Top Ten Tuesday – Spooky Reads

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers’ answers. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND post a comment on our post with a link to your Top Ten Tuesday post to share with us and all those who are participating. If you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. If you can’t come up with ten, don’t worry about it—post as many as you can!

1. Anything by Stephen King — He is the master of the unsettling.  My favorite has to be The Shining.  Topiary animals still creep me out.

2. Autumn by David Moody — I had to include a few zombie stories.  And this one is the scariest zombie story I have every read.  You must read it!

3. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies — A fun mash-up between my favorite author and my favorite monster.  Delightful combination.  Not exactly scary, but those illustrations are beautiful works of art. 

4. Anything by Edgar Allan Poe — My favorite scary author of all time.  My 6th grade reading teacher did a whole unit on him.  Some of the other students hated his stories.  I found them fascinating. 

5. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley — Not a traditional scary story, but a horrifying vision of a possible future.  I definitely don’t want to live in that world. 

6. Coraline by Neil Gaiman — A fun scary story.  I was definitely creeped out by the Other Mother and I read this for the first time last year.  My kids were too scared of her to see the movie when it came out.  Very creepy!

7. Dracula by Bram Stoker — The grand daddy of all horror stories.  I love it!

8. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan — A very moody zombie story.  Not exactly scary, but it is unsettling.

9. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova — I love the old vampire stories and this one feels like it’s centuries old.  The combination of digging into the past the supernatural is too good to pass up.

10. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz — I read these over and over as a child and they creeped the hell out of me.  I still find them scary even after all these years. 

 

Top Ten Tuesday – Irresistible Covers

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers’ answers. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND post a comment on our post with a link to your Top Ten Tuesday post to share with us and all those who are participating. If you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. If you can’t come up with ten, don’t worry about it—post as many as you can!

Author note: Computer was acting up so no pretty pictures…

This week’s topic is Irrestible Covers and Titles, but I have a confession to make.  I am a sucker for a pretty covers.  They matter much more to me than the titles.  I know that’s a bit shallow for a dedicated reader.  But they’re so pretty!  Therefore, I am making this list Irresitible Covers…

1. Twilight Saga — I know that I’ve seen this style over and over lately, but I really loved the Twilight saga covers when they were released.  They’re simplistic, yet engaging.  They have meaning, but aren’t overwhleming.  I love the look of these.

2. The Hunger Games trilogy — Confession time, I haven’t actually read these.  But I just love the covers.  I can’t wait to get the second and third book so I can read before the movie releases.

3. Autumn by David Moody — So creepy!  I love the distorted face.  It really scares the crap out of me.  I don’t even have to know that the story’s about zombies.  I’m scared already.

4. Fables series — Each volume’s cover is so intricate yet beautiul.  I find them fascinating.  I want copies of these to hang in my house.  Yes, I am that geeky and proud of it!

5. Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger —  I’m so in love with steampunk right now.  I especially am drawn to steampunk clothes.  These covers have beautiful clothes amongst interesting black and white city scapes.  I love the look: modern and yet old.

6. All of Jill Mansell — I love these redone covers.  They are definitely chick lit, but no half naked men or women.  They’re tasteful yet whimsical.  I especially love Staying at Daisy’s with Clarissa the dog featured. 

7. Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris — Makes me giggle every time I see it.  Plus, the stories are just wonderfully delightful. 

8. Zombies vs. Unicorns — Usually anthology covers are pretty blah with tons of names and writing.  I love the simplicity of this cover.  And I’m obsessed with zombies!

9. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan — I’ve read that lots of people don’t like this cover, but I love it.  I usually shy away from covers with people. I like to create an image of the character in mind.  But somehow this was exactly how I pictured Mary.  Love it!

10. The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff — Very simplistic yet stylistic.  It’s not overwhelming, but there’s enough going on to catch my eye.  And this book is one of my favorites this year.

 

Top Ten Tuesday – Books with Magical First Reads

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers’ answers. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND post a comment on our post with a link to your Top Ten Tuesday post to share with us and all those who are participating. If you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. If you can’t come up with ten, don’t worry about it—post as many as you can!

I have those books that I love so much, I wish I could read them again for the first time.  There’s some so magical about the first dive into a book.  You don’t know what’s coming next.  You wait on the edge of your seat for the story.  Will it end happy or sad?  Will the characters change or stay the course?  Will there be any unexpected twists?

1. Entire Harry Potter series — How can you not get sucked into the magical world?  I loved every minute of these stories.  Often I read the book in one sitting, ignoring my need for food and sleep.  That is the definition of a magical read!

2. Jane Austen novels — I love her world and characters.  The first time I finally read one (probably not until high school/beginning of college), I was amazed that I hadn’t grabbed one of these before.  I was hooked.  I love J.A.  I reread her books all the time.  I watch all of the film/tv adaptations.  I even read and/or watch Austen related stories.

