Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

And wow.  I haven't done one of these posts yet this month. I'm awful.  So this week's theme is Top Ten books I really love but I haven't talked about enough.

Now, to be fair, I won't be putting books on this list that I rave about all the time (The Orphan Queen series & The Falling Kingdoms series).  Just know that I love them, but I talk about them a lot.

So in no particular order...

  1. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley - This was my introduction to a dystopian society.  It's smart and scary and strange.  It can be funny.  Many high schools assign this on the reading list (mine did).  But I went further and reread it.  Three times.  If you love dystopian novels you definitely need to read this classic.
  2. Linden Hills by Gloria Naylor - I know that I have mentioned this book in the past.  But I have to do it again.  It's a retelling of The Inferno.  It's all kinds of weird and different.  And lots of creepy.  This was a book I read for school, and I could not put it down.  
  3. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck - Uh oh.  Here I go picking all these books I read for school.  But seriously!  I loved this book beyond words.  I actually reread it because I loved it so much.  It's short and sad.  And because of it, I picked up The Grapes of Wrath as well.  John Steinbeck has certainly become one of my favorite authors of classic novels.
  4. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - How could I leave this off my list?  It's the book my blog is named for.  I actually did not read this for school.  I picked it up at a thrift store and read it for funzies.
  5. Red Rising by Pierce Brown - I have a discussion on comparing this to Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard here.  That is, of course, if you're confused as to the differences of the books.  They have some similarities, but I found them distinct enough to stand on their own.  And  is absolutely amazing.  I just finished Golden Son and need to start the last book as soon as possible.
  6. The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson - This is the second in the Fire and Thorns trilogy.  Amusing, right?  My favorite is the SECOND book.  Ha!  I met Rae at YALLFest last November and I told her it was my favorite of the series.  She was so happy because it was hers too.  I love the action and the building up of the romance.  It does not suffer from middle book syndrome at all!
  7. Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert - This series is strange.  It's like a science fiction version of A Song of Ice and Fire.  So many people trying to rule the galaxy and the spice.  I (personally) do not suggest watching the SyFy mini series.  The 1980s movie (while ridiculous and hokey) was much truer to the book.  But of course, Dune Messiah is the second book in the series.
  8. Mechanica by Betsy Cornwell - I am in love with Cinderella retellings.  I cannot tell you how many different Cinderella movies I own.  So this book?  I loved it.  And it's super feminist too.
  9. The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson - This is the first of the Remnant Chronicles.  I can't remember why I bought it.  It had a pretty cover.  Amazon kept recommending it to me.  I finally caved.  (I actually ended up buying it soon after it was released)  And I absolutely fell in love with it.  This was the first (or one of the first) book I reviewed on the blog.  My review was horrible and doesn't do the book justice at all.  I was still learning.  But my love for this book hasn't wavered.  And I've managed to get a few others hooked on this series as well!
  10. Where She Went by Gayle Forman - It shouldn't come as much of a surprise that I prefer this over the original If I Stay.  I have always loved reading from a male POV.  And while I liked If I Stay (okay I cried a few times), I absolutely loooooved Where She Went (it was a constant stream of tears).
What books do you love and not talk about?

20 comments:

  1. I tried reading Dune once (I actually did read it but didn't read the rest) and didn't really care for it, for some reason. It was kinda strange, seemed like. The Kiss of deception I've heard is good though...

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    1. Dune is definitely strange. And it takes a lot of commitment. It's certainly not for everyone!

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  2. What a fun lost! I need to give A Brave New World another try. I never could get into it and it went into my DNF pile years and years ago. Now that I'm (much) older, I wonder if I'd appreciate it more. Pride and Prejudice is one of my all time favorite novels. :-) I would really like to read Dune one of these days. And Mechanica is a book I am really curious about. Thank you for sharing!


    Here's mine: Top Ten Tuesday Post

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  3. Ah, some classics. Way to go! I considered adding Pride and Prejudice but ecided I do gush about it quite often. :)
    My TTT

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  4. You know, I've never read Brave New World...going to have to fix that! :)
    Check out my TTT.

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  5. Nice picks for this week! I've only read Of Mice & Men from your list... I'll have to expand my reading horizons!!

    Here's a link to my TTT for this week:
    http://captivatedreader.blogspot.com/2016/03/ten-books-i-really-love-but-feel-like-i.html

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  6. Nice picks! Lots of new to me ones! The only one I've read is The Kiss of Deception! I LOOOOOOVED that one!

    Here's my Tuesday Post

    Have a GREAT day!

    Old Follower :)

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  7. Linden Hills is such a great book. I read it in college and it became one of my favorites.

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    1. Omg someone else has read Linden Hills! I also read it in college. And it's truly amazing.

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  8. I love WHERE SHE WENT and more importantly - haha - I LOOOOVE Dune. I haven't read the rest of the series, just the first book, but I LOVED it. and ha, I read it at age 11. What was I thinking?! :)

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    1. You read Dune at 11?? Good thing you didn't continue with the series at that point it gets extremely graphic starting at book 5.

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  9. I've re-read Dune over the years but haven't gotten around to re-reading Dune Messiah; I need to do that one of these days. Yay for P&P and Brave New World--I only read the latter within the last 10 years and thought it was really interesting. Great list!

    My TTT

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  10. This is a great list! Pride and Prejudice is one of my absolute faves, and I also love the Kiss of Deception a lot. I was a total TOTAL mess during where she went... great, horribly sad book. great list!
    here's my TTT!

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  11. Red Rising, The Crown of of Embers, The Kiss of Deception and Mechanica are all in my tbr and I NEED to read them.I'd also love to re-read Brave New World. Great choices!

    Michelle @ Michelle's Minions

    My TTT

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  12. Several great picks...Pride and Prejudice, The Kiss of Deception, Where She Went...great choices. Also I loved the whole Red Rising series, but I've been talking about it A LOT lately so it didn't make my list this week.

    TTT
    Sandy @ Somewhere Only We Know

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  13. Really great list! I also love many of these. I read the Dune series a few years ago, and fell in love with it. I grew up on the film, and of course watched the miniseries, but the books are something else. I may need to do a re-read of it, because I fond it difficult to keep track of what was happening in the later books. Especially the last two.

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    1. You're definitely right. It gets a little weird on those last two books. I should reread it at some point too!

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  14. You have two sequels that I haven't gotten to yet -- Where She Went and The Crown of Embers! Looks like I need to get to those two...

    My TTT.

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  15. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is a book my older sister has raved about for years, but for whatever reason, it intimidated me and I haven't read it. Hopefully someday XD

    I LOVE Pride and Prejudice!

    From this list, Red Rising by Pierce Brown, The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson, and The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson are books that I own and have had on my TBR for ages, so I hope I'll have the chance to read them soon!

    Awesome list ^_^

    Brittany @ Brittany's Book Rambles

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