Favorite Books from Favorite Series

I’m really excited about today’s Top Ten Tuesday prompt. The prompt is “Ten Favorite Books from Ten Series.” Since most of my favorite books are a part of a series and I’m the type of person who likes to rank my favorite books, this prompt’s right up my alley. Anyway, here are my top ten choices:

Honorable Mentions

• Dragon Prince by Melanie Rawn
• The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
• Perfect Scoundrels by Ally Carter
• The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien
• Divergent by Veronica Roth
• Matched by Ally Condie
• Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

What about you? What are some of your favorite series? Do we have any in common?

I learned in DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) that life is full of dialectics, or two opposing truths. In this case, the two opposing truths are: 1) I don’t agree with JKR’s stance regarding trans people, and 2) I still love Harry Potter.

Reasons I Loved Remarkably Bright Creatures

This week’s theme is a fun one, I think. It’s “Ten Things I Loved About [___]” and it comes with instructions. They are to pick a book title. It didn’t take me long to figure out which book I wanted to gush about. REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES is my favorite book I’ve read so far this year. Here are ten eight reasons I love it as much as I do:

Marcellus: It’s mostly told in a third-person limited POV and it’s sometimes told in a charming first-person POV from Marcellus, the octopus, the star of the book. He’s smart, snarky, a little bit cranky, and a delightful narrator.

Tova: Tova’s the main human character. She’s such a likable person despite being a bit closed off because of grief. She reminded me a bit of my own grandmother whose family, like Tova’s, immigrated to the US while she was very young.

Friendship: There are many forms of friendship but my favorite is the one between Tova and Marcellus. Their friendship reminds us, not in a preachy way, that animals know more than they let on and they each have feelings and deserve our kindness and respect.

Unputdownable: As soon as I started reading REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES, I could tell it was going to suck me right in and it did. I couldn’t stop thinking about it and I still think about it long after I finished reading it.

All the Feels: I laughed, I cried, and I smiled. I felt so many emotions while reading this beautiful story.

Great Discussion: It’s a very heart-warming story of love, loss, grief, and resilience and garnered a great discussion at my IRL book club. Even though most of my book club rated it high, we still had things to talk about.

Fredrik Backman Read-a-Like: It reminded me of something written by Fredrik Backman. Both authors draw you right in to the story and characters because they make you feel something.

My Octopus Teacher: One of my friends recommended I watch MY OCTOPUS TEACHER on Netflix because I loved this story as much as I did. I’m so glad I decided to watch it. I adored it. It was captivating and it made Marcellus more real to me.

What about you? Have you read REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES? If so, did you love it as much as I did?