In My Mailbox (19)

Hello everyone! In My Mailbox is a meme that is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren, so we get the chance to share our new books for the week (bought, borrowed or won) with all the lovely bloggers out there!

I finally got round to filming an IMM video with all the books I got over the holidays! There are quite a few, but after some heavy editing, I managed to cut the video down quite a bit, so you won't have to listen to me ramble on for too long!

And for those of you who don't like watching videos, there is a list of the books I got just underneath!

Let me know what you got in your mailboxes this week! Or if you've read any of the ones I got!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (UK children's edition)
Lirael by Garth Nix
Abhorsen by Garth Nix
Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
Prized by Caragh O'Brien
Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce
Looking for Alaska by John Green
Only Human by Tom Holt
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The Green Mile by Stephen King
Everything is Illuminated by Johnathan Safran Foer
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
Who's That Girl? by Alexandra Potter
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

The Time Will Come (10)

The Time Will Come is a great meme hosted by Jodie over at Books For Company. The point of this meme is to list a book that has been sitting on our bookshelves unread for too long and we have been meaning to get round to for ages!

This week's pick is:

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

In Memoirs of a Geisha, we enter a world where appearances are paramount; where a girl's virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder; where women are trained to beguile the most powerful men; and where love is scorned as illusion. It is a unique and triumphant work of fiction—at once romantic, erotic, suspenseful—and completely unforgettable.

This was actually the first book I swapped for. I have no idea why I haven't got round to reading it yet (seeing as it WAS the first book I swapped), but I will! I haven't seen the film, but I have heard that it's supposed to be very good. Now that I have the book, I don't want to watch the film before reading it, so I will have to get to it soon!

The Time Will Come (9)

The Time Will Come is a great meme hosted by Jodie over at Books For Company. The point of this meme is to list a book that has been sitting on our bookshelves unread for too long and we have been meaning to get round to for ages!

This week's pick is:

My Sister Lives On The Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher

Ten-year-old Jamie Matthews has just moved to the Lake District with his Dad and his teenage sister, Jasmine for a 'Fresh New Start'. Five years ago his sister's twin, Rose, was blown up by a terrorist bomb. His parents are wrecked by their grief, Jasmine turns to piercing, pink hair and stops eating. The family falls apart. But Jamie hasn't cried in all that time. To him Rose is just a distant memory. Jamie is far more interested in his cat, Roger, his birthday Spiderman T-shirt, and in keeping his new friend Sunya a secret from his dad. And in his deep longing and unshakeable belief that his Mum will come back to the family she walked out on months ago. When he sees a TV advert for a talent show, he feels certain that this will change everything and bring them all back together once and for all.

I'd wanted to buy this one ever since I first saw it. So, when I spotted a rather cheap hardback copy of it in a Greek bookshop, I bought is straight away. Needless to say, it is still sitting on my bookshelf, unread, though I have picked it up a few times while trying to decide what to read next. Soon.

The Time Will Come (8)

The Time Will Come is a great meme hosted by Jodie over at Books For Company. The point of this meme is to list a book that has been sitting on our bookshelves unread for too long and we have been meaning to get round to for ages!

This week's pick is:

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

A novel set mostly in Afghanistan. The introverted and insecure afghan narrator, Amir, grows up in Afghanistan in the closing years of the monarchy and the first years of the short-lived republic. His best and most faithful friend, Hassan, is the son of a servant. Amir feels he betrays Hassan by not coming to his aid when Hassan is set on by bullies and furthermore forces Hassan and his father Ali to leave his father´s service. Amir´s relatively priviledged life in Kaboul comes to an end when the communist regime comes to power and his extrovert father, Baba emigrates with him to the U.S. There Amir meets his future, afghan wife and marries her. Amir´s father dies in the U.S. and Amir receives a letter from his father´s most trusted business partner and, for a time, Amir´s surrogate father, which makes Amir return, alone, to a Taliban-dominated Afghanistan in search of the truth about himself and his family, and finally, a sort of redemption.

We've had this book for ages. I really do mean that. It's possible it's been sitting on our shelves since 2004 or 2005. I haven't read it yet and, to my knowledge, neither has my brother. I remember my Grandma telling me about this book and how good it was, but for some reason I can't remember, I acted like a big snob and refused to even try reading it. And then, I just forgot about it. The only reason I remembered its existence is because we are currently going through all our books and putting them into boxes to move to our new house. But, now I am a bit older, I think I must give this one a try. Hopefully soon!

