Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Books When You Need Something Light & Fun


Top Ten Tuesday is a super fun weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  

The three of us LOVE a fun story that makes us laugh so we collaborated on this list for you all.  Enjoy!  



Bridget Jones Diary by Helen Fielding – I don’t think it’s possible for this one to get old.  It still makes us laugh.  And we forgive the movie adaptation simply for the hilarious and sexy casting of Colin Firth.  









Animal Magnetism by Jill Shalvis –  Three words for you.  The puppy, Twinkles.











Ten Big Ones by Janet Evanovich – Let’s just say that it’s yet again the dogs that make us snort our drinks through our noses.    









Paranormalcy by Kiersten White – Because it’s just so *bleeping* cute!










Let’s Pretend this Never Happened by Jennifer Lawson (a.k.a. The Bloggess) – Grab the kleenex.  You will be laughing so hard that you WILL cry.









Must Love Dragons by Stephanie Rowe – Because Satan is HILARIOUS!










The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella – This one will have you in stitches.









Eye Candy by Tera Lynn Childs – Completely adorable.  All the candy talk will have you reaching for the Jelly Bellies.









You Suck:  A Love Story by Christopher Moore – If Christopher Moore can’t make us laugh then there is something horribly wrong.  









Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins – Happy! Happy! Happy!  Such a HAPPY story!










Hope you enjoyed the list.  Share some of your favorites with us! 

Top Ten 2012 (It's Nat's Turn!)

Wow.  Is it the end of the year already?  Where did the time go?  2012 was a rough year for all of us in one way or another.  And because of that each of us went through long lasting reading funks.  But even with that funk I managed to read 78 books this year. That is high for me on a normal year so I won't complain...

As usual, I had a hard time deciding which books to include in my Top Ten of 2012.  I, of course, cheated a little by adding a few honorable mentions at the end. How I narrowed those down to only three is byond me...So here it is.  My Top Ten of 2012.  In no particular order.





The Lovers Dictionary by David Levithan - A modern love story told in single words and definitions. So many pages resonated with me and how I feel about the Executive Officer. I still go back and re-read passages.  And the best part?  David Levithan continues to define life, love and relationships through words on Twitter @loversdiction








Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir by Jenny Lawson Hands down, my favorite book of the year.  Yeah, you all thought I would choose a romance, didn't you?  Well I didn't.  I chose this amazingly hilarious (and rarely serious) memoir by Jenny Lawson, The Bloggess.  I can't begin to tell you much how I laughed.  And laughed.  And laughed.  And cried a little.  And laughed some more.









Chase In Shadow by Amy Lane - Thanks to Bel, this is where my love of Amy Lane began.  This is a brutally emotional story of a young man struggling to remain in the closet while using the gay-for-pay porn industry as an outlet.  Oh don't worry.  There is definitely some happy in this story.  But first, Ms. Lane will stomp on your heart a good five or six times.  Because she's kind of awesome like that.  And apparently that's my thing since I have read about a dozen more of her books since Chase in Shadow.







Rockoholic by C.J. Skuse - This one snuck up on me.  It was nothing what I expected.  Instead it was so much more.  A brilliant dramatic comedy  that is in turn hilarious and disturbing.  As I stated in my review, C.J. Skuse should be applauded her sheer awesomeness.










Dash and Lily's Book of Dare by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan - I am so happy that I read this right before Christmas.  A perfect romantic comedy that not only put me in the holiday spirit but also had me giggling well into the early hours of the morning.  I believe this has been optioned for a movie and I will be absolutely thrilled if it makes it to the big screen. AND if I can put a Dash on hold for youngest daughter, that would be most excellent.








Pushing the Limits by Katie McGarry - The chemistry between Echo and Noah not only drips off this hot cover, it also drips off every single page within the book.  It was steamy.  It was angsty.  It was romantic.  And it made me cry.  A quadruple threat.  I can not wait until the companion novel, Dare You Too, is released in May 2013.

Making Promises by Amy Lane - I was instantly smitten with forever-boy (or forever-man in this case since this isn't YA and he is 30-something) Shane.  His patient pursuit of the adorably prickly and bitchy Mikhail is so understanding and loving that I just couldn't help but fall in love with him.  Also, how could I not love a book with this beautiful quote, "I cannot face you if you think I look at you and see anything less than the man you are.  I am not settling for you, I am reaching for you, and there is a difference..." 

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green - I find it impossible to discuss this book with someone that hasn't read it.  The sheer beauty and sadness of it is overwhelming.  All I will say is that John Green is a genius.  His previous stories are great but this one….well there is a reason that it has been so well received by so many.  Once you read it, check out this to answer to any and all of your questions regarding Hazel and Augustus:  http://onlyifyoufinishedtfios.tumblr.com/







Unbreak My Heart by Melissa Walker - So often books are about being hurt by someone else.   Melissa Walker is one of the rare authors that chose to focus on the character that did the hurting.  We all make mistakes in our lifetime.  Some of those mistakes are bigger than others.  This story was about learning to live with those mistakes and how to rebuild your life after suffering the damage you caused.  This story was beautiful and I think is a must read for teens just so they know that life does move on and it does get better.

