I saw this title bobbing around the blogosphere a couple of weeks ago, I think it might have been for a meme but I don’t seem to be able to find it now. Either way, I thought it sounded like a lot of fun! After all, how many books have you just HAD to rush out and buy on a whim because you read a great review of it, or it was new from your favourite author or had taken the world by storm? Before you know it you get distracted by something shiny, and suddenly it’s months later and the book is still sitting on your shelf. I am definitely guilty of this, so I felt the need to participate and make my own post! 🙂
So without further ado here are ten books I absolutely had to buy that are still unread:
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern – I decided to buy this after reading so many great reviews. Everyone was calling it a captivating, magical story about a mysterious circus that appeared at nightfall and disappeared at dawn. At first I wasn’t sure about it, I had never really been interested in circuses. But reviews from spellbound readers continued and the cover was so beautiful (Especially in hardback!) that I came to the conclusion I absolutely, positively had to buy it!
The main reason I haven’t read it yet is that I am saving it for the right moment….if that makes any kind of sense. I don’t know, I feel like I will really enjoy it but I want to wait for a day where I can appreciate it. Plus, after all the hype I’m a little scared I might not like it. :S
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (Wheel of Time Book 1) – I got this book in 2011 for Christmas because it was on my wishlist. It’s the first in the popular Wheel of Time series known by pretty much every bookworm dedicated to the fantasy genre. I was on a fantasy kick when I first heard about it and so I automatically wanted to read it! It was a couple of months later that I started questioning whether it had been a good idea. News that the author had died unable to complete the series reached my ears and that the final books would be completed by another author. Next I started hearing people calling it a Tolkien rip off (head over to Maggie’s blog post to hear more) and then I became aware that it was a 14/15 BOOK SERIES. Like WHOA, that’s a commitment. So for now it remains on my shelf until I feel ready to give it a go (although talking about it is now making me want to read it, agh).
Immortal Beloved by Cate Tiernan (Immortal Beloved Book 1) – A blogger I follow who no longer seems to be posting reviewed this book about a year ago and my eyes zoomed straight to the author’s name, Cate Tiernan. One of my favourite authors had released a new book, wooopieeee! Celebration! 😀 Her Sweep/Wicca series still remains one of my all time favourites and I reviewed the first book on my blog. Less than a week later I found it not only in hardback but really cheap too, and then whoops it just jumped into my basked and accidentally got checked out. My bad.
As for why I haven’t read it yet….I really don’t know, I just haven’t gotten around to it!
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak – This was another sneaky little purchase. I was buying books for other people, and then I started to get all jealous that they were getting books and I wasn’t (yes, I had a little internal argument with myself) and I was scanning through the most popular books section on Amazon and The Book Thief came up. I suddenly remembered all the reviews I had seen praising the novel and how different it sounded. It’s narrated by death during world war two, I think that’s the general gist anyway. I was overtaken with literary excitement and bought it on the spot!
The main reason I haven’t read it yet is that my initial excitement wore off and other books took its place. The Book Thief is not one of my normal genre’s and for that reason it feels like a scary unknown quantity.
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold – An instant purchase. I watched the movie and absolutely adored it! Like, crazy adored it! Saoirse Ronan is one of my favourite actresses and she always picks such interesting roles. My eyes were glued to the screen from the moment it started until the credits were rolling. At which point I discovered it was directed by Peter Jackson! (Aka, director of LOTR) No wonder it was so good. 🙂 For that reason I logged straight into eBay and bought a second hand copy, and it’s been waiting patiently for me ever since. 🙂
11.22.63 by Stephen King – I think I picked up on some of the advertising for this book when it first came out and it got into my psyche. I had never had the urge to pick up a Stephen King book until this one came along. The idea of time travel changing the course of history in relation to the president Kennedy’s assassination sounded like such a fantastic idea for a novel with so many possibilities. When I was shopping in Tesco’s after finishing a tough exam I found it in the book section and decided to treat myself! Because hey, I deserved it!
The main reason I originally hadn’t picked it up was because it was Stephen King, and I wasn’t sure if he was going to me my kind of writer. But since reading On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft and loving it I can’t wait to read it now. 🙂
The Ambassador’s Mission by Trudi Canavan (Traitor Spy Trilogy Book 1) – If you read this blog regularly, you’ve probably picked up on the fact that Trudi Canavan is one of my favourite authors. So when the first book of her new trilogy came out as a sequel to her previous Black Magician series, I bought it straight away at full price!
