Top 10 Tuesday: Summer TBR ’23

June 20: Books on My Summer 2023 to-Read List

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

That Artsy Reader Girl

1 – what I am currently reading

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

• 384 pages, Kindle Edition
• First published May 2, 2023
• Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, LGBTQ, Dystopian
• Goodreads rating: 4.15 (pre-published rating was 4.45)
• made my TBR 2023 list by being on 2023’s most anticipated, which was probably a Goodreads article.

I have already fallen in love with the first line: She felt their eyes, all those executioners. ❤️❤️❤️

Welcome to Chain-Gang All-Stars – the highly popular, highly controversial profit-raising program inside America’s private prison system. Harkening back to the time of gladiators, but watched by millions of live-stream subscribers, prisoners compete for the ultimate prize: their freedom.

goodreads

2 – next to read

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

• 70 pages, Kindle Edition
• First published November 5, 2021
• Genres: Historical Fiction, Ireland, Literary Fiction, Christmas
• Orwell Prize for Political Fiction 2022. 😎
• Goodreads rating: 4.21
• seen on at least one of the book blogs I frequent.

It is 1985 in a small Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal merchant and family man faces into his busiest season. Early one morning, while delivering an order to the local convent, Bill makes a discovery which forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the church.

goodreads

3 – audiobook I’m currently listening to

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth

• 353 pages, Kindle Edition. Duration: 09:22:35, Audiobook
• First published May 3, 2016
• Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology, Self-help
• Goodreads rating: 4.08
• Found it while browsing the local library’s site and it was a Goodreads Choice Award nominee for Best Nonfiction in 2016.

Drawing on her own powerful story as the daughter of a scientist who frequently bemoaned her lack of smarts, Duckworth describes her winding path through teaching, business consulting, and neuroscience, which led to the hypothesis that what really drives success is not genius, but a special blend of passion and long-term perseverance. As a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Duckworth created her own character lab and set out to test her theory.

Goodreads

4 – most probable next audiobook

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

• 321 pages, Kindle Edition. Duration: 07:22:31, audiobook.
• First published November 18, 2008
• Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology, Self-help, Business
• Goodreads rating: 4.19
• found while browsing local libraries’ site.

His answer is that we pay too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where they are that is, their culture, their family, their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing

goodreads

5, 6, 7, and 8 – I’m on the waiting list with the local library.

#5

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

• 545 pages, Kindle Edition
• First published May 1, 2018
• Genres: Historical Fiction, High Fantasy
• Goodreads rating: 4.17
• Compton Crook Award (2019), Reddit r/fantasy Stabby Award (2018)
• The Poppy War has appeared on several different blogs, especially during the TTT week when we listed the books we recommend to others most often.

An epic historical military fantasy, inspired by the bloody history of China’s twentieth century and filled with treachery and magic.
When Rin aced the Keju—the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies—it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn’t believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin’s guardians, who believed they’d finally be able to marry her off and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was finally free of the servitude and despair that had made up her daily existence.

goodreads

#6

Horse by Geraldine Brooks

• 416 pages, Kindle Edition
• First published June 14, 2022
• Genres: Historical Fiction, Animals, Literary Fiction, Racism
• Goodreads rating: 4.34
• Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) for Literary Fiction (2023)
• a Goodreads recommendation

Kentucky, 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South. When the nation erupts in civil war, an itinerant young artist who has made his name on paintings of the racehorse takes up arms for the Union. On a perilous night, he reunites with the stallion and his groom, very far from the glamor of any racetrack.

New York City, 1954. Martha Jackson, a gallery owner celebrated for taking risks on edgy contemporary painters, becomes obsessed with a 19th-century equestrian oil painting of mysterious provenance.

goodreads

#7

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

• 384 pages, Kindle Edition
• First published September 28, 2021
• Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, LGBTQ
• Goodreads rating: 4.09
• ALA Alex Award (2022), 2022 Stonewall Book Award Winner, Barnes & Noble Best Science Fiction Book of 2021, Kirkus Best Book of 2021,
• I do not know how I know about this one, but it was also a Goodreads Choice Award nominee in 2021, so that is probably where I first saw it. I am a Goodreads addict.

… a defiantly joyful adventure set in California’s San Gabriel Valley, with cursed violins, Faustian bargains, and queer alien courtship over fresh-made donuts.

Shizuka Satomi made a deal with the [?] to escape damnation, she must entice seven other violin prodigies to trade their souls for success. She has already delivered six.

When Katrina Nguyen, a young transgender runaway, catches Shizuka’s ear with her wild talent, Shizuka can almost feel the curse lifting. She’s found her final candidate.

goodreads

#8

The Golden Doves by Martha Hall Kelly

• 528 pages, Kindle Edition
• First published April 18, 2023
• Genres: Historical Fiction, WWII, Women, Holocaust, Espionage
• Goodreads rating: 4.26
• Another one where I am not sure how I became acquainted with this book.

Two former female spies, bound together by their past, risk everything to hunt down an infamous Nazi doctor in the aftermath of World War II—an extraordinary novel inspired by true events …

goodreads

#9 & #10 – Murderbot Diaries #6 & 7

I have a literary crush on Murderbot. I have no doubt that I became aware of Murderbot through my reading of other book-bloggers blogs. (Does that sound redundant? 😂)

#9

Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries #6) by Martha Wells

When Murderbot discovers a dead body on Preservation Station, it knows it is going to have to assist station security to determine who the body is (was), how they were killed (that should be relatively straightforward, at least), and why (because apparently that matters to a lot of people—who knew?)

Yes, the unthinkable is about to happen: Murderbot must voluntarily speak to humans!

goodreads

#10

System Collapse (The Murderbot Diaries #7) by Martha Wells

Following the events in Network Effect (The Murderbot Diaries #5), the Barish-Estranza corporation has sent rescue ships to a newly-colonized planet in peril, as well as additional SecUnits. But if there’s an ethical corporation out there, Murderbot has yet to find it, and if Barish-Estranza can’t have the planet, they’re sure as hell not leaving without something. If that something just happens to be an entire colony of humans, well, a free workforce is a decent runner-up prize.

goodreads

Thoughts