Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every Tuesday they post a new Top Ten list prompt. This week’s list is the Top Ten Books I’ve Read So Far In 2015.
This was probably the easiest Top Ten list for me to come up with! Check out my choices (in no particular order this week), and let me know what your favorites have been so far this year. Leave your list or a link to your own blog post in the comments below.
Note – all book descriptions from Goodreads
Amanda over at The Literary Counsellor nominated me for this award (a while ago – sorry Amanda! I’m behind on my tag and award posts, but trying to catch up!) that celebrates new bloggers.
Here are the rules:
1 – Thank the person who nominated you and link to their blog.
2 – Answer the 10 questions given by the nominator.
3 – Nominate and link 10 bloggers .
4 – Notify all the bloggers you’ve nominated.
5 – Create 10 new questions for your nominees to answer.
Here are the questions I was given and my answers:
Continue reading
Thanks to The Hidden Staircase for tagging me! If you don’t follow her wonderful blog, be sure to go check it out. Some of these were tough, but here goes….
Would you rather only read trilogies or only read stand-alones?
I’d have to choose trilogies. I love discovering a series that’s already several books in so I can keep reading about a group of characters, and I’d miss that if I could only read stand-alones.
Would you rather only read male or female authors?
Female – I’d REALLY miss James Rollins, Douglas Preston, and Lincoln Child, but I have to be able to read (and re-read) Agatha Christie, MC Beaton, and JK Rowling.
Would you rather shop at Barnes and Noble or Amazon?
Barnes and Noble. I do love to 1-click ebooks on Amazon, but anytime I get to wander around with a cup of coffee in my hand surrounded by books, I am a happy girl.
Would you rather books were made into TV shows or movies?
Usually I’d say neither, but if it’s well done, then make it a TV show so it can go on and on.
Would you rather read only 5 pages per day or 5 books per week?
No question – 5 books per week! (oh, if I only had that kind of free time…)
Would you rather be a professional author or reviewer?
An author – I keep trying NaNoWriMo in November (I’ve only made it as far as 30,000 words, but one of these years I will finish!), and I think it would be exciting to see my name on the cover of a book.
Would you rather be a librarian or a bookseller?
I’d want to own my own bookshop rather than sell in someone else’s, but if I could manage that, then bookseller would be fun.
Would you rather read only your favorite genre, or every other genre but your favourite?
Only my favorite – I’d miss everything else, but can’t live without my mysteries. Besides, I’m sure I could find mysterious sci-fi, literary mystery, etc… 🙂
Would you rather only read ebooks or physical books?
I read both equally, but if I had to choose one, I’d choose physical books. I wouldn’t give up my collection, and they would be pointless if I couldn’t read them.
I tag :
Erika in Bookventureland
Charline @ The Jest of It
Annette @ Book Blather
The Literary Counsellor
If you would like to participate, consider yourself tagged!
Murder Your Darlings by J.J. Murphy
An Algonquin Round Table Mystery #1
Genre: Cozy Mystery
My Rating **** (4 of 5 stars)
When the members of the Algonquin Round Table gathered for lunch, the last thing they expected to find was the dead body of a theater critic under their table. From Round Table, to speakeasy, and all over the city of New York, Dorothy Parker has to chase down a murderer before the police try to pin the crime on her or one of her gang. She has plenty of help from her friends Peter Benchley and a visiting Billy Faulkner.
Several members of the Algonquin Round Table are featured or make at least a brief appearance in this story. So who were they? Here’s a brief description from Wikipedia:
The Algonquin Round Table was a celebrated group of New York City writers, critics, actors and wits. Gathering initially as part of a practical joke, members of “The Vicious Circle”, as they dubbed themselves, met for lunch each day at the Algonquin Hotel from 1919 until roughly 1929. At these luncheons they engaged in wisecracks, wordplay and witticisms that, through the newspaper columns of Round Table members, were disseminated across the country.
The mystery was good, and the characters were larger than life, but there were so many characters that it did get a little confusing at first. Once I figured out who everyone was though, I really enjoyed it. I loved the banter between Dorothy and Peter – they reminded me a bit of Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby. I highly recommend this one if you enjoy a little humor with your mystery.
Visit the Algonquin Hotel’s website for more info on the Round Table.
Purchase from Amazon
Purchase from Barnes and Noble
Walk in the Flesh by Peter Bailey
Genre: Techno-thriller / SciFi
My Rating: *** (3 of 5 stars)
Since then he had died over a hundred times. He was very good at it.
***NOTE: I was provided a free copy of the book in exchange for my honest review***
In Walk in the Flesh, Neil, an ex-soldier on the brink of death, is given the chance to live on and exact revenge on the people who killed his wife in a terrorist attack. The British government will use nanotechnology to insert his consciousness into host bodies, allowing him to carry out covert missions undetected. Now, besides becoming a perfect killing machine, Neil has also become a monster. Or perhaps he was one all along…
The story has a very scary premise – and one that technology might not be too far away from making a possibility. There is no shortage of action in this thriller, and I was caught up in it right away. The story moves quickly, but it takes a while to really understand what is happening with Neil. Eventually the reader knows more about him than he does himself. The most suspenseful bits come near the end when he has a young woman travelling with him, and you’re left guessing at his motivations.
