Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week we are supposed to list ten books that are on our book wish list. Some people are buying for each other but you don’t need to do that. I’m just leaving links for anyone who might want to add these books to their lists too.

This one was a bit hard because I have a lot of books on my wish list but some of them are by authors I haven’t tried yet so I could end up hating them. Ha! For now, though, this is my wish list.

1. Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories: A Miss Marple Collection (Miss Marple Mysteries, 13) by Agatha Christie

Description: This exclusive authorized edition from the Queen of Mystery gathers together in one magnificent volume all of Agatha Christie’s short stories featuring her beloved intrepid investigator, Miss Marple. It’s an unparalleled compendium of murder, mayhem, mystery, and detection that represents some of the finest short form fiction in the crime fiction field, and is an essential omnibus for Christie fans.

Described by her friend Dolly Bantry as “the typical old maid of fiction,” Miss Marple has lived almost her entire life in the sleepy hamlet of St. Mary Mead. Yet, by observing village life she has gained an unparalleled insight into human nature—and used it to devastating effect. As her friend Sir Henry Clithering, the ex-Commissioner of Scotland Yard, has been heard to say: “She’s just the finest detective God ever made”—and many Agatha Christie fans would agree.)

Why It’s On My Wish List:

I read my first Miss Marple book, the first in the series actually, Murder At The Vicarage last year and enjoyed it. I would love to read a selection of short stories about her so I put this on my wish list.

Miss Jane Marple is such a funny, quirky character. I love how she is just taking everything in  and filing it all away so she can just solve it all in the end. All the while, though, everyone else in the book thinks she’s just off her rocker.

2. Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench

(Description:

Taking a curtain call with a live snake in her wig…

Cavorting naked through the Warwickshire countryside painted green…

Acting opposite a child with a pumpkin on his head…

These are just a few of the things Dame Judi Dench has done in the name of Shakespeare.

For the very first time, Judi opens up about every Shakespearean role she has played throughout her seven-decade career, from Lady Macbeth and Titania to Ophelia and Cleopatra. In a series of intimate conversations with actor & director Brendan O’Hea, she guides us through Shakespeare’s plays with incisive clarity, revealing the secrets of her rehearsal process and inviting us to share in her triumphs, disasters, and backstage shenanigans.

Interspersed with vignettes on audiences, critics, company spirit and rehearsal room etiquette, she serves up priceless revelations on everything from the craft of speaking in verse to her personal interpretations of some of Shakespeare’s most famous scenes, all brightened by her mischievous sense of humour, striking level of honesty and a peppering of hilarious anecdotes, many of which have remained under lock and key until now.

Instructive and witty, provocative and inspiring, this is ultimately Judi’s love letter to Shakespeare, or rather, The Man Who Pays The Rent.)

Why It’s On My Wish List:

I don’t read a ton of non-fiction but I heard about this book shortly after I saw Judi Dench recite a Shakespeare sonet from memory on the Graham Norton Show. Her relationship with the bard is a deep one and I think if anyone could write about him and his relationship to her life and make it interesting, she could

3. Death by Darjeeling (Tea Shop Mysteries Book 1)

Description:

When a man is poisoned by tea, Charleston shop owner Theodosia Browning must prove her innocence and track down the real killer…before someone else takes their last sip.

Meet Theodosia Browning, owner of Charleston’s beloved Indigo Tea Shop. Patrons love her blend of delicious tea tastings and Southern hospitality. And Theo enjoys the full-bodied flavor of a town steeped in history—and mystery.

It’s tea for two hundred or so at the annual historical homes garden party. Theodosia, as event caterer, is busy serving steaming teas and blackberry scones while guests sing her praises. But the sweet smell of success turns to suspense when an esteemed guest is found dead—his hand clutching an empty teacup. Trouble is brewing, and all eyes are on Theo….

Why It’s On My Wish List:

I can’t remember where this one was recommended, but I believe it was in a cozy mystery forum I am in on Facebook. This looks like a super cozy which is my favorite so I am really looking forward to it.

