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Tuesday, July 21, 2026
Top Ten Tuesday: The Ten Books I've Read So Far This Month
1:56 PM
You know that saying about old dogs and new tricks? I've been a book blogger now for 20 years (my blogiversary is in August) in which time I have basically ignored Bookstagram. (I haven't even tried BookTube or BookTok.) I've always told myself that when book blogs go away, so will I. However, in the name of adaptability and keeping myself on publishers' radars, I've been trying to beef up my Bookstagram presence, even though I am no kind of photographer, videographer, or creative content creator. I know my way around Canva, but that's about it. It's been a bit rough and, honestly, I'm not sure this old dog can really learn new tricks. For now, I'm giving it a shot. If you have an account on Bookstagram, especially one that needs a little love, let me know and I'll give it a visit. I would love it if you would return the favor: https://www.instagram.com/blogginboutbooks/. I follow back as long as you don't use a lot of profanity or post content I find offensive. As for mine, it will be all books, no drama!
Now back to our regularly scheduled programming...
Today's TTT prompt is a great one—Top Ten Books That Live In My Head Rent-Free—even though my mind is drawing a blank on it. I mentioned that I'm old (turning the ripe old age of 51 this year), so it shouldn't surprise you that my memory is declining rapidly. Even my favorite books are foggy in my mind. To make things easier on myself, I'm going to go rogue and do an easier topic: Top Ten Books I've Read This Month. In addition to being old, I'm also lazy, okay? LOL
As always, Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl.
Top Ten Books I've Read This Month
It just so happens that I've finished exactly ten books so far this month. Here they are in the order I read them:
* Hyperlinked titles will take you to my Goodreads review of each book.
1. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke—This odd little novel was a book club pick, chosen by a woman who adores it. None of the rest of us could quite understand why because we all thought it was confusing and weird. The writing is undeniably vivid, even lovely in places, but man, it's a strange read. Not at all my kind of thing.
The story is about a man who lives in a dreamlike world in a building with endless, empty rooms. Only one other living person exists with him. As Piranesi observes and examines his lonely existence, he begins to understand that there's more going on than meets the eye. What is this world? How has he come to be here? What is his purpose? He's determined to find the answers to his now-burning questions.
2. A Share in Death by Deborah Crombie—Published in 1993, this is the first book in Crombie's popular, long-running Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James mystery series. In this series opener, readers are introduced to Kincaid, a Superintendent with Scotland Yard, who is taking a reluctant holiday at a time-share bed and breakfast in the Yorkshire countryside. His vacation is interrupted when the hotel handyman comes to a suspicious end. The local constabulary aren't the brightest bobbies, so Kincaid steps in to help. He knows a murder when he sees one and he will solve this one, with or without help from the locals.
Although A Share in Death is definitely dated and rather slow-moving, I enjoyed it overall. I plan to keep reading the series.
3. The Silent Ones by Anna McPartlin—This Irish crime novel is set in County Kerry in 1980. Mary Shea is one of only a few female gardaí in the country, and the solo one in her quiet coastal town. Her presence is barely tolerated by her male colleagues, who harangue her with sexist jokes and catcalls, demands for tea, and thinly-veiled threats. It's only when she discovers the body of a murdered newborn on the beach, prompting the arrival of a major crimes team from Dublin, that Mary starts to earn some respect. To the astonishment of the local lads, Matt Foley, who heads the investigation, actually wants to hear Mary's opinions. When he makes her his right-hand woman, she feels seen for the first time, in spite of her colleagues' lewd suggestions and insinuations about just how closely the two are working. Mary only cares about helping Matt find out who hurt the tiny baby. It's a horrible, harrowing case that will challenge and try her, causing her to question not only her job choice but her own instincts as a garda and a woman.
Even though The Silent Ones is a heavy, depressing read, it's also atmospheric and engrossing. I blew through it in a day because the story is so compelling. This is the first book in a planned series; I can't wait for the next one.
4. It's Not Her by Mary Kubica—This murder mystery revolves around two related families who go on vacation together at a lakeside resort in Wisconsin. Although the place turns out to be a dive, Courtney Gray is determined to make the best of it, especially for the kids, two spiky teenagers and their lovable younger sisters. There's already tension in the ranks when the unthinkable happens: Courtney's brother and sister-in-law are brutally murdered in their cottage and their teenage daughter is missing. Mouthy, rebellious 17-year-old Reese quickly becomes the police's primary suspect, but Courtney refuses to believe her niece could be capable of such a heinous crime. As the police search for answers and Courtney launches her own investigation, hidden secrets come to light, leading to a shocking conclusion to a puzzling case.
I didn't end up loving this thriller, but it definitely kept me reading. It's an engrossing, twisty page turner.
5. Tell Me What Really Happened by Chelsea Sedoti—This zippy YA mystery is about a group of teens who go camping in the woods at the behest of Maylee Hayes, a glossy, self-obsessed social media influencer who never does anything that makes her look less than her glamorous best. Like camping. When Maylee dies mysteriously during the trip, the kids are taken to the police station for questioning. Through transcripts of their interviews with the cops, each person tells a different story about Maylee, the kids' relationships with one another, and what really happened in the woods.
