Top Ten Tuesday is a meme now hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl, and this week’s topic was Top Ten Books By Favorite Authors That I Still Haven’t Read. I don’t participate in Top Ten Tuesday every week but I’m going to try to do so at least once a month.
I’m interpreting this week’s theme a bit loosely, because some of these authors aren’t technically full blown favorites of mine. I picked authors for which I had read at least one book and loved it – and then scoured their list of published titles to find my potential next great read.
It’s a pretty eclectic list and I even threw some nonfiction in there. It was fun to brainstorm which books to pick for this post and it definitely reminded me of a few titles I’ve been meaning to get to. Hopefully it’ll also provide good inspiration for your TBR!
What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
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I’ve read almost all of Liane Moriarty’s novels – and even posted an Author Spotlight of her with reviews of six of her books ranked from my most to least favorite. She’s definitely a favorite author of mine when it comes to contemporary fiction. I’ve owned a paperback of What Alice Forgot for over a year now but haven’t gotten around to reading it. Thank you Top Ten Tuesday for reminding me of its existence!
Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel
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A little while back I posted a rave review of the audiobook version of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall – the first installment of a historical fiction series focused on the times of Henry VIII for which Bring Up The Bodies is Part 2. Wolf Hall was masterfully written and the amazing audiobook narration only added to the experience. I started listening to the audiobook for Bring Up The Bodies but the narrator unfortunately just didn’t compare. I did promise myself I would pick it up on ebook or hard copy but haven’t done so yet.
The Shell Collector by Anthony Doerr
Considering how much I loved Anthony Doerr’s incomparable World War II novel All The Light We Cannot See, it’s pretty crazy that I hadn’t really looked into any of his other titles. The Shell Collector is a collection (get it?) of short stories and was actually Doerr’s debut work, so what better place to start. It also doesn’t hurt that it has stellar reviews on Goodreads. If you have other Doerr titles I should consider first, let me know in the comments.
The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett
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What?!? A Terry Pratchett fan like me hasn’t read one of Pratchett’s Discworld novels? I’ts confession time. I actually only got to #23 in the series (Carpe Jugulum) before college hit and I forgot all about the Discworld for a bit. I’ve been meaning to re-read the entire series, which may or may not be too big of a task. At the very least, I want to eventually read the 20 or so (gulp) books in the series that I haven’t read yet, starting with The Fifth Elephant.
The Girl In The Tower by Katherine Arden
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It’s been several months since I read the first book in this series – The Bear And The Nightingale – but I really enjoyed it. My LA based real-life book club picked it as one of our monthly reads and it was appreciated by members of pretty different ages and reading preferences. It’s similar to Naomi Novik’s recent release Spinning Silver (more on that below), with the same Russian-inspired setting and wintry feeling. I definitely want to pick up Book 2 in the series – The Girl In The Tower – soon.
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
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I finished Naomi Novik’s newest release – Spinning Silver – just a few weeks ago. It was one of my Book Of The Month selections for August and, for a winter lover like me, it really hit the spot. My full review will be up on Thursday. Naomi Novik’s earlier novel, Uprooted, arguably is more popular and has received even more praise than Spinning Silver. How do I know? My boss recommended it to me and I’m pretty sure he’s not the target audience. I’m hoping to pick this one up soon, at least before the movie comes out!
The Mill On The Floss by George Eliot
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George Eliot is one of my all time favorite writers, but nope, I actually haven’t read all of her classic novels. Middlemarch is one of my top ten fiction books of all time and I also loved Daniel Deronda, but I’ve never picked up her other titles. It’s kind of embarassing but easily remedied. Based on reviews and its premise, I think The Mill On The Floss would be the logical next step. Here’s hoping that I fall in love like I did with Middlemarch since it also has a captivating female heroine.
The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright
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Lawrence Wright’s Going Clear is firmly at the top of my list of favorite books about Scientology (for clarification, this a list of books that are critical about Scientology – no, I have not joined the cult). I had the pleasure of seeing Wright speak at the LA Times Book Festival and now have signed copies of Going Clear and The Looming Tower sitting on my shelf as a result. I hope to get to The Looming Tower soon.