4. Live and Let Chai: A Beachfront Cozy Mystery by Bree Baker

Description:

When a body turns up on the boardwalk outside Everly Swan’s iced tea shop and café, she becomes the number one suspect in a murder case. Can she bag the culprit, prove her innocence, and dish up the real killer before it’s too late?

Hitting All the sweet-tea spots, this series is:

A delightful Tea Shop and Café Culinary Mystery

The ideal cozy beach read

Perfect for fans of Laura Childs and Kate Carlisle

Life hasn’t been so sweet for Everly Swan over the past couple of years, but now she’s back in her seaside hometown of Charm, North Carolina. The proud new owner of Sun, Sand, and Tea―a café right on the beach―Everly thinks that things are finally starting to look up. Until a grouchy customer turns up dead on the boardwalk with a jar of one of her specialty teas lying right next to him! When an autopsy reports poison in his system, things don’t look good for Everly or her tea shop.

As the townspeople of Charm, formerly so welcoming and homey, turn their back on Everly, she fights to dig up clues about who could have had it in for the former town councilman. With the maddeningly handsome Detective Grady Hays discouraging her from uncovering leads and a series of anonymous attacks on Everly and her tea shop, it will take everything she’s got to keep this murder mystery from boiling over.

 Why It’s on My Wish List:

I have heard so much about this modern cozy mystery series that I just knew it was time for me to give a try. I have watched YouTube videos on it and seen it recommended several places, including on Facebook, blogs, Instagram and on TikTok during my very brief visit there. I’m looking forward to delving into this one – maybe later this summer.

5. Bombs on Aunt Dainty by Judith Kerr

Description: Partly autobiographical, this is the second title in Judith Kerr’s internationally acclaimed trilogy of books following the life of Anna through war-torn Germany, to London during the Blitz and her return to Berlin to discover the past.

Why It’s On My Wish List:

I read the first book in this middle grade series – When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit – last year and was blown away by the subtle beauty of it. The story is geared toward younger children but there are definitely adult themes within the pages. I am hoping to continue …. ‘s story and find out how her family continued their lives after being forced to leave Germany.

6. The Wonderful World of James Herriot: A Charming Collection of Classic Stories by James Herriot, Jim Wight

Description:

James Herriot’s timeless, heartwarming, and perceptive stories about animals and people have charmed millions of readers around the world, and millions more have watched the popular PBS series All Creatures Great and Small, which is based on his four books. The Wonderful World of James Herriot excerpts the best of his stories to shape the larger tale of his life, his family, and his world, illustrated with evocative drawings and family photographs, including a special introduction written by his two children Rosie Page and Jim Wight.

With astute observations and boundless humor, Herriot captures the spirit of the Yorkshire Dales and of rural communities on the cusp of change, before tractors and machines had taken over and modern medicines and antibiotics transformed veterinary work. Herriot’s unforgettable portraits of farm animals and the people he served as a country veterinarian are moving, dramatic, warm, touching, and profound. This beautiful book is the perfect gift for Herriot readers of all ages.

Why It’s on My Wish List: I have loved reading through the books by James Herriott and watching the two TV series based on his life. Seeing that there is another, very pretty, book with his stories and some photos in it related to him was very exciting to me. I would love to escape into its pages.

7. The Great Good Thing: A Secular Jew Comes to Faith in Christ by Andrew Klavan

Description: No one was more surprised than Andrew Klavan when, at the age of fifty, he found himself about to be baptized. The Great Good Thing tells the soul-searching story of a man born into an age of disbelief who had to abandon everything he thought he knew in order to find his way to the truth.

Best known for his hard-boiled, white-knuckle thrillers and for the movies made from them–among them True Crime and Don’t Say a Word–bestselling author and Edgar Award-winner Klavan was born in a suburban Jewish enclave outside New York City.

He left the faith of his childhood behind to live most of his life as an agnostic until he found himself mulling over the hard questions that so many other believers have asked:

• How can I be certain in my faith?
• What’s the truth, and how can I know it’s the truth?
• How can you think, live, and make choices and judgments day by day if you don’t know for sure?

In The Great Good Thing, Klavan shares that his troubled childhood caused him to live inside the stories in his head and grow up to become an alienated young writer whose disconnection and rage devolved into depression and suicidal breakdown.

