Top Ten Tuesday: New-to-Me Authors of 2022 That Made Me Want More

For That Artsy Reader Girl’s Top Ten Tuesday:

January 24: New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2022 (If you didn’t read books by 10 new authors, share new-to-you authors whose books you added to your TBR in 2022. Get creative, if needed!)

Rachel Harrison

In 2022 I read: Cackle

Next I want to read: Such Sharp Teeth

Why: Cackle was a fun, feminist, witch story, so I decided to see what Harrison does with werewolves! Actually I also looked at her other book, The Return, which I’ll also get to at some point, hopefully.

Ava Reid

In 2022 I read: The Wolf and the Woodsman

Next I want to read: Juniper & Thorn

Why: The Wolf and the Woodsman is a dark, sometimes ugly, fairytale that incorporates Hungarian history and Jewish folklore. While not a sequel, Juniper and Thorn is Reid’s second book, and it is set in the same world.

Grady Hendrix

In 2022 I read: The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires and The Final Girl Support Group

Next I want to read: How To Sell a Haunted House

Why: The two I read in 2022 were weird hybrids of horror and humor that appealed to the strangeness in me. Hendrix tends to explore a different subgenre in each of his books, and I’m interested in reading his take on the haunted house story.

Byrd Nash

In 2022 I read: A Spell of Rowans

Next I want to read: The Wicked Wolves of Windsor

Why: I won A Spell of Rowans in a Goodreads giveaway, and really enjoyed it. It combines a genre I often find comforting (small town witch story) with a darker story of trauma, and a murder mystery. I definitely want to read more of Nash’s work, and The Wicked Wolves of Windsor appealed to me most at first glance.

Alice Feeney

In 2022 I read: Sometimes I Lie

Next I want to read: His & Hers

Why: I won Sometimes I Lie in another Goodreads giveaway (I had bizarrely good luck with Goodreads giveaways in 2022!) and I really enjoyed the domestic thriller/murder mystery. Feeney has a few others that look good but this had the highest rating so I might try for this one first.

Susan Meissner

In 2022 I read: The Nature of Fragile Things

Next I want to read: Stars Over Sunset Boulevard

Why: The Nature of Fragile things told a compelling personal story against the backdrop of historical events: in this case the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. Stars Over Sunset Boulevard is a dual timeline (a device I love) set in contemporary LA and Old Hollywood (I’m an old movie buff!).

Sylvia Townsend Warner

In 2022 I read: Lolly Willowes

Next I want to read: The Corner That Held Them

Why: My book club read Lolly Willowes and I loved the weird hybrid of character study, family drama, and the third act transition to witch story! I think it also reads nicely as a companion to Cackle (above), which turned out to just be good timing on my part. I did a bit of googling about what to read next, and came across this review, which intrigued me, so I decided to go with The Corner that Held Them next.

Barbara Comyns

In 2022 I read: Our Spoons Came from Woolworths

Next I want to read: Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead

Why: Our Spoons Came from Woolworths was another book club read. I had an interesting response, in that I liked it more after reading than I did while I was reading. I wanted to read more so I did some research. This blog says that Our Spoons is probably not the best place to start with Comyns (oh well!) but recommends this and another one. This sounded more interesting at the moment.

TJ Klune

In 2022 I read: The House in the Cerulean Sea

Next I want to read: Under the Whispering Door

Why: I had a slightly conflicted reaction to The House in the Cerulean Sea (explained here) but I did really like it and want to read more from the author. This and In the Lives of Puppets both look good really, so I’ll see which I get to first.

Taylor Adams

In 2022 I read: No Exit

Next I want to read: The Last Word

Why: No Exit was just a fast, exciting read. Sometimes that’s all I’m in the mood for! I looked through Adams’ other work and The Last Word sounded most interesting to me at the moment.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Characters

For That Artsy Read Girl’s Top Ten Tuesday:

May 10: Bookish Characters (these could be readers, writers, authors, librarians, professors, etc.)

Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow – Beatrice Belladonna is definitely a bookish character. She works in a library and ends up keeping another, magical library. I sort of picture her as an owl reading a book!

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix – The book club in this book has sort of an interesting evolution. They’re founded for the purpose of reading Great Literature. But they start on true crime instead. They branch out from there to fictional crime and best sellers. By the end they read Dracula for research purposes.

Beach Read by Emily Henry – Augustus Everett writes literary fiction. January Andrews writes romance novels. When they discover they’re staying next door to each othr for the summer, they decide to swap genres.

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman – Irene is a spy for the titular Library. She finds and protects important works of fiction from different realities. She has a simple mission: retrieve a dangerous book from an alternate version of London. But the best laid plans…

The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner – When Chawton, the final home to Jane Austen, is threatened just after WWII, a group of Austen fans band together to save the home and protect Austen’s legacy.

The Book of Speculation by Erica Swyler – Simon is a research librarian who gets a book from a rare book dealer that has some kind of connection to his family. As her reads the story it tells, he becomes afraid for the safety of his sister.

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman – Nina prefers books to reality. She works in a bookshop, and her closest companion is her cat, Phil. She’s not convinced that real life can ever live up to fiction. I know the feeling!

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern – Zachery is a grad student who encounters a book that tells him a story from his own life. Confused as to how this happened, Zachery follows clues to an ancient, secret library far below the surface of the Earth.

Top Ten Tuesday: One (and more!) Word Reviews

For That Artsy Reader Girl’s Top Ten Tuesday

May 3: One-Word Reviews for the Last Ten Books I Read (submitted by Susan @ Bloggin’ ’bout Books)

I’m adding a bit more to some of these, because sometimes you need more than one word!

The Comfort Book by Matt Haig

One Word Review: Disappointing

More than one word: I didn’t dislike this. I just wanted to like it more than I did. I actually liked his lists of comfort songs and movies, and his little chapters about inspirational people a lot. But a lot of it felt repetitious.

Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty

One Word Review: Underwhelimg

More than one word: I enjoyed the book, but everything built toward learning what happened about a barbeque (the first half of the book is alternating lead up and aftermath) and when we finally learned what happened, it wasn’t exactly earth shattering. I mean it was for the characters, I’m sure, but not for the reader.

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Henrix

One Word Review: Ick

More than one word: I actually liked this book. It was definitely gorier than I like (hence the one word review) but in spite of that, I enjoyed most of it enough to want to read more from the author.

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevado

One Word Review: Fine

More than one word: I think “fine” sums it up. I was a bit disappointed because I thought Acevedo’s debut, The Poet X, was more than fine, but this was pretty good.

Dancing on Knives by Kate Forsyth

One Word Review: Slow

More than one word: I don’t mean “slow” in a bad way. I thought the pace suited the story well. I took it’s time to get where it was going, but it worked.

A Spindle Splintered by Alix E Harrow

One Word Review: Substandard

More than one word: After loving Harrow’s two full length novels, I didn’t think that this novella quite lived up to them. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t as good as I felt like it could have been. I’ll still read the sequel though.

The Signalman by Charles Dickens

One Word Review: Creepy

More than one word: I’ve been trying to read some Victorian Christmas ghost stories this year, so this was one of those. I enjoyed it, in that it kind of made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up a bit (my measure of a good ghost story) It definitely felt like a short story, rather than something like A Christmas Carol which is more novella territory.

Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente

One Word Review: Weird

More than one word: I really liked this. I wasn’t sure what it was going into it. I couldn’t tell if it was intended to be a retelling, and one of the reviews I read said the less you know going in the better, so after reading that, I stopped looking. I’m glad I did because it let me fully appreciate what Valente was doing as this unfolded.

Within These Wicked Walls by Lauren Blackwood

One Word Review: Unheroic

More than one word: I wanted to like this one more than I was able to. The biggest problem for me was the character who was supposed to fill the romantic hero role, was totally unappealing, unlikeable and unheroic.