The main reason I haven’t picked it up yet is that I have been waiting for the full series to come out so that I can read them in reasonable proximity to each other. I didn’t want the details to get fuzzy in-between! Well, the last book came out late this year so I can’t wait to get started. I’m actually thinking of picking this one up for the 24 Hour Readathon. 🙂
Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick (Hush Hush Series Book 3) – Hmm, this is a bit of an odd case. I borrowed the first book in this series Hush Hush from the library and hated it, it felt like a horrible rehashed version of Twilight, even the finale was similar! And the love interest seemed so ugh. When I returned it the the library I saw the second book, Crescendo and decided what the heck it’s free, I’ll carry on. I absolutely loved the second book, got totally invested in it and couldn’t put it down. Again, it does follow the similar paranormal romance second book thing where the love story all goes wrong in the middle, but I liked it so much that I didn’t mind! For that reason I decided I had to get the third book as soon as it was released. But when I started thinking about it I thought the reason I might be enjoying it so much was because I was going through some similar personal issues at the time. Now I’m worried I might not like the third book!
The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling – I really wasn’t sure about this book when all the pre-hype was going on. I thought the magic of J.K. Rowling’s writing was probably due to her amazing idea, and not necessarily because I loved her writing style. For that reason I never really planned to pick her new novel up. But when the reviews started rolling in and I heard that it was a book full of despicable characters I changed my mind completely. It may be weird, but I love reading about protagonists you’re supposed to hate! It’s like getting to see the world from an entirely different perspective so different from your own. The only reason I haven’t picked The Casual Vacancy up yet is because I know it’s going to be a depressing read, I get enough depressing with all my university deadlines, lol, I need happy! So I’m waiting until the summer.
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (All Souls Trilogy Book 1) – First off, yes that is an entire bookshelf dedicated to Buffy the Vampire Slayer novels you see in the background, I’m a fan girl okay? Secondly, I bought this book because I needed to make my virtual basket up to a certain price for free delivery. I saw that this beautiful hardback book for only £3 (That’s criminal!) and fell in love with the atmospheric cover. As far as I’m aware, it’s about a librarian, witches, and vampires and that sounds good enough to me! My blogging friend, Cindy absolutely loves the series so I’m looking forward to getting round to it. So why haven’t I read this book yet? My bookshelf dammit! I have too many choices. :S
So that’s your lot! Ten beautiful books on my shelf that are being neglected. Wow, this post was so much fun. 🙂 Can you tell I tried really hard to make these book pictures more interesting? Lol, I took them in so many different places which was surprisingly difficult!
It should also be noted this post excludes the 16 pack of Charles Dickens books I bought spur of the moment two years ago that I still haven’t read any of, (They would be a whole list on their own!) I’m too terrified to pick them up. :S
So lovely readers, 🙂 what books have you just HAD to buy at the time…but are still sitting on your unread shelf? I would love to hear about them!
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Blogs-Of-A-Bookaholic 
I sort of have done this, but nowhere near to the extent that you do it.
I abandoned a few paper books when I got my Kindle, and ended up giving them away to some charity shops when I was having a book clearout. One of them was The Origins of the British, a look at our genetic heritage using DNA thingies and other sciency wotsits.
Exciting stuff, eh?
Haha I’m glad you at least part get it Michael, but you know I can never do anything half way on a bookish scale.
:O That’s so sad, poor books. It’s fair enough if you weren’t going to read them though, at least they can go to someone else that will. 🙂
Oooh it has the potential to be interesting, but only if it’s pitched at the right level. I’m not the biggest fan of non-fiction though so it would have to be something pretty enthralling to get me to read it!
Nice Buffy shelf. 🙂
Thanks Emma, I thought you’d like it. 🙂
I think it may have been one of the Top Ten Tuesday prompts you spotted — I remember that prompt from a few weeks back. Oh, The Book Thief! It is a little different from my typical reads, especially in how it’s narrated, but I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It’s one of a kind, I think, and not for everyone, but I hope you enjoy it whenever you do get around to reading it. (:
Oooh yeah that would make sense, as it is a list of ‘ten’ unread books. I forgot to make note of the blog where I found it so that could of been it!
