TTT: Best Books of 2017 So Far

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

As my parents always say: Better late than never! A few days shy of Top Ten Tuesday, this was too fun of a list to miss out on. I didn't even realize how many great books I had read this year until I started sifting through my Goodreads! My goodness, how did I keep track of this treasure trove before Goodreads?

Nothing Left to Lose by Dan Wells
While this list is in no particular order, Nothing Left to Lose still comes out on top. The sixth and final (at least, so far) book in Wells' John Cleaver series, while not the best book in the series, still gets 5 stars from me and it wraps up the story in a fantastic and unexpected way. I love it.

Heartstone by Elle Katharine White
This was an unexpected read; I only found it while browsing Barnes & Noble with a friend a few months back. But White's vivid retelling of Pride & Prejudice as a fantasy novel deserves enough fanfare and praise to get its own display at aforementioned bookstore. Among other fantastic qualities, Darcy is a dragon rider. I repeat: DRAGON RIDER. White has recently been contracted to write two more books in the series, so there's plenty to look forward to.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
It took me years to get to this book, but I really loved it. Maas has created a cruel fantasy world with great characters and some interesting uses of magic. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
My review
This book is amazing. While it consists of actual letters between American Helene Hanff and the employees of the British bookstore she insists on doing business with, it reads very much like a love letter to books that any reader can appreciate. The dry humor and witty banter between the writers is an added bonus, and written from post-WWII 1940s to the 1960s, it offers an interesting frontline view to the period.

The Blacklist: The Gambler by Nicole Phillips
My review
As a Blacklist fangirl AND a fairly picky reader, this one tickled me pink. Between great stories and spot on characterizations of their on-screen personas, this tie-in graphic novel did everything right.

Howl's Moving Castle by Dianna Wynne Jones
Yes, you may gasp in shock and dismay when you realize I had never read Howl's Moving Castle before. Heaven knows all my librarian friends did. And now that I've read it, I have to say they were in the right. This book is pretty spectacular. It's funny and clever and full of magic; it reminds me both of Lloyd Alexander's work and the delightful children's fantasies I loved growing up, like Half Magic by Edward Eager and Five Children and It by E. Nesbit.

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
This is the second V.E. Schwab I've read and I've got to admit:
I'm kind of a fan. She has a way of working with magic that makes it interesting and a little on the dark side, but it's her characters that really take the cake.

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
My review
A fantastic mesh of historical fiction, folk lore, and fantasy that brings old Russia to life. I love the clash here between the magic of the old country and the religion of the more 'modern' age, but you can read more about that in my review. Arden also has two more books in the works!

The W.H.O. Files: Potions in the Pizza by Mikey Brooks
My review
A fun and fantastic kids book with larger than life characters, delicious pizza, and witch hunters. What else does a book need?

Tricked by Jen Calonita
My review
While this series is for younger readers, I absolutely love it. It's a fun romp, with some really interesting tweaks to the lives of traditional fairy tale characters after their tales are done. I especially like that Calonita has pulled out a handful of the villains to create a reform school for misbehaving children.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars by various
I'm currently only halfway through this graphic novel series, and already it's a favorite. The prequel trilogy of Star Wars never dug into the specifics of the Clone Wars and more's the pity for it, because it really changes the way I view a lot of the characters and the events. It's also interesting to compare the differences between these graphic novels and the television show of the same name, because these do not tell the same stories at all.

And those are my best book of 2017 so far! What amazing titles have you read this year?

And how did you keep track of your books before Goodreads?

I remember using those handy reading logs during summer reading, but other than that, I really think I just relied on my memory. Oh to be young again...

SUMMER READING LIST 2017

I love summer reading. I have ever since I was a kid. All reading, all the time, and prizes to boot! What could be better than that?!

Now that I'm an adult with responsibilities (if not an actual responsible adult) I can't exactly read 15-20 hours a day. (Yes; you read that right. As teenagers, my sister and I would read 15-20 hours A DAY during the summer. We were basically rock stars at our library. Dang, I miss those days!) I've made it a summer tradition to pick out 10 or so books that I've been DYING to read but putting off for whatever reasons or newer books that got shoved to the bottom of my TBR because of all the other books I've been putting off. I usually don't read most of them, because I'm kind of terrible with lists, and I don't always account for real-life stuff and required reading like ARCS. (Seriously, you don't want to look at my To Do list. It's horrifying.) Yet I keep trying.

