Top Ten Tuesday: Books with Yummy Food

On October 17, 2017October 16, 2017 By Arika (@midwesternbooknerd)In Top Ten Tuesday20 Comments

Happy Fall everyone! We are back for another addition to Top Ten Tuesday hosted by the awesome people over at The Broke and the Bookish. This weeks theme is books that mention yummy foods. Well both of us are huge fans of food, whether its making it or baking it, you’ll always find some good grub at our place! So we are going to come up with a list of some books that started to make our tummy grumble when reading them.

Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling: Lots of talk of food in every Harry Potter book. Whether it was the treacle tart that Harry was so fond of, Mrs. Weasley’s cooking or the butter beer at the Three Broomsticks, there was something to make you want a little snack in the middle of reading.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis: Whenever I think of this book the treat of Turkish Delight pops in my head. It must have been a pretty tasty treat if Edmund decides to fall victim to the White Witch in exchange for some Turkish Delight.
Heartless by Marissa Meyer: We knew from the first chapter our tummy’s would be rumbling when reading this book. All the delectable desserts and pastries that Catherine bakes up from beginning sounded all so delicious that our mouths were watering!
Game of Thrones by George RR Martin: I mean, there’s a whole darn cookbook for this book (which is sitting in Emily’s kitchen right now). Things are swimming in butter and there are lemon cakes that would taste really good right about now.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: That food in the Capitol is NUTS. So decadent that it makes Katniss feel sick. And if that doesn’t do it for ya there is always that bread of Peeta’s.
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer: All those french delicacies sound just delicious. And the lemon cake here!? Sounds amazing as well. It’s never good to read while hungry.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl: This is kind of a no duh moment. All that candy that we can hardly even imagine…it all sounds delicious. No worries. We would listen to Wonka’s rules.
The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh: The feasts that are held…the fresh fruits…meat on skewers…freshly cooked veggies…Sorry. We probably are making you hungry by this point.
The Crown’s Game by Evelyn Skye: The first chapter takes place in a bakery. A BAKERY. Every single thing made there, down to the plain old bread, sounds absolutely amazing and definitely like something we need NOW!
Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas: Literally only made the list because of all the chocolate. Seriously…that girl can’t get enough of her chocolate and we are totally behind her on this.

wings

Question: What are some of your favorite books with delicious sounding food? We want to know what books made you hungry!

Top Ten Tuesday: Fall-like Book Covers

On October 10, 2017October 9, 2017 By midwesternbooknerdIn Top Ten Tuesday5 Comments

Welcome back for another Top Ten Tuesday! We love this weekly post because it’s something that we feel we can get back into the groove of no matter how crazy life has been (and boy, has it been crazy). Between anniversaries, sword tournaments (apparently Emily knows some nerdy people), and work…it’s been tough to get our act together and get the posts up that we want to…but we are so thankful that Top Ten Tuesday makes it easier for us to really dive in.

This week we are sharing book cover that just look like fall to us. Some we may have read while others are sitting on that TBR waiting for us to tear into them (with respect…we would never tear books). So, here are some book covers that just make us think of the cool weather of fall…

Emily

Scarlet by AC Gaughen | Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco | Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo | Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by JK Rowling | The Freemason’s Daughter by Shelley Sackier | The Girl who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente | Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver | The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton | The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen | The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest by Melanie Dickerson

Arika

Question: What are some book covers that have you thinking of fall?

Top Ten Tuesday: Fall 2017 TBR

On September 19, 2017September 18, 2017 By Arika (@midwesternbooknerd)In Top Ten Tuesday23 Comments

Happy Tuesday all! It’s crazy to think we are already this far into September! We unfortunately missed last week due to crazy schedules, but we are back at it this week and ready to share our fall TBRs. Now it should be noted, we HOPE we get to these books. You all know how mood reading goes, so you know that it’s entirely possible for us to completely ignore this list and read something else. But fingers crossed that some of these books are read, because they all just sound so good! So, here is our fall TBR (subject to change as our moods may dictate).

Arika:

Emily:

Question: What are some books on your TBR? Also, have you read any of these (because we would love to know what we should prioritize)?

