Category: Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday: The Oldest Titles on my #TBR.

BonnieReadsAndWrites37 Comments

Thank you to That Artsy Reader Girl for hosting Top Ten Tuesday.

This week I went looking for the oldest titles on my TBR. I don’t have any older titles on my Netgalley list anymore so I headed to Goodreads to check out my Want to Read list.

All of these books have been on my TBR since sometime in 2019. Now that I’ve looked at them again, a few of them are going straight to the top. Bill Bryson’s One Summer America, 1927 describes an extremely eventful summer in the US, and I can’t believe I haven’t read it yet. I love his books. Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus is about the journey of a Muslim man who eventually converted to Christianity, although he initially had absolutely no intention of doing so. I’m curious about his journey, but haven’t gotten around to reading it. Midnight Chicken is a combination cookbook and recovery story. I’m very intrigued, as the readers/reviewers said the book made them cry, and they enjoyed the recipes, and that is an interesting combination that I can’t miss.

The late Jack Finney was a popular time travel author, and I’ve never read his books to the best of my knowledge. I plan to start with Time and Again and About Time. The Lucky One is a Nicholas Sparks book I haven’t read, though I always enjoy his stories.

White Rose and The Great Alone are historical fiction. White Rose is set during WWII and The Great Alone is set in Alaska just after the Vietnam War. Smoke on the Mountain is a thriller, and What The Wind Knows is another time travel book. Regular readers of this blog know that’s my favorite subgenre, especially when there is a good deal of historical fiction thrown in.

While looking at my Goodreads TBR, I deleted some other books which I realized I’m never going to read.

After doing this list, I’ve decided to review at least one book a month from the oldest books on my TBR, starting with the books above. I need a catchy title for this project: Tackling the TBR? TBR Cleanout? TBR Throwback? Any Suggestions?

What books have been on your TBR the longest?

    Top Ten Tuesday: Destination Titles

    BonnieReadsAndWrites13 Comments

    Thank you to That Artsy Reader Girl for hosting Top Ten Tuesday. This week’s topic is destination titles. Any book with a place name in the title. This is a fun one!

    Above are ten of my favorite covers with place names in them. I included the mountains as Darlene Foster’s Amanda series leads the way. It’s a great way for kids and adults to learn about the world. Amanda in France is my favorite, so I put that up, but they are all amazing. Check out the Amanda books at this link.

    Can you think of a favorite cover with a place in the name?

    Top Ten Tuesday: Books With Animals On the Cover

    BonnieReadsAndWrites39 Comments

    Thank you to That Artsy Reader Girl for hosting Top Ten Tuesday. This week’s topic is Books with ____ on the cover. We get to choose which cover item, so I chose animals. Below are ten covers that feature animals. (Mythical animals count too.)

    I could have gone on and on with this list! What are your favorite books with animals on the cover?

    Top Ten Tuesday: How My Reading Habits Have Changed Over Time

    BonnieReadsAndWrites31 Comments

    *Thank you to That Artsy Reader Girl for hosting Top Ten Tuesday.

    What an interesting topic! I went all the way back to childhood and thought about my reading habits, and what has changed. Starting with number one, my first favorite book series, I noticed something interesting. Starting with favorite books I read as a kid and working foward, I see a distinct pattern.

    1. Encyclopedia Brown: I loved reading this series about the boy detective when I was a kid. I liked it much better than Nancy Drew.
    2. Johnny Tremain: Fourteen-year-old Johnny Tremain, after an accident, eventually becomes a messenger for The Sons of Liberty and is involved in the events leading up to the American Revolution.
    3. The Chronicles of Narnia: In this series, Lucy Pevensie walks through a magic wardrobe and finds a land of talking animals and a special Lion, Aslan.
    4. Little House on the Prairie: Laura Ingalls recalls what it was like to grow up as a pioneer girl in the 19th Century.
    5. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle: Meg Murray and her brother Charles Wallace search through time for their father, who disappeared while experimenting with time travel.
    6. The Door Into Summer: Dan B. Davis loses everything, but finds a way to get it all back by going to the future.
    7. The Ring by Danielle Steel: Historical romance set mostly during WWII. I loved this book in my twenties, but it is too simplistic for me now.
    8. Harry Potter: I don’t need to describe this one. It’s fantasy at its finest with some of the best world-building I have ever seen.
    9. and 10. The Chronicles of St. Mary’s and The Time Police: About ten years ago, I bought Jodi Taylor’s first book in the Chronicles of St. Mary’s series because it was about time travel and it was 99 cents. She had self-published at the time. Fast forward to the present, and Jodi is now a best-selling author with Headline books and has just published Book 15 of The Chronicles of St. Mary’s. I loved this series from the beginning and now I realize it’s because Taylor took time travel and combined it with historical fiction, both of which have been my favorites for a long time. She provides a history lesson in every book. She also adds a heavy dose of humor. The Time Police is a spinoff of the Chronicles, and Taylor continues her hilarious trips along the timeline.