I’m glad to hear you enjoyed The Book Thief even though it was different from your typical reads too. For some reason it’s just not calling to me from my large bookshelf, even though I was desperate to get it at the time. The only reason I can think of is just that it’s different, but I think hopefully I will enjoy it when I do get round to it. 🙂
Thanks for commenting! It made me realise that for some weird reason I wasn’t getting notifications when you were posting, so I wasn’t reading your blog. Bad WordPress!
I can understand that. I had bought some books recently within the last couple of months, and at the time I was excited to start reading them — lots of hype from other readers or bloggers, etc., but now the urge to read them right away has died.
Oh, don’t worry about it! WordPress does that to a lot of people, I think, which is just sad. I don’t feel like I can trust my Reader most of the time.
Haha touche, I guess that’s what we get for impulse buying!
Yeah, it seems to do it every time I follow someone now which is really annoying because I don’t always remember to go back and change it. I wish they had kept it how it used to be.
I’ve got Discovery of Witches on my shelf; Stephen King ‘On Writing’ – both from good reviews. I also went through a ‘film’ stage, where I couldn’t get time to get to the cinema and so decided to buy the books instead: The King’s Speech, The Help and One Day all have pride of place in the bedside table, which means I should read them next, but I never do… You can blame Mister Cargill as I’m reading Jake at the moment 🙂
Ohh you should definitely read On Writing it’s excellent I couldn’t put it down, which surprised me as it was a) non-fiction b) from an author I hadn’t read anything from and c) it was a book on how to write, something that usually sends me running in the other direction, lol!
Good to see you have a Discovery of Witches too, I didn’t realise when I bought it that it was part of a series so hopefully that means the plot will have some depth. 🙂 I’ve heard people say it’s quite a dense book.
Oooh I never realised The King’s Speech was a book! I have One Day too but from what I’ve heard I don’t think it will be my sort of thing. I’m reading The Help at the moment and it’s pretty great so far, so maybe move that one up your to-read pile. 🙂 It’s funny how some books get forgotten after you’ve bought them, even when they are right next to you!
I just saw a post like this only a few days ago! But I have way too many books that could fit the list, so I’m just going to repeat the ones I did there- Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier, and Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson. They both look so interesting, but I just have no time to read them at the moment when I have series that I still need to finish *cough*FarseerTrilogy*cough*
Hm, in that case it must have been a meme! I doubt we would of seen the exact same post, so that explains it.
Me too, it was so difficult to pick just ten. Oooh, I’ve heard Rebecca is good. My mum keeps telling me to read it because her mum (my grandma) was reading Rebecca when my mum was born, and then she ended up calling me Rebecca. Just a random coincidence though really. Never heard of Quicksilver… *looks it up* Oooh that looks good! 🙂
Eesh tell me about it, I have so many started series that I need to finish it’s ridiculous, but instead I just keep starting more. :S
I’m going to get to Rebecca for the Reading Challenge, so it’s going to happen. I’ll be sure to let you know what it’s like 🙂 And yeah, I know what you mean about too many series. It really doesn’t help that the Game of Thrones show, which I swore I’d quit, has sucked me back under its influence again, because now I want to go back to the books even though I think the fourth one is crap. It’s such a problem.
Ohh that’s cool. I would love to read a review because I don’t actually know much about the book, other than its popularity.
Ooh I’m loving Game of Thrones the TV series and have already been reeled into the third series. Give in! 😛 I really want to read the books too but I’ve been holding off because of the tbr and series issue, but at the same time I have a dilemma because I don’t want all the plots to be given away before I can read them. Arrg. I’ve heard a few of the books go up and down, but ultimately I think they are probably worth giving another go from what I’ve heard. 🙂
Damn you Becky!! LOL 🙂 I read this and just had to download both Trudi Canavan series. My ereader is going to explode there are so many unread books on it! It’s so much fun to buy and collect books though isn’t it? :). You need to move A Discovery of Witches higher in your TBR list by the way LOL!
Ohhh no, LOL. I’m such a bad influence! Yay in another way though, because I wish more people would read her work, I love it. 🙂 I just hope this next series she’s done can live up to my expectations.