The Time Will Come (7)

The Time Will Come is a great meme hosted by Jodie over at Books For Company. The point of this meme is to list a book that has been sitting on our bookshelves unread for too long and we have been meaning to get round to for ages!

This week's pick is:

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

An enjoyable historic thriller, well told. A mystifying puzzle involving the execution of an innocent man, the erection of a magnificent cathedral, romance, rivalry, murder, arson, lust, and love. Set in 1135 England. 

Tells the story of Philip, prior of Kingsbridge, a devout and resourceful monk driven to build the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has known... of Tom, the mason who becomes his architect - a man divided in his soul...of the beautiful, elusive Lady Aliena, haunted by a secret shame...and of a struggle between good and evil that will turn church against state and brother against brother. 

This book - I am rather ashamed to say - has been sitting on my bookshelf, unread, for so, so, so many years. But have you seen the size of it? I usually don't mind reading books that are 700 or more pages long, but this one, with its 1076 pages and its tiny font, just seems like an insurmountable obstacle... I know that this is one of the most-read books of all time and that it's supposed to be very good and very well written, but that's not what convinced me to decide to try this book out someday. It was recently made into a mini-series (for TV) and I happened to watch a half hour segment of an episode. It was so well made and it made the story sound very interesting. So, I decided then and there to stop watching the series, go read the book first and then watch it. Still haven't got round to it, but I have promised myself I will! Soon! I mean, despite the size, there must be a reason so many people love it, right?

Have you read this one, or know about anyone who has read it? 

Please let me know what you/that someone said about it!

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books That I Bought Because Of Their Covers

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by all the lovely people blogging over at The Broke And The Bookish.

This week's list is about covers! I know people say that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but I am pretty sure everyone is guilty of it at some point or another. I definitely am! Though I usually want a book because of the story and then decide to buy it because of the cover. (Weird) So, without further ado, here is my list of books! (Though I don't think I'll get to 10, to be honest!)

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour

How can you not love that cover??? Tell me! How?? I don't really care for the US one, but the UK one really is simply amazing! To me, it just screams road trip! Not that I've ever been on one, but it does includes little images that are highly indicative of America and what road trips are made up to be. The story itself definitely lived up to the cover!





Ash by Malinda Lo

When I ordered this book, I really ordered it because I had seen it on sooo many blogs and everyone seemed to like it and it was a fairytale retelling AND it has an amazing cover! It's very, very simple, but it's so pretty. It's not really indicative in any way about the story within the book, but it is definitely a pretty cover and one that made me buy the book, without really looking into the actual story too much. (I found out about the fact that it is a lesbian Cinderella retelling a couple of days before my book arrived! That's how well informed I was!)

Birthmarked by Caragh O'Brien

This cover might not be one of the prettiest ones I have ever seen, but I just loved it from the first time I saw it. That face hidden behind the letters, as well as the actual phrase those letters make up had me sold and I bought it soon after. I do wonder what the UK cover for the second book will be... I hope it's as good as this one!

The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas

In all honesty, what drew me to this book wasn't just the cover, but also the fact that its pages are black all around! I know that the black pages are even more shallow than just judging by the cover, but I can't help it! When a book has them, I really have to find out what it's about! But the actual cover is pretty, too! I do love Scarlett Thomas' book covers, but this one is possibly my favourite!

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

When I first saw this cover, I realised I had to have this book! Did you notice that girl is floating????? How could you not get it??







And last but not least,

Marked by P.C. & Kristin Cast

This one is a book that I definitely bought because of the cover. You can't tell from the photo, but it's all nice and shiny where those grey markings are and the whole series looks really pretty on my bookshelf. I actually enjoyed reading the first 2-3 books, but after that, they just seemed to draw out a little too much. I am currently two books behind and in no hurry to get back to the series (though I will, just to see where the story goes).

Which books did you buy just because of their covers??

In My Mailbox (18)

Hello everyone! In My Mailbox is a meme that is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren, so we get the chance to share our new books for the week (bought, borrowed or won) with all the lovely bloggers out there!

