TTT: Series I've Been Meaning To Start But Haven't

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly blog meme put on by The Broke and the Bookish

Yikes! This one was a lot harder than I'd thought it would be. Apparently I love to read the first book in a series and then stop. Sure, I tell myself I'll go back and read the rest -eventually- but so far I don't seem to have a very good track record. Now, if I were to do a list of Series You Want to Finish That You've Read the First Book Of, I' d probably win a gold medal there.

New Jedi Order by various authors
By far, the most important one on the list. I've been wanting to read this series forever and -barring natural and reading disasters- this is the year I'm going to start.

The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters
Book 1 is on my Summer Reading List, if you're so inclined to check it out.

Castle Glower by Jessica Day George
I've loved every book of George's that I've read, but this series comes with the bonus of being recommended by my niece. Awwwww...

The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd

The Lotus War by Jay Kristoff

Once Upon a Time by various authors
Especially the ones by Cameron Dokey; I've got a friend who adores them.

Oracles of Fire by Bryan Davis
This is a branch off series of Dragons In Our Midst, which I loved as a teenager. I always meant to read through these, but still haven't gotten around to it. I wonder if I'd still enjoy them. I ought re-read the original series and see!

The Hollow Kingdom by Claire Dunkel
I have two friends who are as obsessed with this series as they are with Labyrinth and Jareth. Go figure. I started this once a while back and -to their utter horror and disbelief- didn't finish it. Then again, I never really did get into Labyrinth.

The Shoe Books by Noel Streatfield
You've Got Mail is one of my mom's favorite movies so it's not a real surprise that she went searching for these books after it first released. (Lucky for us, Skating Shoes is back in print!) She's is completely in love with them.  After trying and failing to get my sister and I to read them, she's been sending copies to grandkids, in they hope she can finally convert somebody to Shoe Book fans. A few years back, I found the movie of Ballet Shoes and gave it to her for her birthday and I totally loved it. I've been meaning to give the series another try ever since.

The Selection by Kiera Cass

Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia

Anna by Kendare Blake

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas
I finally read Throne of Glass this year and loved it. I want to read all of Maas' stuff, but a friend has ordered I not start ACOTAR until after I finish the Throne of Glass series.

King Raven by Stephen R. Lawhead
A retelling of Robin Hood steeped in Celtic mythology. I tried to read these back when I was a teenager, but I was far too impatient to read them. I recall this being a thick book, with lots of Briton history (back in the days of the Angels and Saxons) -a portion of history I'm currently very intrigued by.

HOLY NEVER ENDING TBR, BATMAN!!!

There are a LOT more of these than I realized and now I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. I didn't even get half way through my to-read shelf on Goodreads! GAH!!!

There is a lot of reading in my future, that's all I've got to say.

Have you read any of these?

What are some series you've been meaning to read?

TTT: Ten Comics on My TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly blog meme put on by The Broke and the Bookish

All about the visuals: Top Ten Favorite Graphic Novels/Comics or Ten Comics on My TBR or Top Ten Favorite Picture Books
Of the three choices I have to go with Ten Comics on My TBR. I still haven't read enough to have a top ten of favorites, but I there are tons on my TBR!

Without further ado...


Civil War
This is like the comic of all comics. I meant to read it before Captain America: Civil War released, but I didn't make it. I did read the events leading up to it, however -Secret War, Avengers Disassembled, and House of M (just cut my heart out of my chest with a dull spoon, will ya?!?!) I predict I'll branch off into some of the tie-ins, but most definitely Spider-Man's.

Spider-Man: 1602
I read Marvel 1602 a while back and loved it. The Spider-Man sequel is the one I'm most interested in following up on.

From the Beginning
There are also several Marvel comics I want to read from the beginning. The first comic I ever read was the Essential Spider-Man volume one, so I jumped right in with Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. So, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, and The Fantastic Four are some of the classics I want to read from their conception. It's going to take me awhile to get through, but I really want to revisit the good ol' days of comics.

Star Wars
Princess Leia
Darth Vader
Still haven't caught up on the new Star Wars canon in many formats. :P

Figment
Enchanted Tiki Room
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
I absolutely love what Disney and Marvel did with Seekers of the Weird so I'm very exited to read their other collaborations like .

