Top Ten Tuesday is hosted at The Broke and the Bookish.
Here are ten hyped books that I haven't read. Some I'll likely never read (I'm looking at you, Infinite Jest) but some I just haven't gotten around to picking up.
1. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. I really liked his much lesser known novel, Black Swan Green, but can't manage to drum up enough interest to read anything else of his.
2. Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. This book has appeared on so many lists of the best life-changingly wonderful books ever, yet it is over 1000 pages and the description includes the phrase "screwball comedy" so I am unlikely to ever pick it up.
3. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. I have friends on Goodreads who have given it 5 stars and others who have given it one star. Nothing about the description grabs me and I dislike every version of the cover art that I have seen.
4. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. On the other hand, I love this cover art. I once picked the book up and read about a page before deciding I wasn't interested, at least not at the moment. Is this book not for me, or was I just not in the mood? I may never know the answer to this question. Or maybe I will.
5. Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. These are pretty thick books and I'm hesitant to start any new series. I've watched a couple seasons of the show and it's pretty good. Now I don't have to read the books, right?
6. All the Light We Cannot See. This is probably the hottest book in my library system right now and yet I am completely uninterested. I'm really over World War II.
7. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. Fourteen of my friends on Goodreads have read it, and 12 of them gave it 5 stars (the other two gave it 4 stars.) Even my husband has read this one and loved it, and that's saying something.
8. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. It doesn't sound interesting but everyone seems to love it and it's on the high school summer reading list at my library every year. Maybe I should read it?
9. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. Despite never having read anything by Jonathan Franzen, I'm convinced that I don't like him.
10. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. I read the short Ayn Rand novel, Anthem, and that was more than enough Rand for me. The end.
Am I missing out on something fantastic? If you think I *should* read any of them, please tell me why in the comments!
4 comments:
We have talked about this before, but I am going to comment anyway, because I have to argue on behalf of a few of these.
David Mitchell: For the first few David Mitchell books I read, I needed a nudge from book club, but I was so, so glad I read them, and now I'm desperate to read his new books as soon as they come out (even though I haven't finished the backlist yet). Slade House comes out in October and its length is more similar to Black Swan Green than Cloud Atlas.
The Night Circus is simply the most magical book there is. Try the audio - Jim Dale narrates it.
I do think you would like All the Light We Cannot See (though if you want to wait a couple years till the hype dies down that's fine) and Henrietta Lacks (because I know you're interested in science when it's written accessibly, plus this has a historical/social justice component).
You probably wouldn't like The Corrections (though you might like some of Franzen's nonfiction essays) or Confederacy of Dunces. And I'm with you on Infinite Jest and Atlas Shrugged.
I'll take this under consideration :) I do think I'll definitely try The Night Circus at some point, and maybe audio is the way to go! The others....maybe I just need to wait for the mood to strike me. It could happen.
I haven't read any of these but Infinite Jest is the only one I'd consider maybe reading. I mean if I had nothing else and was all caught up on my TBR pile...so in other words I'll probably never read it.
Ha! I completely understand that feeling.
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