I've only got two actual books to show you this week, but I got a couple from Netgalley, too!

From swaps:
I heart New York by Lindsey Kelk
I've actually had this one for quite some time and it should have been in my previous IMM post, but I kind-of forgot about it....
Wake by Lisa McMann
I don't know why, but I expected this one to be a little bigger than it actually is! I do like the sound of the story, so I'm looking forward to reading this one soon!

From Netgalley:
The Hangman In The Mirror by Kate Cayley
I've already read this one and it was okay, just not as good as I expected it to be. And apparently, the main story backdrop is true!
The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima
I've been seeing her books around quite a bit as of late and I came really close to buying one when I was in England during the summer holidays, so when I saw this one offered on Netgalley (without needing to be approved), I decided to try it out!

What did you get in your mailbox/postbox this week?? 

Feel free to leave me a link to your mailbox posts and I will definitely check them out!

The Time Will Come (6)

The Time Will Come is a great meme hosted by Jodie over at Books For Company. The point of this meme is to list a book that has been sitting on our bookshelves unread for too long and we have been meaning to get round to for ages!

This week's pick is:

The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie

Alice Ascher from Andover is the first victim. Next to her corpse is a spellbinding clue. It seems that a killer is knocking off his victims one-by-one, A through Z. Alphabetically speaking, Hercule Poirot fears that it's a matter of one down, twenty-five to go.

This book I remember seeing in my local bookshop a couple of years ago and really wanting to read it. When it got round to Christmas, my Mum had actually remembered that I'd said I wanted it and had bought it for me. (Cue quite a bit of excitement!) But, I am ashamed to say, I still haven't got round to reading it. This is baaaaad.... I've never read anything by Agatha Christie and I would really love to; I just don't know what's keeping me from reading this one.

The Time Will Come (5)

The Time Will Come is a great meme hosted by Jodie over at Books For Company. The point of this meme is to list a book that has been sitting on our bookshelves unread for too long and we have been meaning to get round to for ages!

This week's pick is:

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

"I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day of January 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974. . . My birth certificate lists my name as Calliope Helen Stephanides. My most recent driver-s license...records my first name simply as Cal." 
So begins the breathtaking story of Calliope Stephanides and three generations of the Greek-American Stephanides family who travel from a tiny village overlooking Mount Olympus in Asia Minor to Prohibition-era Detroit, witnessing its glory days as the Motor City, and the race riots of l967, before they move out to the tree-lined streets of suburban Grosse Pointe, Michigan. To understand why Calliope is not like other girls, she has to uncover a guilty family secret and the astonishing genetic history that turns Callie into Cal, one of the most audacious and wondrous narrators in contemporary fiction. Lyrical and thrilling, Middlesex is an exhilarating reinvention of the American epic.

I've had this book on my bookshelves for well over a year now. I did start reading it back then, but I was probably reading something else at the same time and I just forgot about it. I got it on the recommendation of one of my friends, who loved it, and I still haven't told him that I haven't finished it.... Really must get round to it soon, because I remember enjoying Eugenides' style of writing (when I was reading it all that time ago). 

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Want To Reread

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by all the lovely people blogging over at The Broke And The Bookish.

This week's list is about our top ten books that we really want to reread. So, without further ado, here is my list of books!

1. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

How could Harry Potter not be on this list?? I have read each HP book three times already (which may not be many by other people's standards, but it is by mine) and I have reached the point where I feel that I have to read them again soon. (It's probably Pottermore's fault.)

2. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

I've only read this one once so far, but I absolutely loved it and I know I will be re-reading it in the future. Amazing book. Now I reminded myself, I must read his other book, too.

3. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

This is my absolute favourite of all the classics. I've read it a couple of times already, and I've seen both the BBC TV series and the film numerous times, but I would definitely not mind reading it again!

4. His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman

Another series which I absolutely loved. I am pretty sure I've only read it once though, so that must be rectified as soon as possible!

5. Bridget Jones' Diary by Helen Fielding

There's nothing like reading a bit of Bridget Jones' Diary to make you laugh when you're need it! Also, it does help a little that every time I read about Mark Darcy, I picture Colin Firth in my head (thank you, producers who chose him for that role).

