Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.
The rules are simple:
- Each Tuesday, Jana assigns a new topic. Create your own Top Ten list that fits that topic – putting your unique spin on it if you want.
- Everyone is welcome to join but please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own Top Ten Tuesday post.
- Add your name to the Linky widget on that day’s post so that everyone can check out other bloggers’ lists.
- Or if you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment.
This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic is The First 10 Books I Randomly Grabbed from My Shelf. My ‘close your eyes and pick a book’ exercise resulted in 5 books I’ve read and 5 books that are still in my TBR pile. You’ll either recoil in horror at or take comfort from how long some of the latter have been there. Links will take you to my full review if I’ve read the book or the description on Goodreads if I haven’t.
- Song by Michelle Jana Chan (Read July 2018) – ‘A wonderful tale of survival, friendship, courage and triumph over adversity. It also has at its heart a tender and heart-warming love story.’
- Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris (Unread, acquired July 2022) – historical fiction
- Washington Black by Esi Edugyan (Unread, acquired March 2019) – historical fiction
- Songbirds by Christy Lefteri (Read July 2021) – ‘I really enjoyed the beautiful writing and the insight it gave into issues I had not thought about before.’
- The Lost Shrine by Nicola Ford (Read May 2019) – ‘With apologies to those not familiar with UK TV series, think of it as the intriguing love child of Midsomer Murders and Time Team.’
- The Saracen’s Mark by S. W. Perry (Read May 2020) – ‘With its well-crafted plot, lashings of period detail and colourful cast of characters, The Saracen’s Mark will appeal to fans of historical crime mysteries, such as C J Sansom’s Shardlake series.’
- The Monk by Tim Sullivan (Read April 2023) – ‘A skilfully crafted and ingenious crime novel with a really engaging protagonist that will keep you turning the pages.’
- The Glass Room by Simon Mawer (Unread, acquired October 2024) – historical fiction
- The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex (Unread, acquired December 2020) – historical fiction
- The Year Without Summer by Guinevere Glasfurd (Unread, acquired December 2020) – historical fiction
What books did your random grabbing turn up?
What Cathy Read Next... 
I was so impressed by The Glass Room I planned a holiday which included Brno where the house that inspired it is.
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I’ve definitely got to move it up the pile now!
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I am impressed with knowing when you got books. If they are paperbacks I have no idea when I got them!
Here’s a link to my TTT post
https://rosieamber.wordpress.com/2025/11/04/%f0%9f%93%9a-toptentuesday-10-books-on-my-bookshelf-tuesdaybookblog-booktwitter-bookx/
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If they’re really old I’d have no idea when I got them either but more recent ones I use the ‘date added’ on Goodreads.
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Songbirds could have been a possibility for this week’s list, but it didn’t get picked by the TBR roulette I did. It’s still unread on my shelf hough.
My TTT: https://laurieisreading.com/2025/11/04/top-ten-tuesday-tbr-roulette-round-2/
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I really enjoyed it so I hope you do too if/when you get to it.
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The Year Without Summer sounds awesome!
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I haven’t read any of these, but I also have books that have been for ever on my TBR…
I combined with #scifimonth: https://wordsandpeace.com/2025/11/04/top-ten-scifi-books-my-year-2025-in-science-fiction/
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These are all new to me But The Year Without Summer definitely caught my eye!
I hope you have a wonderful week!
Ash @ <a href=”https://essentiallyash.blogspot.com/“>Essentially Ash</a>
Want to follow me on <a href=”https://linktr.ee/essentiallyyash“>Bookstagram, booktok, add my snapchat or check out my photography?</a>
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The Monk looks really interesting!
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!
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It’s a great police procedural series that I only discovered part way through. I haven’t read any on your list but I do have another of Mitch Albom’s books in my TBR pile, The Little Liar.
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I’ve not heard of any of these before but what a great selection of books! 🙂
Here’s my TTT – https://justreadjessie.blog/2025/11/04/top-ten-tuesday-the-first-10-books-i-randomly-grabbed-from-my-shelves/
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Unless you haven’t read it either, I think I must be the only person in the world who hasn’t read The Fault in Our Stars!
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I’ve not read it yet but it’s been on my TBR for far too long now…
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I read Washington Black a couple of years ago and enjoyed it. I’m curious about the adaptation that’s out, but I haven’t gotten to watch it yet.
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/ten-books-i-own-randomly-selected-bygoodreads/
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Oh, I didn’t know there was an adaptation of Washington Black. I’ll look out for it. You did better than me on the read/unread. I’ve read The ABC Murders though.
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I want to say it’s on Disney+. Just waiting for the new season of Percy Jackson before we get the service.
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I have books on my shelves that I haven’t read yet that have been there for years! Easily more than a decade!
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I’m sure I have too, I’m just lucky I didn’t pick any of them!
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Ssongbirds sounds interesting.
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It was a book I very much enjoyed hence why it’s still on my bookshelf and not given away. Whether I’ll ever find time to reread it is another matter…
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I moved houses about three years ago and did a massive sorting and unhauling of my books. If it weren’t for that, I would have tons that had been on my shelves since the early 2000s when I started blogging. SO many books, so little time…
Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
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This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is not good for the TBR pile is it? Although it’s comforting to know most of us have a multitude of books on our shelves we’ve yet to read. I’ve tried to be more ruthless recently (I’d love to not have books doublestacked) and give away books once I’ve read them if I don’t think I’ll ever read them again or they aren’t ‘special’ in some way. Gifts, signed editions, etc.
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