Monday, December 23, 2013

Top Ten Books I Wouldn't Mind Santa Bringing Me



Most books I buy for myself are books I have already read and loved, or are by authors that I love beyond belief *cough* Robin McKinley and Tamora Pierce *cough*.  So to not be boring and list all the books I love since I'm starting to have repeats (There will still be repeats.  I can't help myself), I've decided to split it between books I've already read and books I am 98% sure I will love, but haven't read yet.






Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

Crown of Midnight (Throne of Glass, #2)

Soo...I may have accidentally sent myself Throne of Glass instead of the person I meant to mail it to, so Merry Christmas to me!  Now all I need is CoM (and the novellas when they come out in print next year!)



Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan
Unspoken (The Lynburn Legacy, #1)

 I have already bought the sequel, Untold, so now I need to get my hands on the first book!  And the novellas might be worth reading as well (but then they wouldn't make it on this part of the list anyway)



Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin

This is easily one of the most beautiful books I've ever read.  Even  better?  The movie is just as fantastic as the book, so I highly recommend both!  (And want to own both)



Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson


This book is amazing.  It's contemplative, heart breaking, and real in a way you probably wouldn't expect a retelling of Peter Pan to be.  I will definitely be rereading this for years to come.



 Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore

Bitterblue (Graceling Realm, #3)

One of my favourite authors, Kristin Cashore is now in my automatically buy anything she's written list.  I already own Graceling and Fire (also aren't these book covers AWESOME??), all I need is Bitterblue to complete my collection!






Shadows by Robin McKinley

Shadows

So, I've already mentioned that Robin McKinley is an automatic buy from me, so obviously this would be on my list.  Thanks to my Secret Santa, all I need is this book, and I will own every single McKinley novel.  Isn't that crazy?? (And by crazy, I clearly mean AWESOME.)



The Story of Us by Deb Caletti

The Story of Us

 Deb Caletti is another auto buy, although I don't always keep her books.  But I usually keep about 3/4 of them and I love her, so it's worth buying a book to support her!  I've gotten a bit behind as I don't have last year's book OR this year's book, so I figure I should deal with last year's one first.



Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Fangirl

All I've been hearing this whole year is just how amazing Rainbow Rowell is...and I haven't managed to read any of her books!  So she is becoming the #1 priority for me to get to next year.  Out of all her books (and I imagine I'll love them all), this one sounds like the one I'd love the most.  I mean it is 100% me!  



Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna and the French Kiss (Anna and the French Kiss, #1)

*Waits to hear shocked silence that follows the announcement that I have not read this yet*...

Yeah so I should read this.  I've not seen a single bad review for it yet.  And you know what else?  Almost half this entire list is contemporary YA!  I'M EVOLVING MUAHAHAHA.  I'll be Blastoise, please and thank you.


Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder (Lunar Chronicles, #1)

Aaaaand we're back to my favourite genre.  So this is a fairy tale retelling.  Did I mention I love those?  There's a reason why Robin McKinley is one of my favourite authors.  So fairy tale retelling?  Check.  Sci-fi fairy retelling?  Umm, YES PLEASE.


And that's it for my TTT!  What books made your list?  Leave a link (Or I can't find you and see your list!!) in the comments :)

29 comments:

  1. Great way of splitting up the list this week! Not sure if I'm one of those who have mentioned it on your blog before but I highly recommend Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl; I'm actually in the middle of typing up my review right now (finally got around to it last weekend during the power outage and the ice storm) and it was just fantastic. This story was also pretty closest to me from all of her books. Hope you get it soon! :)

    My TTT

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  2. Aly @ My Heart Hearts BooksDecember 24, 2013 at 12:35 AM

    I wish gifting you Fangirl and Anna and the French Kiss was easy as *I gift you these books*. They're some of my favorite books and I try to push them at anyone who'd let me. I really do hope you get them soon!

    Aly @ My Heart Hearts Books
    My TTT

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  3. Loved Anna and the French Kiss!
    I really want to read the first book Throne of Glass. I heard great things!
    My TTT- http://angelica-2009.blogspot.com/2013/12/top-ten-tuesday-17_23.html

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  4. You should definitely read Fangirl AND Anna and the French Kiss. They are both AMAZING and you won't be sorry you did. I need to read Cinder (which made my list this week) and I'd also like to read The Story of Us. Deb Caletti is an author that I can always count on to give me a good story. I really liked Stay, did you read that?

    My TTT

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  5. I keep seeing Unspoken around the blogs. It's really intriguing me! Fangirl is good! I hope you get your hands on these books soon! Happy Christmas :-)

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  6. Cinder is on my to-be-read list, too. It looks super interesting because it is a mix of science fiction and dystopian.

    Check out my TTT list: http://booksavvyblog.blogspot.com/

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  7. Asheley (BookwormAsheley)December 24, 2013 at 4:40 PM

    So interesting that you've mentioned Rainbow Rowell - my favorite and second favorite books that I've read this year were both hers - Attachments is #1 and Eleanor and Park is a VERY close #2. I need to read Fangirl but I think I'm kind of saving it up for a rainy day because I've enjoyed her SO MUCH this year. I'm not even sure that makes any sense - but I JUST KNOW that when you read her, you'll love her. She's fantastic. Hope you get at least one of these this season!

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  8. I hope you get these! Anna and the French Kiss was such a pleasant surprise for me...the premise sounded so corny! But I fell head over heels in love with Stephanie Perkins, much like Eleanor & Park and Fangirl made me fall head over heels in love with Rainbow Rowell! Merry Christmas!

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  9. YAY Crown of Midnight & Fangirl. Actually, there are a lot of great books on this list! Merry Christmas!