The same goes for my bookshelf, agh could you imagine if I got an eReader Cindy? It would be an absolute nightmare, I’m bad enough as it is! It is definitely a lot of fun though, you’re right there. 🙂
Ha ha I’m trying, but I keep getting distracted by shiny things!
That’s ok, I love your bad influence :). And you know me, I still love my “real” books the best, but it is such an awesome feeling knowing that I am always carrying hundreds of books with me in my purse!! I go back and forth between my ereader and my real books.
Hehe that’s ok then. 🙂
I bet, I can’t even imagine, so many different choices, how on earth would you pick, lol.
I tell you what, I am having the hardest choosing what to read for the readathon, I’m a slow reader so I know I won’t get through many full books so it’s tough deciding which ones I should dedicate my full time to!
No kidding! You need to figure out which book you think you could totally lose youself in for an entire day, and probably not something to heavy or your brain will fry before the 24 hours is up!! 🙂
Very true! I’ve definitely decided on the Canavan book above, now I just need to pick a few others. 🙂
Oh oh, I did it again :). I HAD to buy a new book that just came out because I could hear it calling to me – Buy me, Buy me!!! The reviews for it are so amazing that I couldn’t resist LOL. It’s called The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker. You should check it out. I think it’s going to be awesome :).
Ha ha you may just be worse than me. 😛 It’s a close call though, LOL.
Sounds like a cool book, I will have a look at it on Goodreads!
And it even has a pretty cover too!! LOL 🙂
I just looked it up. Ooooh you’re so right it does look great, and the cover is really pretty! I love the little gold detail around the edges of the book. 🙂
It’s basically historical fiction with a shot of fantasy thrown in, both of which I love. Do you enjoy historical fiction?
I haven’t actually read that much of it if I’m honest, I don’t know why because historical fiction always sounds like such an interesting genre. I think I’ve probably only read about 5 historical-ish books judging by my Goodreads, and I also own a couple I haven’t read yet like The Book Thief and 11.22.63. I also have one called The Historian that may or may not be historical fiction. I tend to get a little confused as to how much historical it has to have before to counts, lol! I’m not even 100% sure the ones I’ve listed above are historical!
I know. I also find it hard to figure out what genre a book belongs to sometimes :). Well, I guess you will just have to read them so that you can decide – in your spare time of course LOL!!!! 🙂
I’m usually pretty good with knowing genre’s but with historical I do get very confused because they often mix fantasy in, and then I usually feel it’s more fantasy than historical, because they’ve made things up!
Ha ha tell me about it, after this conversation I so just want to go away and continue reading The Help, that counts as historical right?!? 😀 But I’m supposed to be prepping for a presentation for Monday. :O
I totally understand. I have been so busy at work that by the time I sit down for some reading time at night, I can’t keep my eyes open which really pisses me off LOL. So, I would much rather read this morning than go to yucky old work, but I’m already behind so I really have to go in :(. Hopefully tonight…..
ME TOO! Ohh my gosh it is SO annoying! I’m always like, if I get this work done then I can read, yaaaayyy, but by the time I get there I’m too tired to enjoy reading and it’s a waste of a good book if I read it then.
Good luck!
I think you will love The Night Circus; it’s a really beautiful book. 😀 I’ve been wanting to read The Book Thief, The Lovely Bones and King’s book too. In fact, I have his book sitting on my shelf too, waiting to be read. I also have two gorgeous editions of Little Women (I only ever read the abstract version of this book) and Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales, a book titled Magician by Raymond Feist, one titled Q by Evan Mandery… I just couldn’t keep my hands off of them. 😉
Also, I do understand what you mean when you say you’re waiting for the right moment! There was one book I bought, called The City of Dreaming Books, that I had been really looking forward to read. However, it sat on my shelf for months before I dared pick it up. I wanted to make sure I was reading it at the right time so I could really enjoy it.
I’m glad to hear you liked The Night Circus Zen, yet another reason I should read it, lol. Oooh, great minds think alike! Hopefully good things come to those who wait and we will really enjoy them.
I’ve had my eye on Little Women for quite a while now too, I don’t own a copy though (unless it’s in PDF, in which case I never end up reading them anyway) as I have too many other books I need to read first. It looks like an interesting read though, I hope you enjoy it. 🙂 I’ve heard Anderson’s good too, I read the Grimm fairytales and while interesting they did get a bit repetitive so maybe read it along with another book. I haven’t heard of the other two, I’ll have to look them up!