In those years, Klavan fought to ignore the insistent call of God, a call glimpsed in a childhood Christmas at the home of a beloved babysitter, in a transcendent moment at his daughter’s birth, and in a snippet of a baseball game broadcast that moved him from the brink of suicide. But more than anything, the call of God existed in stories–the stories Klavan loved to read and the stories he loved to write.

Join Klavan as he discovers the meaning of belief, the importance of asking tough questions, and the power of sharing your story.

Why it’s on my wishlist:

I am very fascinated with the connection between Judaism and Christianity and having heard Klavan speak about this in a short video, I would like to know the full story.

8. The Moffats by Eleanor Estes

Description: Meet the Moffats. There is Sylvie, the oldest, the cleverest, and-most days at least-the responsible one; Joey, who though only twelve is the man of the house…sometimes; Janey, who has a terrific upside-down way of looking at the world; and Rufus, who may be the littlest but always gets in the biggest trouble.
Even the most ordinary Moffat day is packed with extraordinary fun. Only a Moffat could get locked in a bread box all afternoon, or dance with a dog in front of the whole town, or hitch a ride on a boxcar during kindergarten recess. And only a Moffat could turn mistakes and mischief into hilarious one-of-a-kind adventure.

Why It’s on My List:

My daughter and I read The Middle Moffat a couple of months ago and really enjoyed it so now I want to go back to the beginning of the series.

9. The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery

Description: From L.M. Montgomery, author of Anne of Green Gables, comes another beloved classic and an unforgettable story of courage and romance.

Valancy Stirling is 29 and has never been in love. She’s spent her entire life on a quiet little street in an ugly little house and never dared to contradict her domineering mother and her unforgiving aunt. But one day she receives a shocking, life-altering letter―and decides then and there that everything needs to change. For the first time in her life, she does exactly what she wants to and says exactly what she feels.

At first her family thinks she’s gone around the bend. But soon Valancy discovers more surprises and adventure than she ever thought possible. She also finds her one true love and the real-life version of the Blue Castle that she was sure only existed in her dreams…

Why It’s on My List:

I’ve heard a lot about this book and simply wanted to try something by L.M. Montgomery other than the Anne of Green Gables books.

10. Marilla of Green Gables: A Novel by Sarah McCoy

Description:

A bold, heartfelt tale of life at Green Gables . . . before Anne: A marvelously entertaining and moving historical novel, set in rural Prince Edward Island in the nineteenth century, that imagines the young life of spinster Marilla Cuthbert, and the choices that will open her life to the possibility of heartbreak—and unimaginable greatness.

Plucky and ambitious, Marilla Cuthbert is thirteen years old when her world is turned upside down. Her beloved mother dies in childbirth, and Marilla suddenly must bear the responsibilities of a farm wife: cooking, sewing, keeping house, and overseeing the day-to-day life of Green Gables with her brother, Matthew and father, Hugh.

In Avonlea—a small, tight-knit farming town on a remote island—life holds few options for farm girls. Her one connection to the wider world is Aunt Elizabeth “Izzy” Johnson, her mother’s sister, who managed to escape from Avonlea to the bustling city of St. Catharines. An opinionated spinster, Aunt Izzy’s talent as a seamstress has allowed her to build a thriving business and make her own way in the world.

Emboldened by her aunt, Marilla dares to venture beyond the safety of Green Gables and discovers new friends and new opportunities. Joining the Ladies Aid Society, she raises funds for an orphanage run by the Sisters of Charity in nearby Nova Scotia that secretly serves as a way station for runaway slaves from America. Her budding romance with John Blythe, the charming son of a neighbor, offers her a possibility of future happiness—Marilla is in no rush to trade one farm life for another. She soon finds herself caught up in the dangerous work of politics, and abolition—jeopardizing all she cherishes, including her bond with her dearest John Blythe. Now Marilla must face a reckoning between her dreams of making a difference in the wider world and the small-town reality of life at Green Gables.

Why It’s on My List

Continuing my love for all things Anne of Green Gables (or most things), I thought this would be a fun book to read, even though it isn’t written by L.M. Montgomery.

Do you have a book wish list? What’s on it?