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!

This week’s topic: Top Ten Best Books I Read In 2015

Oh my goodness, where has the year gone? And why was it so hard to put together this week’s list? ;_; (also posted this list over at Riffle. And many will show up again when I post the 6th annual end of the year book survey later this week 🙂 )

In no particular order:

1. Bee Ridgway’s The River of No Return (review)
2. Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels (see author tag)
3. Daphne Kalotay’s Russian Winter (review)
4. Brandon Sanderson’s The Alloy of Law (review)
5. Deborah Harkness’ The Book of Life (review)
6. Alice Munro’s Runaway (review)
7. Viola di Grado’s The Hollow Heart (review)
8. All of the Julia Quinn novels I read this year 😛 (see author tag)
9. Darragh McKeon’s All That Is Solid Melts Into Air (review)
10. Anthony Marra’s The Tsar of Love and Techno (review)

And now for the honourable mentions (because 10 isn’t enough! And easily I just added another 10, haha):

1. Rachel Bach’s Honour’s Knight & Heaven’s Queen (see author tag)
2. Anthony Doerr’s All The Light We Cannot See (review)
3. Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven (review)
4. Jess Walters’ Beautiful Ruins (review)
5. Max Wirestone’s The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss (review)
6. Susanna Kearsley’s The Winter Sea (review)
7. Robert Shearman’s They Do The Same Things Different There (review)
8. Lindsey Kelk’s Always the Bridesmaid (review)
9. Sarah MacLean’s Love By Numbers series (review forthcoming)
10. Neil Gaiman’s Fortunately the Milk (review forthcoming)

Oh gosh, honestly this list doesn’t do my favourites for this year justice as I’m sure I’m missing a ton more xD Anyway, what were some of your favourite books this year?

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!

This week’s topic: Top Ten New-To-Me Favourite Authors I Read For The First Time In 2015

Hmm, I’d say this has been a good year for me when it came to reading books, but strangely enough it took a bit of thought for me to put this list together (despite having read a number of authors for the first time)

In no particular order:

1. Elena Ferrante — I had heard of this Italian author in the last year or two but I didn’t get around to reading her books–her popular Neapolitan novels (see author tag)–until this year. And guys, #FerranteFever is real; if you haven’t checked out her books yet, I urge you to do so. Now 😛 Words cannot express how blown away I was by her novels.
2. Daphne Kalotay — I only got around to reading Russian Winter (review) early this year and absolutely loved it <3 She wrote an amazing historical fiction title, definitely left me on the lookout for her other books.
3. Max Wirestone — I really enjoyed The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss (review) with its geeky-awesome lead character and strange case. I look forward to reading his future books.
4. Jess Walters — Again, another author I had been meaning to read for a long time. I only got around to Beautiful Ruins (review) over the summer and yeah, I look forward to reading whatever he writes next 🙂 I loved the way he wrote, there were so many great quotes from that book…
5. N.K. Jemisin — She has been on my want-to-read list for years. I still have to read her Inheritance trilogy but in the meantime, I really liked her Dreamblood duology, it was a pretty unique read.
6. Jasper Fforde — Okay, I sound like a broken recorder at this point but this author is another one who has been on my want-to-read list for years. Dunno why it took me so long to get around to reading The Eyre Affair (review) but I’m so glad I finally did! Such a zany ride akin to Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams. Love!
7. Viola di Grado — I picked up her novel Hollow Heart (review) after reading all of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels and I was just absolutely blown away by her writing and by her storytelling. I cannot recommend her enough.
8. Jane Gardam — Europa Editions has stolen my heart this year it seems as this is the third author from their catalogue that is featured on my list this week 😀 (the other two being Elena Ferrante and Viola di Grado) I only got around to reading Old Filth a few weeks ago (my review for it won’t be going live until next year (!!!)) but I was absolutely blown away by the story and her seamless use of memory into the narrative.
9. Sarah MacLean — My book reviews for her Love by Numbers trilogy isn’t going to go live on my blog until next year but I suffice to say I really enjoyed them, I loved the characters and the St. John siblings are great. Definitely a favourite series in the historical romance genre 🙂
10. Vivienne Lorret — Another historical romance author on the list. I sort of stumbled onto her books on a whim and decided to check them out. What I especially love about her books, namely The Rakes of Fallow Hall series, is not only how fast-paced they are (never a lull moment, really) but the friendships. I was rather sad when I got to the last book because it was like saying goodbye to friends; reading the scenes with just the guys or the girls or all of them together hanging out, it was like being a part of their group, if that makes any sense. My reviews for those books will also be going live next year but yeah, she’s also a favourite.

And those are my favourite authors from this year! I’m sure I missed a few–honourable mentions go to Emily St. John Mandel and Darragh McKeon–but yeah, which authors made your list this week?

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!

