I know, it’s not Tuesday anymore. But I didn’t see this until today, and I want to make an effort to do more fun bloggy things here. When I saw this week’s top ten list, it looked like something I’d get a kick out of. As much as I read (over 100 books a year), you’d think I’ve read everything, but there are still a lot of popular books out that I’ve never gotten to. So here we go. :)
To Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish
Top Ten Books I Feel As Though
Everyone Has Read But Me
1. The Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost. This is more of a genre thing, so not everyone has read it, but it seems that every paranormal romance fan out there has. It’s been on my to-read list for years now, but because my library doesn’t carry her books, I haven’t gotten around to checking them out. I did finally buy the first book this week (the ebook was on sale for $1.99), so someday when I don’t have a stack of library books to read, I’ll finally give it a shot and see what all the fuss is about!
2. The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. I hear rave reviews about this series all the time. I even checked the first book out from the library once, then returned it when the due date came and I hadn’t had a chance to start it yet. The main reason I haven’t made more of an effort to read these books might seem a little silly to some, but here it is: years ago, when she was writing fanfiction, she was the center of a pretty big plagiarism scandal. I never read her fanfiction, but just the thought that she once plagiarized has left me less than eager to give her a try.
3. Anything by Jane Austen (for good measure, let’s throw in all three Bronte sisters as well). There is a lot of classic literature I never read, because my high school was obsessed with Shakespeare and rarely seemed to venture away from his works. I read Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet and Julius Caesar multiple times, but none of the Austen or Bronte books.
4. To Kill a Mockingbird Another oversight of my high school’s crappy English department. Seriously, I read a better selection of literature in middle school (I was still living in Illinois then, so maybe the Florida school system just wasn’t as advanced?)
5. The Great Gatsby And again with the high school fail. (I was even in AP/Honors English!)
6. Moby Dick Seriously, all we ever read was Shakespeare, some Charles Dickens, and ancient literature like Beowulf, Oedipus Rex and The Odyssey
7. The Chronicles of Narnia I’ve seen a couple of the movies, even bought the omnibus, but never got very far into it. I don’t know why.
8. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo This has been on my to-read list forever. I even have a copy of it in my TBR pile. But library books always seem to take precedence, so I have yet to get to it. One day…
9. The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis This is one of those that every time travel fiction fan has read, and as much as I love time travel, I haven’t yet read it. It’s on my list, though.
10. The Bible My only excuse for this is that I’m not religious. My family didn’t go to church, so I never had a reason to read it. I had a Children’s Bible when I was younger, and read some of that, but not the whole thing. It didn’t hold my interest, I guess. (So basically, I just said the Bible was a DNF for me. I‘m going to Hell now, aren’t I?)
I really loved the Austen books, as well as Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. They're not for everyone, but it's great stuff!
ReplyDeleteAlso, Gatsby is a pretty short book and Fitzgerald was so great with his characters and sentences - it's a book I re-read every now and then. The images that have been burned into my mind from reading that will never leave me.
The Dragon Tattoo series is good, but not great. The first book's English translation is a bit murky and awkward in places. The 2nd and 3rd are much better translations (and better books).
Good luck in all your future reading!
@jessica maria I've always intended to read more of the classics, but I never seem to get around to it. I get distracted by the more "fun" stuff, I suppose. :)
ReplyDeleteI have friends that rave about the Dragon Tattoo series, so I plan on reading it eventually. But then my mother read the first book and didn't care for it much, so I think that might be why I haven't put it at the top of the TBR pile. Good to know the later ones are better. Thanks!
Okay, Allison, you need some help, lol. I haven't read every piece of classic literature either, but there are just some things everyone SHOULD have read by now. I think I'm mostly still reeling about the Narnia thing. I mean... who hasn't read Narnia? And to think, you have been in my HOUSE. If I'd only known... ;)
ReplyDeleteI had to read TKAM and Great Gatsby two or three times in HS and college combined. I think I read TKAM at least once on my own. HOWEVER, I have never and still don't have any desire to read Moby Dick. Everyone I know who has read it "just because they feel they should" finds it tortuous. So why put yourself through that? I think I'm doing a really good (nerdy) job setting a goal to read all Pulitzer and Booker Prize winning novels.
@anann73Like I said in the post, my school was terrible about giving us a well-rounded reading list. I have a lot of these on my to-read list, but I'm bad about getting around to checking them out. There always seem to be other books I want to read more.
ReplyDeleteHey, I read The Iliad all on my own! And man, that was a tough slog, let me tell you.