Top 10 Tuesday is a weekly book meme hosted by the girls at The Broke & The Bookish where there’s a different book/reading focused topic each week. This time we’re talking:
Top 10 Books I Feel As Though Everyone Has Read But Me!
- Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Laini Taylor. This one isn’t even published yet (supposedly out 27th this month) and I have already lost count of how many awesome reviews I’ve read and how many discussions I’ve seen about it on twitter. I think it was circulated well at BEA and I know a lot of people that are pimping this one as one of the books of the year. My local library has it on order and I’ve requested it so hopefully I can catch up on what everyone already knows soon!
- Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte. Yes it’s true, I’ve never read this one and that gets me a few strange looks. I own it, it’s sitting on my TBR shelf, I can even tell you exactly where it is. I just haven’t gotten around to actually picking it up and reading it yet. I keep meaning to and I’m sure I’ve got it on my list of books I must read this year…so really must get on that.
- The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I somehow managed to avoid having to read this for school and because it was on the curriculum list, I’ve sort of avoided it ever since. Anything I’ve had to read for school has never turned out well for me (other than To Kill A Mockingbird) and this is a book that seems to divide. I’ve heard people praise it to the heavens but I’ve also heard it described as some of the most ridiculous self-indulgent drivel ever written. Maybe one day I’ll give it a crack and decide for myself what it is!
- The Knife of Never Letting Go, by Patrick Ness. I bought all 3 of the Chaos Walking trilogy after reading many an awesome review of them, and I even had a dystopian challenge that I intended to read them for. However I ended up reading a bunch of other books for that and these 3 still sit on my shelf… Even though I know that they’re supposed to be awesome! I’ve picked this one up about 10x, read the back, flipped the pages and then put it back on the shelf and moved on to something else. I’m really not sure why. One day!
- Anything by Sarah Dessen. I’ve never read anything by this popular YA author although I did recently purchase one of her books for my kindle. I’ve read numerous awesome reviews of lots of her novels and I know there are plenty of people out there who adore her whole back catalogue and eagerly await her new books. She’s on the list of authors I’ll get to…one day.
- Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott. Yes, it’s true – a huge gap in my childhood reading is this book. I owned it, but for some reason I just never read it, which is sort of weird because I read everything in my house cover to cover – numerous times. And now of course every other piece of literature ever has spoiled what happens in it so I don’t really feel like I have to go and read it because I know all the story!
- The Notebook, by Nicholas Sparks. I’ve read a couple of Sparks books, one was okay and one was utterly dire and enough to turn me off ever reading any ever again! However this one seems very popular and I’m not sure if it’s just because of the book or if the movie has something to do with it too.
- All The Harry Potter Novels, by J.K. Rowling. I’ve never read any Harry Potter novels. When they first came out, I shunned MG and YA fiction, preferring to read solely adult fiction. And then they exploded and each book got to be five times the size of the last one and there were movies and merchandise and mass hysteria and they started to seriously annoy me. So I boycotted them. And now I just can’t be bothered.
- The Vampire Diaries, The Vampire Academy Series et al, by various. I read Twilight at the insistence of a family member who told me they would totally change my life. They didn’t and although I was okay with them while I was reading them, when I closed the books I was like ‘ok they were really kind of messed up. And poorly written’ and because of that there’s a few other series I’ve deliberately avoided even though that’s unfair and they are probably nothing like Twilight anyway. But I’d just had enough of vampires after reading that series and somehow I’ve never gotten around to trying some of them.
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams. I had some friends in University who utterly worshiped this book and I’d never even heard of it until then! I actually have no idea what it’s about and I’ve never really felt the desire to read it even though it seems sometimes like I’m the only person on the planet that hasn’t!
There’s my Top 10 Books I feel that everyone else has read but me… there’s plenty more but these are just the ones that sprang to mind when I sat down to do the list. There’s a few that I think I’ll definitely read one day but there’s a couple on this list that I can’t ever see myself reading for various reasons.
All The Books I Can Read 
If I was to write a list on this topic there would be lots of classics on it! Read The Knife of Letting Go!
I keep saying this, but… No shame for a book that isn’t out yet. (Daughter of Smoke and Bone)
I can certainly understand one thing leading to another with books, too. I have deliberately avoided Hush Hush because I didn’t like Fallen, for example. And I’m reluctant to try White Cat because I didn’t care for Tithe. (In one case their both the same author; in the other its themes that make me wary.)
