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 Enjoyed but Rarely Talk About’, which is a great theme for us book bloggers because I think we’re all guilty of gushing about the same books. And that’s great! There are books I’ve gone out and bought, read and loved because I’ve seen another blogger rave about them, but there are plenty of books I’ve loved that I haven’t shouted about as much as they deserve.
Some of these are books from my childhood and teens that I still often think about while some are books I was assigned to read at uni and really enjoyed, and some are just books I’ve read for pure enjoyment and haven’t talked about enough.
Lola Rose by Jacqueline Wilson: This is a childhood favourite of mine that I read and re-read over and over again, as I always did with Jacqueline Wilson’s books, and I still think about it.
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins: One of my favourite classics and the first English-language detective novel. I read this book for uni and loved it.
The Unlikely Ones by Mary Brown: This is another book I read while I was at uni, after I found it in a charity shop, and it’s the ultimate traditional fantasy story. I honestly don’t know if I’d like it as much if I read it again now, but it was just what I needed when I read it.
Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn: This is another book I read when I was younger and still think about. At times it’s brutal, but I loved it.
American Gods by Neil Gaiman: My second favourite Gaiman novel, after The Graveyard Book, but I don’t think I ever really talk about this one.
Skellig by David Almond: This was the first book I had to read for secondary school, and it’s a modern children’s classic here in the UK. It’s such a good book.
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks: Another book I ended up reading for school, and one I really enjoyed. I don’t think any novel has quite captured the horror of the First World War like this one.
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke; translated by Anthea Bell: I loved this series when I was younger! I actually enjoyed the sequels even more, mainly because Violante is my favourite character, but I have such a soft spot for this first book and I’m still sad the film adaptation was rubbish.
Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie: This is another book I had to read for uni and I loved it. It’s the ultimate story about stories.
Delirium by Lauren Oliver: I really didn’t like the other books in this trilogy but, as a standalone, this book is a wonderful YA dystopian novel.
Jessticulates 
At one time I owned “Delirium” but I may have unhauled it a while back. At this point, who can remember!? 😉 Glad to know it’s a good read though – if I still own it, I’ll have to dig it out to take a second look. Thanks for visiting my post on this week’s topic. Appreciate it.
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I’m glad you mentioned Inkheart. I have that sitting on my shelf for my son to read but had completely forgotten about it.
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I enjoyed Delirium, too, but I never finished the series. The sequel disappointed me so much that I didn’t even bother to read book three. Oops? I wish it had been a standalone too.
I also never read Inkheart, which everybody tells me is crazy. I think I started it and never finished it. Oops again? XD
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The Inkheart adaption was terrible. I am still so bitter about it. I love the trilogy so much though. It reintroduce me to the magic of MG books. Hope you are staying healthy and safe ❤
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I used to read Jacqueline Wilson books all the time as a kid, but I don’t think I’ve read this one!
-Lauren
http://www.shootingstarsmag.net
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American Gods is actually a good one that I loved but don’t talk about often either. I think it’s because so many people have commented hating the book (but loved the show) and I never found anyone who enjoyed it as much as me (plus I never watched the show) 😂 Great list, Jess!
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I actually saw the Inkheart movie for the first time a couple of years ago – and just finally got around to the book because I enjoyed it. In comparison, though, the book was 10x better!
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I still have a few Lauren Oliver backlog books to get through, but I generally like her stuff quite a lot!
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I’ve always wanted to read American Gods. It’s good to hear that it’s well worth reading.
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I haven’t read any of these yet but love the recommendations. Jacqueline Wilson has written a lot of books! I read one book by her a year, maybe two ago and it was just okay, but it might have been the subject matter, because the writing was good.
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Ha! I just read Delirium for the first time in December this past year!! I really liked it, but it was a bit more instalove than I was prepared for. I’ve heard a lot of people didn’t like the rest of the series… and I’m wondering if I would too because I can kind of see where it’s going and 😦
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I hear great things about Gaiman but have never read anything by him.
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I really should read some Gaiman sometime! Haha one day.
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It’s so interesting how the books we read when we’re young stay with us and make such a long-lasting impact! I do need to read The Moonstone and Birdsong. Great list!
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I loved Inkheart too! I read it YEARS ago, lol.
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I never read Inkheart when I was a kid, definitely one that I need to get around to someday.
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/04/14/top-ten-tuesday-259/
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Skellig was the first book I read for secondary school too! David Almond is a sort of local author for me so I think he’s pretty popular with teachers here. And Jacqueline Wilson was my favourite author when I was little, but I don’t think I’ve read Lola Rose.
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I’d never heard of Lola Rose before, but now I want to read it. Intriguing!
Thanks for stopping by earlier.
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Haroun and the Sea of Stories and Across the Nightingale Floor are both books I found on the 1001 Children’s Books list. They were both wonderful.
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I’ve been meaning to read American Gods for SO. LONG. Hopefully I’ll get around to it soon. Great list!
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Oh birdsong, yes! Been meaning to read that one forever. I read All Quiet on the Western Front which is thematically similar I expect and found that to be utterly gut wrenching but desperately important. I imagine Birdsong to follow those same lines
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Have you read Anansi Boys? I read American Gods a few years ago but have yet to continue on with that one. I do kind of prefer the tv series over the book ( I know shh)
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Great list! I haven’t heard of most of these, and I agree with what you say about The Unlikely Ones – I also read a lot of kind of unknown traditional high fantasy that was trope-y and I loved all of it, but probably really wouldn’t if I read it now for the first time. Different books for different times of one’s life!
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Interesting list. Thanks for sharing!! I haven’t read a single one of them so lots of inspiration for me here. The Neil Gaiman one looks really interesting, as well as Inkheart and Delirium!
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