3. The Awakening by Kate Chopin — This book set my on the path to a Women’s Studies degree in college.  I don’t think I would have ever picked this book up on my own.  I’m thankful it was set in my path by a great HS English teacher.  It opened my eyes to Feminist Theory!

4. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury — I didn’t read this one until college (I know crazy!).  But this is one of those books that sucks you in and doesn’t let go.  The story is so compelling and scary.  I don’t ever want to live in that world!

5. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card — J’s recommendation.  He was amazed that I had never read it, but to be honest, I am not a huge fan of science fiction.  At least I wasn’t.  I am still figuring out the types of scifi that I love.  I think I’m leaning more towards the soft scifi/fantasy books.  Ender’s Game blew me away with the world, the characters, and the storyline.  I plan on passing this on to my boys this next summer.  I know N would love it!

6. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll — I am such a fan of this book now.  I wish that I remembered the first time I read it.  I am sure that I loved it to bits.

 

Top Ten Tuesday – Books With Endings That Left My Mouth Hanging Open

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers’ answers. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND post a comment on our post with a link to your Top Ten Tuesday post to share with us and all those who are participating. If you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. If you can’t come up with ten, don’t worry about it—post as many as you can!

Books that left my mouth hanging open, from surprise, anger, disgust, happiness, etc.  There have definitely been a few that I just couldn’t speak afterwords or found myself sputtering out nonsense.

1. The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa — Such a cliffhanger.  What is going to happen?  I couldn’t wait for The Iron Knight.  Thankfully I got a Net Galley of The Iron Knight to read.

2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Loved the series.  Loved the ending to the story.  But the epilogue just bugs the crap out of me.  I can’t stand epilogues.  They are too Cutesy cutesy wrap-ups.  Not needed.

3. LOTR: The Two Towers — Are Frodo and Sam going to make it?  Tolkien leaves us on such a cliffhanger.  OMG!

4. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies — I didn’t think I was going to like a Jane Austen retell, but I loved it.  A surprising experience.

5. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan — Such a great book.  Very scary and the ending killed me.  What was going to happen to Mary?  We find out in the next book, but it’s not quite what you think.

6. The Prestige by Christopher Priest — I did not see that one coming.  It totally threw me for a loop, but in a good way.  I loved the ending.

7. Emma by Jane Austen — Overall, I like this book.  However, the ending where Frank Churchill sorta apologizes to Emma just gets me every time.  I can’t stand it.  I then want to feel like he didn’t mean to lead Emma on, but he did.  I have these mixed feelings about Frank.  I don’t like it.

8. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald — Such a beautifully sad ending.  It is just so beautifully written.  I love it!

9. The Awakening by Kate Chopin — An unexpected ending.  In retrospect, the ending completely makes sense for the story and Edna’s journey.  It’s great.

10. This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer — I liked the first two books.  They were interesting takes on a dystopian world and survival.  However, the third one’s ending just made me so upset.  The tornado was so convenient.  Everything just changed in the last 10 pages.  I didn’t like it one bit.

 

Top Ten Tuesday – Books to Reread

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers’ answers. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND post a comment on our post with a link to your Top Ten Tuesday post to share with us and all those who are participating. If you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. If you can’t come up with ten, don’t worry about it—post as many as you can!

So many good books, but really I only reread the really really good ones.  There are a few on my shelf…

1. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley — My favorite dystopian novel.  I still haven’t decided if I’m okay with the society or if I want to collapse.

2. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams — Always a good one to reread.  In fact, I should reread this every year.

3. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon — Need to reread so I can read the rest of the series.  Plus, it is amazing.

4. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald — A high school favorite.  It’s on my list to reread soon.

5. The Fables Series — Just love it!

6. All of Jane Austen — Duh!  Have you read my blog?  I love JA!

7. Shakespeare — Always something more to get out of the Bard.

8. Harry Potter series — Always good to refresh.

9. Autumn by David Moody — Very scary zombie book.  Must read again.

10.  The Host by Stephenie Meyer — I like this better than the Twilight series.  Been meaning to reread it.

 

Top Ten Tuesday – Books Everyone Has Read But Me

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers’ answers. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND post a comment on our post with a link to your Top Ten Tuesday post to share with us and all those who are participating. If you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. If you can’t come up with ten, don’t worry about it—post as many as you can!

There’s so many books out there I want to read.  But there are definitely a few that everyone has read and I just haven’t gotten to them.  Sometimes it’s because I have issues with waiting between books in a series.  I want the whole series with me before I dive in.  I know crazy, but I just have waiting problems.  Then, there are those books that I want to read, but somehow I haven’t gotten to them yet.

