Pages

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

top ten tuesday: books i'm not sure i want to read

Obviously, I missed the "Tuesday" part of Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke & The Bookish—I worked about 12 hours on Tuesday because it was our back-to-school night at the school I work at. But I knew I still wanted to participate in this week's topic, so here's my Top Ten Tuesday ... on Wednesday.

This week's topic is Top Ten Books I'm Not Sure I Want To Read (books you may have bought but aren't sure if you are into it anymore, books you wanted to read but heard mixed things about, hyped books you aren't sure about—basically any book that has you going, "TO READ OR NOT TO READ?").

I decided to go with books that I already own but haven't read yet ... and might not ever. I own way more than 10 books that I haven't read, but these were the first to come to mind.

Divergent by Veronica Roth
I bought Divergent about two years ago—after I heard there would be a film version. I loved The Hunger Games trilogy, and people kept saying that if you loved The Hunger Games, then you'd love Divergent. I didn't read it right away, but I always intended to read it before watching the film. Then my sister told me that she couldn't stand Tris in the book, and she thought it was kind of dumb. Now that I've seen (and loved!) the film, I don't see any reason to go back and read the book. The jury's still out on whether I'll read Insurgent and Allegiant before those films release.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Honestly, I'm not sure why I own this book. I bought it on a whim, but I don't really want to read it. I haven't seen the movie, either, and I'm not sure I want to. Hearing that my one sister sobbed her way through the book and the non-crying sister teared up at the movie makes me think I'd be an utter mess. I like happy things, you know?

Matched, Crossed, and Reached by Ally Condie
After I powered through the whole Hunger Games trilogy in like four days, I was looking for something similar to read. I saw an ad for Matched in Entertainment Weekly and bought it immediately. And then it sat on my shelf ... and it's still sitting there. It's been read, but not by me. My coworker's daughter borrowed the series (yes, I bought the other two books as they released, even though I hadn't yet read Matched), and her apathy toward them after she finished them made me even less inclined to read them.

Coming Home by Karen Kingsbury 
This novel wraps up the Baxter series, most of which I adored ... and I might not ever read it. 1. I've heard it's sad. 2. I'm still mad about Bailey/Brandon/Cody in the Bailey Flanigan series.

Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas 
I've heard fabulous things about this biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I bought it on sale, and I felt very intellectual when I did. Chances are, I'll never read even one page.

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
I bought Crime and Punishment for a world lit class in college. Then it turned out that the non-western lit class I took at community college transferred in as world lit, and I was able to drop the class. I kept the book—because, you know, it makes me look cultured and stuff. I'm not really a classic lit kind of girl, though, so I doubt I'll ever read it.

Naked Heat and Heat Rises by Richard Castle
I'm a huge fan of the TV crime dramedy Castle, so when I heard the Nikki Heat books that factor into the plot would really exist, I was on board. I bought and read Heat Rises, and while I enjoyed it, crime novels aren't really my thing ... which is why the next two books in the series, though purchased, have gone unread. I do think if I ever opened them, I'd enjoy them. We'll see!





There's my list. Do you agree? Disagree? Want to talk me into reading one or more of the above? Let me know in the comments! And if you've made your own list, be sure to link up here.

3 comments:

  1. I vote that you read TFIOS! Yes, it's sad but it's also very humorous to help balance out the tragedy. I read Coming Home; talk about ugly crying! But, like most Kingsbury books I've read, it's heart-warming and beautiful so I may think about forgiving Karen Kingsbury someday for writing it. :) I'm thinking I might try the Richard Castle books!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I may get to The Fault in Our Stars someday. Really. Right now, I just can't bear to pick up a book that I know will make me cry!

      Here's the thing about the Castle books--I read Heat Wave several years ago, and Nikki Heat's mom also died tragically. So in my head, Beckett's and Nikki's stories intertwined, and I have a hard time remembering what happened to Beckett and what happened to Nikki. Once, I was sure the Castle writers made a mistake, but then I realized that I was remembering Nikki's story instead of Beckett's! And now as I'm typing this, I've just about talked myself into picking up Naked Heat :-)

      Delete
  2. Bonhoeffer took me a while to get through but was totally worth the time. So much to learn! It should definitely be added to the "will read" list.

    ReplyDelete