Tuesday, April 9, 2013

The Top Ten Books I Read Before I Was a Blogger

This weekly meme is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

I haven't been doing many Top Ten Tuesdays lately (most of the topics haven't interested me much), but as soon as I saw this one I immediately decided to do it. I've only been blogging about books for a few months, and there are tons of books I love that I read before I started blogging, and it makes me sad to know that it might be years before I post about them (if I ever do). So here they can have a little place on this blog. 

10. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. This is my favorite book in the whole world. I want to re-read it this year, so if that happens, I will post about it! 
(Also, I've been toying with the idea of hosting a Les Miserables readalong...would anyone be interested in joining that, or if you're not, do you think other people would be? I've never hosted a readalong so I'm not quite sure if this would be a good option, but I think there are a lot of people who want to read this and are just too afraid. Any opinions?)


9. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I know there are a lot of people who hate this book, but it's another of my long-time favorites. The characters are so complex and so human. This book was so thought-provoking that after I read it, I felt there was no way to name or number the many themes and meanings of this book. 

8. Emma by Jane Austen. Actually, several Austen books. I really like Austen, but I will probably not be re-reading my favorites of hers anytime soon. The only book I've specifically posted about on this blog is Northanger Abbey (which was great, but not my favorite). 

7. Othello by Shakespeare. Well, really any of Shakespeare's plays, but this one is my favorite! I started reading Shakespeare early on (when I was 12 or 13), and I think he really shaped my understanding and love of the classics. 

6. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Fantastic book which I might not read again until I have kids. I probably could have written about it all day after I first read it! 

5. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I didn't like this one quite as much as Wuthering Heights, but it's such a fantastic book with an amazing heroine. 

4. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Certainly my favorite non-classic book and since I got it as a gift a few years ago, I would hazard a guess that I've re-read it about once a year since then. I read it whenever I get a little bit sick of reading classics or books for school (which, I admit, does happen occasionally). 

3. Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. To be perfectly honest, I really like this book, mainly because I can really identify with Gilbert's writing style and can see myself writing a book sort of like this someday. If I had ever posted about it on this blog, I would have written a great defense for this "chick lit" book (well, I like to think I would have, anyway). 

2. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. Another of my favorite classics. The characters are incredible, the story is amazing, and the entire book is genius and deserves more credit than it gets. In my opinion. 

1. The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton. This book inspired me, and more than that, it was just so beautiful. Certainly a modern classic in my opinion. Hopefully I'll re-read it again soon and post about it. 

Listing these books makes me want to re-read them all and post about them! (Well, a little confession: I actually did read Eat Pray Love quite recently and was completely silent about it here on the blog. Maybe now I need to write my fabulous defense.) There are a lot of books that didn't make it to this list, too. But I'm sure I'll re-read them all someday, and hopefully then I will blog about them! 

19 comments:

  1. I should do this one, I only have a zillion books I could put on the list. I've been blogging, what, 3 years now and it's to the point where I remember loving certain books and think I must have blogged about them because it wasn't that long ago, only to realize that it must have been 5 years since I read that book. Ack.

    Anyway. I would be very interested in a Les Miserables readalong. French literature scares me more than anything (note that I have giant Russian novels and giant Indian novels by my bed but hardly ever any French novels at all), and I have been thinking that I would like to read LM, but ooo scary. BUT I already have some giant books on my docket for this year that I really super want to get to, so I don't think I could join if it was very soon. If it was later this year? I'd be in.

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    1. Haha! I would like to see your list!

      I probably wouldn't do it until later this year anyway so I could get a few ideas of how to do a readalong. Maybe in the fall.

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  2. Wuthering Heights is so good, my favourite classic. Great list! Happy Reading!

    My Top Ten!

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    1. I'm glad you like it, too! Thanks for your comment!

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  3. There are a few chunksters in my classics list, which I'm kinda hoping to tackle through a readalong... Les Miserables is one of them. So I would definitely be very interested. Otherwise I like your list, it's always so nice to see some classics books listed when it comes to that particular meme.

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    1. I feel the same way about chunksters, which is why I've been thinking about doing Les Mis, since it's one chunkster I've actually read.

      That's why I'm choosy about the TTT that I do...there are a lot of them that don't work well for classic books, and even though I've (obviously) read other books, classics are always the most memorable to me.

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  4. Oh I loved The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society! Such a wonderful story :)

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  5. A nice mix! I'm curious... what draws you to Othello in particular?

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    1. I love Othello because the characters are so complex and so intriguing. Iago is definitely my favorite part of that play. I would venture to say that Iago is the best villain in all of Western literature (one of the best, anyway). I'll admit that part of the reason I love this play so much is that I saw a really fantastic version live once. It showed me the true potential of the characters. That's probably true for most of Shakespeare's tragedies, but this is the one that I feel most strongly about.

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    2. Wow! Lucky you for getting to see it live! I have yet to see any version at all. I did get to see the opera version (Otello by Verdi) years ago, but I would love to see the play some time. I've read about a fantastic version from the 90s that reversed the races and had Patrick Stewart playing Othello and everyone else was black -- oh, how I would love to have seen that! But anyway, yes, getting to see plays performed makes such a difference over just reading them, doesn't it?

      Iago is definitely a complex villain -- I should probably be more intrigued by him than I am. I must admit it's not one of my Shxpr faves -- I like it better than King Lear but not as well as four or five others. I've only read it a couple of times, though, and really should find a movie version or two. Can you recommend any?

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    3. I wish I could, but I don't think I've ever seen a movie version of it that I liked. (Well, I can't actually recall ever seeing a film version of it, but I'm positive I have...they just haven't been memorable, I suppose.) It's so unfortunate that there aren't more good performances of Shakespeare plays out there. It's definitely worth it to see live, if you ever get a chance.

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  6. I loved The Guernsey Literary…book, I didn't think I would enjoyed it but I really did :D

    My Top Ten

    Have a great week!

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    1. Yeah, the title was awful, but the story so made up for it! I probably wouldn't have ever read it were it not for a recommendation from a friend. Thanks for sharing your Top Ten as well!

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  7. If you host a read-along, I'd definitely join! I'm determined to read the book this year, but it's so big and intimidating that a read-along is the only thing that can make me start!)

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    1. Great to know! I'm looking forward to doing it, I just hope my schedule cooperates!

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  8. Wow, this is definitely a good list you got here

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