6. The Lottie Project by Jacqueline Wilson

Yeah, yeah, I know this is a children's book. But it is so, so good! And so, so cute! I don't even know how many times I've read it over the years, but I do know that I have to read it again!

7. Sabriel by Garth Nix

The reason I haven't put the whole trilogy here is because I haven't actually read the whole trilogy, despite the fact that I absolutely loved Sabriel when I first read it years and years ago. So, I have made a big decision; I am going to order Lirael and Abhorsen (the next two books in the series) and then proceed to read them all. Sounds like a pretty good plan!

8. The Island by Victoria Hislop

This book focuses on Spinalonga, an small island not very far from where I live, that used to be a leper colony until the 1950's. My grandmother had read it and loved it and then passed it on to me. I did eventually read it nearly a year after I first got my hands on it and, though I really, really enjoyed it, I haven't read it since!

9. The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins

I only found out about this amazing series this year when I started blogging, so I haven't had the chance to get to the point of wanting to reread it yet. But I definitely want to. It is so, so good!

10. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

I only read this one this year but it has rightfully earned a place on my list of favourite books. Definitely wouldn't mind rereading that one in the near future!

So yep, that's it from me. I know a few of them are books I've read recently, so it's not like I really want to reread them right now, but they are favourites and will definitely be reread in the near future! And yay! I got to 10!!

So, which books would you like to reread?? Let me know, so that I can try them out for myself if I haven't already read them!

In My Mailbox (17)

Hello everyone! In My Mailbox is a meme that is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren, so we get the chance to share our new books for the week (bought, borrowed or won) with all the lovely bloggers out there!

No video this week, but then again, I haven't really been posting for some time... I do have a rather valid excuse, though! I was in Italy!!!!! (And I had an AMAZING time!)

And I am pretty sure I haven't done an IMM post in nearly a month. That's good, though, right?? As I am supposed to be on a book buying ban? But what's more, I didn't buy a single one of the books in this IMM post, either!! (I am so proud of myself! - And my Mum's happy, too!)

So:

Books I was given as a present 
Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
Smoke Screen by Sandra Brown
Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen

Books from swaps
Jessica's Guide To Dating On The Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey
Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

Books I won
The Predicteds by Christine Seifert

So, what did you get in your mailbox/postbox this week?? 

(Please leave a comment!)

The Time Will Come (4)

The Time Will Come is a great meme hosted by Jodie over at Books For Company. The point of this meme is to list a book that has been sitting on our bookshelves unread for too long and we have been meaning to get round to for ages!

This week's pick is:

The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne

Berlin 1942 
When Bruno returns home from school one day, he discovers that his belongings are being packed in crates. His father has received a promotion and the family must move from their home to a new house far far away, where there is no one to play with and nothing to do. A tall fence running alongside stretches as far as the eye can see and cuts him off from the strange people he can see in the distance. 
But Bruno longs to be an explorer and decides that there must be more to this desolate new place than meets the eye. While exploring his new environment, he meets another boy whose life and circumstances are very different to his own, and their meeting results in a friendship that has devastating consequences.

I'm pretty sure we've had this one sitting on the bookshelf for a couple of years and I still haven't got round to reading it! I know! I must! From what I've heard, it's supposed to be very sad, but very good. I hope I get round to it soon. 

The Time Will Come (3)

The Time Will Come is a great meme hosted by Jodie over at Books For Company. The point of this meme is to list a book that has been sitting on our bookshelves unread for too long and we have been meaning to get round to for ages!

This week's pick is:

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

A sensation across Europe—millions of copies sold. A spellbinding amalgam of murder mystery, family saga, love story, and financial intrigue. It’s about the disappearance forty years ago of Harriet Vanger, a young scion of one of the wealthiest families in Sweden . . . and about her octogenarian uncle, determined to know the truth about what he believes was her murder. It’s about Mikael Blomkvist, a crusading journalist recently at the wrong end of a libel case, hired to get to the bottom of Harriet’s disappearance . . . and about Lisbeth Salander, a twenty-four-year-old pierced and tattooed genius hacker possessed of the hard-earned wisdom of someone twice her age—and a terrifying capacity for ruthlessness to go with it—who assists Blomkvist with the investigation. This unlikely team discovers a vein of nearly unfathomable iniquity running through the Vanger family, astonishing corruption in the highest echelons of Swedish industrialism—and an unexpected connection between themselves. It’s a contagiously exciting, stunningly intelligent novel about society at its most hidden, and about the intimate lives of a brilliantly realized cast of characters, all of them forced to face the darker aspects of their world and of their own lives.




