rabbits by Terry Miles Based on the premise, I was expecting something like the movie The Game crossed with Ready Player One, maybe even with escape room elements thrown in. Boy, would I love to read that! This wasn’t it. See my review here.
8. Seconds to Live by Susan Sleeman This is really just a representative of an entire genre that has let me down. I keep trying Christian mystery/suspense books like this one and keep being disappointed (though I have liked a couple). Usually there’s a romance sub-plot that gets in the way, but the mystery is often convoluted and un-suspenseful too. I’d love to find some good ones, but am about ready to give up on the genre instead. See my review here.
7. Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters This is one of a few entries that are here specifically because of the audiobook. I listened to 2 books in this series and just couldn’t stand the main character, but I think that has a lot to do with the narrator. The MC is independent, bucks society, and is often haughty…and the narrator takes that to an extreme. I almost hated her by the time the book was over. My sister, who recommended the book in the first place, said there’s another version with a different narrator that is a lot better. I think the story might otherwise be one I’d like, so I plan to give it another try with the different narrator. See my review here.
6. Wingfeather Tales by Andrew Peterson and various authors This entry may be sort of cheating. I’d love to try to find other books that are more what I would have liked to see from this, but they’ll never exist. This is a collection of short stories set in the world of The Wingfeather Saga, which is a wonderful series of 4 middle-grade fantasy books. Like so very many others, I’d love to see a continuation of that series, even if not directly picking up where the series left off, written by the author himself, but he’s said he’s not going to do that (well, for sure not the direct continuation, at least). While this book had its good moments, most of the stories were written by other people, so it just wasn’t the same. See my review here.
5. Time and Again by Deborah Heal This was a pretty interesting idea—a dual timeline story where the people in modern day use a mysterious computer program to watch events unfold in the past. The execution was lacking, sadly; though I’m not exactly a history buff, I really like the idea of the pre-teen who hates to learn seeing history literally come to life before her eyes, and that history influencing the viewers. The first book in the series (shown here) was okay, but the 2nd killed my interest. See my review here.
4. The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton I liked this book, though I didn’t care for the atmosphere and author’s writing style. The mystery itself and the culmination of the story I really liked, though, and I’d love to find more books with this kind of out-of-the-box approach to presenting and solving the mystery. See my review here.
3. The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas & Jennifer Graham I don’t know if I’d call myself a Marshmallow, exactly, but that might just be because I’m not much of a follower. Be that as it may, I do love the show Veronica Mars, so as soon as I heard that Kristen Bell narrated the audiobook of the 1st of 2 books written as a follow-up to the movie (which was a follow-up to the show), I knew I had to listen to it. Now that I’ve started to move on to books written as additional stories for other TV shows I love (with varying degrees of success), I would just love for more of those to have audiobooks narrated by their main stars. So far, though, I’ve not found much of that. See my review here.
2. There I Go Again by William Daniels I’m not much of a non-fiction reader and have never really cared much for biographies. But as soon as I saw that the actor who played Mr. Feeny wrote a book about his time in the spotlight, I didn’t even hesitate to get it into my hands. Since then, I’ve discovered that I actually don’t mind autobiographies or memoirs, but apparently I’m kind of particular about the subject matter (I suppose that’s probably normal, actually), as I’ve since read books by John Cooper (only partially autobiographical) and Cary Elwes and have also acquired autobiographies by Tim Conway and Steven Curtis Chapman. See my review here.
1. Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell This entry is also specific to the audiobook. I absolutely loved the narrator for the version I listened to, Nadia May. From my review: “The way she differentiated all of the larger characters was astounding, and I especially loved her voice for Mr. Gibson (Molly’s dad). There were times that I’d get so caught up in it that I’d completely forget this was one person doing all of the voices.” I badly want to listen to other books narrated by her (though sadly I don’t seem to have access to many that interest me, even though I can see she’s narrated several I’d like to read), and hope to come across other narrators as amazing as she (I’ve already discovered a couple I like almost as much). See my review here.
Have you read any of these books? What’s on your list?
A Journey of Words 