Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Top Ten Books People Have Been Telling Me I MUST Read

I'm participating in today's Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  This week's prompt is:

Top Ten Books People Have Been Telling Me I MUST Read


So, being a reader has one pretty big and pretty awesome occupational hazard: I get a TON of book recommendations.  And I love it.  I love it when people recommend books to me!  I love the feeling of knowing that a friend thought of a book and thought of me, and decided to set us up.  I love knowing someone else has already run through the book once and thought it was good enough to recommend.  I love knowing that there will be someone on the other side with whom to discuss the book when I finish.  I love knowing there are people I can go to when I don't know what to read next, and they'll have a dozen prospective books at the ready.  Receiving book recommendations really is awesome.  

In the circle of recommended books I get, a few books tend to pop up more often than others.  Here is my list of the top ten books that get recommended to me the most:



10. Scarlet and Cress (books 2 & 3 in The Lunar Chronicles) by Marissa Meyer
I read Cinder and loved it, but decided to wait until the rest of the books were released before I continued the series.  I've been happy to see that others have enjoyed the series and say that it gets better and better as it goes.  I'm definitely looking forward to reading more, I just want to wait a little longer before jumping in!

9. The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen
Emma Watson's recommendation is enough for me.

8. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Eleanor & Park just doesn't hold the draw for me that her other books do.  Everyone keeps saying I should give it a chance anyway.  (I mean, it is Rainbow Rowell after all.)  They're probably right, but I'm just not sure I want to read it.

7. Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh
For some reason, an unusual portion of the world thinks of me when they read this book.

6. The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson
The Internet has been screaming at me to read this book for the last several weeks.  I think I will oblige, thank you very much.

5. The Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan
When I was young I thought this series was just a Harry Potter knock off.  Clearly, though, it has become its own niche.  Plus, many HP fans are also PJ fans.  Always a good sign.

4. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
You know who you are.  Yes, I will read it.  Someday.

3. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
It's just so HEAVY.  But I'll read it eventually!

2. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
I love how many people LOVE this book.  I'm curious about it, but I found out a few spoilers and now I'm not sure if I should read it or not.

1. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
As an introvert, I'm told I will love this book, and be thrilled that someone is finally speaking my language.  It intrigues me, but nonfiction just isn't as exciting to me as dragons.  Sorry.  I'll probably read it on an airplane one day or something.


What books frequently get recommended to you?  

12 comments:

  1. Scarlet is awesome! I haven't read Cress yet, but I will!

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    1. I'm really looking forward to that whole series! I actually own both Scarlet and Cress, and every time I look at those books on my bookshelf I'm reminded of how good Cinder was.

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  • Gone Girl is ridiculous. I wouldn't recommend it. I somehow devoured it while simultaneously hating EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER in the book. And you're a character person - do you really want to read a book where all you do is hate every person in it?!

    Hyperbole and a Half, though? Yes, please. Although most of the good stuff in it is already on her blog.

    And I keep meaning to read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and East of Eden, too. Maybe we should read them at the same time and then discuss them over email (or even better, IN PERSON, because I can dream, right?!)!

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    1. Funny, that's the first negative review for Gone Girl I've heard. You're right, it would really bug me if I hated everyone in the whole book. Maybe I'll just check out the Hyperbole and a Half blog then? And, I'm totally on board with a read-along of either East of Eden or A Tree Grows in Brooklyn! Especially if we can arrange a get-together to discuss it. :)

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    2. Is BD on Goodreads? Or is it all through a personal account?

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    3. I was already on Goodreads with a personal account when I created the BDrag, and it seemed redundant to create a second one. So, there's just my personal account on Goodreads. :)

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  • I read most of Quiet--and, while interesting, (my hubby is an introvert), I struggled getting through all the way to the end. It read more like a textbook, and while I like to learn, most of the time right now, I just want an escape.

    Lightning Thief did NOTHING for me. I felt it was dark and didn't like the characters. Though the book is WAY (like 1000 times) better than the movie.

    A Tree Grows is also on my list...someday. And I intend to pick up a few others of those on this list...someday.

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    1. "Someday" is a common word for me when describing books too. :) I'm interested in Quiet, but the length of the book made me suspicious that it was slow. I guess at least now I know my instincts were right? Interesting that PJ was so meh for you. It has so many loyal fans, though maybe it's just the kind of book that doesn't translate well for adult readers? At least all the PJ fans I know are teens.

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  • I returned to this post to report. I just finished "Quiet" and it was incredible. YOU. WOULD. LOVE. IT. So take a flight sometime soon so you can read it. It is basically about how introverts rock and how they should rule the world. Basically. Honestly, though, it was super super interesting and I couldn't put it down. So there's my plug.

    And my plugs still remain for numbers 10, 7, 4 and 3 too but you'll get to them someday :)

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    1. You're on. The next flight I take, I'll take Quiet with me.

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