This year is no different.

SUMMER READING LINEUP

Randoms and Rebels by David Liss
You might remember my review for Randoms from a few years back. I certainly remember it because I fangirled all over the place about all things sci-fi and it's still one of my favorite video reviews to date. I've been waiting and anticipating the sequel ever since and yet somehow completely missed the publication for Rebels last year. I know! I'm still kicking myself for it!

If you haven't seen it, check out my review for Randoms!

The Night Watchman by Mark Mynheir
I am always on the lookout for good, gritty mysteries, but it's really hard to find titles that are mostly clean, too. I've been trying to squeeze this into my reading schedule for about four months now.

Battlefront: Twilight Company by Anthony Freed (Star Wars)
This is an audio that's been hanging out on my MP3 player for the better part of a year and my current listen. I'm really enjoying it. It's a very different Star Wars story than I'm used to, since it doesn't focus on any of the familiar characters and so far only makes passing references to them.

The Last Policeman by Ben Winters
This one has probably been on the TBR the longest, which makes me really sad. I'm very intrigued by this idea. Another mystery (possibly gritty) about a policeman determined to find the truth about a suspicious suicide that no one else cares about because THE EARTH IS GOING TO BE DESTROYED BY AN ASTEROID. I'm hoping this will be a great character-driven piece because, seriously, what's driving this guy to solve a case when everyone else is living their last months to the fullest? What makes him choose to be -dun dun DUN!- The Last Policeman?

Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin
I was all set to avoid this book because it sounded depressing but unbeknownst to me I've suddenly started loving stories with sad endings, like West Side Story and a certain box office hit I need to see for at least the sixth time. That, coupled with this review/love letter over at OUR FAMILIARIUM sold me on adding it.

NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE BY DAN WELLS
This one gets all caps because I LOVE THIS SERIES and I HAVEN'T TALKED ABOUT IT virtually at all. I've been saving reviews for this series for videos (which will be starting again late summer/early fall!) because I need to VOCALIZE my COMPLETE ADORATION of this series.
*achem*
This is the last book of the John Cleaver series, the first of which you've probably heard of: I Am Not a Serial Killer. It's also the newest release on the list, since it only came out June 6. I can't wait to read the conclusion, which is obviously going to be EPIC, but I'm nervous about how it's going to end too.

The Edge of Everything by Jeff Giles
Another new release that I don't want to wait to read. All I know is there's basically a bounty hunter from Hell (as in, the pit-of-fire-where-bad-souls-go Hell) whose job is to take the souls of evil people. I have high hopes, so we'll see.

Hearts & Other Body Parts by Ira Bloom
I was really happy to win this title in a Goodreads giveaway earlier this year and it's been sitting in my To Read stack for months, staring at me, judging me, and begging me to read it.

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly
This is the second-oldest TBR title on the list. My good friend The Library Ninja recommended this way back when and I haven't been able to read it yet. THIS SUMMER. I will read it THIS SUMMER.

Specter of the Past by Timothy Zahn (Star Wars)
My next, huge TBR project is to read through the New Jedi Order series, but first I have to read Zahn's Thrawn duology. Because Thrawn. And Zahn. Hello.

My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows
I really had no interest in this historical title until I found out it's a historical fantasy and one the characters spends his day as a horse. This is the lowest on the list, however, because it's the most recent.

Last but not least, I still have book club through the summer! So add two more titles to the list, one blank for July, and one for my June read, Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman, which I really should start soon...

Voila! My considerably trimmed down Summer Reading List!

What's on your list for the summer?

What new releases are you anticipating?

TTT: Most Anticipated Releases for the Second Half of the Year (2016)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly book blog meme brought to us by by The Broke and the Bookish. I just don't post on Tuesdays. ;) This is a good one, so enjoy!

1. MARVEL IRON MAN: THE GAUNTLET BY EOIN COLFER

This. Must. My gosh.
This is going to be my new desktop screen. xD

 

A new Marvel Iron Man book.
By Eoin Colfer.

