Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted at The Broke and Bookish. Each week the bloggers at The Broke and The Bookish put out a topic, and discuss their top ten options for said topic. This week’s Top Ten Top Ten Books People Have Been Telling You That You MUST Read (whether because they think it’s a “you” book or it’s just been generally recommended so often)
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Genevieve Tuchokle. Sometimes I feel as though this book itself is wanting me to read it. Every time I go to a book store, it’s right there in my face. Even if I’m no where near the YA/NA section in B&N. Which is seriously weird. I’ve had a few friends tell me to read it, and have offered to loan it to me, but I just haven’t had the connection to read it. I really think it’s the reviews that are holding me back. On goodreads and various blogs–there’s such a huge love/hate swing that it leaves me wondering if I’d really like it, or just be frustrated with it early on and not finish it.
Throne of Glass (and series) by Sarah J. Maas. This is a book/series that I feel everyone has read. And everyone tells me to read, I just haven’t had the chance to get to it. I fully intend to read the first book, and probably the whole series by default, but it’s not one that’s seriously pressing on my list.
Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton. This isn’t on the list so much for “OMG READ THIS” But rather, “OMG COME BACK TO THIS”. I read the Anita books like they were illegal contraband in high school–we passed the tattered paperbacks around the female population of my school the way stocks are traded. I stopped reading after Narcissus in Chains book 10/22 holy crap. I stopped reading because of the severe shift in plot (lack thereof) and subject matter. I couldn’t handle Anita’s power of the week gained through sleeping with whichever male character that had working genitalia, so I set them aside. Recently, I’ve had a few friends tell me to try them again. I’m still strongly weighing my options.
“WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?! You’ve never read the Hobbit? How can you call yourself a nerd? You HAAAAAAVE to read it.” Welcome to #7 on my list The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. I think it’s really fun to see people’s expressions when I tell them I hadn’t read the LotR series until after I had watched LotR: Fellowship of the Ring AND Two Towers. In fact the only reason I had read those is a friend had told me she wouldn’t see Return of the King with me until I had read the trilogy. Don’t get me wrong, I love Tolkien and the world he’s created. I just cannot get into the Hobbit. I’ve tried multiple times, and it’s still on my TBR list and so it’s ended up on this list.
One Piece by Eiichiro Oda. “You have to read this manga, it’s one of the big three!” (*the big three being Bleach, Naruto and One Piece). I’ve had this manga recommended to me several times by several different friends and even booksellers. I’ve given it a shot, and I can’t gel with the art style. It’s not my aesthetic and I can appreciate how popular it is–it’s just not for me.
The Hollows series by Kim Harrison. I’ve been told that these books are right up my alley. Great urban fantasy, strong female characters, great plot and an engaging series. I’ve given a couple of these to a friend as gifts, I just haven’t read them myself. Though I have a feeling once I return the Iron Druid books and some manga series I’ll end up with these as well.
The Giver by Lois Lowry. This wasn’t book I had to read in high school, and I’ve gotten funny looks from people who didn’t go to high school with me because it’s not on the required reading list. I’ve been told to read this book, that I’d enjoy it–especially before I go and see the movie (which is something I intend to do.)
If I Stay by Gayle Forman. If I Stay is one that’s been whispering and showing up in my peripheral vision for a while now. One of my friends called me and told me I need to put everything aside and read this book. I think that the cosmos are conspiring for me to read this and Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, though I’m leaning more towards actually reading If I Stay because I have it in my possession.
Legend by Marie Lu. I’ve had this book handed to me by a friend with the very direct message of “read this.” I haven’t yet. It’s in my pile, and I will one day. But she’s not the only one who was telling me to read this.
Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. These books have been recommended to me countless times. I finished Simon R. Green’s Nightside series and have whined extensively that there’s a whole in my reading shelf now that I don’t have those books to look forward to. I’m strongly thinking about getting into this series, though I know once I do, there’s no going back.
So that’s my Top Ten Tuesday post for this week. If you’ve done one as well, feel free to link it in the comments. 🙂
books and writing 
Ah, THRONE OF GLASS should be seriously pressing on your list because it’s sooo good! Seriously, it quickly became one of my favorite series. I didn’t looove IF I STAY but it was still good. And LEGEND made my list, too! Thanks for stopping by!
Rachel @ Beauty and the Bookshelf
I posted this, and a little while later I had a friend show up with Throne of Glass in her hand, she told me to read it, and then retreated creepily back to her car. I’m taking that as a sign to take it with me when I go and house sit for some friends next week. 🙂
Oh my god that’s fantastic hahahahahaha – sorry I’m creeping on the comments! But I was more or less about to say…you need to make that one a priority. But thank GOD I’m not the only one who doesn’t love One Piece! I’m with you – both the humor and the artwork aren’t for me. It’s my boyfriend’s favourite though – he’ll wake up crazy early in the morning just so he can read the newest chapter as soon as it comes out haha (And the Jim Butcher series has been really, really fun so far – I’m only finished with the first four or five though so I can’t comment on the series as a whole)
No worries lol. 🙂 She and I do things like that to each other though. I might have left a movie on her doorstep and sent her strange text messages until I knew she had gotten it. One Piece’s art just drives me bananas. it’s too busy and I like sketchy art, but something about it just grinds my gears. It’s probably one of the reasons why I haven’t watched/read Yowamushi Pedal–the art style is similar to my eye.
