This week's Top Ten Tuesday is dedicated to the Top Ten Most Intimidating Books--reads that overwhelm us in their size, content, and smartness! Sometimes books with lots of accolades can be intimidating, don't you think? And anything with a billion pages can give us library-due-date anxiety, which is never fun. Which of these books should are we missing out on with silly fears? Help us tackle this list! As always cheers to The Broke and the Bookish for hosting TTT! :-)Crazy Camper:
- Anything by Philippa Gregory- The Tudor Court series and the Cousins War series. People LOVE these, but I don't really like historical fiction, so I am nervous.
- I am the Messenger by Markus Zuzak. I cried so hard at The Book Thief, I dont know if I am ready for this.
- A Confederacy of Dunces- I even bought this, which is totally unheard of in my life, but MAN, I cannot get past page 1.
- Shadows of Night, the sequel to Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness- This is 600 pages in 1600th Century Europe, my junior year high school self who took Modern European History is worried she wont be able to follow the story of the Protestants, Catholics, French, English, Vampires, Witches, Dameaons....
Grad Student:- Froi of the Exiles and Quintana of Charyn by Melina Marchetta. I liked Finnikin of the Rock, but these are SERIOUS fantasy books, and like all serious fantasy, take a lot of time (and pages) with world building. I took Froi out of the library, but just didn't feel like I had the time/focus to get involved. Someday I will!
- American Gods by Neil Gaiman. This is so well received I am afraid I will be disappointed if I don't like it. Thus I have avoided it. It sounds silly, but I hate to dislike books by authors I love and sometimes it makes me gun-shy.
I agree that Philippa Gregory is totally intimidating. I recently decided that I need to read everything she wrote, and even though I really want to read the books, once I get them home from the library they sit for awhile. I find just opening them daunting - strange, since every one of her books that I've read has been totally engrossing from page one. When I finally steel myself to crack one open, I'd better not have anything scheduled for the rest of the day!
ReplyDeleteI haven't read anything by Philippa Gregory for that very reason! I just... don't know if I'd love them the same way others do. I'm kind of hesitant about serious historical fiction. Historical romance? I'm down for that, but anything else is just TOO much for me!
ReplyDeleteI Am the Messenger is great, but probably won't make you sob like The Book Thief. Zusak is a skilled writer, but even there, The Book Thief is special. I read part of American Gods--well, listened... loved the story, but hated the narrator, so I never finished.
ReplyDeleteAnd I hate when books are so intimidating! I own so many books that I'm afraid to read. And being afraid to read makes me feel silly.
Discovery of Witches is really good :) it took me a little while to read but it was definitely worth it!
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I'm very intimidated by Froi of the Exiles and Quintana of Charyn - loved FINNIKIN, but for some reason, I just can't bring myself to start those two!
ReplyDeleteGreat top ten :)
There are authors who are really great in making the reader feel the real plot of the stories. I have this book entitled Discovery of Witches. At first, I was so hesitant to read it through and through because of its reputation. But I tell you, when I finished reading it, I would say that you have to live with your fear in exchange of a wonderful experience with this book.
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