A:TLA North & South
The Avatar comics have been consistently decent. They all have good and bad, all have stuff I love and stuff that makes me want to tear my head out. (It's like Cursed Child all over again, except I've been an Avatard ten years longer than I've been a Harry Potter fan, so tenfold.)

The Blacklist
I only learned recently that The Blacklist has tie-in media. I'm currently reading the first novel and I'm actually pretty impressed with it. Next up is the first comic series, The Gambler (No. 148), and I have optimistically high hopes for it.

Star Wars: Clone Wars
This is another series I've been meaning to read for awhile. It's no longer canon, I know (*sniffle*) but I've heard it's amazing so I can't pass it up. I'm watching the TV series right now, so I'll be interested to see the similarities and differences here.


Gah, my TBRs are always so long! So full of optimism! Will I ever achieve my reading goals?!
What comics are on your TBR?

TTT Freebie | The Blacklist -Favorite Episodes

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly blog meme put on by The Broke and the Bookish

Freebie!

I am insanely addicted to The Blacklist right now. As I'm watching new episodes, I'm also rewatching previous seasons for the ...third time?

Yeah. Addicted.

Since we've got a Freebie this week for Top Ten Tuesday, it was kind of a no-brainer for me. What I'm listing off are my favorite episodes from Seasons 1 & 2, in chronological order. (It would have taken me another hour at least to figure out their exact hierarchy of favoritism. I'll save that til after the show ends.)

Why only those two seasons? Because these are the ones I've seen more than once and I pick favorites based on the lasting impact of the episode overall, rather than on shock factor from the next big reveal. Over the past three years, these are consistently the episodes I gravitate toward.

Once I rewatch seasons 3 & 4, I might have to do a Part Two.

Pilot (1x1)

One of the best pilot episodes I have ever seen. Seriously, if the first two minutes don't hook you, I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU. In addition to the best hook in TV history, the rest of the episode just keeps piling on the intrigue, mystery, and intensity. And then Liz STABS HIM IN THE NECK WITH A PEN!

The Stewmaker (1x4)

Reddington, the mystery surrounding him, and just what the heck he wants from Elizabeth Keen are driving factors of the show. This episode pokes at all of these, but the best part -THE BEST PART- is Red's confrontation with The Stewmaker because it's a smack in the face reminder of what kind of man Red is and the extremes he goes to without even blinking. Plus, the Farmer Parable that screams "backstory."
Not to be forgotten is that little bit when Red pushes Ressler into a dangerous corner with homicidal criminals and Ressler totally delivers. I love the look of grudging respect on Red's face when Ressler danced out of that one. ^_^

Anslo Garrick (1x9)

*fangirl scream*
Probably the first episode I watched on repeat. There is so much crazy good stuff in this episode when a mercenary breaks into the Post Office to kidnap Red. It's the first time we see Red do any dirty work -man, can he handle a gunfight! We also get some buddy-buddy time between Red and Ressler, the boy scout agent. These two are polar opposites, hate and mock each other openly, and I adored seeing them forced to rely on each other. Contains some great lines and Red's Wish. It also contains the heartbreaking goodbye scene between Red and Dembe. And on the other hand, Liz finds herself teamed up with uber geek agent Aram as the only ones left to take back the building.
Anslo Garrick, Conclusion is also fantastic -plot thickens! Fisk!- but only part 1 made it to the favorites


Ack! I'm talking too much! The rest will be briefer.


The Good Samaritan (1x11)

Fantastic villain

Personal stakes for Liz = bonding time with Red
Red cleans house: This entire half of the episode gives me goosebumps. It's just Red, tracking down leads, tying off loose hands, and getting his hands dirty -all while being his dastardly, charming self.


