Skip to main content

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Great Books that Friends Recommended to Me

I absolutely love getting recommendations from people who know what I like in a book. Getting a good recommendation is, more often than not, getting a book you're guaranteed to like. And I have great friends who give me amazing recommendations. Here are ten of my favorites!

GRACELING by Kristin Cashore (Graceling #1): I'd definitely heard of this book before Sky @ Sky's Reading Corner recommended it to me, but it had been on my list for so long that I was starting to wonder whether I'd ever get around to it. But she kept talking about how amazing it was, and then she got me a copy for my birthday, so I had no excuses. And I LOVED it! I can't believe I almost missed out on it!

THE KITE RUNNER by Khaled Hosseini: Another recommendation from Sky. (This time, she bribed me with fries so that I'd read it in one sitting. Long story.) I'd never really read anything like this, so I wasn't sure whether I would like it, but it was so beautifully crafted that it took my breath away.

ALANNA: THE FIRST ADVENTURE by Tamora Pierce (Song of the Lioness #1): Yet another recommendation from Sky! Though I have to also give credit to Avery @ The Pages are Bookining, who's been telling me to read Tamora Pierce for as long as I can remember. I probably would have liked this more if I'd read it in middle school, but it was still such a fun book.
HAWKEYE, VOL. 1: MY LIFE AS A WEAPON by Matt Fraction: I definitely owe Avery for this one - not only did this introduce me to how wonderful Hawkeye is, it got me absolutely hooked on comics! If I hadn't read this, I probably wouldn't have read Ms. Marvel, or the Star Wars comics, or Captain Marvel, and I can't even imagine that.
 HURT GO HAPPY by Ginny Rorby: Yet another book from Avery! This is so underrated - it's a beautiful story, it made me feel so many things, and it has a chimpanzee. What's not to like?

THE FRIDAY SOCIETY by Adrienne Kress: And now we've moved on to recommendations from people who don't have book blogs. I actually need to reread this one - I can't believe it's been almost four years since I first read it! As for why it's so great, I'll let the book speak for itself: "An action-packed tale of gowns, guys, guns - and the heroines who use them all."

THE MARTIAN by Andy Weir: I'd heard a lot about this book before it was recommended to me, but I was pretty sure that I wasn't going to read it. Frankly, I find space terrifying, and the idea of being stranded on Mars didn't sound like it would make for a fun book. But then I actually read it, and it wasn't just fun - it was actually funny. Definitely not what I was expecting!

THE PRINCESS BRIDE by William Goldman: I watched this movie before I even knew it was a book. Personally, I think this is one of the few cases where the movie is actually better than the book - but I loved the book, too. It took me a long time to read it, but I'm so glad I did.

LEVIATHAN by Scott Westerfeld (Leviathan #1): Here's another series that I need to reread. It's such a fascinating concept - World War One, but with machines versus animals. It doesn't hurt that both of the main characters (but especially Deryn) are amazing.

BLOODY JACK by L.A. Meyer (Bloody Jack #1): I'll be the first to admit that I have very mixed feelings about this series as a whole - it gets repetitive, the later books just aren't that interesting, and yet the first books are so great! I can't remember why this was recommended to me, but I'm so glad it was.

What are some books you've read because of recommendations? Have any recommendations led you to new favorites? What about recommendations that you haven't liked? Tell me in the comments!

Comments

  1. Recommendations...recommendations EVERYWHERE!I'll never be able to keep up. *cries* It's always great to have a friend's rec before reading, though. Personally, I really like the look of The Friday Society and of course The Princess Bride and Alanna are high on my list. Ever grows the TBR!

    Elisabeth @ Inkspelled Faery

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm always so behind on books that people have recommended to me! And on reading in general, actually. I love The Friday Society - it's so underrated!

      Delete
  2. How are those steam punk novels? they seem very action packed and I've seen those covers around!
    Please check out our TTT

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I loved both The Friday Society and the Leviathan series! I think that The Friday Society had stronger characters, but that the plot of the Leviathan series was absolutely fascinating - and each book was better than the last one!

      Delete
    2. More to add to my ever growing tbr pile! :D

      Delete
  3. I totally agree about The Martian! It's terrifying to imagine being in his situation and I was really surprised by the humor,too. I really enjoyed the book and I am glad to hear that you liked it as well!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Martian was definitely a good surprise! I'm not in a rush to read more books like it or anything, but I'm glad I went out of my comfort zone a little bit.

      Delete
  4. I'm still kind of ashamed I haven't read The Princess Bride since I've watched the movie COUNTLESS TIMES AND IT IS PURE WONDERFULNESS.😂 And also I want to read the Martian because I've heard it's so funny!! And I love funny books. ;D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The book is so good! I don't think it's QUITE as good as the movie, but then again, is anything?? And The Martian is definitely funny!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Most Anticipated Reads: First Half of 2017

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature at The Broke a nd the Bookish . This week's theme : most an ti cipated reads for the first half of 2017. Wow, it's been ages since I've done a most anticipated list! In case you were wondering, my excitement for upcoming books is a s high as ever. It was so hard narrowing this list down to just ten, but I think I figured out the ten books that I'm most excited for in the first half of next year! I have a good mix of sequels and standalones (but onl y one debut, so there won't b e a lo t of overlap wi th the de buts TTT in a few weeks). Here are some of the books that I just can't contain my excitement about : OUR OWN PRIVATE UNIVERSE by Robin Talley - January 31: I love Robin Talley, and this book sounds like it's going to be so good! And it's going to have so much intersectionality! And the colors on that cover are just so aesthetically pleasing. DREAMLAND BURNING by Jennifer Latham - February

Ten Books I Need More People to Love

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature at The Broke and Bookish. This week's theme: Top Ten Underrated/Hidden Gem Books You've Read in the Past Year or So. One of my favorite things to do is get other people to read books I love. That way, I can discuss the boo ks with them, and if I know their tastes well enough, I know I'm givin g them something that they'll love! Unfortunately, I can't do this with the entire world. And that means that there are books that I've really enjoyed t hat just aren't widely loved. Why ? I don't know. And that's why I spend so much time trying to get other people to read them. Here are ten books I've read some what recently that I think really deserve some m ore lo ve. IRON CAST by Destiny Soria: I'll never get tired of diverse books, I 'll never get tired of historical fiction, and I'll never get tired of positive female friendships. When you pu t those all together, they ma ke a book tha

My Top Ten Books of 2016

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly f eature at The Broke and the Bookish . This week's theme: top ten books of 2016. A little less than a year ago, I started my blog by making a post of my top 10 favorite books of 2015 . And now here we are again! I've come so far in blogging , and it 's really amazing to be creating the same kind of post as my fi rst one again - but I'l l save the nostalgia for my blogo versary post later this week. Last year, all of the books on my list were also on my all-time favorites list. I didn't quite read ten all-time favorites this year, so I added a couple of five-star but not-quite-favorite books to this post. I also didn't include any rereads on this list - I reread quite a few favorite books this year, and that wouldn't be fair to the rest! But anyway, here are my ten favorite books that I read in 2016. 10. THUD! by Terry Pratchett (Discworld #34) I don't think it would really be a list of my favorite books from a ye