Tuesday 9 April 2013

Top Ten Tuesday (#1) - Top Ten Favorite Books I Read Before I Was A Blogger

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish, where the writers, like me, are particularly fond of lists.

This week's topic is... Top Ten Favorite Books I Read Before I Was A Blogger. I can guarantee that after this list is published I will think of ten other favourite books I should have mentioned (and then ten more and then ten more), but such is the life of the reading obsessed.

So, in no particular order, here are ten of my favourite books spanning different periods in my life, but all from before I started blogging...

1. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
I read this over and over when I was younger, and my copy is pretty well worn. I sort of grew up with Anne, every time I read it I was a little bit older, and could therefore relate a little bit more to the feelings she was going through as she got older.

2. The Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Another one I read a lot when I was younger. I sort of share a name with the protagonist, and I loved that she was in some ways a very modern 21st century female, despite the time this book is set in and the time it was written in - Sara is strong, hard working, she's independent, she's fierce.

3. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
A second one by the same author (and one I read lots and lots and lots as a child, check out the spine of my copy in the picture below!). Even though it took me ages to learn how to read the Yorkshire dialect, I still loved this book almost immediately. I'm not very green fingered, but if I could, I would create a secret garden like the one Mary, Dickon and Colin create.

4. The Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
I'll count these all as one. Although some of the later books in the series could have done with a bit of editing, Rowling created a fantastic world with this series, one with very few holes in it and one that I can immerse myself in completely whenever I open the novels.

5. Stardust by Neil Gaiman
I like to describe Stardust as a fairytale for adults whenever I tell people about it. Gaiman is a wonderful writer, effortlessly combining all sorts of worlds - from Victoriana to the supernatural to modern England - to create his own world. (By the way, whoever has my copy of this really needs to give it back.)

6. We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
This book had me gripped from beginning to end. Although I had my suspicions about where it was going, Shriver writes so well that it was only pages before the big reveal that I guessed exactly what was about to occur, and even then I read the coming scenes in a mix of astonishment and horror and dismay. We Need to Talk About Kevin is a thought-provoking novel, and I still find myself thinking over the issues it raises every now and then.

7. Gentlemen & Players by Joanne Harris
My introduction to Harris started with Chocolat (after I watched the film) and has most recently encompassed blueeyedboy, but my absolute favourite book of hers is Gentlemen & Players, the ending of which took me completely by surprise.

8. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
This book was not what I was expecting at all, but it's haunting and beautiful and utterly magnificent.

9. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
I read Tartt's The Little Friend first, and didn't get on too well with it. Luckily, I perservered and started The Secret History, which I found dark and fascinating, and worthy of being called a modern classic.

10. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
It was a toss up between this, Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar and F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby as to the literary classic that should go on my list, but Wuthering Heights won out because it's full of romance and suspense and tragedy, and I wish it would end differently each time I finish it, even though I know it won't.

So that's my ten (I can only find eight to picture, and didn't want to put all the Harry Potters in), what's in yours?
 

8 comments:

  1. I have always love The Secret Garden. My sisters and I were always making hiding places under tree's or bushes to be just like the book. I've not read it in forever though. Maybe it is time I re-visit!

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    1. It was only when I was making this list that I realised how worn my copy of The Secret Garden was, I'll definitely be revisiting it, and I hope you do too.

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  2. I've read Stardust too, although, I have to say that I liked the movie better. :) Great list!

    Here's mine: TTT @ Krista's Dust Jacket

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    1. I have to say, I'm not usually a fan of films of books, but Stardust is an exception. I thought it captured the feeling of the book really well.

      I'll check your list out.

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  3. Harry Potter is great no doubt about that! I want to read Anne of the Green Gables as I've heard so many people talk about it. Kevin has also been recommended to me. Yay for someone else whose chosen The Handmaids Tale! And Wuthering Heights! Happy Reading, I'm now following you too!

    My Top Ten!

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    1. Definitely read Anne of Green Gables. It's such a simple, elegantly told story, I love it.

      And it was only when I was compiling this list and looking at my bookshelf that I remembered how much I loved The Handmaid's Tale - I have to revisit that one.

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  4. i loved stardust !!!!! not really one for fairytales but it was soo good
    great ttt
    new follower via gfc (follow back please)
    check out mine :http://nabooksvsboys.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/top-ten-tuesday.html

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    1. I think Gaiman can surprise a lot of people with his work.

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