Madeline Pratt (1x14)

Welcome an old fling of Red's, aka Elizabeth Bennett
Liz and Red undercover as thieves
Betrayal, twisty plot turns
Another great Red monologue that teases backstory and tears. Emotion level = dangerous

Mako Tanida (1x16)

Revenge story
Another fantastic villain
Personal stakes for Ressler
More Red/Ressler team up
Ressler and the Dark Side
GAH! SO MUCH RAW EMOTION I LOVE THIS EPISODE
(Plus, Tom/Jolene story thickens)

The Mombasa Cartel (2x6)

Some of the creepiest villains

Winner of the creepieset use of song in history -Run From Me by Timber Timbre shouldn't be that terrifying but it is
Ressler battles his drug problem
The reason the Cartel is on the Blacklist
Liz's secret revealed!

Luthor Braxton (2x9)

Three and a half seasons in, this is still my FAVORITE EPISODE OF THE SERIES
Great story
Great villain (Ron Perlman!)
Some Red backstory
Liz gets her hands dirty, teams up with Red and prison inmates
Red and Liz bonding time with another one of my favorite Red 'tales':

In Mexico, there are these fish that have colonized the freshwater caves along Sierra del Abra. They were lost. They found themselves living in complete darkness. But they didn't die. Instead, they thrived. They adapted. They lost their pigmentation, their sight, eventually even their eyes. With survival, they became hideous. I've rarely thought about what I once was. But I wonder if a ray of light were to make it into the cave, would I be able to see it? Or feel it? Would I gravitate to its warmth? And if I did, would I become less hideous?

Best song of the series -Blood on My Name by Brothers Bright- to accompany one of the greatest scenes of the series:

Luther Braxton, Conclusion is also fantastic and really dives hard into Liz's past
Red is never quite so fascinating as when he's trying to save Lizzie. Or keeping secrets from her. You know.

T. Earl King VI (2x14)

Red is up for auction
Liz goes undercover to save him
Delicious chaos ensues

For now, at least, these are ten of my top favorite Blacklist episodes, but really, there's only been one or two that I haven't loved. They are literally ALL GOOD.
GAAAAHHHH! There's still so much more good stuff I didn't even list! I'll have to do another Blacklist list...

 Do you have favorite Blacklist episodes?
What show are you obsessing over? 

TTT: Hidden Gems/Underrated Books

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly blog meme put on by The Broke and the Bookish

Newly Discovered Hidden Gems

I Am Not A Serial Killer by Dan Wells
I'd never heard anything about this book before I stumbled on it at the library and it's been out for at least six years. This is a fantastic, if morbid, tale with fantastic first-person narration and top notch character development.
(I know, I know; I've been talking about this one a lot! Don't worry; it totally deserves the praise.)

Vicious by V.E. Schwab
Though I know this book has been talked a lot about on blogs and booktube (that's where I first heard of it), for a long time it was only available in hardcover at $30+ so I'm assuming it wasn't all that popular at the beginning. With the success of Schwab's more recent books, Vicious is more readily available so if you haven't read it, you'll want to check it out. (FYI, I'd rate this one R for swearing. The book was good enough I read in spite of this, but there's quite a lot of it.

Beauty and the Clockwork Beast by Nancy Campbell Allen
This book is huge in Utah, but I'm honestly not sure how popular this book is elsewhere. If it isn't, IT SHOULD BE. This is a fantastic proper romance (aka, clean; my favorite) that's also a steampunk that's also a retelling of Beauty and the Beast that's also inhabited by ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and who knows what else at this point! I really hope Allen makes this a series, I don't really care if it has sequels or companion novels, I just want more of this awesome world.
(Note: While this is written by an LDS author, it's not an LDS book.)

Underrated Favorites

Half Moon Investigations by Eoin Colfer
I feel like a lot of Colfer's stand alone novels are underrated but my favorite among them by far is Half Moon. I've lost count of how many times I've read it and the audio version is great too.
This is funny mystery for middle graders, with a kid detective who thinks he's a hard-boiled private eye, which is absolutely hilarious in the first person narration.
Check out my review here!




Always Neverland by Zoe Barton

This is an after-Peter-Pan Peter Pan adventure. We know that Peter continued finding new mothers for the Lost Boys after Wendy went home and this is what happens when Peter decides to take Ashley to Neverland -but Ashley is more interested in adventures and fighting pirates than playing mother. I know this kind of story has been done a lot, but Always Neverland is the best I've read; Barton does a fantastic job of keeping Neverland and it's inhabitants true to the original while updating it for a modern audience at the same time.
Check out my review here!

