Tuesday Top Ten

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. Book bloggers create their own lists based on the chosen topics and post links to our lists. It’s a way of all sharing our thoughts and our love of books.  And who doesn’t love lists??

So this week’s challenge was to list the ten best sequels.  There are plenty of series that I have highly enjoyed, but it is often difficult to pick out the best in series, the sequel that is truly the highlight, and most times I can’t even remember what happened in which book, but I’ll give it a try!

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling – It may be the only time that the final book in a series didn’t let me down in some way…  The only let down was that it was over.
2. Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny – A heartbreakingly beautiful novel, far more about the characters than the mystery, although that is fascinating as well.
3. How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny – The sequel that I have most anticipated (OK – after the Harry Potter series!) and it did not disappoint!
4. Son by Lois Lowry – This sequel to The Giver brought together the three previous novels beautifully and answered a lot of questions within an engrossing story.
5. Half Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls – This story of the author’s grandmother is gripping and a wonderful sequel to her memoir The Glass Castle.
6. Insurgent by Veronica Roth – Maybe it’s just because I am anxiously awaiting the final book in the series, but this novel did not disappoint as so many middle books in a trilogy often do.
7. The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larrson – As raw and gripping as the first!
8. Tears of the Giraffe by Alexander McCall Smith – While I have enjoyed all of the books in the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, finding the language and cadence of the stories like a mini-vacation, this one has always been one of my favorites.
9. The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer – This is when some of the first indications appear that Artemis Fowl may actually have emotions…
10. Soul Patch by Reed Farrel Coleman – One of my favorites of the Moe Prager series, gritty and sad.

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Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. Book bloggers create their own lists based on the chosen topics and post links to our lists. It’s a way of all sharing our thoughts and our love of books.  And who doesn’t love lists??

So this week it’s all about book covers.  And let’s all admit it, whether we mean to or not, we do judge a book by its cover once and awhile…  I really try not to, and there are few that stand out in my mind, so this was a tough list for me, but here it goes!

1. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling – I love all of these covers, the colors, the illustrations – don’t make me pick just one!

2. Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny – Not only is this probably my favorite mystery series, and my favorite book (to-date!) in the series, but I love this cover.  Something about the sun shining through the trees reminds me of home and peaceful summer days.

 
 

3. The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai – I would like a street made of books…

 
 

 
 
 

 

4. Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah – Reminiscent of summers in the country…

 
 
 
 
 
 

5. The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by William Joyce – One of my favorite books for the illustrations, hands-down, and the cover is no exception.  I could easily do a whole list of my favorite covers from picture books, but I’m trying to be at least a little bit grown up!

6. The Library by Sarah Stewart – OK, so I’m not trying that hard!  Another great illustrated book with a fantastic cover (may be that it reminds me of myself – or the way that I would like to be some days!).

 
 

7. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak – Now it appears that I am not trying at all, but just a couple more and I will get back to some covers of adult books!  How can you not love the cover of this classic?

8. Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick – While the illustrations in the book are amazing (The Wonders of Brian Selznick), I also love this cover, the blue of the sky, the lightning, being struck…

 
 
 
 

9. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt – The desolation and the beauty together and that statue – I love that statue – my husband bought me a replica of that statue for our backyard.

 
 
 

10. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson – I don’t like this cover because I have a thing for Steve Jobs!  I love the way that the cover is so… Apple!  Stark and clean and simple like Apple packaging it seemed more than appropriate for this biography.