Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, with a different topic set each week. This week the top ten topic is:
Ten Books I HAD to Buy... But Are Still Sitting On My Shelf Unread
Oh dear... there are rather a lot of these. Considerably more than ten, anyway. So here are the ones that I'm most looking forward to reading and absolutely WILL read, just as soon as I have time. Most of them are charity shop finds or books given to me by my dad, or bargains that I had to snap up before they were gone!
1) The City and the City, by China Miéville. Yep, still haven't read this one yet, despite so many people raving about it. It's been sat there for a while too, oops!
2) The Islanders, by Christopher Priest. This book looks so good, and I have heard fantastic things about it, but still haven't managed to get around to reading it. Soon! Soonish. This year, at least, I'm sure.
3) Swords and Deviltry (and the rest of the 'Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser' series), by Fritz Leiber. These are actually my dad's old copies. He gave them to me when he was downsizing bookshelves. These are classics of fantasy, and many say that this series is one of the best offerings of the Sword and Sorcery subgenre. They're also hugely influential. I definitely have to read these at some point!
4) The Iron Daughter, by Julie Kagawa. I bought this straight after finishing The Iron King, but I haven't had a chance to revisit this world yet. Hopefully this month, since it is fey month on the paranormal challenge.
5) Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell. This book is supposed to be amazing, and the trailers for the film look really good too. I'm determined to read it before seeing the movie.
6) Midwinterblood, by Marcus Sedgwick. I was really intrigued by this one when I saw it in a second hand shop, and just had to get it. Looking forward to seeing what it's like!
7) Stone, by Adam Roberts. I actually have a couple of Adam Roberts' books sitting there waiting to be read, but this is the one that looks the best.
8) The Gunslinger (Dark Tower 1), by Stephen King. Another one given to me by my dad when he was clearing shelf space. I still haven't read this series, and really need to.
9) Nation, by Terry Pratchett. I love the Discworld series and his other series, but haven't had a chance to read this standalone yet. I have heard it's very good though.
10) Storm Front (Dresden Files 1), by Jim Butcher. A friend lent this one to me with a 'YOU MUST READ THIS' recommendation, and it's been sitting on my shelf for far too long now! I will definitely make time for this one soon.
Honourable mentions to Crewel, Beautiful Creatures, Pushing the Limits, Fatherland, and The Windup Girl. More that are inching their way along the 'To Read' shelf! ;-)
What about you? Do you have any books that were an absolute must buy, but that are still sitting unread on your shelves?
I reeeeeally want to read Cloud Atlas! It looks like such an awesome book. It took me ages to dive back into The Iron Fey series after the first book, but it is totally worth it for The Iron Daughter!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by my post! :)
Hehe yeah it looks so interesting and different doesn't it? And yes, I will defo have to get back into the Iron Fey series soon. I really enjoyed the first one so much! :-)
DeleteI just read The Iron Daughter for the paranormal challenge! AH! It was just as fantastic as the first one! I really want to read some more of Marcus Sedgwick's books, he's a fantastic writer. Everyone's going on about Cloud Atlas right now and I really want to see what all the fuss is about!
ReplyDeleteOh good, glad it was as good as the first, I really need to read The Iron Daughter before the end of the month! :-) Cloud Atlas does seem to have been very popular doesn't it!
DeleteWow, Vicky, now this is one amazing list!
ReplyDeleteI've read Midwinterblood, and I thought it was amazing, it was one of my fav reads in 2012, so I hope you will enjoy it! I also enjoyed Storm Front & I loved Beautiful Creatures!
I'm planning to read Cloud Atlas this year, and I've wanted to read Nation & the Dark Tower for years, as well as to try China Mieville's books, but still haven't!
Ooh good to hear that so many of these are really good! :-) Will have to bump Midwinterblood up my list!
DeleteThe Iron Daughter is really good! You'll have to try it!
ReplyDeleteReally need to read it! :-)
DeleteWhen we read Cloud Atlas for book group only 3 of us finished it. I liked the idea of the structure but I found it hard work without much reward. I'm not sure I connected the 6 stories so it was a bit like reading 6 books at once as they all interrupt each other.
ReplyDeleteYikes that sounds difficult! I knew it jumped about in time but didn't realise it was so many different stories running at once. Very curious about it now though!
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