The Ever Afters by Shelby Bach
Of course it's on this list! This series is phenomenal and it deserves the love of every school, librarian, and fairy-tale-loving child. No joke.
Check out my reviews for the whole series here!
I also hosted an awesome blog party when the final book came out.





What are some of your favorite underrated books? Newly discovered hidden gems? I'm all ears!

TTT: Halloween Freebie

Top Ten Tuesday is a blog meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

(This is technically next week's Top Ten Tuesday, but I had to choose my favorite between the two options for this post. This won out.)

I never really did Halloween growing up. For me, October was all about the annual Dark and Stormy Night murder mystery program my library would host. It included guest mystery authors and a mystery writing contest, so most of my suggestions are more 'creepy' than straight-up 'Halloween'.

Suggested Halloween Reads:

Dracula by Bram Stoker
I'm in the middle of this right now and it's way more than I expected. Granted, having never seen any of the movies or anything, I'm not really sure what I did expect. But this is more than a story of a guy who drinks blood and it's kind of freaking me out. I love it.

I Am Not A Serial Killer by Dan Wells
Dudes. Dudes. I recently read this book. I haven't posted my review yet, but it's coming and this. Is. Amazing. I'm not into really scary books or gore or slashers or anything and I LOVE THIS BOOK. (I've already finished the series to date, which kind of tells you how much I loved it.) I could not put this down. It's disturbing and amusing and even more disturbing because you're amused by it. It's also deep, with incredible character depth and development, and a fantastic plot for these great characters. This is probably my Most Blown Away Read of the year.

Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz
Yes, his name is really Odd. But it fits, because he can see ghosts. Odd Thomas does his best to help them move on to the afterlife, and a lot of times that means solving murders and possibly tangling with demonic forces. I love this series.

Desolate Angel by Chaz McGee
Okay, I'm only 40 pages into this book right now, but I love it. It's the first of the Dead Detective series about the ghost of a homicide detective who failed at everything in life and, in death, finds the chance to fix some of his mistakes and do some good.

Tales from the Haunted Mansion, vol 1: The Fearsome Foursome by Amicus Arcane
I haven't technically started this but it's got to be good, right? IT'S A HAUNTED MANSION BOOK.


Suggested Halloween Movies:


Charade
This is a murder mystery, not a Halloween film. Starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn, it's a thriller with lots of laughs -Cary Grant is always good for a laugh- when Hepburn's character discovers her late husband was murdered for something that now belongs to her.

The Thin Man
Just a straight-up, good ol' fashioned murder mystery with lots of laughs and lots of gin. William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora; based on the novel by Dashiell Hammett. (The sequel, After the Thin Man, also stars Jimmy Stewart. Bonus!)

Arsenic and Old Lace
Number one. Numero uno. If you only watch one movie this month, make it this Cary Grant thriller/comedy about a newlywed who finds a body in the window seat. What makes it Halloween appropriate (other than Murder Most Foul)? It all happens on one day. October 31st.

Coraline
Nothing is as creepy as the Other Mother.

Heart and Souls
Halloween? Okay, maybe not. But there are ghosts! Four ghosts are linked to a baby born at the moment of their deaths. When that baby grows up to be a workaholic Robert Downey Jr., the ghosts discover they're meant to use him as a method for completing their unfinished business -whether he likes it or not!

My To-Watch List:
The Mummy, Nosferatu, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, & The Wolfman

What does your Halloween reading/watching forecast look like?

TTT: Ten Books to Read If You Like Narnia/Artemis Fowl

Top Ten Tuesday, a lovely book meme put together

by the ladies at The Broke and the Bookish.

Trying to settle on only one title proved quite difficult, so I wound up giving suggestions on two separate titles, because once I got going I didn't want to stop. Since the goal is to try pointing out new books for people, I've stayed away (mostly) from the series everybody's heard of and focused on some really great, but sadly lesser known, titles.

If you like The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis...

