On today’s episode of “Things Christina Learns About Herself”, Christina learns that she starts all of her blog posts with some iteration of “Happy [insert something related to the day of the week as if the readers of this blog don’t know what day of the week it is]”. So to break with tradition I’m wishing you all a very somber, sad Tuesday. Just kidding! But I do need to come up with some other shtick to start my posts, good lord but I’m redundant.

So in keeping with this “not gonna be a liar this time” theme I’ve got going on I’ve got another review coming at you guys tomorrow and I’m really excited to announce that I’m going to be adding in some additional content on Friday’s in the form of a Food Friday post! As I’ve mentioned numerous times the recipe + read posts are my favorite but they’re a little more complicated and as I get myself back into my groove I wanted to keep bringing y’all reviews and recipes – just not necessarily paired [although I do have one I’m prepping for next week that I’m really excited about]. What’s great about those posts is that it allows me to try out a lot of new things I may not have attempted to cook without this blog. However! I have a lot of original recipes that I love that I don’t get to share with you guys often because they don’t necessarily coincide with my read. So, starting this Friday I’ll be delivering y’all with some of my original recipes and household favorites!
But for today I’m participating in Top 5 Tuesday a weekly meme hosted by Bionic Book Worm where different topics are explored each week. This week is “authors I need to read”, so off we go!
Madeline Miller
Madeline Miller is the author of The Song of Achilles and Circe both of which have been on my TBR way too long. I’m currently working on hacking away at my TBR which was about to reach 300 books (WHY) and these two have sky rocketed themselves back to the top of my list. Both of these books took the GR world by storm and many of my favorite reviewers were singing their praise. Both for the quality of the story along with the quality of the prose. I’ve never been too hyped on mythology/retellings but [as y’all know] I’m always working to open up my reading and take in new stories that differ from my typical go-to genres.
Alice Hoffman
Alice Hoffman has been on my TBR for god knows how long (so does my GR account but I digress). She’s written a ton of fantasy/witchy books over the years and they all sound right up my alley despite the fact that I’ve not picked them up. However, the one that sticks out for me is Practical Magic. Considering that the movie is straight up *iconic* and if you haven’t seen it you should make your way to the nearest couch and GET WITH THE TIMES, I really want to read the book. I mean, in reality, how often does one find themselves saying “you know, I really think the movie was better”? Never (probably). I get caught up in the new, shiny books that are being released and gobbled up by my favorite bloggers that sometimes I look over some classics I should’ve gotten to a long time ago.
Kristin Hannah
Small caveat to this one: I’ve technically read a Kristin Hannah book but it’s one of two or three one-star reviews I’ve ever given. It truly was awful. However! That doesn’t change the fact that The Great Alone and The Nightingale are two of the highest rated books on Goodreads and I’ve seen nothing but glowing reviews about them. As ya’ll well know, I’m working on getting more into historical fiction and Hannah is the creme-de-la-creme of historical fiction. Yet again, this topic kind of irritates me because it’s showing what a glaring hype-train passenger I am because I keep glossing over some seriously amazing reads for new releases – some of which have been a supreme disappointment.
Dean Koontz
I don’t know if y’all are the same, but there are some authors that just kind of…scare me off. Koontz is one of them (King too) and I can’t really explain why. For someone who reads a ton of mystery/thriller books, something about Koontz has always made me weary to read it. Like it’ll be too much or something. So color me surprised when at my previous libraries annual sale they’ve got a boat load of Koontz novels and they’re all for ONE DOLLAR. I mean, how am I going to pass that up? Obviously, I didn’t. I should’ve read one of these babies for Halloween but alas, despite my friends making fun of me for my meticulous planning of anything and everything, I didn’t plan right for that. However, I’ve got The Good Guy and Intensity waiting patiently on my shelf for me to get to.
Michelle Obama
Michelle Obama is a swan goddess song in human form. I’ll never stop stanning this family and in particular this amazingly powerful, strong, vibrant and beautiful person. Her recent release Becoming has been on my TBR far too long but I’ve been avoiding it because it’s hard to remember the good times we had together in her 8 years as First Lady. Not to get, you know, too political but Michelle Obama is the First Lady to end all First Ladies and the Obama’s are THE First Family for me. I’ve got this beauty sitting patiently (as Michelle would do) waiting for me to tear open the wound that is the loss of a family who was so full of grace and humanity for America. Especially in today’s political climate and in the anticipation of what I’m sure will be another divisive, anger, hate filled election it’s hard to look at her lovely face and not feel a painful nostalgia.
Another T5T in the bag! Have you read any of these authors? If so, what are your thoughts? Drop me a note in the comments and let me know! Also keep an eye out for a review of Lock Every Door by Riley Sager tomorrow and an original recipe on Friday!
The Great Alone was AMAZING! I still haven’t read The Nightengale, but have heard amazing things about that one too. Definitely an author you need to pick up soon!!
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Did you do a review of Great Alone? I’d love to read it!
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I’m coveting them all!
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I have read a lot of Dean Koontz. I started reading his books in my late teens and he is one horror writer that I still regularly read. (he seems to straddle the horror/ thriller genres.)
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Do you have a favorite by him?
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It’s hard to narrow it down because of the amount of years that I have been reading his work but Velocity is definitely up there.
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Here goes!
Koontz…I’m a big fan of his older stuff…Midnight, Watchers, Lightning…I mean these books kept me up at night.
Hannah…Winter Garden and The Nightingale made me an instant fan. The Great Alone is in the queue.
I’m waiting for some uninterrupted time, like a road trip, to finish listening to Becoming.
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I read a little romance by Hannah because I just saw it at my library and it was a really bummer. I was very disappointed by it but it’s not scared me off at all! I need to add Winter Garden to my list too!
I should totally listen to Becoming! I hadn’t thought about audiobooking it instead of reading it…hmmmm
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Kristin Hannah is laso on my list! And I listened to Becoming …it was fantastic!
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You’re the second person who said they listened to Becoming – that’s such a great idea! Think I may have to do that instead now 🙂
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Practical Magic has been on my TBR for ages as well.
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Don’t know why I keep passing over it but I swear I’ll get to it eventually lol!
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I really enjoyed Dean Koontz’s Intensity. It was such a thrilling read. My one suggestion with Koontz is to not read them one right after the other, his books tend to blur together.
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A lot of great choices there. I picked up a copy of Obama’s memoir from the library this weekend. Looking forward to starting it tonight.
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Great post!
I haven’t read any of those authors yet. But I remember hearing how a book of Kristin Hannah’s, Firefly Lane, is going to be turned into a Netflix series. So I’m definitely going to try and read that before the series come out. I haven’t read anything she’s written so far, but I’ve heard good things about her novels, so I definitely hope to read a few at some point.
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What an enjoyable post! I read quite a bit of Koontz’s earlier work.
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I’ve not read any of them either. I have looked at Alice Hoffman’s books but a lot of reviewers say her writing is quite slow which I think would annoy me. I might have to try in the future and see whether the reviewers are right.
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I haven’t read any of these yet.
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OMG, Dean Koontz! Love his books! Well, i did love those books when i was 16… recently re-read one and it was still pretty awesome, so i’m assuming i’d enjoy the rest too 😀
I loved the movie Practical Magic. Had the book on my list too, but i’m not sure i’d actually like that as well. I mean i almost never read those type of books
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I want to read The Great Alone too!! I’ve never read a Kristin Hannah book.
I let my daughter read my brand new copy of Becoming and haven’t seen it since!! 🤦🏽♀️
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