There were a few editing issues. Once or twice I had to re-read a sentence due to a missing word, but the issues were infrequent or the story kept moving well enough for me not to notice too much.
If you enjoy military adventure novels, cyberpunk, or techno-thrillers, this one is worth a read.
Warnings: explicit language, explicit violence, rape
Visit Peter Bailey on Facebook
Purchase from Amazon
I would normally post my Top Ten Tuesday list today, but I’m on vacation this week and haven’t had time to write it! Instead, I’m posting a review I wrote a while ago that I never got around to sharing….
Woman Without Fear by J.P. Touzeau
Translated from French by Sarah Christine Varney
Le Femme #1
Genre: Fiction / Sci-fi / Snail?
Rating ** (2 of 5 stars)
***I won a copy of this book in a First to Read giveaway on Goodreads***
The story is about a shy woman named Trinity Silverman who, for reasons that are never fully explained, suffers from constant fear and anxiety. Despite this, her job is to go to trading conferences, and give presentations trying to sell her firm’s financial software. Her companion when she travels is a snail named Speedy that she keeps in a small Plexiglas box. On one such business trip to Las Vegas, she meets a man in the hotel bar who works for a pharmaceutical company. He offers her some pills that he has developed, promising that they will take away all of her fears.
I’m on vacation at the moment, visiting my folks in Tennessee. Whenever we come for a visit, I always try to get to the Book Cellar used bookstore in Crossville. They have a huge selection, and some of the best prices I’ve seen in a used book store.
My purchases today:
I picked up a couple of gothic romance novels, a thriller, and a cozy mystery.
There are always a few boxes out front of the store where they put books that are “free for the taking”. I don’t usually find anything I want in them, but I hit the motherload today! 🙂
There was also a Tami Hoag hardcover with no dust jacket that I picked up. Couldn’t be happier with my finds today!
If you live in the area and haven’t visited, you should. They’re at 184 Woodmere Mall in Crossville, Tennessee.
Visit their Facebook page.
What are you reading Wednesday – 6/17/15
What Are You Reading Wednesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Its A Reading Thing. To participate, open your current read to page 34 and answer the three questions listed below. If you have a blog, feel free to leave a link down in the comments so that others can visit and see your post. If you don’t, just leave a note with your answers.
The Questions are:
1. What’s the name of your current read?
2. Go to page 34 in your book or 34% in your eBook and share one complete sentence. (or two!)
3. Would you like to live in the world that exists within your book? Why or why not?
My Answers this week:
1. Walk in the Flesh by Peter Bailey
From Goodreads: In the aftermath of a terrorist attack Neil is given the chance to serve his country by serving up revenge. He soon becomes England’s premier spy and assassin. As a man he was unpleasant, dangerous and of little use. As a cyborg he is unpleasant, very dangerous and extremely useful. His suicide missions fit his strengths and his weaknesses. He exacts vengeance, kills without mercy, then destroys the evidence by destroying his temporary body. The aftermath is someone else’s problem. (read more)
2. The security check was executed with the deft touch of a pick pocket. While one guard made a great show of passing a portable metal detector over him, it was almost possible to miss the feather light touch from behind patting him down.
3. Right now, I’d have to say no, I would NOT like to live in this world. While not specified, I have the impression that the story takes place in the present or very near future, but there is enough corruption and evil going on that I’m not sure I’d ever feel safe!
Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every Tuesday they post a new Top Ten list prompt. This week’s list is the Top Ten Books On My TBR pile for Summer 2015.
Check out the list and let me know what’s on your TBR pile for this summer. Leave your list or a link to your own blog post in the comments below.
Note – all book descriptions from Goodreads
The Silver Witch by Paula Brackston
Macmillan Audio CD Audiobook
Narrated by Marisa Calin
Genre: Fiction / Fantasy
My Rating: ***** (5 of 5 stars)
I have had several Paula Brackston novels on my Goodreads Want to Read shelf for a while now, but this is the first one I got around to reading / listening to. I loved it, and I can’t wait to start another one! This is also a book I’m glad I picked up the audio version of instead of trying to read it. The narrator has a beautiful Welsh accent, and thankfully knows how to pronounce the Welsh names and place-names that I would have butchered inside of my head had I read it in print.
The novel is told in both the present and in ancient Celtic times, both storylines taking place in the same locale. In present day Wales, following the death of her husband, Tilda moves into the house that she and Matt had purchased to start their new life in together. After spending some time alone in her cottage, Tilda starts to experience strange things, and finds a new sort of power developing inside her. In ancient times, we hear the story of Seren, a shaman and seer to a Celtic Prince who lived on a man-made island in the middle of the lake near Tilda’s cottage.
Each story on its own is intriguing. We know early on that there is a connection between the two women, but it takes longer for Tilda to realize why she feels such an affinity for the lake and the area around her new home. By the time she does, her life and the life of her new love may be in more danger than she can handle.
This book has a little bit of everything. Historical fiction, fantasy, suspense, and a touch of romance. I highly recommend this one if you are a fan of any of those genres.
The Book's the Thing 