Yaaay, someone that understands what I mean! That sounds exactly how I feel about The Night Circus, I’m hoping that right moment will appear this summer. 🙂
Ha, ha. Your book shelve makes me think of my Kindle books. Only, I don’t have a to read shelf because I have them organized by genre.
It’s probably because I don’t own an eReader that my shelves have ended up looking like this, lol! I hate to imagine how many books I would have to read if I had a Kindle as well though. :S
Great stuff here. I actually just finished A Discovery of Witches last night…em…this morning…. I really liked it. Its definitely a slower read. You have to savor it, you can’t rush through it. The book thief is AWESOME. You should definitely get around to that. Also, I never got through the Robert Jordan series. There’s just too much. I’ve been wanting to read the Night Circus and I’m also not so sure about the Stephen King book, but this sounds interesting. I might give it a shot.
Usually whenever I see a Dresden Files book on bargain section or anything by an author I always pick it up but I might not end up reading it. There are 14 Dresden File books and I’m not number 3 and I have books like 6, 8, 13. haha.
Thanks, I’m glad you think so. 🙂 Ha ha pulled an all nighter then? I love doing that, when you have a book that’s absorbing enough you forget about everything around you. That’s cool, I don’t have a problem with slower reads.
So everyone tells me, lol, I just hope I will feel the same way once I convince myself to pick it up, I can’t see it happening for a while though. Agreed, there are way too many books and they’re all so long as well!
yeah I’ve read a lot of good reviews for 11.22.63 so I’m hoping it will live up to the hype.
Oooh, The Dresden Files are on my wishlist, they look awesome. 😀
The Night Circus sounds so fun! Added it to my Amazon wishlist — thanks for introducing me to it 😀
And I found your thoughts on the Hush Hush series very interesting. Like you, I read the first book and despised it. However, I never tried out the second book. So you’d say it’s worth a shot? I’m intrigued now!
No problem, I’m glad I could be helpful, I think that’s the best part of book blogging. 🙂 I hope you enjoy!
Hmm, I’m not sure if I’m honest. I’ve heard reports that the third book is not so good again so I think I will have to read the next one, Silence before I could totally make that decision. I just remember being unable to put the second book down, but as I say, I think it could have been because I was heavily identifying with the character at that moment of time. So we shall see!
I read The Book Thief and The Lovely Bones. As previous comments said, Book Thief is an interesting premise for a narrator, but it works for the most part. The Lovely Bones was a bit of a disappointment for me. And now I think I’ll add The Night Circus to my TBR. If there’s one thing guaranteed, it’s come here to get a new TBR!
Yeah, most of the comments about The Book Thief I’ve heard have been to do with its narrator, I don’t actually know much about the plot, which is a good thing so I can be surprised.
I saw you rated it two stars on Goodreads the other day when I was looking up books for this blog post, lol! Not a good sign. I loved the film but I have heard some quite negative things about the book.
Ohh good! I’m glad I could help. 🙂 I hope you enjoy it.
I’m experiencing a weird sense of deja vu here. I remember seeing The Night Circus a few months ago in the bookstore, reading the synopsis and being fascinated by the storyline. I didn’t buy it but if there was any proof needed of how lazy I am, I shall wait for your review on it before checking it out myself… LOL 😀
I also have my own special list: both Mary Barton(Gaskell) and Little Women are anxiously waiting for me in my book cupboard. There’s also a non-fiction book on Sir Thomas Malory I found recently(it was like making an archaeological discovery, no jokes) that I bought years back but I forgot I had it! So I left it out in the open now where I can see it so I don’t forget about it again… 😛
No wayyy! How funny, if you do get it Nisha you have to buy it in hardback, the design of it is so beautiful and even prettier than the paperback! There’s so much attention to detail on every surface of the book and its leaves. I’m hoping to read it this summer so you probably won’t have to wait too long for a review. 🙂 I just hope it can live up to its pretty cover.
Craving some more Gaskell eh? I’ve still yet to try one of her books but I hope I can get round to it one day. I think Little Women looks great so you will have to let me know what you think of it! I* like the premise although I didn’t enjoy the film they made of it.
Ha ha, I LOVE things like that! As if the book has been waiting there for you all along, meant only for you.
Hope you enjoy all your lovely books!