Top Ten Tuesday: Hidden Gems

On August 29, 2017August 28, 2017 By Arika (@midwesternbooknerd)In Top Ten Tuesday23 Comments

It’s the last Tuesday of August and we have a wonderful Top Ten Tuesday for everyone. And as always it’s hosted by those wonderful people over at The Broke and the Bookish. This week is all about those hidden gems. Those books where you love but it seems like nobody has heard of, so of course you tell everyone and everybody about it when they are looking for a good book to read. We have decided to stick with the young adult genre, as that is the genre we have read the most books from.

Question: What are some of your favorite books that you consider hidden gems?

Top Ten Tuesday: Back to School Freebie

On August 22, 2017August 21, 2017 By Arika (@midwesternbooknerd)In Top Ten Tuesday9 Comments

What’s up everyone! I know you are all nursing that crick in your neck from looking up for so long at the solar eclipse yesterday afternoon but we are gonna come back down a little closer to home and talk about books again! We have another Top Ten Tuesday hosted by those awesome gals over at The Broke and the Bookish. Now last week we talked about ten book recommendations for students, more specifically required books while we were in school, since most schools are starting up right now. Well, we didn’t realize this week was a Back to School Freebie, so we are going to change it up just slightly this week. Our top ten books this week are going to comprise of books we think should be required to read in school.

Emily:

My choices are definitely more geared towards high school students. I am thinking upperclassmen, and maybe even in to those entry level English classes you are required to take your freshman year of college. Most of these books are of the historical genre, but I think sometimes that is where we do our biggest growing. They deal with some rather tough topics, but it’s because of some of these books that I learned a little bit more about things completely outside of my world. Obviously some of these books might be a bit triggering for some students, but I think the lessons in these books and the worlds they show are so incredibly important for us. I think students would be even more set on the road of becoming better people by reading and really digging in to these books.

The Farming of Bones by Edwidge Danticat | In the Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez | In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescuer by Irene Gut Opdyke | A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness | Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

Arika:

My choices are also geared more towards high-schooler’s. While I wanted to include a few classics in here, I do feel like some more modern books were worthy of being a required read for a student. There are so many lessons that can be taught from these books and its not just about right and wrong. It’s life lessons that can affect you not only in your childhood but in your adult life. I think these books can help students understand how their choices can affect others and hopefully it helps them become better people.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak | One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus | The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot | The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom | The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Question: What are some books you think should be required to read by students?

Top Ten Tuesday: Best of 2017 So Far

On June 27, 2017June 27, 2017 By midwesternbooknerdIn Top Ten Tuesday14 Comments

Happy Tuesday! It’s the last Tuesday of June which is nuts! Hope everyone has been having an amazing summer so far.

As we close out the month of June we are taking some time to look back at what we have read this year. There’s been some great books and some bummers, but really…it’s been a great reading year over at Midwestern Book Nerd. Lots of very enjoyable books which MIGHT make it tricky to keep it at 10, but we will try our best. Can’t wait to see what everyone else comes up with!

Here are our top 10 books of 2017 so far.

Arika

Emily

QUESTION: What are some of the best books that you have read this year? Any crazy exciting ones in the future?

*sidenote*

Who is joining us for #mdwstreadalong as we reread Harry Potter? Let us know if you are joining us and where you are at! Isn’t it fun to be back in our favorite world again?

Top Ten Tuesday: We’ve Been Meaning to Read That…

On June 20, 2017June 19, 2017 By midwesternbooknerdIn Uncategorized17 Comments

Welcome back for another Top Ten Tuesday! We got to admit, our Tuesdays just are not the same without making a list of 10 books or bookish things (yes, Emily was a little sad to miss out last week but at the same time it was necessary…). On this particular Tuesday, the 3rd of June (CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!?) we are listing 10 series that we have been meaning to start but just haven’t gotten around to yet. These can be books we have owned for forever, books that have been our lists forever, etc. So, here are some series that we have been meaning to dive in to but just haven’t yet (due to not owning them, not having all the books in the series, the book series not being completely finished, or because we have book ADD).