    Looking back, I can see that even from childhood I loved historical fiction and time travel, as well as fantasy, and I have continued that as an adult. I still read mysteries, but mostly historical mysteries. Not much has changed in my reading choices, except for the complexity of the books.

    How about you? How have your reading habits changed over time?

    Top Ten Tuesday: Books from my favorite genre #HistoricalFiction

    BonnieReadsAndWrites29 Comments

    Thank you to That Artsy Reader Girl for hosting Top Ten Tuesday. This week’s topic is a freebie from topics in the past. I chose “books from my favorite genre.” My top ten Historical Fiction reads are below. What I love about Historical Fiction is that there can be a mystery, romance, fantasy, and even science fiction woven in. Some of these books below have mixes of all of that.

    Yes, Jodi Taylor writes Time Travel books, but they are packed with history. The St. Mary’s Chronicles follows a group of expert, and hilarious, historians around the timeline, and every book has more than one history lesson.

    This was Amy Lynn Green’s debut novel. It is 100% epistolary (comprised of letters, notes, articles, etc.) and set in a US Army POW camp for German prisoners in Minnesota.

    This is the first novel in Gail Meath’s cozy mystery series, The Jax Diamond Mysteries. It is set in 1920s New York and features Ace, the German Shepherd.

    This is the first book of the Lady of Letters mysteries. It is set in Victorian London and revolves around a countess who secretly pens an advice column and investigates mysteries.

    It is 1947, and Minister Peters is getting ready to board a train called The Dawn Lightning in South Carolina. Despite his name, he is not a minister. He is headed out of the South and towards a new life. The passengers he meets on the train will change his life forever.

    This is a fabulous cozy mystery series that includes Julia Child as a supporting character.

    This is the first book in Ashley Weaver’s series about a family of safecracking criminals turn spies during WWII.

    In 1952, Bertha gets a chance to try out for The Workington Sweet Peas, part of the All American Girls Baseball League. Meanwhile her father is being investigated by the UnAmerican Activities Committee and Bertha’s family is forced to move.

    This is a multi-timeline novel set around The Overtoun Bridge, an actual place where dogs inexplicably jump to their deaths.

    This is Christian fiction set in the mountains of Kentucky in the early 20th Century. It reminds me a lot of Christy by Catherine Marshall, but is also unique and original.

    Question of the Day: What is your favorite genre? Answer in the comments below.

    Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Was Excited to Get, but Still Haven’t Read

    BonnieReadsAndWrites23 Comments

    Thank you to That Artsy Reader Girl for hosting Top Ten Tuesday, where there is a new bookish topic every week.

    This week’s topic asks: What book or books were you super excited to get, but still haven’t read? My answer right now is most of my Netgalley shelf. As a lot of you know, I’ve been in Germany for work and my previous idea that I was going to have sufficient reading time vanished. I’m very busy. So here are a few from my Netgalley shelf that are late. But I will get them all read. I didn’t do ten today. Only three.

    These are a few, but not all, of the books I was excited about, but am now behind on. I am determined to catch up. Click on each cover to find out more about the book.

    How about you? What book or books were you excited to get, but still haven’t read?

    Sunday Post: All that Red Tape

    BonnieReadsAndWrites37 Comments

    Thanks to The Caffeinated Book Reviewer for hosting Sunday Post.

    It’s been all about the paperwork this week as I was getting all the documents together for tourist passports for Doug and myself. No matter how much I tried to get everything ready before the appointment at the post office, we were still scrambling around at the last minute and were very late for our appointment. Thankfully, the lady was really nice and worked us into the schedule. Now I have to concentrate on the taxes!

    I’m busy reviewing books for Historical Novels Review, the magazine of The Historical Novel Society, and I’m temporarily filling in as Indies Editor for them this summer, so that’s exciting!

    I got a warning from Amazon today that one of my reviews is outside of their guidelines, but they didn’t say which review or which guidelines! Apparently, I now have my first warning, but I have no idea what I did, so how do I know I’m not going to repeat it?

    LAST WEEK turned out to be a quiet one. I participated in Top Ten Tuesday and did an Indie Weekend post for From Meidelach to Matriarchs by Mirta Ines Trupp. Today I’m also going to post a review of Sisters of Fortune.