1. The Hunger Games — Have The Hunger Games, but can’t justify paying hardcover prices for the other two.  Until I find them or somehow get them from the library (crazy long hold list), I will have to wait.  Hopefully I can get to them before the movie comes out.  I really want to see it, but can’t do that without reading the books first.  Such a dilemma.

2. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo — I must admit that I don’t have a huge interest in these, but they’ve gotten some much press that I feel like I should read them…

3. Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger — I finally found the 4th book in the series at the Borders closing sale.  I have them up to read before the year is out.  I know there’s a 5th coming, but I figure I could possibly wait a few months for that one.

4. Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost — Almost found all of these on clearance at Half Price Books.  Waiting on an opening in my reading schedule to throw these in.  I’ve heard so many good things, I have to read soon.

5. Shiver/Linger/Fever by Maggie Stiefvater — Intriguing and such beautfil covers.  I don’t have any of these, so it’ll be awhile.  But they’re definitely on my list.

6. A Game of Thrones by George Martin — The tv series was amazing.  I need to read these.  However I don’t have any of these and they’re so dang long.  This is will be a challenge.

7. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffennegger — It’s been on my shelf for probably two years.  And yet, still it sits.  I have really wanted to read this one.

8. The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare — So intrigued…

9. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead — Another that fell onto my radar this year.  Everyone seems to love them and I haven’t read a single one.

 

Top Ten Tuesday – Sequels I’m Dying to Read

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers’ answers. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND post a comment on our post with a link to your Top Ten Tuesday post to share with us and all those who are participating. If you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. If you can’t come up with ten, don’t worry about it—post as many as you can!

So this week’s topic is “Sequels I’m Dying to Read,”  but I have a big problem.  I don’t have any Sequels I’m Dying to Read.  I know what you’re thinking: “How can you not have tons of sequels lying around to read?”  There is an explanation.  I have a dirty little secret.  I don’t read book series until all of them are published and in my possession.  Yeah, I’m kinda bad like that.  And it keeps me really far behind in the new releases realm.  (For example, I got The HUnger Games months ago, but haven’t read it yet because I don’t have Catching Fire and Mockingjay.)  So I’ve got nothing, nada, zilch for today…

 

Top Ten Tuesday – Books on My TBR List!

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

 

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers’ answers. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND post a comment on our post with a link to your Top Ten Tuesday post to share with us and all those who are participating. If you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. If you can’t come up with ten, don’t worry about it—post as many as you can!

This week’s topic, in honor of the coming of fall, is Top Ten Books on Your TBR List.  I’m not planning on buying any books (we’ll see how far that goes), so my list is all books currently sitting on my shelves.  I’m really trying to wrap up a ton of reading challenges.  I just spent a few days reorganizing my books to put the reading challenge qualifying books on top and in the bookshelf next to my chair.  Those are the books that I really need to read like now!

1. The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler — I’ve had this one for awhile and need to get a few more contemporary romances in before Sept. 30th.  This one also intrigued me.  So it’s going to the top of the list.

2. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams — Counts towards science fiction and Page to Screen challenges.

3. Contact by Carl Sagan — Another Science Fiction…

4. Love, Rosie by Cecelia Ahern — Really need to wrap this contemporary romances and I heard good things about this one.

5. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley — One of favorite old books.  Counts for 2011: Back in the Day and A to Z: Authors (X).

6. The Girl from Jungchow by Kate Furnivall — I”m intrigued by her books and settings.  Plus it counts for Historical Fiction and A to Z: Authors (F).

7.  The Blades of the Rose series by Zoe Archer (Rebel, Scoundrel, Warrior, Stranger) — Been on my shelf for a few months and I really want to read them.  Plus they count as four for my Summer Romance – Paranormal Romance Challenged ending Sept. 30th.

8. Cotillion by Georgette Heyer — Still have 4 to read for my Heyer challenge.  As much as I love Regency romance, this one has been hard to get motivated for.

9. The Lost Duke of Wyndham by Julia Quinn — Some good looking historical romance for my 2011: Show It Who is Boss challenge.

10. Mr. Cavendish, I Presume by Julia Quinn — Another historical romance for my A to Z: Authors (Q) challenge.

 

Reading Challenge Finished!

Today I finished my first big reading challenge!  I feel like I have hit a milestone…  it’s a great feeling of accomplishment.  You ask, what reading challenge?  Zombies, of course.  I didn’t think it would take me long to read 10 zombie books, but I thought it would take longer than this.  I tried to pick up a mix of genres for my weekly reading.  Yet, I somehow always ended up with a zombie book in there.  So here’s my list…  the first ten were my original picks way back in December.  As you can see, I picked up some others to ultimately finish the list.