The Dragonfly Pool by Eva Ibbotson

One Word Review: Letdown

More than one word: Anyone who reads my blog knows how much I love Eva Ibbotson. This wasn’t my favorite of her books. Not that it was bad at all! I think my expectations may have been too high based on my love for the author, but it felt like it tried to do a bit too much.

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors I Haven’t Read, But Want To

For That Artsy Reader Girl’s Top Ten Tuesday:

There are so many! And that’s not even counting all the authors I’ve read one book from, meant to read more, but haven’t gotten around to it yet!

T. Kingfisher- I’ve been really intrigued by some of her books but haven’t actually gotten to them yet. On my TBR: Paladin’s Grace, Nettle and Bone, The Seventh Bride, and A Wizard’s Guide To Defensive Baking (which is the best title ever!)

Ilona Andrews- Someone in my book club recommended her Innkeeper Chronicles as good comfort reads. It looks like she’s got a lot of other books, but I figure that’s a good place to start, since comfort is always needed!

Natalie Haynes- I’ve never been a fan of the Greek myths and classics but Madeline Miller has recently opened my mind to their potential. I know Natalie Haynes has written a lot based on them too, so I plan to check them out at some point. On my TBR: A Thousand Ships, and The Furies.

Stacey Halls-I’ve seen some of her books that look good the last few times I went to the library. I keep meaning to read them, but I’ve gone for other things (I can only carry so much!) On my TBR: Mrs. England, The Familiars

Grady Hendrix – For the past year, year and a half people in my book club have recommended Grady Hendrix as an author who is sometimes funny, sometimes scary, sometimes at the same time. On my TBR: The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires and The Final Girl’s Support Group.

Wendy Webb- Supposedly Webb is “Queen of the Northern Gothic” (according to her publicity anyway) and I love Gothic from any direction. On my TBR: The Fate of Mercy Alban, The Haunting of Brynn Wilder, and The Vanishing.

Constance Sayers- This author’s work looks like a fusion of historical fiction and fantasy, which is right up my ally! On my TBR: A Witch in Time and The Ladies of the Secret Circus.

Sarah Blake- I didn’t even realize that this was an author on the list, until I look at my TBR and saw several of her books on there! On my TBR: The Guest Book and Grange House.

Jess Kidd- This is another one I didn’t realize I wanted to read several books from. I remember adding Things in Jars to my TBR because it was compared with several books I really enjoyed (The Essex Serpent, The Book of Speculation). I must have looked the author up, because Mr. Flood’s Last Resort and Himself were added shortly thereafter.

Top Ten Tuesday: 2021 Releases I Didn’t Get To

For That Artsy Reader Girl’s Top Ten Tuesday:

January 18: 2021 Releases I Was Excited to Read But Didn’t Get To

There were a lot of these! Keeping it to ten…

The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins – What can I say? I love domestic thrillers and Jane Eyre fanfiction so the combo appeals to me!

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner – A dual timeline novel involving an eighteenth century poisoner and a modern historian who stumbles upon evidence of the crimes. Sounds like fun.

Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge – I read a book years ago about some of the first female doctors and it sparked a bit of an interest in the subject. This novel is about one of the first Black female doctors in the United States.

Matrix by Lauren Groff – I’ve liked a lot of Groff’s past work. This looks like a bit of a change of pace for her.

The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman – This is the conclusion of the Practical Magic series. I liked the first two but was disappointed in the third. I still want to read this one though.

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides – I wasn’t a huge fan of Michaelides debut, The Silent Patient (I thought it was alright but nothing special) but his follow up looks interesting, and I love the whole “dark academia” aesthetic.

House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland – I’ve read several rave reviews of this one

The Comfort Book by Matt Haig – I don’t know if this is actually comforting, but just in case it is, I don’t want to miss out!

The Last House on Needless Street by Caitriona Ward– For some reason I find the title of this really intriguing.

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix – A few people in my book club have recommended this one.