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi - This was one of the first books I read this year.  So often I will read something early in the year that I really enjoy but then it is overshadowed by something else.  In twelve months, Under The Never Sky has never swayed from my Top Ten.  This is a perfect combination of romance, fantasy and sci-fi and the second in the series will be an auto-buy for me when it is released the first week of 2013.

 

 

Honorable Mentions:

 

The Curiosites by Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton and Brenna Yovanoff & Boys of Summer Edited by Steve Berman - As I have mentioned numerous times, I do not like short story compilations.  This year, a number of YA authors set out to teach me a lesson.  Both The Curiosities (a collection of supernatural and horror stories) and Boys of Summer (an anthology of Gay YA shorts) proved to me that there are not only some amazing short stories out there but also a number of great authors that I can't wait to read more of.

 

 

 

 

 

Gambling Men by Amy Lane - To be honest, I could have added Amy Lane books to most of my Top Ten.  And it was REALLY difficult for me to choose between Gambling Men and Making Promises.  So this gets honorable mention. The biggest reason (besides the hilarious use of poker metaphors) is that I married a Quentin.  Yeah, that's right.  If you have read this you know to be super jealous ;-)

 

Armchair BEA - Best of 2012

It's the second day of Armchair BEA and everyone is sharing their favorite 2012 reads.  We mentioned them briefly in our intro yesterday.  Today we are going to share just a bit more...

Gallagher Series by Ally Carter - Shel so wants to go to Gallagher Academy to hang out with Cammie, Bex, Liz and Macey







Storm by Brigid Kemmerer - Shel is pretty stingy with her 4 and 5 star ratings.  Storm earned 4.5 stars AND Shel read it twice in one weekend.






Half-Blood by Jennifer Armentrout - Shel found the "smack-talk" she loves in this book.





The Mephisto Covenant by Trinity Faegen - It's not often Shel describes a book as phenomenal.  High praise indeed for the Mephisto Covenant.





Chase in Shadow by Amy Lane - You can't use just a few words to describe the heartbreaking journey that is Chase in Shadow.  Read Bel's review as it packs a powerful punch that compliments the book wonderfully.





The Fault in our Stars by John Green - John Green writes what he writes best.  Angst and Humor for the intelligent teen.








Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson - The Bloggess is Nat's hero for taking her inappropriate and off-the-wall humor and sharing it with the world.

Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson (Memoir, 18+)

* * * *

For fans of Tina Fey and David Sedaris-Internet star Jenny Lawson, aka The Bloggess, makes her literary debut.

When Jenny Lawson was little, all she ever wanted was to fit in. That dream was cut short by her fantastically unbalanced father (a professional taxidermist who created dead-animal hand puppets) and a childhood of wearing winter shoes made out of used bread sacks. It did, however, open up an opportunity for Lawson to find the humor in the strange shame spiral that is her life, and we are all the better for it.

Lawson's long-suffering husband and sweet daughter are the perfect comedic foils to her absurdities, and help her to uncover the surprising discovery that the most terribly human moments-the ones we want to pretend never happened-are the very same moments that make us the people we are today.

Let's Pretend This Never Happened is a poignantly disturbing, yet darkly hysterical tome for every intellectual misfit who thought they were the only ones to think the things that Lawson dares to say out loud. Like laughing at a funeral, this book is both irreverent and impossible to hold back once you get started (from GoodReads) 

Oh geez.  Although the above description from GoodReads is technically correct it does not truly prepare you for the hilarity that you will find in this book.  I laughed at almost every page.  Even when Jenny is describing some of the most awful blows life can deal you she is finding the humor in it as well.  Because really, sometimes all we can do is laugh until we cry.  Or in some cases, cry until we laugh.     

I first discovered Jenny Lawson the way many people did – when her blog post, “And That’s Why You Should Learn To Pick Your Battles”, went viral.  I laughed until I cried.  The entire fiasco described was something I could see me and Shel being involved in.  I would be Jenny, eyeing the giant overpriced chicken and Shel would be Laura, instigating trouble by encouraging me to buy said chicken.  And the Executive Officer would be the one shutting the door in the poor chicken’s face.  After reading that post, I was smitten.  

Jenny (we are totally on a first name basis) has a wonderfully random, bizarre and inappropriate sense of humor.  The way she chooses to remember her life experiences is a talent we should all strive for.  Or if that isn’t a talent you are interested in having (what idiot doesn’t want that talent?), you can at least look at her life experiences and be grateful that you fortunately never had it that bad.  Which I admit to doing at points.  For example, I was really sad when my dog died but at least MY dog didn’t try to RISE FROM THE DEAD!  And although I have inadvertently interrupted the Executive Officer’s conference calls before, I can honestly say that his co-workers have never heard this gem of impropriety during a conference call: “guess who just found the dead bodies I’ve been searching for? ME, MOTHER*@#$%&.  I found the dead bodies.”  These are the types of daily occurrences that define Jenny Lawson’s life.  And we thank her for it everyday. 

I think you can already guess that I am going to tell you to READ THIS BOOK.  I can say with certainty that in December, when I choose my top ten reads of 2012, Let’s Pretend This Never happened will be on it.  Thank you Jenny Lawson for quite literally making me laugh out loud for hours. 

Nat