Top Ten Tuesday | The books I try not to make eye contact with

Posted on by Jess @ Jessticulates Posted in Top Ten TuesdayTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

TTT-NEW

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 On My TBR I’m Avoiding Reading and Why (maybe you’re scared of it, worried it won’t live up to the hype, etc.) (submitted by Caitlin @ Caitlin Althea)’, so today I’m talking about the books I’m putting off reading for whatever reason. Please convince me to start crossing them off my TBR.

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Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho: I was supposed to buddy read this years ago with the lovely Mikayla @ Mikayla’s Bookshelf but I failed spectacularly. I’d recently started a job that I would go on to have for two years and would be the most stressful job I’ve had so far in my life. Now I associate this book with how I felt back then, but I still really want to read it!

How the White Trash Zombie Got Her Groove Back by Diana Rowland: I read the first three books in this series years ago and always meant to continue, but it’s got to the point now where I’ll have to re-read the first three before I pick up this fourth book and I just haven’t got around to it yet.

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi: This book was SO HYPED and it made me super nervous to pick it up. Now the hype’s worn off and I’ve seen enough reviews to know I probably won’t love this book, so I’ve been putting it off ever since.

The Burning Chambers by Kate Mosse: This book sounds right up my street, but I ended up DNFing Mosse’s Labyrinth and I stopped watching the TV adaptation because I got bored, so I’m a little nervous I won’t like this one either.

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness: I’ve heard this novel described as Twilight for adults enough times to be a little wary of it. I imagine I’ll enjoy it once I get into it, but it’s a fairly chunky book and I’m hesitant to read over 500 pages just for the book to be okay.

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The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson: Another chunky novel (it’s probably not surprising in the least that most of the books on this list are on the larger side) and one I’ve been meaning to read for a long time, but I know my friend Natalie @ A Sea Change wasn’t a huge lover of it and I trust her instincts when it comes to high fantasy. I do want to try this novel, but I’d be lying if I said it was at the top of my TBR.

Macbeth by Jo Nesbø: I want to try this novel not only because I’ve yet to read any Nesbø, but because Macbeth is my favourite Shakespeare play so I’m always intrigued by retellings. This novel’s part of the Hogarth Shakespeare series, however, and I haven’t loved the other books I’ve tried in this series so I haven’t picked this one up yet.

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker: I need to give this book a try soon! I saw Pat Barker at the Hay Festival and she was brilliant. The only reason I’ve been putting this novel off is because I know it deals with sexual assault and I find it really difficult to read about.

The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu: This is another fantasy novel I really want to cross off my TBR, especially considering I want to read more own voices Asian SFF, the only thing that’s put me off are the reviews I’ve seen lamenting the lack of women with agency in the novel. The two main characters are men and I have no problem with that, but I do get frustrated when male authors can’t find roles for women in SFF beyond wife and mother.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas: I never had to read any French classics in school or university, but this novel is one I’ve wanted to conquer since I was about 15 that I’m incredibly intimidated by. My edition’s around 1,500 pages long!

What did you talk about this week?

36 thoughts on “Top Ten Tuesday | The books I try not to make eye contact with”

  7. Reply
    Greg says:

    Ha love your title for this one! 🙂

    I think A Discovery of Witches has a cool premise, I kinda want to try those, and I’ve never read Sanderson. Weird, huh?

    Same here with Count of Monte cristo.

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Reply
    imyril says:

    Nothing wrong with deciding you don’t want to read a book any more 🙂 I may be biased – I tackled Children of Blood and Bone and The Final Empire after putting them off (and off. and off, in the case of the Mistborn book) and… I didn’t love them (I DNFed the Sanderson). And I can understand that Sorcerer to the Crown may be tricky given the associations for you (which is a shame, as I found that one a delight).

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Reply
    Helen says:

    The Count of Monte Cristo is one of my favourite classics. Yes, it’s long, but I don’t think it’s a particularly difficult book to read and the plot is so exciting the pages go by quite quickly. I hope you enjoy it if and when you get round to reading it!

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Reply
    Rissi says:

    I have a copy of “Count of Monte Cristo,” too and it’s A BIG BOOK! Needless to say, while I should never say never, I doubt I’ll read it. But I do love the film, so… who knows! Thanks so much for visiting Finding Wonderland, Jess; hope you enjoy all of these if you do read them. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Reply
    Brooke Lorren says:

    Children of Blood and Bone was just okay for me. I could tell it was written well, but I just didn’t have enough cultural familiarity to enjoy it as much as I could have. I want to read The Count of Monte Cristo too, someday. I think the next classic I read will be Les Miserables though.

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Reply
    Amber says:

    Mistborn is huge, but it absolutely flew by for me! I couldn’t stop reading it after putting it off for years. I’ve been meaning to read Discovery of Witches as well, but I’m not sure I’ll enjoy the romance so it’s still sat on my shelf.

    Liked by 1 person

  14. Reply
    alittlehazebookblog says:

    M such a fan of discovery of witches so I hope you read it soon. As for Pat Barker’s The Silence of the Girls, it’s quite a visceral book and doesn’t hold back on the violence. So if that is a trigger for you then maybe don’t read it. I think it’s wonderfully written but definitely something that you need to be in the right mindset for. Fab TTT :))))

    Liked by 1 person

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