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 top ten books that we read in 2013, and it was way too hard to pick only 10!  There were so many others that I loved this year, but my husband informed me that it would be cheating if I listed 20 books on a top ten list so I narrowed it down even though leaving some titles out was extremely difficult!

What were some of your favorites this year?  Would it be hard to limit your list to your top ten?

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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.

How the Light Gets In

Fantastic!  Amazing!  Wonderful!  I gasped, I held my breath, I hoped, and I despaired.  I have been waiting for this book for a year, ever since I cried and gasped at the end of A Beautiful Mystery and it did not disappoint for a moment.  If you are a fan of wonderful literature, in-depth amazing characters that you want to know (and feel that you DO know), and well-developed mysteries, I encourage you to start the Chief Inspector Gamache series as soon as possible!  I read a lot of mysteries, some better than others, but few fall into this category of excellence.  Even if you don’t typically read mysteries, give this series a chance.  The mysteries are secondary to the wonderful characters and their relationships.

There is little that I can, or will, say about the plot.  Gamache is back in Three Pines, investigating the murder of one of the famous Ouellett quintuplets.  But more importantly, he is once again pitted against Chief Superintendent Francoeur, his malignant boss who has gutted his department and stolen his protégé, Jean-Guy, leading him back into a world of drug-dependence.    Ultimately, things will come to a head, putting Gamache, his friends, Jean-Guy, and Three Pines itself in danger of decimation.  Heartbreaking and inspiring, Penny artfully balances good and evil, despair and hope.

Title:  How the Light Gets In
Author:  Louise Penny
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Pages: 416
Publication: Minotaur Books, August 2013

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 top ten list of books that I want to read this summer.  There are WAY more than ten, there are always way more than ten books on my TBR list, and I am probably forgetting some or there are some that will hop to the top of the list later this summer when I realize they are coming out, but here’s what I’m looking forward to right now…

1. How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny – Most anticipated book for me is definitely this one, I cannot say enough wonderful things about her Inspector Gamache series of books and have even managed to hook my husband!  The last book left me hanging and I have waited nearly a year and can hardly wait any longer!
2. Deeply Odd by Dean Koontz – I’m a big fan of the Odd Thomas series and just getting started on the latest installment!
3. Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman – I love Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book was one of my family’s favorites for story time, and I am looking forward to his latest adult novel.
4. In the House upon the Dirt between the Lake and the Woods by Matt Bell – Next in my Indiespensables subscription!  They haven’t steered me wrong yet!
5. The Execution of Noa P. Singleton by Elizabeth Silver – This thriller is getting a lot of positive press, and I’m hoping it will live up to the hype.
6. The Astronaut Wives Club: A True Story by Lily Koppel – Behind every great man… I just can’t imagine sending my husband into space (of course, there ARE days…), and I think it’s fascinating to get a glimpse of these women who share that bond.
7. Silver Starr by Jeanette Walls – I really enjoyed her memoir and the novel based on her grandmother’s life.  I’m hoping that her fiction work is as engrossing!
8. City of Hope by Kate Kerrigan – Having read and enjoyed Ellis Island by Kate Kerrigan, I am looking forward to reading this follow-up story of the characters.
9. Cozy Mysteries – A bunch of my favorite mystery series have new books coming out this summer –  Angora Alibi by Sally Goldenbaum, Cookbook Conspiracy by Kate Carlisle, Body in the Piazza by Katherine Hall Page, …  easy, quick, fun summer reading!
10. Summer Reads! – There are a bunch of authors who come out with books each summer that are perfect quick reads for sitting on the back deck or the beach with an iced tea – Ladies’ Night by Mary Kay Andrews, The Engagements by J. Courtney Sullivan, The Last Original Wifeby Dorothea Benton Frank, Island Girls by Nancy Thayer, Beautiful Day by Elin Hilderbrand, …