TTT: I LOVED These Books (And You Should Too)

So, I've been gone from this for a while (both participating in Top Ten Tuesday from  The Broke and The Bookish and binge-reading fiction in general), but I thought, since I started back up with this blog a few days ago, this might be a good way to flex my fingers and write some more. Totally noncommittal style.

And probably to embarrass myself in the minimal amount of for-fun books I've been reading (seriously, I had to dig back to 2013 to fill out this list).

In any case, this week's topic seemed like an easy one to get back into the groove, Ten of My Most Recent 5-Star Reads. Which is likely to expand into my all time favorite books, with an emphasis early on in the list of recent books that I love. Who knows how this will go, so buckle your seatbelt, let's try this out.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

I finished this book in a day. I cannot tell you how long it's been since I last did that, but this book was worth it. Cath is every one of us who has ever become a part of an online community - be it through a fandom or book blogging or any other means of connection. How many of us haven't felt awkward in social situations but then thought, man if only these people would meet me online. And there are Emergency Kanye Dance Parties, and a goofy boy named Levi, and a realization that you can be loved and liked for who you are, that you don't have to lose sight of you to expand and grow. I loved this book.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

I knew I loved Leigh's writing when I fell for Nikolai in Shadow and Bone. I knew I loved who Leigh is as a human being when a series of fun & encouraging tweets were exchanged with her during my very!stressful! comprehensive exams were taking place. And I knew I would love Six of Crows when Leigh told me I would (when I went to Toronto to buy and have it signed by her just after completing my exams and she covered a page of the book with a huge CONGRATS!). Leigh hasn't let me down yet, and this book is such a fantastic and wonderful start to a series that I was already anticipating book #2 a few chapters into #1. What a cast. What a story. I think I love this series more than the Grisha Trilogy already - and that's saying something.

The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness

In true Courtney fashion, I put off reading the conclusion to the All Souls Trilogy for a year. A. Year. Because, despite wanting to know how Diana and Matthew's story would play out, I did not want to see it end. I was not (and am still not) ready to let go of these characters. I still think that In some not-so-far-off parallel universe I am Diana Bishop and that my current pursuit of a History PhD aligns quite nicely with her career. Someone just send the intelligent and dashing eons old Vampire my way, okay?

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

Truth be told it took me a little to warm up to the 5-stars that I gave this book. Perhaps it was because I put off reading this one for a long time (are we sensing a pattern here?) because I knew it would be a while before the next book came out. It was also probably because this book has a whole lotta stuff going on in it and there were times when I had to stop and reassess what I knew and what I didn't yet know. Maybe I was reading it too fast, but dangit I wanted to know. In the end, after the book hangover haze cleared away I realized just how wonderfully this book came together. That despite feeling like I was sometimes stuck inside a tornado of words and stories, that all of the pieces fit together in this insane and beautiful installment of this series. That's a good book.

The Smart One  by Jennifer Close

I absolutely adored Girs in White Dresses. So when I saw that she had another book, I knew I had to have my hands on it and my brain immersed in it. It's one year in the life of a family. It's about expectations and what happens if and when you don't meet them. Or when someone you have expectations doesn't meet them. It's about accepting a person for who they are and allowing them to do and be what they need to do and be. It's about how we never really succeed at growing up (but get pretty good at faking it), coming home, and accepting that we're all a little flawed - and that's okay. 

Let's Pretend This Never Happened  by Jenny Lawson

This book gave me all the laughs. From taxidermied squirrels playing poker to colon cleanses gone wrong, this book is such a true and unashamed picture of what real life is, or what it could be. Lawson doesn't hold back any punches and she doesn't skirt around the harder issues that we so often try to sweep under the rug of our day-to-day lives. If you need a laugh, but you also want a book that raises - and discusses - a number of real-life problems, you need to pick up this book. 

 So, what about you guys? What books have you read recently that get all the stars? Which ones have really knocked your socks of that you just can't stop recommending? Have you read any of these? 

Let's talk!