    NEXT WEEK: I’ll be catching up! I have a lot of books to review. I’m reviewing When Light Breaks Through by Brenda Murphy and A Child For Sale by Pam Howes. I hope to review The Berlin Letters by Katherine Reay and The Ark and the Dove by Jill Eileen Smith. I may have time to put up some other reviews or spotlights later in the week.

    BOOK HAUL

    Shades of Mercy is Book 2 in the Porter Beck series, which I really enjoyed.
    The Great Divide and A Midnight Puzzle were ebooks I already had, but now I’ve gotten the audiobooks.
    Interpretations of Love is about 11 attendees at a wedding and all the secrets they are keeping.
    Born of Gilded Mountains is Amanda Dykes’ latest, and I just love all of her books.
    Never Too Late is one of three Danielle Steel books I picked up.

    How was your week?


    Top Ten Tuesday: Covers or Titles That Include Things Found in Nature.

    BonnieReadsAndWrites23 Comments

    Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. There is a different topic every week. This week’s top is Top Ten Covers or Titles That Include Things Found in Nature. See my list below:

    This is one of my favorite covers and books from last year, and of course it displays a lovely beach. See my review here.

    This is a favorite from 2022 set in the Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky. My review is here.

    When Stone Wings Fly is set in Appalachia at the time of the creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

    Land of the Blue Mist by Susan Mallgrave is set in the Blue Ridge Mountains during the time of the Cherokee removal, or Trail of Tears. My review and a Q&A with the author is here.

    Louise Bélanger creates beautiful Christian poems accompanied by the most wonderful photographs of flowers. My review is here.

    This is the story of the Titanic told through the eyes of Arthur Rostron, the captain of The Carpathia, which responded to the Titanic’s distress call. My review is here.

    This is a beautifully written novel of friendship from one of my favorite authors, Amanda Dykes. My review is here.

    This is an account of the aftermath of a devastating earthquake in Lisbon on All Saints Day in 1755. My review is here.

    This is a fictionalized look at the Bataan Death March in the Philippines. So powerful. One of my favorite books ever. It is devastating and heartbreaking, but important. My review is here.

    My favorite book of 2023, and also one of my all-time favorites. It’s about life in a small town, unlikely friendships, and found family. Here’s my review.

    How about you? What favorite books come to mind that include nature on the cover or in the title?

    Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Superpowers

    BonnieReadsAndWrites53 Comments

    Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. There’s a different bookish topic every week. This week’s topic is below. I love this topic! Bookish Superpowers!

    10. The ability to stop requesting for a few weeks so I can get caught up on my TBR.

    9. The restraint needed to read my TBR from oldest to newest without skipping around!

    8. Super speed reading without missing anything in the book.

    7. I saw this in a novel so it’s not my idea, but the ability to touch a book and pick up thoughts and feelings from previous readers.

    6. Superior organizational skills so I’ll never forget what’s on my TBR.

    5. Super concentration, both for reading and writing.

    4. The ability to recognize a DNF before I choose the book.

    3. The ability to remember all the wonderful quotes I’ve read whenever I need them.

    2. The ability to actually enter the magical worlds I’m reading about.

    1. The ability to choose one or more of the magical powers I’m reading about for myself.

    How about you? Which bookish superpowers would you choose?

      Top Ten Tuesday: Quick Reads: Books to Read When Time is Short

      BonnieReadsAndWrites19 Comments

      Top Ten Tuesday is run by That Artsy Reader Girl. There is a different topic every week. This week’s topic is: Top Ten Quick Reads/Books to Read When Time is Short. Click on the covers to learn more about the books.

      This is the prequel novella to Gail Meath’s Jax Diamond Mysteries series and tells us how it all got started when Jax met his German Shepherd partner, Ace. It’s only 112 pages.

      This is one of many novellas in Jodi Taylor’s The Chronicles of St. Mary’s series. She always releases a short story on Christmas and this is the latest. 100 pages.

      A classic. What more do I need to say? It’s only 128 pages.

      This is a short story in the St. Mary’s Universe about how it all got started. 76 pages.

      This is a short story from The Frogmorton Farm series, which couldn’t be more different than St. Mary’s. There’s no time travel, but there is a magical golden horse. 44 pages.

      This is a heartbreaking novel of Soviet Russia. It’s 194 pages, but that’s still pretty short. My review is here.

      In this one, I was in awe of the author’s talent and deeply affected by the story. And it’s only 82 pages. My review is here.

      Can you believe it’s only 108 pages? 

      This is a lesser-known story of the Titanic, and it’s only 66 pages.

      Ok, book bloggers. This is the story of a woman whose book collection has gotten so big it’s threatening to collapse. We can all relate. It’s only 40 pages.

      Can you think of any shorter books that you love or want to read?