The Dream Keeper by Mikey Brooks
This is about two kids who are tasked to save the land of Dreams. With how often they jumped from our world to another, it had a strong sense of The Wood Between the Worlds from The Magician's Nephew.

Half Magic by Edward Eager
This is such a clever, clever story. It has the same distinct English nostalgia in its telling as Narnia and playing with the magic is so fun.

The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews Edwards
Yes. That Julie Andrews. Again, this has the same distinct feel as a Narnia book -kids being pulled into a magical place and having fantastic adventures.

Five Children and It by E. Nesbit
Seriously, it's that feeling again. There's just this quintessentially English essence oozing from certain books, especially great children's fantasies, that inextricably link them across time and space.

The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
This is considered a classic, but it's also old enough I'm not certain many people read it. I adore this book. I discovered the audio version when I was about twelve and listened to it probably a dozen times before I was fourteen.

Larklight by Phillip Reeve
This series doesn't have tons in common with Narnia -except the whole quintessential English thing and kids going off on adventures- but I think readers will still like it. Plus it has space ships. Like, ships with masts and sails and riggings in space. Think Treasure Planet in Victorian England. So maybe some parallels with the Dawn Treader after all...

Goblin Secrets by William Alexander
This is another great fantasy to introduce kids to the genre and to good stories in general. It has goblins and sentient rivers and magic in the form of acting, along with child-size bites of love, loss, and the powerful bonds of family.

If you like the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer...

The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathon Stroud
This possess the same kind of snark in the narration, an equally rich and incredibly developed magical parallel to the real world, and a too-smart-for-his-own-good child anti-hero who must invariably rely on his own captive for assistance and winds up butting heads with a stubborn and strong-willed young woman from an underground organization.
Okay, I didn't actually realize how many similarities it had until I wrote that paragraph. Weird.
(They're totally different though, I promise.)

Simon Bloom, Gravity Keeper by Michael Reisman
Science. Is. MAGIC.

Last, but certainly not least,
The Crystal Bridge by Charlie Pulsipher
Much like Colfer does, Pulsipher has a fantastic and fascinating way of interweaving magic and science. It's hard to pinpoint this as either a fantasy or a sci-fi, because it is literally both. It has dragons and an AI, elves and wormholes.

Thanks for stopping by this week! Do you have any suggestions to add?

TTT: Top Ten Books on My Fall TBR

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme by those fabulous bookworms over at The Broke and the Bookish.

1. The Forever Man (W.A.R.P. #3) by Eoin Colfer
2. Vicious by V.E. Schwab
These two I currently have on my shelf (along with a few others) and hope to get them read by the end of the month.

3. Finnegan Zwake series by Michael Dahl
4. Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy
These two series will make up the bulk of my October reading, hopefully. They're both mysteries, which I annually inhale during this spooky month, and Skulduggery has a living, flame-throwing, skeleton sorcerer detective, so bonus.

5. Shadowed Glass (The Lost Shards #3) by Charlie Pulsipher
6. The Afterlife Academy by Frank L. Cole
These are both new releases that I need to get my hands on.

7. The Island of Dr. Libris by Chris Grabenstein
My sister just told me about this book and it sounds AWESOME so I have to squeeze it in somewhere.
 
8. Winter (The Lunar Chronicles #4) by Marissa Meyer (released November 10)
This one, I obviously can't read until November. Sooo faaaar aaawwwaaaayyy...


And of course, I haven't quite hit the goal for my Star Wars books this year. I can't get distracted now.

9. STAR WARS The Final Command by Timothy Zahn
10. STAR WARS Dark Empire by Tom Veitch
11. STAR WARS The New Jedi Order: Vector Prime by R.A. Salvatore

There's my Top Ten for fall. Thanks for stopping by?

What's on your Fall TBR?

TTT: Top Ten Audiobooks

Top Ten Tuesday is a book blog meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's Top Ten topic is a freebie and, since half the time with these lists 
I'm gushing about which are fantastic audiobooks, my choice was a no-brainer. And so, in no particular order:

1. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, narrated by Rob Inglis
Inglis has a deep, resonating English voice absolutely perfect for Tolkien's Middle Earth. And he sings so well.

