Monday, May 2, 2011

Books I'm So Happy Were Recommended To Me


This week's Top Ten meme from The Broke and the Bookish asks us to feature the books you probably wouldn't have picked up without a good recommendation.

A Family of Readers: The Book Lover's Guide to Children's and Young Adult Literature by Roger Sutton- Janssen at Everyday Reading reviewed this on her blog, and I am so glad she did. It's an amazing resource for any parent who loves to read and wants to pass that love onto their child.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart- Another recommendation from Janssen. Love, love, love this book.

White Like Me: Reflections on Race From a Privileged Son by Tim Wise- This book was briefly mention on a post by Kristen at Rage Against the Minivan. The title sounded familiar, so I did some digging and I had read an excerpt from the book in a gender studies class in college. It's a hard, but important read.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak- My county and the library systems in it did a "One Book, One County" program for a little while. This was the book in 2008. This is one of my favorite books and he is one of my favorite authors even though I've only read two of his books.

Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison- I first heard about these books from a fellow English major, Heather. These books are so funny (at least 1-4 and then the last one).

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry- In 2009, I decided to make a list of 100 books to read that year. When I asked for recommendations on Facebook, Danielle mentioned this one. Out of all my other choices, this is the only I for sure would not have ever read. I hadn't ever heard of it, for one, and then when I went to get it at the library it was huge (over 600 pages). So glad I stuck with it.

The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt- I'm in a small book club where we take turns picking the book. One month, one of the women chose this book. It's another big one. I've had another book by that author (Possession) on my to-read list for a long time, so I was intrigued. I liked it. The reading almost was like things I read in my literary history classes. I'm glad she chose it, but I don't know if I would recommend it. Out of four women, I was the only one that finished it and liked it.

I Am Not A Serial Killer by Dan Wells- Heather also recommended this one. It popped up on her Goodreads profile with this short review: "This could be the best book I've read this year and in a long time." Of course I had to read it.

The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth by Henci Goer- This one has nothing to do with regular book blogging, but it's still a book I am extremely glad was recommended to me. A friend who is a doula told me to read it, and then my midwife did too. Such a good book for pregnant women that want to be informed about birth.

22 comments:

  1. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks was such an awesome read! Glad it was recommended to you :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love Frankie Landau-Banks, too. I think I read it because it was a Printz Honor book, though. I also have Book Thief on my list.

    ReplyDelete
  3. "I Am Not a Serial Killer" certainly has an eye-catching title!

    ReplyDelete
  4. The Book Thief is on my list too! And Frankie got an honorable mention from me. LOVED that book! :) I'll have to check out a few of these other titles!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great list, I have The Book Thief on mine as well. I am sure it make a few lists, it is a great book.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Just the title 'I am not a serial killer' has me intrigued and wanting to read it! I'll have to search it out

    ReplyDelete
  7. the Book Thief and The Children's Book are two of my favourite books. loved them both. A friend recommended A Fine Balance to me too although I still have it sitting on my tbr pile.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank you for listing A Family of Readers. Sounds like a book I'd love. I'm off to add it to my wishlist!

    Here's my gratitude list: Top Ten Books I'm Happy Were Recommended to Me. I hope you will stop by!

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a great list! I'm a new follower. I think I'm going to have to include this meme in my next top ten books that have been recommended to me. My TBR is going to grow exponentially today.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I need to read White Like Me- we watched a Tim Wise video in my grad school diversity class. Very interesting.

    Great list!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I tried reading A Fine Balance but couldn't get into it. I still have it on my shelf, though, so maybe I should give it another chance. I've seen it on quite a few lists here today.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love your list (I love the Book Thief). I've seen "I Am Not a Seriel Killer" around too. I'll have to read it. Kaye—the road goes ever ever on

    ReplyDelete
  13. Great List! The Book Thief, Angus, and A Fine Balance are some of my favorite books.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I loved The Book Thief. Someone recommended it to me a while ago and I devoured it and two sittings.

    ReplyDelete
  15. A Fine Balance is certainly one I wouldn't have picked up had it not been for a friend lending it to me. I was a bit overwhelmed at the size of it too, but like you was pleased I stuck it out to the end. As for The Book Thief - one of my all time favourites!!!

    ReplyDelete
  16. I'm dying to read The Children's Book. Good list.

    Here's mine:
    http://carabosseslibrary.blogspot.com/2011/05/top-ten-tuesday.html

    ReplyDelete
  17. An excellent list with a lot of variety. Tim Wise is someone whose career I've been following. Speaking Treason Fluently is a title I've been meaning to get to....

    ReplyDelete
  18. Good variety in your list. I just recently heard about Frankie Landau-Banks and I'd like to check it out.

    Check out my list here

    ReplyDelete
  19. I have only heard of a few books on your list! How crazy. New Follower here!

    Stacy @
    http://www.demureconnoisseur.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  20. Thanks Megan! I'm so glad you loved "A Fine Balance" like I did. I'm so happy to be a new follower of this blog!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Dude I LOVED The Disreputable History and Angus, Thongs, etc. SUCH great books. Janssen always has the best recommendations.

    Thanks for sharing your blog with me!!

    Kayla
    Freckles in April

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anyone who loves Frankie has good taste :)

    ReplyDelete