Yessss apparently everyone who hasn’t read Throne of Glass HAS to read it (including us). Other than that, I think I only read The Giver on your list, which I had to read for school. I mean it was good for a required school book, but idk what my opinion would’ve been. And The Hobbit looks very hard to get into to. I looked into it once, but there’s just too many words for me to actually enjoy it. And it’s a little too much description. Oh well.
Have you read Daughter of Smoke & Bone? Well, if not, IT IS A RECOMMENDATION FROM ME! It’s reallllllllly good 😀 Read it!
I’ll have to read your review after you’ve finished it. 🙂 I’ve wanted to read The Giver for a while, but hadn’t had any motivation to do so.
I have! I just finished it! I’m more than a little in love. 🙂
If I stay is one of my favorite books. I bawled for 2 hours after reading it for the first time. I also love The Giver and had to read it for school, definitely pick it up if you get a chance. I liked Storm Front but felt it was a bit goofy and didn’t need to read the rest of the series. And I too have not read Throne of Glass — maybe we should start a book club! 😛
I’m really hoping I love it. I’ve heard such great things about If I Stay, so I’ve got my fingers crossed. I reserved The Giver through the library so that’ll take a while. 🙂 Haha! Yes, let’s form a blog chain or something and remind each other until we’ve all read it.
I think I’m in the minority of people who didn’t like If I Stay, it just wasn’t for me. Although a friend of mine says that the movie might actually be better than the book, but we’ll see lol. I have The Hobbit sitting on my shelf, but I haven’t read that one fully either. I haven’t read One Piece either, but my brother reads it and he said that it takes a while to get into it and the art grows on you.I think the same thing happened to me with Attack on Titan. I highly recommend that one lol. The art is weird, but it grows on you. Thanks for stopping by my blog!
I wanted to read it before the movie came out, but I don’t think I’ll be able to do that. I will watch the movie at some point too.
I LOVE Attack on Titan. I’m behind by quite a bit (got distracted by Dogs: Bullets and Carnage I rec that to you). Jean is one of my favorite characters ever. EVER.
Let me know what you think about the movie 🙂 YAY another Attack on Titan fan 🙂 I’m behind with the manga too. Only because I was in school for the summer. I also bought myself a Levi Tote Bag which I adore lol. And I bought this Artbook that was done for charity which I absolutely love. I love Levi and Mikasa along with Hanhi and Erwin.
UGH. Art books. I love them so much but so much money! I have a few Japanese actor books and I protect those with my life lol. Erwin is another favorite of mine. He’s so handsome. I love Levi and Mike. ❤
This one was actually not too bad. It was $30.00 but all the proceeds were going to charity which was why I bought it too. It may also have been because one of my favourite artists did a drawing for it too :P. I salute you on protecting your Japanese Actor books with your life ;). Lol Erwin is quite handsome. I just love Levi because he’s so short and badass. I must catch up with the manga now lol.
I’m horrible at staying current with manga. I suppose I could read the scans, but that makes it worse for me lol. I tend to binge read series.
Lol binge reading is always good:)
The hate/love swing is real. Hopefully you’ll be on the love side, because the other side is less fun.
TOG, yesssss. I am so scared of book three. SO SCARED.
Hahahaha, I’ve heard Anita Blake gets REALLY bad at some point, but I only read like four of them and will hopefully let that lie.
I actually hated Tolkien when I was younger, so I didn’t manage to finish LOTR until college and I read The Hobbit in grad school. I do love them now.
One Piece was okay, though I didn’t finish and am okay with that.
If I Stay, yes yes.
Anita gets really bad–worse after the point where I stopped, but I’ve heard that she’s slowly coming back to where she was in the beginning. I’ll probably still give it a shot.
I’ve read Tolkien’s other works, its just that I can’t get into the Hobbit and I don’t know what’s holding me back.
If I Stay is in my bag for when I go house sitting, so it’ll get read soon.
Seeing everyone’s lists this week, I’m glad that I’m not the only one who hasn’t read The Giver yet xD
I’m kind of glad that I’m not alone in that. Or that there’s like a secret society of bloggers who haven’t read Throne of Glass.
Great list! Just thought I would share if you don’t have it Dead Witch Walking is Free for Nook and Kindle right now (I follow the author’s blog). So even if you don’t get around to reading it soon, you could have it for when/if you are ready for it.