I think that’s what made me pick it up in the first place. I’m a sucker for pretty covers. 😀 I’m not too fond of hardback because of the detachable covers(they annoy me and I end up taking them out and throwing them aside) but if there’s no loose cover I will definitely buy the hardback.
That’s surprising, it’s because of the film that I wanted to read the book. I enjoyed it. (or it could be that I have a wee crush on Gabriel Byrne, but don’t tell anyone, shhhh 😉 )
Remind me to send you a pic of my copy of Little Women. It’s absolutely gorgeous with intricate detail. I actually got accused of buying the book because of the cover… LOL.
Ha ha me too! I always judge books by their covers first, LOL.
Ohh, yeah it does have a detachable cover… but if you take it off instead of the cover you get on the paperback the book is red with a huge clock on it, and on the inside of the hardback are all these pretty repeated patterns of black and white hats with couple coloured in red. So pretty! I will probably give the book its own special little photo-shoot once I’ve read it and post it on my review, because I’m weird like that. 😛
Ohh really? I think the actors got on my nerves and the characters felt annoyingly..not stuck up…but something along those lines so that’s why I didn’t get on with it, even though I thought the story was great. I love ‘moody’ ‘over-dramatic’ (I’m using these in quote marks because they’re not exactly what I mean, but I can’t think of the right words) characters in literature, just not on film for some reason, it’s weird. Heheee, it’s not a bad crush to have. 😛
Oooh I would love to see your copy of Little Women, you know how much of a sucker I am for a beautiful book. 😀
Hello! I have nominated you for the Sunshine Award! I always enjoy your posts! You can read about the Sunshine Award here: http://deerereadergirl.wordpress.com/2013/04/21/sunshine-award/.
Have a wonderful day!
DeereReaderGirl
Hi, thank you very much! I’m glad to hear that you are reading and enjoying.
I will check out your post. 🙂
Great post! I’m a huge King fan and have read 11/22/63. Even though it is a giant book it moves fast and is really good. I’ve also read A Discovery of Witches. I thought the mixture of a vampire, witch, and deamons was a refreshing idea. A little too much romance for me but still a book that I’d recommend reading. I’ve read the second book of the series as well and thought it was good but truly a “middle” book. My stack of to be read is just a big as yours and have to say I went out and bought The Book Thief because of your post. Right now it’s number three in my pile but with the new Joe Hill book coming out soon, it may move down a few spots.
Thank you! I’m glad you liked it. It seems that most of Stephen King’s books are huge, but that’s ok with me because I love long books. I think 11/22/63 would be a good place for me to start as I haven’t read that much horror, it may be a better lead in to his style I think.
Glad to hear you enjoyed A Discovery of Witches! My main reservation is that I’ve seen some people refer to it as a grown up version of Twilight, but then again, everyone compares supernatural romance books to Twilight these days! I actually have the second book in the series two, so I will definitely end up reading the whole trilogy even if I don’t like them very much. I heard that the second includes time travel or something? It sounded pretty cool anyway and I couldn’t resist a pretty hardback. 🙂
Ohh good! I’m glad I was able to suggest a new book to you, I hope you enjoy reading it, you will probably get round to it quicker than I will. 😛
Thanks for commenting!
Oh! I’ve read a fair few of these. I definitely recommend the Night Circus, above all the others here I’ve read that’s by far my favourite.
If you’re after something that isn’t depressing, probably best not to go for The Lovely Bones or The Book Thief, as both do deal with death. Saying that, I think The Book Thief looks at war in a really interesting and refreshing way, so I would definitely recommend it.
As for the Casual Vacancy, it’s enjoyable but the characters aren’t too despicable!
I find I’m generally OK in that I read what I have. I try to limit myself to a book a purchase, which means once a week I get the joy of researching, deciding and going to the bookstore to pick out the next book to read. A bit sad, but I love it.
Ha ha yeah I remember reading your review of The Night Circus, it was one of the many that made me decide I needed to read it. 🙂
That’s what I thought, they didn’t seem like the kind of books I should pick up if I want to feel happy. I do love novels dealing with complex and or depressing issues but I just know right now is not the time for me to pick them up when I’m stressed with deadlines. It’s good to hear that you’re a fan of The Book Thief too!