Tell Me What Really Happened is a fast-paced, intriguing mystery that kept me buzzing through the pages. It's predictable, but entertaining. The transcript format gives the story a fresh feel. Incidentally, if you're doing the 52 Book Club's 2026 Reading Challenge, this book fills Prompt #3 (Written Without Quotation Marks) nicely.
6. Caller Unknown by Gillian McAllister—McAllister's newest tells the story of a chef who flies to Texas from her home in London to spend two weeks camping with her teenage daughter, who has been in the U.S. attending a music camp. The next morning, Simone wakes up in their AirBnB to find her daughter missing. In her bed, she discovers a burner phone with a message saying that Lucy has been taken. If Simone wants to see her again, she must perform a series of dangerous tasks. If she contacts the police, her daughter dies. Desperate, Simone follows the instructions. Things quickly go from bad to worse, leaving a frantic mother running for her life, doing everything she can to save her daughter.
McAllister is one of my auto-read authors and her books are usually hits for me. Caller Unknown, though, just seems totally far-fetched and unbelievable. I couldn't put it down, true, but it was still just an average read for me.
7. Red Rising by Pierce Brown—This YA sci-fi/dystopian novel is the first in a popular series. It stars Darrow, a hotshot HellDiver who lives in an underground mining colony on Mars. As a lowly Red, his duty is to risk his life harvesting valuable helium-3, an element needed to make Mars and other planets livable for those who are stranded on a dying Earth. Despite his daily sacrifice, he lives in a brutal, impoverished community where Reds are never allowed to get ahead. When a series of tragic events offers him the unbelievable chance to lead a Red rebellion by going undercover as a rich, privileged Gold, he takes it. Proving himself brings him to the brink of death, but he has to endure it to accomplish his task of ushering in the rising of Red.
Red Rising is a bit confusing and slow at first, but once I got into it, I enjoyed it. It's a little too similar to The Hunger Games for me, though. I wanted more originality. Still, I liked it for the most part and plan to read on in the series.
8. We Solve Murders by Richard Osman—This series opener was one of my favorite reads of 2024. It's typical Osman—upbeat, funny, clever, and entertaining—although I enjoyed it more than The Thursday Murder Club. It's a cozy read that stars a bodyguard who ropes her homebody father-in-law into helping her and her fiery new client solve a string of puzzling murders. I wanted to reread We Solve Murders in preparation for the forthcoming sequel, and it was just as fun to read the second time around.
See my full blog review here.
9. We Chase Shadows by Richard Osman (available September 15, 2026)—Stepping back into the world of We Solve Murders was so delightful! Although I didn't dig this sequel quite as much as I did the first book, I still enjoyed it a great deal.
In this outing, the main characters from We Solve Murders have set up their own private detecting agency, which is, sadly, not getting any business. When a small-time British criminal living in Italy contacts them about the murder of his bodyguard, Amy, Steve, and Rosie hop on Rosie's private jet to meet with him. Another bodyguard is killed, then another. Someone is obviously sending a warning to the criminal, but why? And who will be next? When one of the detectives' close friends is targeted, solving the case becomes even more critical. Whodunit?
10. We Don't Talk About Carol by Kristen L. Berry—I've heard the sobering statistics about the disparity between media coverage of missing Black and brown people vs. their white counterparts, but I'm not sure I've ever read a book on the subject. This novel sheds light on that disparity. It's about a journalist who's cleaning out her late grandmother's home when she discovers a photograph of an aunt she never knew she had. She's even more shocked when she finds out that Aunt Carol was one of six Black teenaged girls who went missing from the same Raleigh neighborhood back in 1965, never to be seen again. Turns out, their disappearances were hardly investigated by the police and received no coverage in the newspapers. Incensed by the injustice, the journalist vows to find answers for the families of the Raleigh Six. In doing so, she uncovers dark family secrets that leave her questioning everything she knows. At the same time, she's struggling with questions about her identity as a sister, a daughter, a wife, a career woman, and a potential mother.
Although We Don't Talk About Carol is a heavy read, it's also an important, absorbing, and surprisingly hopeful one. It's a solid debut. I'm looking forward to seeing what Berry does next.
See my full blog review here.
There you go, the ten books I've read so far in July. Have you read any of them? What did you think? What books live rent-free in your head? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on your blog.
Happy TTT!
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You chose a good topic! There are a few books on your list that I'd like to read too.
ReplyDeleteYou’re having a fabulous reading month! 🙌 ~ Carol @ ReadingLadies
ReplyDeleteI'm a stubborn sort myself. I still enjoying blogging even though the hobby seems to be slowly dying if not mostly dead, but that's still partially alive, right? Lol. I'm a little less than 3 years away from my 20th bolgoversary which is like whoa! Lol. Congrats on your upcoming one! I'll be sure to check out your bookstagram account! I try to post on there mostly 5 days a week but since the algorithm changed to only allow the elite to survive, my account has been suffering there too. Apparently popularity must run rampant there and if you aren't in, you're already out. It's insane when I look at the numbers I had just a few years ago and then you look at recently with this stupid algorithm and it's like what has happened? So many users complain, but instagram doesn't care what its users think nor want their opinions. It's an endless battle, that's for sure!