A book about one of my favorite superheroes written by my ALL TIME FAVORITE AUTHOR.
IS THE CAPS LOCK ENOUGH TO TRULY EXPRESS MY ENTHUSIASM?!

I only check NetGalley every week to see if ARCs of this are available for request yet.

Current Status: Not available for requests, but by golly I wished for it! 

...have I mentioned I'm excited for this one?

>>INSERT>> 2. W.H.O. Files: Potions in the Pizza by Mikey Brooks
This book announcement and cover reveal hit the Internet and my social media feeds literally HOURS after I published this list and it simply cannot be left out!
I'll be featuring more about this title on Sunday!<<

2. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling
As many of you might know, I only recently began reading this series for the first time. My original goal was to finish the series before Fantastic Beasts hits theaters in November but, well...

I JUST HIT THE POINT OF NO RETURN. I'm in the middle of Order of the Phoenix and I'm finishing it before the Cursed Child release. No question.

Which means this will be my first Harry Potter book release and, as a complete HP newb, I really feel like I have to go all-out for this -Barnes & Noble midnight release party, stay up all night to read it, spend the next day in an exhausted blur, kind of all out. 

It's not like I'm ever going to get the chance to do it with any of the others, right?



3. Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians: The Dark Talent by Brandon Sanderson
Admittedly, I've only read the first book. But it's hilarious, a quick reader, so nerdy, and did I mention hilarious? Plus, written by Brandon Sanderson who, let's face it, I don't think is capable at this point of writing a bad book.
I plan to get my hands on book 5 and read through the entire series in one delicious feast.


4. Library Wars: Love & War Volumes 14 & 15
These are sitting over on my shelf right now. Do you know how long I've been waiting for this series to conclude. A long time. A long, long time. Since 2010. And that waiting was often punctuated by years of being unable to get the current volumes. Years.
Even better than reading the last two volumes? Getting ALL of the volumes and reading the complete series through in one go. ^_^


5. Bloodline by Claudia Gray
I'd be remiss if I didn't add the latest Star Wars 'new canon' addition, despite my failure to stay completely up to date on these new books. Oops.


6. Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton
I've heard good things about this -even grabbed the audiobook- but it inconveniently arrived the same time as Ready Player One, so I had to postpone it. :P


7. Stars Above by Marissa Meyer
I know this one has been out for a while, but no, I haven't read it yet. I have had SO MANY books to read and listen to it's not even funny.



8. Beauty and the Clockwork Beast by Nancy Campbell Allen
Um, YES.
'A Steampunk Proper Romance'.
I mean, guys, how can you NOT want to read this?


9. Tiara on the Terrace by Kristen Kittscher
Right, so this has already been released, but I haven't read it yet. It's a middle grade mystery and sequel to The Wig in the Window, which I loved.


10. Heartless by Marissa Meyer
Okay, so doing these TTT lists of upcoming releases is usually when I learn about most upcoming books. Like this one.
This is on the list because IT'S A NEW MARISSA MEYER. I loved The Lunar Chronicles, so of course I have to give this a try.

But it's also at the bottom of the list because it is a play off Alice in Wonderland. I have a love/hate relationship with Lewis Carrol's creations. I tend to really like spin offs and retellings of the story -like SyFy's Alice miniseries and Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland- but the original material itself, any movies directly based off of it, and the story ride in Disneyland are all on my Gives Me The Heebie Jeebies list. Ever since I was a small, terrified-of-almost-everything child all things Alice in Wonderland have freaked me out and, while I grew to love things like Who Framed Roger Rabbit despite how much Christopher Lloyd's cartoon self used to cause me vivid nightmares and Anastasia with what I now realize is a great villain in Rasputin, Alice in Wonderland is something I don't think I will ever recover from.

So I plan on giving Heartless a try, but it is with some trepidation.

I also just realized both of the examples I used of things that terrified me as a child were Christopher Lloyd. I swear it wasn't just him. A lot of other things terrified me as a kid, too. Really, I was an easily terrified child. That episode of Rugrats where Chucky thinks there's a monster under his bed and it's really just his sweater? Freaked me out so much my parents banned me from watching the show. That happened a lot, actually.
Please don't take it personally, Mr. Lloyd; I think you're awesome.