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Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Almost Put Down But Didn't

I've decided to jump on board with Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week the topic is: Top Ten Books I Almost Put Down But Didn't.


I have a hard time abandoning books - oftentimes, when I do, I tell myself I'll come back to it (and I have a stack of those!). Here are some I kind of had to force myself to stick through and was so glad that I did:

1. London Falling by Paul Cornell - I'd been really looking forward to this one so it was fortunate that I came across a review by another blogger who'd made some of the same observances I did in the beginning of the book and promised that readers who stuck it out would be rewarded. It was true, the book was spectacular and I'm so glad I didn't give up on it!

2. The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison - this one came with a lot of buzz but I just wasn't loving it - at least not until the very end!

3. Case Histories by Kate Atkinson - I wasn't necessarily going to give up on this one but I did have a few false starts. It started to seem as though I'd never make it through. It is such a wonderful series, though, and one that I highly recommend to anyone looking for clever mysteries with great characters.

4. Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin - the first time I tried to read this I swore it just wasn't for me. It took me over five years to come back to it and now I'm a HUGE fangirl. We'll just say the first try wasn't the right time for me to read it.

5. Jonathan Strange &  Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke - this is seriously one of my favorite books but I struggled with it for a while. My biggest issue was having enough downtime to get through the first part without feeling like I was getting nowhere. But oh, how the book moves after that!

And here are some that I did stick through to the end but would have been better off abandoning:

1. The Witching Hour by Anne Rice - I'd dropped this one with just 100 pages to go. When I finally went back to it I realized I didn't particularly like the way it actually ended. 

2. The Pillow Friend by Lisa Tuttle - I'm almost ashamed at how much I disliked this book because I've read other works by Tuttle and really enjoyed them. 

3. Violets are Blue by James Patterson - I've liked some Patterson and been underwhelmed by others, but this was the one that made me decide not to read him anymore. I know he has a massive, massive following but he's just not my thing.

4. Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin - when I read this, it was because the movie was due out and a coworker raved about this author. I really did not like this book or the movie one bit. 

5. In the Dark of Night by John Saul - sadly I've outgrown Saul. I just don't enjoy his work the same way I did when I was a teen. 

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jonathan Strange is intimidatingly long, but I am glad I got through it and it turned out to be pretty good.

Unknown said...

I felt the same way about Game of Thrones, it takes time to get used to the world and the writing. Jonathan Strange is one of my favorite book ever, but it does take its time introducing characters.

Stephanie said...

I love Case Histories! Glad you stuck with it and loved it too. I haven't read any of the others in the series but can't wait to get to them!