Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted at That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week’s theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!
This week’s theme is ‘Books I LOVED with Fewer than 2,000 Ratings on Goodreads’. A few of these are books I’ve mentioned before, but they’re STILL UNDERRATED so if you could all go out and read them that’d be great.
The Mabinogi by Matthew Francis: The Mabinogion is a collection of very old Welsh stories, essentially Welsh folklore, and this poetry collection retells a few branches of it in a way that I really enjoyed.
When I Grow Up I Want to be Mary Beard by Megan Beech: I love reading spoken word poetry, and this collection is fun and angry and passionate and I loved it.
Take a Good Look by Jacqueline Wilson: I don’t know if I’d still love this now, but Jacqueline Wilson was my favourite author when I was a little girl and this is one of her lesser-known novels about a partially blind girl who’s abducted and how she goes about trying to escape. I re-read it so many times when I was younger.
The Undressed by Jemma L. King: I don’t know how many times I have to yell about this poetry collection before someone other than me gives it a rating on Goodreads. If you’re a fan of historical fiction, you’ll love this collection.
Disturbance by Ivy Alvarez: This wonderful novel in verse tells the story of a town after the father of one of its local families kills his family and then himself. It’s brilliant.
Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Silvia Moreno-Garcia is one of my favourite authors and she does NOT get enough credit. If you love vampire novels or you’ve been longing for an original vampire novel, then why haven’t you read this book yet?
Beyond the Pale: Folklore, Family and the History of Our Hidden Genes by Emily Urquhart: Emily Urquhart is a folklorist whose daughter was born with albinism. In this book she explores how she and her husband went about caring for their daughter, while also exploring the folklore and history surrounding albinism. It’s a brilliant book.
Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: One of my favourite novels of all time, I’ve been raving about it for FOUR YEARS, and it still doesn’t have 2,000 ratings on Goodreads. COME ON. It’s about witchcraft in 1980s Mexico where teenagers cast spells with vinyl records, WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE?
Divorced, Beheaded, Survived: A Feminist Reinterpretation of the Wives of Henry VIII by Karen Lindsey: I didn’t LOVE this one. Considering this claims to be a feminist reinterpretation I thought the author said some pretty shitty things about Jane Seymour, BUT if you’re unfamiliar with the story of Henry VIII and his six wives or you want to learn more about the Tudor era, I think this is a really good starting point.
The Edge of the Abyss by Emily Skrutskie: I think I’m in the minority of people who enjoyed this book more than The Abyss Surrounds Us. If you love f/f SFF then you need to get your hands on this duology. Who doesn’t want to read a book about queer lady pirates and sea monsters?
I repeat mention books ALL the time. It’s just part of being a book blogger / book worm, right!? 🙂 Thanks so much for the Finding Wonderland visit, Jess.
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The Abyss Surrounds Us and Certain Dark Things are both on my tbr. I’m really looking forward to reading both of them. 🙂
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I recommend them both! The Abyss Surrounds Us is so much fun and Certain Dark Things is a really original vampire novel.
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Silvia Moreno-Garcia definitely needs more recognition. I love her books so much, I give to her patreon because I want to support her!
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She deserves way more love!
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I really loved Jacqueline Wilson’s The Suitcase Kid as a kid. I have the first Skrutskie book and tried to read it earlier this month but didn’t get farther than the first 3 pages. Which I think had everything to do with my mood and not the book. So I’ll give it another try later down the line.
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Ah I remember that one! If it makes you feel any better, when I started The Abyss Surrounds Us I didn’t think I was going to like it, but once you get past those first couple of chapters it gets much better. 🙂
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I’ve heard a lot of good things about certain Dark things.
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It’s a really original vampire story, definitely one I’d recommend checking out. 🙂
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These are all new to me, but I might check out that Tudor book!
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I hope you enjoy it if you do! 🙂
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Ooooh Certain Dark Things looks like something I’d definitely enjoy! Thanks for sharing!
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I hope you enjoy it! 🙂
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I’m going to try to get my hands on a copy of The Undressed. You’ve convinced me. 🙂
My Top Ten Tuesday post.
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Hooray! I hope you enjoy it. 😀
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I haven’t read any of these! Beyond the Pale sounds fascinating — I’ll see if the library has it. 🙂
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It’s a brilliant book, I hope you enjoy it!
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The Mabinogi sounds interesting! Here is my Top Ten Tuesday.
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I really enjoyed it, I recommend checking it out! 🙂
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I haven’t heard of any of these but Certain Dark Things and the When I Grow Up one both really caught my eye.
Great list.
Ash @ JennRenee Read
Our Top Ten Tuesday
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I hope you enjoy them if you decide to check them out! 🙂
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I haven’t read any of these but I love the cover to Certain Dark Things 🙂
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It’s a great novel, I recommend checking it out! 🙂
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Divorced, Beheaded, Survived gives me the chills. I’m a total English History geek and I might decide to read this 🙂
My TTT
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I hope you enjoy it if you do! 😀
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These are all jew but Certain Dark Things really jumps out at me !
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It’s so good if you’re in the mood for an original vampire novel!
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Silvia Moreno-Garcia is such a great writer and her books should be far more hyped than they are. I loved Certain Dark Things so much and I can’t wait for her next novel – I hope that Gods of Jade and Shadow will finally get the recognition it deserves. Great list!
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Definitely! I’m so excited for her next novel. 🙂
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People always seem to pick sides with the Henry VIII wives, like if you like Anne Boleyn you have to hate Catherine of Aragon and Jane Seymour, or vice versa, which is mad. Jane’s the one I probably know the least about, I think. I never read any Jacqueline Wilson books unless they had Nick Sharratt covers (except one about summer camp?) so I probably missed out on some good early ones!
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I know, that’s always bothered me! We don’t have to hate one of Henry’s wives to love one of the others.
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I haven’t read any of these books, but they have certainly captured my attention this week!
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I recommend all of them – especially Silvia Moreno-Garcia!
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