Ooh! thanks for that. I’ve downloaded it now. 🙂
The Giver and If I Stay were both great!! I just picked up Throne of Glass and Legend because so many book bloggers have mentioned how much they loved them! Happy Reading!!
It’s really shocking to me how many times I’ve seen Throne of Glass today. 🙂 I’m really looking forward to reading them.
Oh yes, you must read Throne of Glass! BUT I would actually recommend reading the prequel novellas first! They give you some critical background about Celaena and her past. I read The Giver and If I Stay just recently to prepare for the movies and I absolutely loved them and recommend them!
Oh I didn’t know there were prequels! I’ll have to download those before reading. I like getting things in order. That’s why I really want to read The Giver and If I Stay–I want to check the movies out too.
I just had Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea suggested to me this week. I’ve added to my TBR, but an not sure yet.
http://ouachitaya.blogspot.com/2014/08/top-ten-books-people-have-been-telling.html
I’ll probably end up reading it, though it’s not as high up on my list as some of the other books.
Besides the numerous books we have in common this week on our lists, I still need to read The Hobbit and Guilty Pleasures. They are both on my TBR list, but I didn’t have enough spots to include them in my top ten. I hope you enjoy all of these books when you have a chance to read them.
Thanks for stopping by my TTT!!
The more I think about it I really do believe that I’m going to go back and start up with the Anita books again. 🙂
I always found The Hobbit much easier to read than Tolkien’s other works. It is definitely more light hearted than LOTR.
I think my main mental block with the Hobbit is my friends and I went and saw the first part of the movie….and Martin Freeman was so overexposed on Tumblr/Facebook that I actually started to dislike him. I’m thinking that it’s carried over to the print as weird as that sounds.
While I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend The Giver, I would hesitate to recommend If I Stay. I’m in the minority, but I really disliked it.
It’s funny that you couldn’t get into The Hobbit, but that you managed to read LOTR. I’m the opposite; I really enjoyed The Hobbit, but I couldn’t get into LOTR!
That’s why I keep trying to read the Hobbit. I love LOTR so much that I have to at least give it a chance. 🙂
I’m so intrigued by Throne of Glass. I must try and read it soon! 🙂 Great list!
I’ve seen it on so many lists, so I’m happy that I’m not alone.
Hype has brought the Throne of Glass series to my attention as well but it’s like, what, six novels in the series and only 3 are out? Ahhh I’ll probably binge when it nears the end. I often feel out of the loop during One Piece conversations and they’re all FEELSFEELSFEELS and I can’t relate haha. It’s definitely a different style of art but I think I could get used to it because of the illustrations in Fairy Tail.
Cheers,
joey via. thoughts and afterthoughts
I’ll read Throne of Glass and then probably binge read the rest when they come out. I hate waiting for books (which is why I’m normally so far behind in the various manga I’m reading—I like to read massive chunks rather than 1/8th of a chapter). Fairy Tale is another one that I’ve been told to read I just haven’t.
If you do not read 1, 5, and 9 ASAP I am going to start questioning our friendship. (Mostly kidding BUT READ THEM THEY ARE MY FAVS.)
Also I say skip Legend.
Would it make you feel better that I have a copy of Throne of Glass in my hands? And I’ve downloaded the first Hollows book–I was fearing your reaction lol. And I have the first four Dresden books on my bookshelf. I just might go grab one. Slogged through a book and it was not that great.
Lol yes it helps they are my favs 💙💚💛
I literally just read the GIver about a week ago, so you are not alone with being late to that party! I’ve never read The Hobbit either, nor do I have any plans to. I enjoyed both If I Stay and the Legend series, but moderately so. I wouldn’t run to read them, but I would give them a chance at some point. I haven’t read any of the Sarah J. Maas books either. Such a fail!
It’s not a fail! It’s a chance to eventually read them? Chances are there’s only three on here that I’ll end up reading any time soon, and the others will go into the tbr hoard (which is growing exponentially).
Gah, I forgot about Legend and I’ve seen it on quite a few of these lists! Also loved The Hobbit, though the two times I read it in high school, I’m pretty sure I never finished it. Love the movies, all of them. And I actually finished them. Haha! But you MUST read Between the Devil in the Deep Blue Sea. The characters were underwhelming, but the creep and Gothic factor is high.
Thanks for stopping by My TTT! 🙂
Legend and Throne of Glass seemed to crop up on almost everyone’s list this week. 🙂 I couldn’t get into the movies either which drives me crazy because Peter Jackson! Middle Earth! And I’m just sitting in the corner muttering “Rohan” to myself. I Between the Devil in the Deep Blue Sea in my library request queue.
One book that I will definitely recommend on your list is Legend by Marie Lu. The dystopian setting stands out and it was really easy to fall in love with the characters!
I hope you get to reading these books soon and thanks for stopping by my blog!
-Kat
I look forward to getting into that one. I’ve heard both good and bad about it, so I’m excited to read it.