Spook by Mary Roach
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I’m the kind of weird person that likes to read books about death – but I can’t help it! Death is kind of fascinating at the same time that I hope it doesn’t reach me till I’m very old and asleep in my bed. Mary Roach’s book about death – Stiff – will be going on my death Book List once I get around to putting that together (it’s happening, deal with it). In the meantime, she has a wealth of other one-word named books to pick from and I’m going to stay on theme and go with Spook next.
God: A Human History by Reza Aslan
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To end things on a grandiose note, I’ve been thinking about reading Reza Aslan’s ‘biography’ of God for a while now. His previous book – Zealot: The Life And Times Of Jesus Of Nazareth – would probably not be everyone’s cup of tea. I’m spiritual but not tied to a particular organized religion, so I appreciated it’s viewpoint on Jesus as a historical figure. I hope to get the same layman’s perspective, if you can call it that, from God: A Human History.
Have you read any of these books? Is there one you would recommend that I start with? Let me know in the comments!
For more recent posts on Novels And Nonfiction check out my list of October 2018 Book Releases I’m Excited About, a review of historical nonfiction title The Mirage Factory by Gary Krist, my Minimalism Book List, and my review of the audiobook version of memoir Educated by Tara Westover.
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I definitely think Uprooted is better than Spinning Silver, and The Girl in the Tower is better than the Bear and the Nightingale. I haven’t read Mary Roach’s other stuff, but I did really like Bonk!
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I’ve heard that same thing about Girl In The Tower before (including from Lory in another comment on this post and from someone in my book club). I hope I end up agreeing!
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Ohh I loved All the Light We Cannot See and didn’t even realize he had another book. It looks really interesting. Adding that to my TBR for sure.
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Very cool! Both Looming Tower and God: A Human History are both on my list to read!
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I haven’t read Uprooted yet, either! Spinning Silver was one of my previous BOTM picks too, and I devoured it.
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I’m glad I’m not the only one that ended up reading Spinning Silver first! I guess we’ve approached Naomi Novik backwards technically but easily fixable 🙂 lol
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Definitely! 😃
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The Girl in the Tower was a follow-up that didn’t disappoint, so i can recommend that one. I had mixed feelings about Uprooted … I’d like to reread it and also check out Spinning Silver.
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Hmm you’re the first I’m hearing that didn’t love Uprooted. I’m curious about what your mixed feelings were – as long as there’s no spoilers 😉
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It just somehow didn’t grab me till toward the end — then it came together for me. That’s why I want to reread it, to see how I feel knowing I”m heading somewhere good.
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Oh gosh, I haven’t read any of those books, though a number of them look good. I keep meaning to read Stiff and her other books, but keep forgetting.
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Stiff was excellent – if you’re into reading about that sort of thing lol I would also recommend Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty about her experience working in a crematory. She also has a second book – From Here To Eternity – about burial/death practices around the world. She owns a non-profit funeral service business here in LA that focuses on allowing people a personal and close experience with their loved ones who have passed away before burial and also provides environmentally friendly burial options.
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I haven’t read anything by the authors yet but The Girl in the Tower and Uprooted have been on my radar for a while. Hopefully we both get to read them soon!
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I would imagine based on the books I’ve already read by each author that they’re going to be within a similar vein. I hope we both love them!
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Ooh, so many great books and authors on here! Uprooted was so wonderful, and I am really hoping to start Katherine Arden’s most recent books as well. I actually want to read so many of these! I hope you have a chance to read them all. 🙂
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Fingers crossed on my side as well 😉
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I interpreted it the same way you did! Some of the authors on my list I’ve only read one of their books, but I LOVED that one.
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I’ll go take a look! I’m sure there’s lots of good recommendations for my TBR 🙂
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Uprooted is on my TBR, still haven’t read it yet though.
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2018/09/25/top-ten-tuesday-178/
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You HAVE to pick up The Girl in the Tower soon! While TBatN was more of a slower paced novel to build the world, TGitT was action packed and quick paced. I absolutely LOVED it. I cannot wait until the third book in January. It was supposed to have been released this past August, but they pushed it back until January. My heart cannot take the waiting!
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Hopefully I can get to it before January and then read the third one as an ARC, so I can do a review of the series as whole!
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You definitely need to go back to Mantel! Bring Up the Bodies is so good. Apparently, after a year delay, the third book in the trilogy is supposed to come out in 2019. Yay!
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