Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl to bring bookish friends together. A new topic is posted each week. All books I’ve written a review of is linked.

All of the Harry Potter series. I was given one of the books as a gift as a child, because I was reading a lot already. What they didn’t realize was that it was the last book of the series, so this massive book with brown cartoonish cover was just sitting there on my shelf for a while before I managed to get the first one. I was blown away, of course.

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi.  I read this book a short time ago, on a plane. The worst idea, as I started crying immediately. A neurosurgeon gets cancer, I’ve written an extensive review of it, but it’s simply a must read. 

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami. To be honest I wanted to get into Murakami’s fiction and started with this because it had “norwegian” in the name. It’s a bit like the secret history, but in japan and less murder.

The Secret History by Donna Tarttis fantastic, one of my favorite books. The characters are all awful people, there’s murder, learning latin, it’s great.

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalliis a great gay young adult book that exceeded my expectation and the hype it had gotten.

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green hands down just brilliant.

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi was a young adult fantasy series that I really connected with as a younger teenager. Wonder how I would like it now, a few years later.

The Final Empire of the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson was the first fantasy book I read by Brandon Sanderson and he’s one of the best, especially when it comes to world-building of magical systems and politics.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas. The series quickly went downhill for me until I’ve stopped after Empire of Storms, book five. But I love fighting female main characters, especially a few years ago when I picked it up.

The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. I picked up the first book, The Name of the Wind, almost by accident before hearing of its popularity. It had just been translated into norwegian for my kid self and I had such expectations for the second book, as did everyone else. It’s one of my favourite books as well, definitely would recommend it for someone who’s already into fantasy.

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl to bring bookish friends together. A new topic is posted each week.

I am very excited too read others lists this week, because I want to get more recs of “travel” books. I looked through books I’ve read and found few, except for with fantasy worlds, that made me want to travel. So here’s a few unusual ones –

Upstream by Mary Oliver

All of Mary Oliver’s poems about nature makes me want to run out and find it (which wouldn’t be too difficult since I live in a little valley village). It also makes me want to never return though.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

I don’t enjoy travel photography as much as actually travelling  there and seeing it myself, which I think can be compared to reading about travels. But I really enjoy books like this, where the main characters has to leave abruptly, with little things, because while it’s often not in the best circumstances, it seems like a weirdly freeing feeling.  

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami

All of Haruki Murakami’s books makes me want to travel to the places, often in Japan. Here he also writes from a time living in Hawaii and you get to read descriptions from all his good running routes, along with a marathon in Europe somewhere (Greece, was it?).

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Ok, I tried to leave out fantasy books, but this had a journey that I so wanted to go on when I read it the first time. I might not have been so worried about the danger either if I had Katsa’s skill with fighting.

Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente 

I mostly added this to the list as a joke, but I would go to space had there been proven other sentient species on other planets. Perhaps not by force, like in this book, but it did make me excited about the future and space travel.

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl to bring bookish friends together. A new topic is posted each week.

Before I didn’t usually stop reading books, but then I realized it was limiting what books I chose to pick up and give a chance. I read to get something positive out of a book, if it’s not for me I won’t go through another two hundred pages of that. So here’s some books I recently put down before finishing.

Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young

I did not give this book a fair shot. Something about the writing made me understand that I would not think about anything else than how much it got on my nerves. I do not remember what I expected starting this book, but vikings are close to my heart and home and I just went “nope, this seems like the tv version, not for me”. DNF at 10%

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

The writing was very lovely with carefully phrased sentences and some mystery behind it, then the plot never takes off, neither does the characters. They see a snow child in the forest outside the house. Wife finally believes man, wife goes slowly crazy or into a depression? And then nothing happens forever, which was why I was out of there. Hope they have a good life afterwards, but it did not seem like that were the way they were heading. DNF at 30%

All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater

This book is great. And I could not finish it. I love Maggie Stiefvater’s books, I loved the details in this one, but I could not follow the plot where they’re just wandering the desert and it seemed like there’s some bigger thing I am missing. Will perhaps give it another try. DNF at 70%

One of Us Is Lying by Karen McManus

Do not read this young adult book unless you want to give up on young adult books, is the opinion of a person who reads and likes a lot of them. Good concept, horrible execution, why is it popular. DNF at 25%

Fahrenheit 451

I tried so hard and spent so much time getting through this book, but halfway I was bored out of my mind. I got the concept and the ideas behind it, it might be one of those books that I’ve heard about too much and know just enough about it that it feels like I’ve read it before. Excited for the movie though, I’m sure they’re going to fuck it up even with Michael B. Jordan as the lead. DNF at 50%