Welcome back to Top 10 Tuesday hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl! How crazy is it that we’re over half way through 2018?! I seriously can’t believe it. This week’s top is our favorite reads from the first half of the year and I’m excited to share these! Enjoy!
Check out my reviews page for reviews of these novels. Books listed alphabetically.
Jo’s Boys by Louisa May Alcott // Surprisingly loved this third installment about the March family. Nearly as good as Little Women.
The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall // The first book in my favorite series of 2018. I love these books and I can’t wait to read the last two!
Daring Greatly by Brené Brown // A truly life changing book. Her research about vulnerability, shame, and courage has changed my life.
Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens // I had high expectations and they were all met. Made me fall in love with Dickens and want to read more of his books.
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman // Completely original and completely fascinating. Melded my love of Harry Potter with beautiful storytelling and compelling characters.
The Lady of the Lakes by Josi S. Kilpack // My favorite historical romance that I’ve finished thus far this year. Especially because of the literary hero.
Five Days in Skye by Carla Laureano // A simply gorgeous novel about the power of home, food, love and faith
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle // Technically a reread for me but it felt like the first time. A fantastic novel with so much more depth than I expected.
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson // I loved this book from the first page and cannot recommend it highly enough. One of my recent favorites period.
Love and Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch // Probably my favorite book setting this year. Such a sweet story with a beautiful ending. Can’t wait to read her latest!
What were some of your favorite reads this year?
greenish bookshelf 
Oh I see one that I was interested in before… Love and Gelato sounds like such a lovely read! Some of my favorite reads this year: This Is How It Ends by Colleen Hoover and The Man Who Didn’t Call by Rosie Walsh :-). I don’t know how I’ll be able to pick only 10 at the end of the year!
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Love and Gelato is such a fun, sweet read! And amen to that. It’s hard to narrow it down so far!!
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Oh The Graveyard book is so good. And I saw the movie of A Bridge to Terabithia but still need to read the book.
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The Graveyard Book is like nothing I’ve ever read! And I really loved Terabithia. It’s short but has so much in it. The movie is pretty true to the book as well!
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Hey girl! Sorry I’ve been MIA, hope you are well!
I see some of my favorites on this list! A Wrinkle in Time, Bridge to Terabithia, and The Graveyard Book to be exact!
I read AWIT for the first time in 2016 and LOVED it. For some reason I never had it for required reading in school. I feel like I appreciated it more as an adult… Did you see the movie adaptation? What did you think? I’m not sure it translated well to film…
Bridge to T RUINED me when I read it as a child. I really need a reread soon.
The Graveyard Book was my first Neil Gaiman book and started off my love affair with all of his works. Have you read any of his other books? I HIGHLY recommend Neverwhere, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, and Stardust.
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Amanda!! So great to see you here 🙂
I did see the AWIT adaptation and was actually really disappointed. I felt the same way. There were things in the book that couldn’t easily be translated into a film. Plus they cut out Aunt Beast and that was one of my favorite parts in the novel.
Haha reread it!! I just loved it.
The Graveyard Book is my first Gaiman too! I haven’t read anything else of his yet. Thanks so much for the recommendations!!
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Bridge to Terabithia brings back such amazing memories for me. I LOVED that book!
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That’s awesome! This was my first time reading it and I loved it too! 🙂
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Bridge to Terabithia is one of my childhood favorites. I love it and still reread it every few years.
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This was the first time I read it and I absolutely loved it!! That’s awesome that you reread it regularly 🙂
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Great list of books! Honestly, I’m a bit surprised that A Wrinkle in Time is on your list. Was this a re-read from childhood? I feel like this was the first time you read this book… but I don’t recall (and the app is not great for bouncing around).
I didn’t connect well with A Wrinkle In Tine as an adult. I love what it was doing and I respect what it did for literature, as well as what it does for children to bring them into STEM. But overall, I feel meh. I’m impressed you connected so much to this!
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Thanks, Jackie! It was technically a reread. But it felt like reading it for the first time! I’m not sure what I expected but I really loved it! It’s different and I admire all she does in the story. I’ll have to see what my kids think in a few years–it will be fun to have their perspective to add to mine 🙂
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This sounds silly, but I don’t think I would have thought to include re-reads on a list like this! That said, I completely agree with including re-reads. It’s just a weird thing my brain assumed. XD
I look forward to also hearing what your kids think of this story. I always wonder what books will withstand the test of time. Obviously, A Wrinkle in Time is holding up there!
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Haha. It was technically a reread but felt like a first time. I didn’t remember a bit of it! Haha.
I am curious which of the more recent Newbery winners will become “classic” in 20-30 years. It will be exciting to see!
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Based on the covers alone, The Lady of the Lakes and Five Days in Skye look like must-reads! I’ve never read the Penderwicks — definitely a gap in my childhood reading, and one I should fix. I love The Graveyard Book, and hope to reread it one of these days (or listen to the audiobook — Neil Gaiman is a great narrator of his own books). Great list!
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Thank you! Those two books are both set primarily in Scotland. That’s a fun connection. The Penderwicks series is amazing. Start it now. 🙂 I bet Neil Gaiman is amazing narrating his own books. I’ll have to check more of his out!
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I can’t believe we’re doing a mid year best of topic already! Crazy how time flies! Anyway I really liked Love and Gelato- such a good book- and The Penderwicks look great. I always kinda wanted to try those…
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Amen to that! So crazy! Read the Penderwicks now! Those books are so good!
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Great list! Wrinkle in Time is one of my favorite books, and I also loved The Graveyard Book and Bridge to Terabithia. Clearly I should read some of these others. I’ve been to Skye so I’m curious about that one!
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Thank you! Such great Newbery winners, right? You’ve BEEN to Skye!? Is it so beautiful? I highly recommend that novel. Let me know if you get to it 🙂
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A Wrinkle in Time was a fun re-read for me this year as well.
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Nice! I totally felt like I hadn’t read it before. Such a great one!
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Me, too! Although, I read it like 25 years ago, so maybe it was like reading a brand new book. 😉
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Haha! That’s awesome!
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Great post 😊 So many of these are on my TBR list!
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Thank you! Hope you can read a few soon 🙂
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