  

2. The Redwall series by Brian Jacques, featuring full cast narrations
It's not only full cast. Brian Jacques himself acts as the narrator on these versions. THE AUTHOR IS LITERALLY READING HIS BOOK TO YOU.

3. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle, narrated by the author.
Speaking of authors reading their books to you... She also narrated versions of A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet.

4. The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede, narrated by Bruce Coville's WORDS TAKE WING full cast narration
I'm pretty sure I've mentioned these once or a dozen times.

5. Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer, narrated by Nathaniel Parker
My introduction to this series were the audios for The Arctic Incident and The Eternity Code. I'd already fallen in love with Parker's narration, and Colfer's brilliant story just made it a hundred times better.

6. Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz, narrated by Nathaniel Parker
If you're wondering, yes, this is where I fell in love with Parker's narration. My sister and I stumbled on this audiotape (yes, cassette tapes) at the library and listened to it obsessively for two or three years, always wishing in vain for more books in the series. Until, of course, we had the sense to Google it and realized there were already four more books in the series. Alas, the rest of them are narrated by Simon Prebble who, while good, simply isn't Nathaniel Parker.

  "This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it." -The Princess Bride by William Goldman


These next four books are among those that I have never literally *read.* They're some of my favorites but part of their perfection remains in the audio versions.

7. Flushed by Carl Hiaasen, narrated by Michael Welch
Okay. You got me. I think the only reason I even picked up this audio oh so many years ago was because the narrator was in an episode of Stargate SG-1, as a young Jack O'Neill.

Luckily, it turned out to be an excellent book. I've read a few other Hiassen's since, but this is my favorite by far. It has a much less political/environmentalist/shoving-my-agenda-down-your-throat feel than the others, it's hilarious, and it has an awesome older brother/younger sister relationship.

8. Saffy's Angel by Hilary McKay, narrated by Julia Sawalha

9. Holes by Lois Sachar, narrated by Kerry Beyer

10. The Dark Hills Divide by Patrick Carmen, narrated by 
This was another chance discovery made by my sister and I one day hunting through the library shelves. It's a fantastic book, one of the first who presented me with an utterly unlikable character who actually grew into one of my favorites. It was fun, interesting, and something we listened to so often we practically had it memorized. The next two books unfortunately were not as enjoyable, and I haven't listened to any past that. Despite that, it remains a favorite.

There's more than 10. I'm really into audiobooks. Tomorrow I'll probably think of a dozen more I *should* have put on the list.

11. Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry, narrated by John McDonough
This might actually be the first audiobook I ever fell in love with, if not listened to.
This was later re-done by Edward Hermann (that's Richard Gilmore in Gilmore Girls) and, while I love his voice and he did a good job, I will always favor John McDonough's version over his.

12. Simon Bloom, The Gravity Keeper by Michael Reisman, narrated by Nicholas Hormann
Hormann's voice not only has a great accent, but a spectacular quality. It's whimsical; like the twinkle of a joke in someone's eye that's actually a secret. Don't believe me? Give it a listen. And trust me. It's a perfect fit with the tone of the story.

And there's twelve of my favorite audiobooks! What are some of yours?

Thanks for stopping by!

TTT: Ten Finished Series I Have YET to Finish

Look! New pages! I've added a master list of all of the book reviews I have done here and on my YouTube channel. I couldn't decide how best to arrange them, because there are two kinds of review readers. a.) Those looking for reviews of a specific book; b.) Those searching good reviews for something new to read.

Here is my solution:

 Now on with the TTT!

It's been awhile since I've played with one of these book memes from The Broke and the Bookish, but unfinished finished series are kind of my kryptonite.

Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy
I've read the first two books of this series so far and I love them. Humor, magic, an undead skeleton detective-sorcerer, and a whole magic underworld in Dublin, Ireland. Plus some really cool cars. These are pretty fast reads. My plan is to grab the whole series and have myself a truly themed October TBR.
Then perhaps I can finally make my sister and my all-things-Derek-Landy-and-Skulduggery buddy Georgina over at BritishBiblioholic proud.

