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I thought it was about time I took on Top Ten Tuesday, created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is a perfect one for me to get started with since it’s all about books that were recommended to you. I’m lucky enough to count many people among my friends and family as readers. Over the years, they have given me countless outstanding book recommendations. Included here are ten books recommended by ten different people I love.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern – given to me by my friend, Leilani, as a must read. I had looked at this book and been reluctant to read it because the premise seemed so odd. Leilani was right! I loved it.
Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes – initially I gave this book as a birthday gift to my all-things-military loving father-in-law, Norm. He raved about it so much that I had to read it for myself. It really was a great gift for both of us.
The Hunger Games (all 3 books) by Suzanne Collins – recommended by my friend and fellow teacher, Allison. She is very wise and knew that even though I don’t typically go for young adult books, I would go for these. I did.
City of Thieves by David Benioff – my son, Matt, tipped me off to this very different WWII story set in Russia. Matt is not a huge reader, so when he tells me I should read a book, I listen!
11/22/63 by Stephen King – I’m usually the one giving my sister, Lori, book recommendations, but somehow she got to this one before me. It was a can’t put down novel for both of us.
A Man Called Ove by Fredrick Backman – my friend, Janet, is every bit as big a reader as I am and she was certain I would like this quirky story. At first, I wasn’t so sure, but by the end I was most enamored with Ove!
The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka – my Aunt Joan has been a huge reader her whole life and even in her 80’s is still in two different book clubs. Her recommendations always carry weight with me and this one was no exception.
In the Kingdom of Men by Kim Barnes – Meg and I have been best friends since the first day of high school. Reading is one of the many things we have in common. This book is among the best she ever shared with me.
The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway – when my mom gave me this book I was skeptical. A war story? She insisted it was so much more and I should have known, Mom was right! It’s a beautiful portrait of a city at war.
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese – I had looked at this book dozens of times, never feeling it was for me. When my number one book reading friend, Nancy, told me she’d been amazed by it, I knew I had to give it a try. I couldn’t put it down.
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I loved 11/22/63 also! And it’s pretty good that you could come up with 10 books that were recommended to you by people outside of the blogging world. I feel like I rarely get recs from real life friends these days….which is sad and I need to start that back up again.
Most of those book recommendations were a few years ago. These days I get almost all recs from other blogs and lists of upcoming books.
11/22/63 was another recommendation for me too. (I more readily accepted Stephen King books after finishing IT). It was incredible, the amount of research went into the novel.
I even enjoyed Hulu’s adaptation of it with James Franco.
Great list! The Night Circus is a particular favorite of mine. I also love The Hunger Games (recommended to me by one of my college roommates) and 11/22/63.
Great list! If you liked City of Thieves, check out A Blessing on the Moon by Joseph Skibell. It’s definitely a diffetent take on the usual WWII novel. The Cellist sounds like a novel I’d like, thanks for the rec!
Thanks for the suggestion about A Blessing on the Moon. I tend to really like WWII novels.
The Night Circus seemed like an odd premise to me at first too. I read it based on lots of blogger recs, and was really glad I did.
My TTT
Great to hear you loved ” The Night Circus”. I really want to read it. I have the book and the audiobooks out from the library right now. One way or another I will read this book! lol
Wasn’t 11/22/63 marvelous?! I just recommended it to my brother.
Pleased to The Buddha in the Attic- I knew nothing about it, but it’s available at my library so I’m going to download it this weekend! There you go- you’re paying forward the recommendation goodwill!
Let me know what you think of Buddha in the Attic. The writing is really interesting because it’s told in a collective voice.
Thank you so much for visiting my site!
I am currently reading Buddha in the Attic and I’m liking what I read so far. I also liked The Night Circus!