Top Ten Tuesday #9

10 Comments

Posted on June 25, 2013

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke & the Bookish. It’s awesome. Every Tuesday, the lovely ladies over there give us book bloggers wonderful and fun topics to create our lists! Check out what others have posted by going over there! http://brokeandbookish.blogspot.com

Today’s topic is:

TOP TEN BOOKS I’VE READ SO FAR IN 2013

(seems like a good time for it, since we are halfway through the year)

10. The Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

a She Reads book club selection

9. Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick

needless to say, better than the movie

8. The Bookseller by Mark Pryor

7. The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian

(can’t wait for his new one)

6. The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman

so sad

5. The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin

beautifully written

4. The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

her best so far

3. The Silence of Bonaventure Arrow by Rita Leganski

another She Reads book club selection

2. The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

love this series- need to read again

1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Top Ten Tuesday # 7 (take two)

27 Comments

Posted on June 18, 2013

Gonna be one of those days- tried working on this post before driving my daughter to school-got half way done and went to save-boom!- I hit publish instead. So if you saw the first post before I deleted it-sorry!!!

Today’s topic is:

Top Ten @ the Top of My Summer TBR list

Now, this list was going to start with And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Houseini, but as you might know if you read Monday’s post- I walked into the library yesterday and there it was on the No Hold shelf-YEAH!!!

So excited, anyway, here is the modified list-(might sound a lot like last week’s beach read list though)

1. The Last Original Wife by Dorthea Benton Frank

2. Beautiful Day by Elin Hilberbrand

3. Beach Music by Pat Conroy

4. The First Rule of Swimming by Courtney angel Brkic

5. The Other Typist by Susan Rindell

6. Seating Arrangements by MAggie Shipstead

7. The Wishing Tree by Marybeth Whalen

8. The Savage Garden by Mark Mills

AND my annual reread of –

9. The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling

( I can count- used up one already!)

What is on your TBR this summer?

Top Ten Tuesday #7

13 Comments

Posted on June 11, 2013

Today’s topic is:

Top Ten Tuesday #5

16 Comments

Posted on June 4, 2013

Today’s topic is:

Top Ten Books Featuring Travel in Some Way

1. The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien

The ultimate road trip happens when Frodo runs out his front door without his watch and goes on the adventure of a lifetime!

2. The Shipping News by Annie Proulx

3. The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Marlowe is and ivory transporter in the Congo who travels down the Congo River in the search for Mr. Kurtz.

4. A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

Hemingway’s memoir is about American expats traveling around Europe in the 1920’s.

5. Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

The story of Vivian, one of the many thousands of children who were sent from New York City into the midwest by train in hopes of being adopted.

6. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

This memoir follows Gilbert as she travels through Italy, India, and Indonesia on a search for self discovery.

7. The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom

This novel follows time himself!

8. The Painted Veil by W. Somerst Maugham

Newlyweds travel to Shanghai, where husband studies infectious disease in the 1920’s. Events lead them to take a treacherous journey to a remote village in the interior.

9. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Wonderful story about time traveling Henry and his wife Clare.

10. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

Detective Hercule Poirot tries to discover who murdered Mr. Ratchett aboard the train.

Top Ten Tuesday #5

9 Comments

Posted on May 28, 2013

This week is a freebie, and I wasn’t sure what to do. There are so many great ideas out there, but I decided to something a little more personal. As summer approaches, my kids-two teens- are starting to make plans-lots of which does not involve their Dad or I. I am starting to long for those summer days when it was just us handing together, so I picked this topic for my freebie-

TOP TEN BOOKS I LOVED READING TO MY KIDS WHEN THEY WERE LITTLE

1. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown- “goodnight nobody….

2. How Do Dinosaurs Say goodnight? by Jane Yolen

3. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

still can make me teary eyed…

4. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuess

5. Put Me In The Zoo by Robert Lopshire

6. Moo Baa LALALA by Sandra Boynton

(first book my son ate)

7. Caps For Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina

(a fav from when I was a kid)

8. The Missing Piece by Shel Silverstein

9. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst

(every kid has these kinds of days-adults too)

and of course…

10. Fox in Sox by Dr. Seuess

“When beetles fight these battles in a bottle with their paddles
and the bottle’s on a poodle and the poodle’s eating noodles…
…they call this a muddle puddle tweetle poodle beetle noodle
bottle paddle battle.”
― Dr. Seuss, Fox in Socks

Top Ten Tuesday # 4

9 Comments

Posted on May 21, 2013

This weeks topic is-

Top Ten Favorite Book Covers of Books I Have Read

1. Brave New World-creepy!!

2. Lost & Found– how can anyone look at that face and not love it- plus I have one that looks JUST like it 🙂

3. The Great Gatsby– the eyes follow you around…

4. Where The Wild Things Are– one of my favorites

5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows– he looks like he is ready to kick some Voldermort butt!

6. To Kill A Mockingbird–classic

7. The Last Letter from your Lover– look how close they are, like the moment right before or after kissing

8. The Thirteenth Tale– books on a book cover grab me!

9. Wicked- TWOO was my favorite growing up-going to see the play this weekend with my daughter!

10. Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil– that is one scary statue-I know, I visited this cemetery in Savannah.

Top Ten Tuesday # 3

3 Comments

Posted on May 14, 2013

This weeks topic is-

TOP TEN BOOKS DEALING WITH TOUGH SUBJECT

1. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

If you lost someone close to you, Didion description of dealing with grief is dead on.

2. The Glass Castle by Jeanette Wall

3. Little Bee by Chris Cleave

4. Mystic River by Dennis Lehane

Lehane is amazing-couldn’t put it down.

5. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

Not graphic-thank god- but sometimes that can be even harder.

6. Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

I can’t not help but imagine the small closet whenever I think of this book.

7. The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy

Very hard- abuse, rape.

8. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

Anything with dogs getting older, etc-makes me cry.

9. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

10. The Lost Dogs- Michael Vick’s Dogs and Their Tale of Rescue and Redemption by Jim Gorant

This book was SO difficult for me to read. I can’t even write about it.

Top Ten Tuesday #2

15 Comments

Posted on May 7, 2013

This weeks topic is-

Top Ten Books When You Need Something Light and Fun

1. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

This could have been 1-7 for me, but that’s ok-I will only take up one spot.

2. The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

3. Bergdorf Blondes by Plum Sykes

4. The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

5. One For The Money by Janet Evanovich

I love the Stephanie Plum series- so much fun!

6. Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvich

7. The Lost Recipe for Happiness by Barbara O’Neal

8. Savannah Blues by Mary Kay Andrews

9. Marley & Me by John Grogan

I know this is sad- but until the end, I was laughing so hard-my Katie is just like Marley!

10. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

maybe not light, but the most fun to read (for me)- This is my favorite!

Top Ten Tuesday #1

11 Comments

Posted on April 30, 2013

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. It’s awesome. Every Tuesday, the lovely ladies over there give us book bloggers wonderful and fun topics to create our lists! Check out what others have posted by going over there!

This weeks topic is-

TOP TEN WORDS/TOPICS THAT MAKE ME INSTANTLY BUY/PICK UP A BOOK

1. Beach

I love reading books set at the beach- especially in the middle of winter- I can feel my toes sink into the sand!

Favs: almost anything by Elin Hilderbrand, Nancy Thayer