Ohh really? That’s what I’ve been hearing from everyone. A lot of the complaints also seem to have stemmed from people saying they hated the characters but not in a good way, lol.
Hmm, that’s a very good system, I should try that! I just know I would never end up sticking to it though, I’m useless. I love the idea of going to a bookstore specifically to pick a new read. I haven’t done that in a long time because my tbr pile is so long. Maybe one day if I ever get it down… 🙂
Haha, well at the end of the day having a lengthy list of books to read truly isn’t the worst problem to have! Personally, I’ve about finished the one I’m on so I have the very tough decision of what to read next
True, very true! There are definitely worse things.
Oooh, good luck deciding! I’ll be interested to see which book you end up picking. 🙂
Hahaha I LOVE this! I am EXACTLY like you with The Night Circus! I ran out to buy a copy and I still haven’t read it. (Well that’s a bit of a lie, I’ve read the first 30 pages or so.) But I put it down because I want to wait for the moment when I can just let myself be taken away for a few days when I have nothing else to do. I also have The Book Thief waiting for me on my shelf. It’s funny how alike we are Becky.
No wayyy really? How crazy! Happy to know that I’m not the only crazy bibliophile out there, LOL. That sounds exactly like what I did, bought the beautiful hardback and have been admiring it on my bookshelf ever since. 😛 I think I read the first few pages to get a feel for it, but then made myself put it back.
It definitely is, that’s what I love most about book blogging, finding other people that are so similar to your own crazy reading habits etc. 🙂
So many of those are on my “To Read” List right now, but I read The Lovely Bones in high school. It’s a great book, but the first chapter made me sick to my stomach (Sebold actually describes what happens to Suzie *shudder*).
I’m also hesitant about Casual Vacancy because I’m worried I won’t like her writing style beyond Hogwarts. So, if you get to it soon, please let me know if it’s worth my time grabbing or not. I trust your judgment on books. Maybe even put it in your Read-A-Thon List? 😀
Oh awesome! Looks like our reading will be overlapping then. 🙂 Ohh no, sounds horrible, but also a good way to reel reader in. I’ve heard really mixed reviews of the book so I am a little nervous to pick it up.
That is exactly how I felt! I’m not sure whether I will be picking it up for the readathon just because I am a slow reader and I doubt I will get through many books, but I will certainly be picking it up this summer, so watch out for my review, I hope it will be helpful! 🙂
I couldn’t get into A Discovery of Witches or Casual Vacancy. I might give them another go, though. If you saw my review, you know that I loved the Night Circus, and funnily enough I would have never picked it up if the book club I am in hadn’t decided to read it. The Lovely Bones is a beautiful, beautiful book, and definitely deserves a lot of time so that you can appreciate it fully.
Ohh dear, that’s not too promising. Sometimes when you pick the book up can be a big factor in how much you’ve enjoyed it, so it might be worth giving them another go, or they could just not be very good, lol!
Yepp, I have seen so many great reviews of it I am almost anxious to pick it up! Glad to hear you enjoyed The Lovely Bones though, I have heard a lot of mixed reviews of it. 🙂
Thanks for commenting!
Those are some good books! A few are on my TBR (and have been waiting) and some I have read. Casual Vacancy is about what you think, Night Circus was gorgeous and Book Thief is wonderful and YA so it flies pretty quickly. Cargill was just telling me how wonderful the King book is so I think I am going to be picking that one up soon, I can’t wait! But so many life events are getting in the way of my reading time dang it. Good luck getting to yours!! I think this meme was originally one of the Top Ten Tuesday lists from the Broke and the Bookish. Every Tuesday is a top ten list question.
PS – LOVE your pictures 🙂
Thanks Elisa! I remember reading your review of The Casual Vacancy, I can’t wait to get round to it this summer. The Book Thief is YA? I didn’t realise that at all! It doesn’t look like their normal stereotypical covers.
Yeah he told me that it was great too, so I might try and pick it up this summer. (That being said, I think I want to pick up half of my entire bookshelf this summer, LOL!) I know exactly what you mean! It is so tough to fit reading in sometimes.
Yeah I think a few people have mentioned that one so it probably is the case. Thank you. 😀
I have a few of those sitting on my shelf as well. I know I’ll get to them eventually, but for now they’re just sitting and waiting…
Also, the covers for The Night Circus, Eye of the World, and the Book Thief are absolutely gorgeous. I sometimes buy books for their covers or design, because I absolutely love it. My dream job would to be a book designer. Someday….