I think you probably have to be pretty young to read Little Women for the first time anyway. Because if you read it now, you’d notice all the creepy ‘girls should be passive and stay at home and never have emotions’ and ‘Beth is the bestest cause she’s a little girl forever and never grows up’ messages and wonder why anyone ever loved the book in the first place.
…I studied it in a class in college and never have been able to look at it the same way since even though I adored it as a little girl. Maybe this influences my opinion. 😀
You must, must, MUST read the Harry Potter novels as well as Dessen’s books. They’re fantastic! Also, I agree with Daughter of Smoke and Bone. It definitely does seem like I’m one of the only people who hasn’t read it yet. Great list! 🙂
Sophia
My Top Ten 🙂
I’ve been trying to get my friend to read Harry Potter for years (she refused even though she’s an elementary school librarian). She finally read the first one and thought it was just okay. I told her to read at least the first three before making a decision, because the first and second book are much more childish and not as well written. Sorry for the diatribe there.
I really want to read Daughter of Smoke and Bone too.
I haven’t read almost all of these! I’ve read Jane Eyre, in fact I re-read it not too long ago. I love that book. It’s a little tough to get into, but I think it picks up along the way. I’ve read Little Women too, though I end up prefering the 90’s film version of it more than the book… *ducks* And I read The Notebook, but the film is way way better. I think Nicholas Sparks should just write film scripts. His books make excellent films in my opnion, but the book is always lacking for me.
My Top 10 Tuesday!
I have not read the Vampire Diaries either, but after watching the show I will probably never get to them as I have a long list of other books I still need to read.
I just got around to Jane Eyre recently, after it seemed that everyone and their mother had read it and I was off on my own not knowing who Rochester was. I would definitely recommend Hitchhiker’s though if you get the chance. Plus it’s a super quick read.
Ha! I have Harry Potter and Hitchhiker’s guide on my list, too! I am not alone! 🙂
Oh, yay … someone else who has the Harry Potter books on their list for the very same reasons that I do! 🙂
Thank you for saying the Harry Potter novels! I was beginning to get a complex about that 🙂 I also listed Sarah Dessen. Maybe we can have a Harry and Sarah group read.
Sarah Dessen is definitely a must read but I really love contemporary YA more than any other type so that’s just me. I have tried to convince my boyfriend who loved the Harry Potter movies to read the books but so far no go. He isn’t really a reader though so I may just have to give up.
My Top Ten: http://rachelreader.blogspot.com/2011/09/top-ten-tuesday-5.html
Don’t read The Notebook. Just don’t do it. I have vowed never to read Nicholas Sparks ever again, because that is how much he sucks.
I have not read 50% of those but it’s ok, I think!
I have listed authors in my post!
Here is my Top Ten post!
I haven’t read Jane Eyre or The Great Gatsby either. Although I do need to read the latter this year for my English course. I hope I like it.
Books of Amber
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is hilarious & I’m planning to read the sequels, too! From the others, I’ve read only Jane Eyre (which I loved) & Harry Potter (one of my favourite fantasy series ever).
I just read Little Women and Jane Eyre for this first time this year. I’d also like to read Ness’ series but the wait list at my library is so long that I haven’t gotten my hands on a copy yet. I also don’t want to start a series without knowing I pick up the next book immediately. I don’t do good with waiting.
I’m pretty sure I skipped a Harry Potter book or two. The movies kind of confused me as to which books I had read and which I hadn’t.
I noticed that about The Daughter of Smoke and Bone too, Bree – I pre-ordered my copy ages ago and it should be coming soon, because a couple of blogging friends loved it so much.
I got halfway through Little Women and then gave up! Terrible of me I know.
Hitchhiker’s is wonderful, I really do recommend it!
I’m amazed you got this post up considering, ah, recent events. Was it just before? You must be so tired!! I already said it on my blog, but congratulations! Here’s a big cyber-hug: *HUG*
Aw! Sad to hear about the Harry Potter series. They really are worth trying, at least.
If you ever do read The Notebook, make sure to have The Wedding on hand… it helped ‘soften’ the blow of The Notebook… and was a better book, but a sequel to The Notebook.