We've had this book sitting on the bookshelf for a couple of years now and I still haven't got round to reading it. I've heard many great things about the whole Millennium trilogy (as it is called) and it does sound rather good. But the main reason I haven't read it yet is because of this:

Now, I'm not usually a fan of covers that have stills from the film, but this one is just exceptionally bad and off-putting for some reason. It's just making me not want to read it, which is a shame, really. So, I decided to put it into a "The Time Will Come" post, in the hopes that that will make me read it soon!

Has anyone read The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo?? If so, what do you think about it?

In My Mailbox (16)

Hello everyone! In My Mailbox is a meme that is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren, so we get the chance to share our new books for the week (bought, borrowed or won) with all the lovely bloggers out there!

The rest of the books I got from England arrived! Oh, and sorry for the semi-cut-off head!

Books I bought
The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold
The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory
Naked Lunch by William Burroughs
Seizure by Erica Wagner

Books from swaps
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant

Books I won
Among Others by Jo Walton (from Judith of Leeswammes' Blog)

Books for review
String Bridge by Jessica Bell (a huge thank you to the author!)

So, what did you get in your mailbox/postbox this week?? 

On My Wishlist (3)

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where we list all the books we desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming.


Anyway, on this week's wishlist we have:

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

BROOKLYN: Andi Alpers is on the edge. She’s angry at her father for leaving, angry at her mother for not being able to cope, and heartbroken by the loss of her younger brother, Truman. Rage and grief are destroying her. And she’s about to be expelled from Brooklyn Heights’ most prestigious private school when her father intervenes. Now Andi must accompany him to Paris for winter break. 
PARIS: Alexandrine Paradis lived over two centuries ago. She dreamed of making her mark on the Paris stage, but a fateful encounter with a doomed prince of France cast her in a tragic role she didn’t want—and couldn’t escape. 
Two girls, two centuries apart. One never knowing the other. But when Andi finds Alexandrine’s diary, she recognizes something in her words and is moved to the point of obsession. There’s comfort and distraction for Andi in the journal’s antique pages—until, on a midnight journey through the catacombs of Paris, Alexandrine’s words transcend paper and time, and the past becomes suddenly, terrifyingly present. 

From what I've heard, Revolution is an excellent book, but the main reasons I want to read it are a) because it's historical fiction and b) because I've only read A Gathering Light by the same author and would love to read something else by her!

 Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson

The Major leads a quiet life valuing the proper things that Englishmen have lived by for generations: honor, duty, decorum, and a properly brewed cup of tea. But then his brother's death sparks an unexpected friendship with Mrs. Jasmina Ali, the Pakistani shopkeeper from the village. Drawn together by their shared love of literature and the loss of their respective spouses, the Major and Mrs. Ali soon find their friendship blossoming into something more. But village society insists on embracing him as the quintessential local and her as the permanent foreigner. Can their relationship survive the risks one takes when pursuing happiness in the face of culture and tradition?

This one just sounds very interesting. I've been wanting to read it ever since I saw a review of it (I cannot remember where that was, though) and I hope it's not to long before I do!

In My Mailbox (15)

Hello everyone! In My Mailbox is a meme that is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren, so we get the chance to share our new books for the week (bought, borrowed or won) with all the lovely bloggers out there!

Only just got back from my holidays in the UK and - of course - bought lots of books, even though I had kind-of promised my mum I wouldn't get too many. But there were so many great offers, I couldn't just ignore them...

Anyway, here goes:

Books I bought

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

A Tiny Bit Marvellous by Dawn French

One Seriously Messed-Up Week In The Otherwise Mundane And Uneventful Life of Jack Samsonite by Tom Clempson

The Doll - Short Stories by Daphne Du Maurier

A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines by Janna Levin

Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

The Shining by Stephen King

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis

Skippy Dies by Paul Murray

Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton

Books I 'stole' from my Grandma

Secrets of the Sea by Nicholas Shakespeare

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

One Day by David Nicholls

Books I won

Face by Benjamin Zephaniah

Other books mentioned

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

Bloggers mentioned

Kate from That Book Blog

Hannah from Once Upon A Time

Good God, this post took ages to write! Thanks for watching!

