Category Top Ten Tuesday

Dec 9 2013
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Top Ten Books on My Winter 2013 List! (12/10/2013)

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Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

 By far, this is my favorite TTT list to create because I love the process of figuring out which books excite me the most. Here’s the thing, I still have books from my Fall, Summer, and to Spring lists to get through (and because I wanted to read them the most, I feel like I should give them priority). A few books from those lists (like Throne of Glass) are actually at the top of my TBR pile, but I feel like it would be cheating to put them up again. So, aside from the unexplored awesomeness of the previously listed books, these are the:

Top Ten Books on My Winter 2013 List!

 In strong contrast to the last one of these that I did, I have mostly adult speculative fiction (as opposed to YA) on my list. Something about this last month has really made me in the mood for robust novels. I think the one I am most looking forward to reading is the finale to Rachel Aaron’s Eli Monpress series, Spirit’s End… followed very closely by the Trudi Canavan. I would normally have said The Fiery Heart, but for some reason I’m feeling in the mood to save it for a rainy day.

What books are at the top of your reading list?

by Niki Hawkes

Dec 2 2013
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Top Ten 2014 Releases I’m Dying to Read (Excluding YA)!

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Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

The topic a couple of weeks ago was the Top Ten Sequels I Can’t Wait to Get My Hands On, which kind of killed my momentum for this post because I featured all upcoming releases (I guess I should have looked ahead). Anyway, because all but one of the books on the aforementioned list were YA, I’m devoting this list to the adult genres:

Top Ten 2014 Releases I’m Dying to Read (Excluding YA)!

There are a lot of fantastic authors on this list but I’d have to say the one I’m most looking forward to reading is the final Patrick Rothfuss book (It remains my favorite fantasy to date). Although, I am also super eager for anything new by Abraham/Corey!

What 2014 releases are you looking forward to?

by Niki Hawkes

Nov 26 2013
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Top Ten Childhood Books I’m Thankful For!

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 Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

 This week, I’m paying homage to the books that sparked my love of reading. Without them, I doubt I would have grown up to be The Obsessive Bookseller I am today. I owe them for introducing me to my passion in life.

Top Ten Childhood Books I’m Thankful For!

Most of these books kept me entertained a dozen times over – when I was younger we lived almost two hours from the nearest bookstore, so I reread these books until they were falling apart. Some of them I would challenge myself to read cover to cover every day… It was a lot of fun. :-)

What books sparked your love of reading as a kid?

by Niki Hawkes

Nov 18 2013
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Top Ten Books I Recommend to Nonreaders! (11/18/2013)

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Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

 For avid readers like myself, there is no end to the number of great books just waiting to be added to our colossal TBR piles. For nonreaders, however, it can be really difficult finding quality reading if you’re not immersed in the book world. It has been my experience that most nonreaders select their next books based solely on word of mouth and personal recommendations.

 Because they are not familiar with many of the subgenres of speculative fiction, I always try to get them started on “gateway” novels – ones that aren’t too intimidating for the casual reader but are good enough that I can recommend them confidently to a wide range of people. As a side note, I consider anyone who reads fewer than five books a year to be a nonreader. These recommendations also work for avid readers looking to explore other genres.

Top Ten Books I Recommends to Nonreaders!

   Now keep in mind that I wouldn’t hand any of these titles to people who only like creative nonfiction or biographies. They have to be interested in these genres to begin with, and I do a lot of brain picking before I throw my heart and soul into a recommendation. I actually have a list of about five titles per genre that I mention to an interested person, but tried to pick the best from each one to represent here. Would any of these make your list?

by Niki Hawkes

Nov 12 2013
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Top Ten Tuesday – Top Ten Book Covers I Wish I Could Redesign! (11/12/2013)

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 Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

 Let’s face it, despite the old saying, most of us always consider the cover when deciding whether or not to pick up a book. I’ve always been a firm believer that the cover can tell you quite a bit about a title. Often times, publishers award the most desirable covers to the books they think are going to make them the most money. Even though it’s not a foolproof method, you could say that books with beautiful covers usually deserve a second look. That doesn’t mean a good book can’t have a crappy cover, as quite a few of my redesign selections today are among my all-time favorites. So without further ado:

 Top Ten Book Covers I Wish I Could Redesign! 

Interestingly enough, three of my ten covers were illustrated by the same person… I guess it’s safe to say his work just doesn’t speak to me. I’ve also included two Richelle Mead books because, as my favorite, I need covers that will help entice people to pick them up. There’s nothing worse than handing a customer a book with the disclaimer “don’t let the cover throw you off, it’s excellent!” The added visual really does help me get people excited to try new series. I realize a few of these actually have been redesigned, but I include them on my list anyway because I still don’t like how they were done.

  I love covers, so as a bonus I decided to include my:

Top Ten Favorite/Least Favorite Cover Redesigns:

Favorite Changes – Before:

Favorite Changes – After:

 Least Favorite Changes – Before:

 Least Favorite Changes – After:

 I liked the old designs better… I’m almost embarrassed to hand the Dawn Cook series to anybody now – it’s one of my favorite Dragon stories, but you’d never know it from the new covers.

I hope you enjoyed the extra mile I went this week. What book covers would you like to redesign? 

Nov 4 2013
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Top Ten Tuesday – Top Ten Sequels I Can’t Wait to get My Hands On (11/5/2013)

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 Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

Top Ten Sequels I Can’t Wait to get My Hands On!

The first five are sequels that have covers and release dates (and, incidentally, are the books I am most excited to pick up within the next six months):

 For the next five, I decided to feature the first books in the series, as covers, titles, and release dates aren’t yet available for their sequels. Some of these rank among my favorite books read this year, and I am impatiently awaiting the next installments:

You may notice that most of them are YA which should illustrate the direction my reading tastes have been lately. I can’t seem to help it, though, because there are so many great new authors hitting the market that I’m having trouble keeping up with them all!

Is anybody else as excited for these sequels as I am?

 by Niki Hawkes