ReplyDeleteNice rogue topic! Easy enough to think on! Lol. These are all new to me ones.
What a great list! I have added The Silent Ones and We Don't Talk About Carol to my TBR list.
ReplyDeletePiranesi is odd, but intriguing, I think. I wonder if I would like Red Rising by Pierce Brown.
ReplyDeleteLots of different styles here!
ReplyDeleteI always love hearing about what you've been reading. I am not on any of the social media sites and don't know that I will ever be. We'll see. For now, blogs are where I like to catch up with friends and hear about what they've been reading. I have read one of the books you listed above - A Share In Death. I love that series and, yes, it has been around a long time. The author is not one who puts out a book a year, but she does have a new one coming in the spring. It will be #20 in the series. I have not been reading so many newly published books. I've finally come to the place where I'm choosing to either re-read favorites or read books that I purchased for my Kindle over the years. I have sooooo many books. I do want to read We Solve Murders (which I own) and the sequel eventually and also We Don't Talk About Carol. Anyway, hope you have a good week, Susan!
ReplyDeleteRed Rising is one I still need to read. I just hit my 11th book for the month, so if I'd done top 10 for the month as my topic, it would have been all the books I'd read, lol. Congrats on 20 years of blogging too! I think this was my 17th? I'll do my blogoversary post in August. So it's coming up!
ReplyDeleteWhile I have not read any of these myself, I have heard good things about Res Rising and the Richard Osman books!
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting my post :)
I have We Chase Shadows on order. I wanted to try and avoid mentioning the same books but I'm not sure how I did 😂 I haven't read 10 books yet (it is a good month if I hit 10) 😂
ReplyDeleteAhhh Bookstagram. My account is a version of my Blog in Instagram form. I struggle with making things look good too. I've found that that is ok though. Mine is a no pressure fun account (hopefully!!) @librarybookmum_budgettalesblog
I loved We Solve Murders and am so looking forward to the next book. Glad to know to lower my expectations a bit. I really liked A Share in Death and I just picked up that Mary Kubica on audio. I'll have to check out the books I haven't read yet. Great list!
ReplyDeleteWe don't talk about Carol sounds really interesting, there's some great books on your list and I definitely need to make time for the new Richard Osman series (is it still classed as new?)
ReplyDeleteI've just added a comment anonymously by accident 🙈 sodding technology. Anyway, we don't talk about Carol sounds really interesting and there's great books on your list. I need to make some time to read the new Richard Osman series....and catch up with his old one for that matter.
ReplyDeleteI followed you on Instagram, these days I can't seem to post as much on my page about books as I used to. I love this idea for a TTT topic...I might have my lazy days as well, and definitely struggle with my memory. I just turned 48.
ReplyDeleteI just followed your Bookstagram account! YAY!!! Also, happy birthday...51 is not old. LOL! Also, your list is great. We Don't Talk About Carol sounds like a must-read!
ReplyDeleteAw, it's a shame you didn't get along with Piranesi! I loved that one.
ReplyDeleteAll the best for Bookstagram, I came off Insta because I was scrolling just too much. Great idea for this TTT, I must remember for when I can't do one. Er...51 - from where I sit very young!
ReplyDeleteRichard Osman books for sure!! I loved Red Rising so that's also a great choice. I am already following you, but I'll add you to my favorites so I see your posts to give them some love!!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on joining Instagram!
ReplyDeleteNice meme as it introduced me to many new books.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read any books by Osman but they often appear on lists and I wonder if they are books I need to take a look at. :) Thanks for visiting my list today and happy almost blog-versary.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing! My TTT https://www.ihopeyoudanceinlife.com/2026/07/books-that-live-in-my-head-rent-free.html
ReplyDeleteI adore Richard Osmans books! I should have reread the first one before jumping into We Chase Shadows, but I enjoyed it anyways. This looks like an awesome month of reading, I added a couple of these to my TBR
ReplyDeleteGood luck with IG. I don't have the energy for social media (but I gave you a follow)
ReplyDeleteI haven't read any on your list but I have seen a few around. Good luck with your bookstagram! You are not old! I'm turning 50 in December myself. :)
ReplyDeleteI couldn't even get through all of Piranesi. But I did really like A Share in Death. :D Good luck with your Bookstagram account. I'm not tech savvy enough to do anything by my very simple book blog. ;D
ReplyDeletePishh, 51 is not old! Anyway, reading keeps your mind young, don't you know? I've also been thinking about restarting my bookstagram but I haven't done anything with it for a couple of years. If I restart it, I'll definitely add you! Good luck with it!
ReplyDeleteI've heard great things about Richard Osman books, though I haven't read any of them yet myself. Good luck with the bookstagram!
ReplyDeleteWell done on already reading 10 books this summer! 😎 I tried reading We Solve Murders by Richard Osman, but it wasn't for me, so DNF. However I do love The Thursday Murder Club books. 😊
ReplyDeletep.s. I already follow you on Instagram - I am jessica.bookworm 😁
ReplyDelete