    Here's my TTT.

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  10. The Rainbow Rowell love out there is seriously epic and I also have not read any of hers. As a consequence I put Eleanor and Park on my list - great minds think alike:) I am also intrigued by the Marissa Meyer books - I've seen a lot of good reviews and I also LOVE a good fairy tale re-telling ala Robin McKinley? But can McKinley be beat? I'll be interested to hear how you like it because I'm trusting this will find its way to you, Santa or not:) Finally Tiger Lily also sounds pretty fascinating and if it's so good you want to own it then it's probably worth checking out! Have a good holiday!

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  11. You definitely should get to ToG! The series is just crazy good. And everyone loves Anna and the French Kiss! I've never seen so many people agree about one thing before haha!

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  12. Yeah they are definitely my priority books for next year! I'm so glad you love Deb Caletti because I always feel she's a bit overlooked. Stay was the last book by her that I read, and of course I really enjoyed it. I think The Nature of Jade will always be my favourite of hers, though.

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  13. DO IT!!! I think you'd really like it, and not just because I think everyone will like it. Judging from what you've liked on your blog, this is definitely up your alley!

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  14. If you didn't get Fangirl for Christmas you should get the paperback that comes out in January. It's going to have bonus content ;)

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  15. I NEED these books! Luckily my library system is pretty good in that they HAVE these books (my podunk library back home never got new books!), so I can read them...if I don't mind waiting half a year for them. (Seriously I've been on the list for Divergent since the end of October and am only down to 90th on the list). Although I have hope for Cinder since I've actually SEEN the mythological copies in my library, so I know they exist there somewhere.

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  16. I read the first chapter of her new book (I think she posted it on her blog?) and it was awesome! Ahhhhh I need this book! And Tiger Lily is really, really beautiful. And it's not super tragic, it's very slice of life and realistic in a way that is sort of sad/bittersweet, but not tragic. I don't willingly read sad things (I just read The Book Thief like last week because I needed to prepare myself for the feels so much. You know, give or take 8 years of preparation - which was still not enough) so I definitely understand your hesitance, but I wouldn't say it was a really sad book. So you should read it!

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  17. Yeah, I'm not sure I've read a sci-fi fairy tale yet (I'm sure I have, and just forgot, but that's almost like not having read one) and this one has had such good reviews that I'm really excited!

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  18. I know EXACTLY what you mean! Sometimes you just know. And I want these books so badly!! I'm expecting to love Attachments and Eleanor and Park, but I'm expecting to crazy super love Fangirl. In fact I hadn't even thought about worrying about NOT liking the books. I honestly just can't see it happening!

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  19. Elizabeth - please. I beg of you. Please read anything by Rainbow Rowell. I read E&P and now reading Fangirl and I am obsessed. Also, I adored Anna and the French Kiss and Cinder. Those are three of my favorites right there. I can't wait until you read them!

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  20. Thanks, I shall think on what you've said and build my courage for 2014. I hope The Book Thief isn't that sad by the way, as my dad wants to go and see it with me at the cinema - I haven't read the book. Now I'm off to try and find that first chapter you mentioned... :-)

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  21. I'd never even heard of Anna and the French Kiss until I started blogging this year, and honestly if I'd run into it I probably wouldn't have paid it any attention as it's not the sort of book I'm usually into. BUT I've heard so many great things about it that I'm really excited to get a copy and read it!

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  22. One is my favourite, and I'm expecting the other to become one soon!

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  23. I know right? But what's crazy is that I'm not worried about the hype (The way I was with The Dream Thieves and Divergent, which sadly kept me from really getting into the books). Maybe we'll end up seeing each other's reviews pretty soon :)



    So I'm pretty sure McKinley is queen of fairy tale retellings, and can't be beaten. But that is my very biased opinion haha! But I tend to like fairy tale retellings in general regardless of who's written them, so I'm hoping Cinder will join that list (Along with Shannon Hale, Gail Carson Levine, etc. Albeit a very different sort of story) And I couldn't recommend Tiger Lily more!

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  24. Oooh thanks for the tip! I'll have to wait for that for sure then :)

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  25. You will be happy to know I'm 3rd in line for Fangirl! So your plea has been granted :) And hopefully I'll get to the other two...although my schedule is looking packed until March which doesn't leave much time for reading :-/

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  26. Me too haha! I seriously haven't seen a single review that doesn't say how fantastic both books are! I mean not even a "well this was pretty good, but just ok" sort of review. So I'm glad you're only affirming the notion that I really, really, super need to get to these books!

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  27. I honestly can't even count how many people have told me to read it hahaha. If I wasn't so contrary about things I would have just DONE it already! I think books that people super love kind of scare me - like The Book Thief which I FINALLY read after 8 years!


    Yergh an ice storm?! I'm so glad I'm on the west coast right now! At home it's been like below zero, and here it's going to be 80F tomorrow! So fantastic. I'm ok without a white Christmas haha

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  28. There are so many of these that I really want to read! I have read Anna however and really liked it. :-) I had no idea that Robin McKinley had a new book out - I shall have to go stalk it on goodreads next! I keep thinking about buying Tiger Lilly (I keep seeing wonderful reviews of it, like yours) but I'm afraid it will make me too sad, I'm a bit of a softie! :-)

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  29. Jasmine @ Flip That PageJuly 23, 2014 at 12:28 AM

    Oh I love your picks! I can't believe I forgot to add Fangirl to my picks because it is definitely something I'd like to read! Anna and The French Kiss was an amazing read-- do try it out sometime!! And I wish I had Cinder too D:

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