This week’s topic: Books on the Winter TBR List

I’m changing up this week’s TTT topic a bit as I’m hopelessly behind at knowing exactly what’s coming out and I still need to read up on that. So in the meantime, how about books that are up on the TBR queue for the winter months? 😀 Winter is usually the time of year when I tackle some of the chunkier books on my shelf–there’s just something about the weather, really–but my list is a mix of the door-stoppers, those long on my TBR queue, as well as some shorter reads because offline things are going to get a bit hectic for a while…

In no particular order:

1. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson — I tell you, it’s the cover that’s prompting me to read it during the winter 😉 I meant to read it arlier this year but yeah, didn’t get around to it. (For additional incentive, I did pick up A God of Ruins last week sooooo, best get on it 😉 )
2. Five Plays by Anton Chekhov — Continuing along in my reading of plays (which I read plenty of this past year) and in my theme of reading Russian authors over the winter months, I have this book to look forward to. I’ve never read any of Chekhov’s plays, only his short stories and novellas, but his plays are very popular so I’m looking forward to reading this 🙂
3. Cygnet by Patricia A. McKillip — Toss-up between reading this and re-reading Winter Rose (review) but this is the only McKillip book I have on queue at the moment and I’d love to get around to it sometime soon, it’s been a while since I’ve read anything by her…
4. The Story of Kullervo by J.R.R. Tolkien — Got my hands on this book back in October, I’m so excited to read it. Winter seems to be the time I associate with Tolkien as I first read LOTR in the winter, not to mention good members of the original trilogy movies <3 :D
5. The Truth by Terry Pratchett — I’ll probably re-read The Hogfather or something but it’s been a while since I’ve read any Discworld novels and this book has been sitting on my TBR queue for some time now…
6. The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith — This book will probably distract me more than help me unwind from studying, lmao. My review for The Cuckoo’s Calling won’t be up until…next week, I think?…but suffice to say I really liked it and rushed to pick up the paperback.
7. How to Marry a Marquis by Julia Quinn — My reward for studying (which I will read after my exam), haha. I should’ve done the same thing when Romancing Mister Bridgerton arrived in the post last week but alas, I could not help it, I had to read it (as I had been patiently waiting forever for the new edition to be released and shipped) 😛
8. The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse — I finally got my hands on this book! It’s only been sitting on my GoodReads wish-to-read shelf since I first signed up for an account way back when 😛 Works out perfectly for the season, too 😀
9. Fifteen Dogs by Andre Alexis — This book won the Giller Prize for 2015 and this time around I got my hands on a copy before it became sold out or anything 😀 Should make for a fascinating read.
10. The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian — And finally, a bit of historical fiction on this list. I probably won’t get around to reading it until the new year but I’m looking forward to it! I heard a lot of good things about it 🙂

And that’s my list of books for this week! What books were featured on your TTT this week for releases next year? Looking forward to learning more about what’s coming out in 2016 🙂

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!

This week’s topic: Top Ten Quotes I Loved From Books I Read In The Past Year Or So

Great topic! I always love sharing my favourite quotes from books…Mind you, my favourite quotes from books aren’t always the most inspiring but they catch my attention nonetheless 🙂

In no particular order:

“You need to create for yourself, not them.” – Rodin’s Lover by Heather Webb (review)

Few people, very few, have a teasure, and if you do you must hang on to it. You must not let yourself be way laid, and have it taken from you. – “Chance”, Runaway by Alice Munro (review)

“‘We long only to go home.'”
“‘We long only for the world we were born into.'”
– Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (review)

We mortals, men and women, devour many a disappointment between breakfast and dinnertime; keep back the tears and look a little pale about the lips, and in answer to inquire say, “Oh, nothing!” Pride helps us, and pride is not a bad thing when it only urges us to hide our own hurts–not to hurt others. – Middlemarch by George Eliot (review)

No one decided who was worthy of me except myself. – Heaven’s Queen by Rachel Bach (review)

If only talking to oneself did not look mad, no day would go by without my being heard growling to myself, against myself, “You silly shit!” Yet I do not intend that to be a definition of me. – Why We Weep and Laugh at the Same Thing by Michel de Montaigne (review forthcoming)

Flirting was, for me, an ancient language, like Phoenician or Ammonite, the peculiarities of which have been lost to lack of usage and also antiquity. – The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss by Max Wirestone (review)

“Shit!”
“That’s Mr. Schitt to you, Next!”
– The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (review forthcoming)

I said to myself everyday: I am what I am and I have to accept myself; I was born like this, in this city, with this dialect, without money; I will give what I can give, I will take what I can take, I will endure what has to be endured. – The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante (review)

“It was as if I as a character in a movie and the real action was about to start at any minute. But I think some people wait forever, and only at the end of their lives do they realise that their life has happened while they were waiting for it to start.” – Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter (review)

And those are some of my favourite quotes from this year! What were some of yours?