Emily:

Red Rising (Red Rising series) by Pierce Brown | Finnikin of the Rock (The Lumatere Chronicles) by Melina Marchetta | Falling Kingdoms (Falling Kingdoms series) by Morgan Rhodes | Spells & Sorcery (Lexie Carrigan series) by S. Usher Evans | Ivory and Bone (Ivory and Bone series) by Julie Eshbaugh | A Thousand Pieces of You (Firebird series) by Claudia Gray | The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (Mara Dyer series) by Michelle Hodkin | The Crown’s Game (The Crown’s Game series) by Evelyn Skye | Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Daughter of Smoke & Bone series) by Laini Taylor | Incarnate (Newsoul series) by Jodi Meadows

Arika:

Stolen Songbird (The Malediction Trilogy #1) by Danielle L. Jensen | The Winner’s Curse (The Winner’s Trilogy #1) by Marie Rutkoski | A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic #1) by V.E. Schwab | A Shadow Bright and Burning (Kingdom on Fire #1) by Jessica Cluess | Trial by Fire (Worldwalker #1) by Josephine Angelini | Alanna: The First Adventure (Song of the Lioness #1) by Tamora Pierce | Defiance (Defiance #1) by C.J. Redwine | The Crown’s Game (The Crown’s Game #1) by Evelyn Skye | Air Awakens (Air Awakens #1) by Elise Kova | Stormdancer (The Lotus War #1) by Jay Kristoff

QUESTION: Which series should we prioritize? And what are some series that you have been meaning to read but just haven’t yet?

Top Ten Tuesday: Books We’ve Recently Added

On June 6, 2017June 5, 2017 By midwesternbooknerdIn Top Ten Tuesday12 Comments

Happy First Tuesday of June!! Can you believe we are finally in those summer months!? We hope you all have some awesome summer plans, even if they are as simple as relaxing with a book (something more people really need to do).

This week for Top Ten Tuesday we are talking about books we recently added to our TBRs. The actual prompt asks for a particular genre, but in actuality…we are mood readers, and this moodiness seems to transfer into when we add books to our list. We add books of ANY genre whenever they seem to sound good. Sometimes we go through particular genres, but most the time it’s at random and whatever we hear may be good. So instead of focusing on 1 genre, we are just picking what’s new on our lists (note, there may be genre trends. This is unintentional).

So…here are some books we have recently added to our TBR!

Arika:

Emily:

QUESTION: What books have you recently added to your TBR?

Top Ten Tuesday: The Rest of 2017…

On May 30, 2017May 29, 2017 By midwesternbooknerdIn Top Ten Tuesday10 Comments

It’s almost that time…IT’S ALMOST SUMMER TIME! Ok, well for those that are already on summer break…jealous. Many of us still have time left (come on Friday)! As we get past Memorial Day weekend we realize that it’s time. Time for summer reading, sunshine, beaches, pools, and any other summer activity that we can think of. It also means that we are about half way though the year. So many amazing books have already come out this year. So many books that have made us smile, squeal, cry, and sometimes throw them in the corner because we are a bit upset (only to pick them up and read on). But wait…it’s only the end of May. We still have MONTHS of 2017 releases to be excited for.

So what books are we here at Midwestern Book Nerd excited for?

Tower of Dawn by Sarah J Maas (out 9/5/17)| The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo (out 9/26/17) | That Inevitable Victorian Thing by EK Johnston (out 10/3/17) | The Color Project by Sierra Abrams (out 7/18/17) | Bad Romance by Heather Demetrios (out 6/13/17) | Warcross by Marie Lu (out 9/12/17) | Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo (out 8/29/17) | Before She Ignites by Jodie Meadows (out 9/12/17) | Into the Bright Unkown by Rae Carson (out 10/10/17) | Forest of a Thousand Lanterns by Julie C Dao (out 10/10/17) | Retribution Rails by Erin Bowman (out 11/7/17) | One Dark Throne by Kendare Blake (out 9/19/17)

QUESTION: What are some books you are looking forward to for the rest of this year that we should add to our lists?

Top Ten Tuesday: Summer Reads!

On May 23, 2017May 23, 2017 By midwesternbooknerdIn Top Ten Tuesday20 Comments

Can you believe it!? We are finally looking towards the BEST. SEASON. EVER! That’s right…it’s nearly SUMMER! Obviously some people are not huge fans, and I realize that it can get incredibly hot and you just want to sit in a cold pool and be done with it, but you have to admit…it is the best time to pick up a book. This week for Top Ten Tuesday we are giving you some of our PERSONAL recommendations for summer reading. These are books you could take anywhere with you to dive into, the ones that just scream carefree summer days. They may also be the kickoff to a series that you should just binge over the next 3 months. Everyone interprets summer reading a bit differently, but here are some of our recommendations for some summer book fun for you!

Emily