1. The Undead World of Oz — Ryan Thomas
2. Zombies for Zombies — David Murphy (2/5/11)
3. Flip this Zombie — Jesse Petersen (2/13/11)
4. Zombies vs. Unicorns – Larbalestier
5. The Forest of Hands and Teeth – Carrie Ryan (5/17/11)
6. The Dead-Tossed Waves – Carrie Ryan (5/23/11)
7. You are So Undead to Me – Stacey Jay
8. Undead Much – Stacey Jay
9. Zombie Blondes – Brian James
10. Generation Dead – Daniel Waters
11. A Zombie’s History of the United States – Dr. Worm Miller (3/2/11)
12. Autumn – David Moody (3/6/11)
13. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After – Steven Hockensmith (4/10/11)
14. Autumn: The City – David Moody
15. Hungry for Your Love – Lori Perkins (4/21/11)
16. The Living Dead 2 – John Joseph Adams (5/9/11)
17. Once Bitten, Twice Dead – Bianca D’Arc (5/16/11)

I read some really good ones in there.  I think my favorite so far is Autumn by David Moody.  Very disturbing book, but not your typical zombie gore fest.  I still have the sequel Autumn: The City to read.  But I want to take a zombie break.

There’s still a question hanging in the air: Should I increase this reading challenge to 20 books and keep going?  Or just keep it here and focus on the other challenges?  Keep in mind that I will still read zombie books throughout the rest of the year, I just won’t have them count for a challenge!

 

Top Ten Tuesday – I Just HAD to Buy… But are Still Sitting on My Bookshelf

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because we are particularly fond of lists here at The Broke and the Bookish. We’d love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers’ answers. Everyone is welcome to join. All we ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND post a comment on our post with a link to your Top Ten Tuesday post to share with us and all those who are participating. If you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. If you can’t come up with ten, don’t worry about it—post as many as you can!

This week’s list is pretty difficult for me to write.  For the past year, I’ve lived mostly out of boxes.  I haven’t even seen most of my books that entire time.  I’ve bought a ton of books in the past few years and most of those are still sitting on “shelf.”  I buy books and then check books out from the library.  Sometimes I get back to the ones I own, and sometimes they just stay somewhere.  I have one box of books sitting in my room, so I’ll look at those.

1-2. Dragonfly in Amber and Voyager by Diana Gabaldon — C made me read Outlander (while reenacting, what a trip!) and I fell in love with the story of Claire and Jamie.  I had to get the other books and read the rest of the Outlander series.  So I rushed out to the used book stores and found Dragonfly in Amber and Voyager and what did I do?  Left them on the shelf.  I started Dragonfly a few months back and something happened.  I got distracted or something and didn’t finish it.  So I’ve got these great books sitting here and haven’t read them yet.  Thankfully I have joined the Outlander series reading challenge so I am going to read the entire series this year, but it probably won’t be until August (to coincide with my Year of Reading challenge).  I promise I will get to them.

3. Wideacre by Philippa Gregory — I love historical fiction.  I read The Other Boleyn Girl and told myself that I had to read more from Gregory.  So I had to buy this when I saw it on the used book store shelf.  And again, I have let it sit on the shelf.  No matter, historical fiction is another one of my reading challenges.

4-5. Inkheart and Inkspell by Cornelia Funke — I watched the movie Inkheart and really liked it, so I just had to read the book right?  Then I found out it was trilogy.  Oh, well, okay I can do that.  So I found Inkheart and Inkspell, but have yet to find a cheap copy of Inkdeath.  I keep telling myself that I haven’t read them because I don’t have the third, but really I just keep getting distracted by other books.

6. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins — Another must read after hearing about it for so long.  I found a copy for cheap and snatched it up.  It’s only been on my shelf for about two weeks so far. I have high hopes that this one will be read soon.

7. The Magicians by Lev Grossman — J’s said that I had to read this one.  And his description of the book made it really sound like something I would like.  I found a cheap copy at Half Price Books about three weeks ago.  I just need to work it into my crazy reading schedule now.

8. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez — Up until this year, I read mostly nonfiction or “classics.”  This is one of those books that I always considered a “classic,” but hadn’t read.  So I found a copy sometime last year thinking that I would tackle it in the coming weeks and promptly forgot about the book.  It sat in a box until I unearthed it last night while trying to think of entries for this post.  I’ll try to get to it soon, but I know it’s one of those books that I’m going to have to devote actually dedicated reading time.  Maybe during a trip or a snow day…

Okay, so I only found eight for this week.  That’s not to say I only have eight books in my purchased TBR pile.  These are just the eight books that I was super excited to find and read and then not read for one reason or another.  I am going to try really hard to put these into my must read pile.  We’ll see how it goes.  I’m not making any promises.