Top Ten Tuesday: Top Favorite Stand-Alones

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week a new Top Ten list will be posted by one of the bloggers at The Broke and the Bookish. Everyone is welcome to join, just make sure to link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND add your name to the Linky widget so everyone can check out other blogger lists. Have fun!

Sometimes, you just want a story found within a single volume. That's the beauty of stand-alones.

Top Ten Favorite Stand-Alones

(In no particular order)

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Perhaps one of the greatest and most well-known stand-alones, you will not be disappointed by the end of the last page. 

2. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

I was already impressed with Maggie's writing with The Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy. She managed to impress even more with her horse-race stand-alone. Also, guess who won a Printz Honor Award!

3. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
If there's one book I'm excited to read again for Book Club this year, it's this one. 

4. Dust City by Robert Paul Weston
Gritty, tough, and dark, the setting of this book reminds me of Gotham, though the main character, Henry, is more awesome than Batman in some ways.

5. Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause

This was one stand-alone that I kind of wish wasn't a stand-alone, but I was still very happy at the end of the story.

6. Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
I really just cannot get over this cute, holiday story. It's one of my favorite stand-alones.

7. Watership Down by Richard Adams

Not taking into account the anthology, Tales from Watership Down, this story really holds it out in a complete package.

8. Flawless by Lara Chapman
Cute, funny, and based on one of my favorite plays, it will keep you turning the pages.

9. Escape from Exile by Robert Levy

I loved this book as a kid, and I still love it now as an adult.

10. Wolf at the Door by Barbara Corcoran

I was so thrilled when one of my roommates got this for me for Christmas.

In My Mailbox (17)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren where bloggers post about the books they have received in the past week whether for review, purchased, or checked out from our local library. ^_^

Gifts:

Lord of the Wolfyn by Jessica Andersen

The Book of Jack by D.P. Filippi & O.G. Boiscommun

Hot Gimmick, Volume 4 by Miki Aihara

Shifter by Angelia Knight, Lora Leigh, Alyssa Day, and Virginia Kantra

(These are all from my friend and old roomie, Beth, and I think she's trying to tell me something...something with all these werewolf books. Can't put my finger on it.)

NetGalley:

Katana by Cole Gibsen

The Last Slayer by Nadia Lee

Bought:

Dark of the Moon by Tracy Barrett

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Shattered Souls by Mary Lindsey (one FABULOUS YA author)

Signed at her book signing at Katy Budget Books.

Tis the season for giving...books! What did you get in your mailbox?

In My Mailbox (16)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren where bloggers post about the books they have received in the past week whether for review, purchased, or checked out from our local library. ^_^

Gifts:

The Fire Rose by Mercedes Lackey

Rancour by James McCann

(Both of these are from Karen of Books Beside My Bed, thank you, hun!)

Touch of Frost by Jennifer Estep

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
(Both of these are from my Secret Santa, the wonderful Lena from I Love Books Club.)

Lena also sent me quite a few goodies with these great books. ^_^

A book bag, a 3D wolf bookmark, purple pens (whoo!), and a mini notepad and pen. Great goodies!

From My Library:

Cake Wrecks by Jen Yates
(Yes, it's THAT Cake Wrecks, and while I find the wrecks amusing, I really love their Sunday Sweets posts more.)

Bought:

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

A very wonderful and generous Mailbox on the part of both Karen and Lena. 
What did you get in your mailbox?

Tune in Tuesday (3): Soundtrack Edition

Tune in Tuesday is hosted by Ginger at GReads as a means of spreading the love and word about music.  I'm definitely for anything that helps keep music alive in the world and in our hearts.  

October is soundtrack month, and here are my selections below for this Tuesday. I hope you enjoy them! 


Since it's getting close to Halloween, I thought I'd share some songs from one of my favorite Halloween films, The Nightmare Before Christmas.  

Here is the original of "Sally's Song"

And now here's Amy Lee's cover of "Sally's Song" from Nightmare Revisited





Finally, here is a song that sums up this month, namely "This is Halloween"





Enjoy and Happy Halloween! ^_^

Book Blogger Hop: October 1-3

This week on Denim-Jacket Librarian Dishes:

Manga Review: A Bride's Story Volume 1

Jim Henson: Celebrating an Innovative and Creative Thinking

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Want to Reread

As Crazy For Books says:

Book Blogger Hop is a place just for book bloggers and readers to connect and share our love of the written word! This weekly BOOK PARTY is an awesome opportunity for book bloggers to connect with other book lovers, make new friends, support each other, and generally just share our love of books!

This week's question is:

“In honor of Banned Books Week, what is your favorite “banned or frequently challenged book”?”
Click here for 2010-11 list in PDF format. You can also click HERE to view past years and choose from any of those titles!

My Answer:  Although there are so many excellent banned books, I have to select Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.  It's one of those books that just sucks the reader into the story, and even if a reader hasn't experienced the extreme bullying that Melinda did, I'm sure most can relate to her in some way. 

AND

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.  This was one of my all-time favorite novels in high school, and I was so sad to hear it was on the Banned list.  It's too great a novel to keep so many others from reading and learning from the story Lee created.  

What's your favorite banned book? ^_^

Top Ten Tuesday - Top Ten Books I Want to Reread

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, a state that you don't have to worry about being deprived of more books as long as you're near a library.  This week's Top Ten is:

Top Ten Books I Want to Reread

(In no particular order)

1.  To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - Not only is this one of my favorite classics, but it's also on the most frequently challenged list of books.  This was one book I was very happy to read back in high school, and I look forward to reading it again soon.

2.  Colors in the Dreamweaver's Loom by Beth Hilgartner - It's hard to believe I read this back in middle school, and I really want to revisit Hilgartner's world that she created for this novel.  

3.  Full Moon City edited by Martin H. Greenberg - With it being nearly Halloween once more, I'm reminded of my first review on my blog, which was for this book.  It makes me nostalgic and wanting to read it once again.

4.  The Princess's Dragon by Susan Trombley - I was really fangirly with this book in my review, so I'd like to give it another read to see if I would still go as kooky over it as I did before.  Still, one can't help but get excited about dragons. 

5.  Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder - This was the first book by Snyder that I ever read and it is still my most favorite.  I need to make sure I have a cinnamon roll with me when I read it  again. 

6.  Tales from Watership Down by Richard Adams - Not unlike it's predecessor, Watership Down, this one is close to my heart, and I remember devouring the stories while my family was en route to visit my grandparents.  

7.  Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden - Lucky for me, we'll be reading this one in our library's book club next year.  I'm looking forward to seeing what the other club members will have to say about the story that I thought was so profound and amazing.

8.  Wolfsbane and Mistletoe by Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner - It isn't Christmas without reading at least certain stories from this werewolf anthology.  Not anymore at least!  This year, I'm thinking of doing a holiday giveaway for this title.  Any objections? ^_^

9.  Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - Another favorite childhood classic, I'd really like to reread it not only for my own enjoyment, but so I might see the similarities and differences when I read Little Women and Werewolves.  

10.  A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens - I really want to reread this classic so I might better appreciate the parts that I was either unable to understand or found tedious to the overall plot.