Top Ten Tuesday used to be a weekly post hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, but was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl. “It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.” This is definitely something I can understand and want to participate in.
Hi! I took the last few Tuesdays off, and have been prioritizing my health and really focusing on relaxation. This week’s topic came from Joanne @ Portobello Book Blog, and its about books with honorifics in the title (with an honorific being a form of address conveying esteem, courtesy, or respect, such as Mr., Mrs., Miss, Sir, Dame, Lady, Lord, Captain, General, President, Doctor, or Earl). I’m guessing that this prompt would be much easier to come up with titles if I read more historical romance, where honorifics are frequently seen in book titles. However, since I lean more heavily into fantasy and mystery, let’s see how many I can actually come up with that I have read. Here goes nothing:
- Genghis: Birth of an Empire by Conn Iggulden. Did you know that Genghis is an honorific and was bestowed on Temujin, the young man who would become Genghis Khan (meaning ‘universal ruler’). Goodreads | Amazon
- The Knight and The Moth by Rachel Gillig. We don’t have knights in our society, but for hundreds of years in Europe, knights were important parts of medieval society. Goodreads | Amazon
- The Radiant King by David Dalglish. This is absolutely an honorific, and with a cool little modifier to make the book sound even more interesting. Spoiler alert: It was fascinating. Goodreads | Amazon
- Lord of the Flies by William Golding. This is another honorific, even if it wasn’t an official one, I’m still gonna say it works for this prompt. Goodreads | Amazon
- The Lost Queen by Signe Pike. I adored this historical fiction based on a real queen who was twin sister to the man who became known as ‘Merlin.’ Goodreads | Amazon
- The Vicious King by Gina L. Maxwell. I absolutely loved this book (the whole series, actually) about the exiled fae living in Las Vegas. Goodreads | Amazon
- Mistress of Lies by K.M. Enright. I’m going with the past usage of Mistress, since mistress denotes an honorific, although the current definition isn’t anything close to an honorific. Goodreads | Amazon
- Shield Maiden by Sharon Emmerichs. Shield maiden was an honorific in this book, and I loved this female-oriented retelling of Beowulf. Goodreads | Amazon
- Emperor of Ruin by Django Wexler. I love all his books, and emperor fit in well with the honorifics. Goodreads | Amazon
- The Witch and the Tsar by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore. This historical fantasy imagines an encounter between the Tsar of Russia and Baba Yaga, and I can’t recommend it enough. Goodreads | Amazon
I was able to come up with ten, have you read any of these? What did you think?
Categories: Top Ten Tuesday
Leah's Books 
I agree. This is an ideal topic for all the historical fiction reads! Looks like you still found some fitting titles though. 🙂 Hope you are feeling more rested and discovered some great reads during your time off, Leah.
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Rissi, I am feeling so much better! Even though I still haven’t managed to return blog comments on time 😂 and I’m so glad that I managed to come up with an entire list of 10!
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For some reason I forgot to search for King or Queen titles. That would have made my life easier.
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That’s okay, because I missed a few that would have made picking titles easier too!
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The Knight and the Moth looks sooo GOOD! I struggled with this topic this week so I switched it up a bit :)My TTT: https://romantasylife.com/books-with-names-in-the-title/
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The Knight and the Moth was outstanding! I’m such a fan of Rachel Gillig’s work.
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I think that you did well. I had to go right back to 2021 to find 10 books to meet this challenge. Evidently I don’t read many books with Honorific titles 🤣
Have a great week!
Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog
My post:
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I had to go pretty far back to find a full ten. I’m telling you, if we read historical romance, we would have been struggling to pick *only* ten titles!
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Very true!! It was quite clear which genre was good for this list!!
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It was my choice of topic this week and I’m loving all these choices! You found a great selection from your preferred genre!
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Thank you! You did such a great job with coming up with a unique prompt. I liked the challenge it gave me for my first TTT back after a bit of a break.
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Great job finding ten titles. The only one from your list that I’ve read is Lord of the Flies, and that was forever ago and yet not long enough ago.
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!https://readbakecreate.com/a-royal-family-found-in-book-titles/
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Hahaha, I can understand what you mean about it being forever and somehow still not long enough about Lord of the Flies – I still can’t believe they made us read that in school!
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I loved Lord of the Flies in high school!
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So did I! My collection of books has waxed and waned over the years, but I’ve always kept a copy of that one. I’m really excited to read Lord of the Flyfest by Goldy Moldavsky, it’s a spin on the original story.
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The only one I’ve read is Lord of the Rings, and that was many years ago while in high school. Nice list Leah. I chose to go with books, I haven’t read and are on my TBR shelf.
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Thank you! I really try to keep my TTT lists to books that I’ve already read, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way. Looking forward to seeing your list!
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The Knight and The Moth and Mistress of Lies are both on my TBR!
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Good news for you then, because both of those are outstanding reads!
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That’s so great to hear!
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I’ve seen a ton of buzz about The Knight and the Moth and really want to read it now. Hahaha.
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!
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Good – it’s one of the best books I read this year! I hope you enjoy it when you get around to it.
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The Knight and the Moth is also on my list this week, I’ve heard nothing but good things so far!
My TTT: https://laurieisreading.com/2025/07/15/top-ten-tuesday-books-with-honorifics-in-the-title/
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I’ve seen so many people that have it on their TBR – The Knight and the Moth is an outstanding read! I hope you like it as much as I did.
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Historical romance (a genre I rarely read) definitely seems to dominate in the titular honorifics department! My list is mostly made up of historical fiction, today, but I had to repeat honorifics to get to ten. It was a fun search, though 🙂
Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
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I thought this was a fantastic prompt, even if it was a bit challenging. Can’t wait to see what you came up with!
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