So, what did you get in your mailbox/postbox this week?? 

The Time Will Come (2)

The Time Will Come is a great meme hosted by Jodie over at Books For Company. The point of this meme is to list a book that has been sitting on our bookshelves unread for too long and we have been meaning to get round to for ages!

This week's pick is:

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Since his debut in 1951 as The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield has been synonymous with "cynical adolescent." Holden narrates the story of a couple of days in his sixteen-year-old life, just after he's been expelled from prep school, in a slang that sounds edgy even today and keeps this novel on banned book lists. It begins, "If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them." His constant wry observations about what he encounters, from teachers to phonies (the two of course are not mutually exclusive) capture the essence of the eternal teenage experience of alienation.

We had this one on the bookshelf for nearly a year now and I still haven't got round to reading it! I always seem to be picking something else up and not that one. I've heard good things and bad things about it and I really want to get round to reading it, so that I can see what I think of it! 

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Underrated Books

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke And The Bookish.

I haven't done one of these lists in ages.... Ooops... They were just really hard ones for me to come up with enough to write to justify a top ten post, so I just didn't do them... Anyway, I'm back now, with this week's top ten post being about the top ten books we believe are underrated. I don't know if I'll make it to ten, but I'll try!

So, in no particular order,

1. The Host by Stephenie Meyer
I don't know if this one actually is underrated or not, but I, for one, haven't really heard that much about it. I think it has been lost a little because of the fact that Meyer also wrote the extremely popular Twilight books. I can go as far as saying that, even though I had been avoiding The Host for nearly two years, when I finally did read it, I enjoyed it a lot more than the Twilight books. (My review HERE)

2. Sabriel by Garth Nix
I read this book many, many years ago. I actually own a hardback copy of it for some reason or another (and it's one of the very few that I own). Since I started blogging and looking through people's ''read'' lists, I don't think I've seen it a lot. And I think it's a pity. Sabriel was one of the first fantasy books I ever read and I really enjoyed it. And I've never read anything like it since then. I have been wanting to get my hands on the next two books in the series, Lirael and Abhorsen, for years, but I still haven't.

3. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
I only read this book this year, even though I had had it sitting on my bookshelf for at least a year before that. And I can say that it is one of my favourite books ever. Diane Setterfield's writing is just amazing and the whole story just kept me wanting to read on and on and on, until quite late into the night. (My review HERE)

4. Any book by Scarlett Thomas
To be fair, I have only read The End of Mr Y and PopCo by her (but not our Tragic Universe), but she writes too well for you to miss out on her books. Plus, you'll learn a lot of weird metaphysical and logic stuff at the end. (My review of PopCo HERE)

5. Tyme's End by B.R. Collins
I won this book as part of a prize pack and when I finally got round to reading it, I was very pleasantly surprised. I'm not sure what I expected, but it was so much better than that. It's a children's book, but the writing is very good and the story is engaging. It leaves you guessing at the end of every chapter and you just want to keep reading. (My review HERE)

6. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
I happened to find this book, when I was looking for her other book (Sharp Objects). Though I had only heard of Sharp Objects before (mainly through my brother, whose friends had read it), after I had read both, I realised that I preferred Dark Places just a teeny bit more. To be honest, I don't think I've heard it being mentioned anywhere even after having read it. Shame, because it really is a good book. I know crime novels/thrillers aren't for everyone, but it is a brilliantly written story. (My review HERE)

7. Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier
I have only read two books by Tracy Chevalier and they don't include Girl With A Pearl Earring, the book she is most well known for. Burning Bright is one of them (the other being Remarkable Creatures) and I've loved them both. I think Remarkable Creatures is a little more well known, but I don't think I know anyone who has read Burning Bright. I loved the two main characters in it, as well as the story, and I do recommend giving it a try! (My review HERE)

I think that's it... But yay! I made it to 7! To be honest, I didn't think I was going to make it that far!

Which books do you think are underrated?? Books that you have enjoyed but not really heard much about elsewhere??