Finnegan Zwake by Michael Dahl
This is an out of print middle grade mystery series that I got for Hanukkah last year and -to my everlasting shame- still have not finished. I've read three of the five books. Hopefully this series will be the rest of my October TBR. I have a thing about mysteries in October, since my family never really did Halloween. I also have a thing about overestimating the amount of books I can read in a month. Have you noticed?

Hero's Guide series by Christopher Healy
For how much I completely adored the first book in this series (see review) I haven't read the other two yet.

*shameshameshameshameshame*

Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
I own the first five books of this series and read the first one about six or seven years ago. I really enjoyed it. The primary reason I haven't read more is length. This is a series that needs to be read together, so I'm going to designate a year to read them. At some point. Yeah.

Odd Thomas series by Dean Koontz
I'm getting through this series slowly but surely. It seems like every six months or so I pick up the next one, but the story line is starting to be become interconnected enough that I don't think that will work anymore. I dislike ghost stories and a lot of stuff dealing with the supernatural and books with overly depressing events. Odd Thomas has a mix of all three of these, and somehow Dean Koontz makes it not only palatable, but enjoyable, writing with a quirky sense of humor and a veil of mystery around the supernatural elements that has yet to get old.

The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica by James A. Owen
This is another series best read all at once. I've read the first two books, but so far apart that it was pretty jumbled and confusing. It's a really interesting idea and definitely something I need to finish once I carve out some time to do so.

The Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn
I literally just finished the second book, Dark Force Rising. At 1am this morning. I couldn't sleep until I finished it and WHERE'S THE NEXT BOOK?!

GIVE ME THE LAST BOOOOOOOKKKK!!!

The Missing series by Margaret Peterson Haddix
This series I intentionally haven't finished. I could tell this was one that needed to be read all at once, so I was waiting until it was finished. Well, the final book came out this past year, so... *looks for empty slot on TBR*

The Ink series by Cornelia Funke
I really have no excuse for not having finished this one yet.

The Dream Keepers series by Mikey Brooks
I'm going to read these before Mikey strangles me. I swear. So many friends have recommended this series and I have absolutely no excuse for not finishing it yet. This will be one of my September reads. In fact, let me move it over to my 'Currently Reading' shelf right now...

Thanks for stopping by! To finish this off, may I present you with a photograph of my aforementioned 'Currently Reading' shelf. These are all the titles I (laughably) hope to read this month.

Top Ten Books on My TBR for Summer 2015

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly book meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

I've always been a bit obsessive about making Summer To-Read lists, so this one's a no-brainer. ^_^

 

The Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn 

&

The Courtship of Princess Leia by Dave Wolverton

 My goal of reading 'all the Star Wars books' hasn't really gotten off the ground yet. That's changing now. I'm starting with Zahn's trilogy because I started it years ago and want to finish it. Courtship sounds intriguing, and also sounds like a stand-alone, so win. Plus, Han and Leia. And 'courtship'.

After this, I'm seriously considering The New Jedi Order, though apparently that series is huge. HUGE.

 

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Because I've never read it. And everyone tells me I should. And I know half the plot anyway thanks to the Internet.

 

The Dream Keepers by Mikey Brooks

A middle-grade fantasy adventure that's been on my TBR list too long.

Now we get into the superhero fiction. The official them for this year's ALA Summer Reading Program centers on superheroes, and there are quite a few superhero fictions that have gathered on my TBR over the years.

 

A Once Crowded Sky by Tom King

Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman

Centering on an evil genius whose plans never seem to work, I see a lot of Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog accompanying this.

The Golden Age by Cindy Vaughn

 

Sidekicked by John David Anderson

Personally, I think this is an insta-win. In a world teeming with superheroes, this middle-grade story is about the sidekick.

Infinity Gauntlet (Marvel Comics)

I paid good money for this. It's about time I read it. Plus, that scene at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron...

Superman: The High Flying History of the Man of Steel by Larry Tye

I love reading up on the history of the mythos, from fairy tales and folklore to superheroes.
*coughNERDcough*

Your turn to fess up. What's top on your Summer TBR?