Oooh that’s cool, I’m sure they will be worth the wait. 🙂 I love the covers too, I would say about 85% of the time I will buy a book because I love the front cover. I have to be interested in what the blurb says of course and might have read some reviews of it online, but if I don’t like the cover there is almost no chance I will pick it up, LOL. Shallow as it may be. 😛
No way! That’s crazy, that’s exactly what I used to want to do when I was taking Art, my whims changed course though when I found something I loved more. I wish you the best of luck and thank you for stopping by!
No, that’s not shallow at all! I think the phrase “never judge a book by its cover” is vastly over-rated. It’s the cover that first draws our eye! And then the title and blurb, of course.
How awesome! Thank you, I hope someday it all works out…thanks for stopping by my blog as well!
Agreed! Although I will admit to leaving certain books my my shelf for ages because I didn’t like the cover and so didn’t want to read them. When I eventually got round to it some of them I loved them! It is such a shame when books get missed because they are given bad covers.
No problem! I loved some of your topics. 🙂
First time through the blog and I’ve traversed my way here. Perhaps it was the familiar face of an old friend, the cover of “The Eye of the World” that stopped me. Perhaps not. But on it I do have passionate thoughts.
Having trudged all the way through Robert Jordan’s “Wheel of Time” series, I’ll agree it’s a time investment. The novel you have is the smallest of the series, which quickly escalate to 800+ pages each. The up side is it’s a brilliant, massively complex world the likes of which I’ve never read. While the first couple novels have that Tolkien-esque feel to them, Tolkien remains grounded in a centralized group of characters and uses the massive battles of the war as a backdrop to the dual, intimate stories of Aragorn and Frodo. By contrast Jordan’s series enlists literally hundreds of primary characters and a cast of thousands of secondary ones, all stirred into a cauldron of destiny. Some similar themes between them examine friendship, predestination, and good-versus-evil, but that could be argued of any sci-fi/fantasy series. Tolkien and Jordan’s worlds are very different. And unlike Tolkien, Jordan seems to get lost in the complexity of his own work such that by book 10 time crawls as he tries to keep the reader abreast of so many plot lines. Though here your biggest concern actually becomes Jordan’s asset: his death enabled Brian Sanderson to (very deftly) save the series and bring it to a conclusive and satisfying end (something I wish an author would do for Jean Auel’s “Earth’s Children” series).
Like you I haven’t much experience with (or, to be frank, interest in) horror, so On Writing is the only Stephen King book I’ve read, despite having met the man twice. So last summer I finally picked up my copy of The Gunslinger which has traveled with me for 15 years and read it cover-to-cover in a weekend. It’s his earliest work, and admittedly not very horror-ish, but King’s penchant for the perfect word is unmistakable. Having buzzed through a couple of his titles since, I think if you enjoy Neil Gaiman’s “Neverwhere” or “American Gods” you’ll appreciate King’s prose. And if you haven’t read those, you should do so forthright.
Hi Rich, thanks for stopping by and commenting. I’m so glad you traversed your way here! I’m sorry it has taken me so long to reply, life has been busy the past few weeks. I am always excited to hear from passionate people, especially when it concerns books. 🙂
A time investment is a good way to describe it, I have to admit all those big novels do look intimidating. I am not normally phased by long books or series, but there is something about this one that seems heavy going. I am a big fan of complex worlds though so I hope I will find it as brilliant as you describe. I am glad to hear that you don’t feel the books were too similar to Tolkien. I think it is hard of any fantasy author to take a step back from the master. He perfected his craft so well that it must be hard for authors not to take elements of his work. I love the way you have described the detail of the character element, I like a good character driven plot. I have heard that the books began to take a downward spiral towards the end which is a shame when it happens with any series. It must be tough to maintain an idea for that period of time. I am glad to hear you were happy with the ending though!
Wow you met Stephen King twice?! That’s amazing, even though I have only read On Writing, I would be intrigued to meet him; he seems fascinating. I also own The Gunslinger although I have yet to read it. It does make me laugh when I look at it though because it is so small in comparison to his other works.
So far I have only read Stardust by Neil Gaiman but I do own American Gods. Thank you for the recommendation, I will keep it in mind!