Tuesday 3 May 2011

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books That Came Recommended



Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish which I am taking part in. 


Magician by Raymond E. Feist
This book has actually been in several of my lists for various different reasons, but it gets into this list because it properly introduced me to the wider world of Epic Fantasy Fiction. Prior to this, I was limited to various "classic" Epic Fantasy such as Lord of the Rings, I basically stuck to what I knew. Once a friend mentioned this to me and even loaned me the book, I began to expand into trying out lots of other Epic Fantasy authors.

Harry Potter & The Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling
I kept on refusing to read this as it was a "Kids" book, in the end though my father read it and his recommendation was enough. This book made me realise that various books aimed at YA/Kids could actually still be fun and entertaining to an adult.

Mort by Terry Pratchett
I was very basic in my early reading days and only read Christopher Pike. That man had so many novels out that I never saw the reason to pick up anything else. However, a friend at school was always raving on about a book called Mort and I finally asked my parents to pick me up a book by someone different from Christopher Pike. Now after reading nearly every Terry Pratchett story in existence, I have to thank that school friend for introducing me to the world of Terry Pratchett.

Northern Lights by Philip Pullman
A book that I thought was just a basic YA Fantasy book was recommended to me by my sister and I was shocked at the enjoyment I got as the story evolved throughout the trilogy into so much more.

Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
Prior to my father recommending this to me as a teenager my Sci-Fi experience was limited to various Movies, TV shows and a couple of Sci-Fi related Christopher Pike books. I had never opened the door to Sci-Fi literature prior to this book. After this hugely enjoyable adventure I was hooked for life.

Gone by Michael Grant
Another YA recommendation from my sister and something else I am now hooked on, I have been sitting waiting for each new release with baited breath.

Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy
The first ever adult Thriller novel I read and another departure from my usual reading preferences. This story about a Soviet invasion into Western Europe is superb, although I still think the ending sucked.

Sahara by Clive Cussler
To be honest I thought it sounded to me like a cheap Indiana Jones so I pretty much only read after much pestering when I ran out of books to read one holiday. In the end this novel was much more than Indiana Jones and I now love to read about Dirk Pitt adventures.

Blood, Sweat & Tea by Tom Reynolds
This collection of Blog posts didn't really appeal to me, however, once I finally read it, I found it heart-warming, funny and at times just downright sad. It is probably this book that got me into writing my own blog.

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
I had seen the film and didn't see the point in reading the book, however, in the end I read it and found it to be so much "bigger" than the film. No more would I just watch movies and assume there was no point in reading the book.

12 comments:

  1. You appear to have missed off the Hardy Boys book. Which of your 10 will you replace it with?

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  2. @sunblade I am not happy about that recommendation though! I have a Biggles book now to read at some point, I hope it is better!

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  3. I don't know why I have such a hard time finding good books. Maybe because I am so picky?

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

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  4. I enjoyed the Red Mars series too. I've also wondered about going back and reading some of the 'movie' books like Jurassic Park. You make a good point about it being 'bigger' than the movie. It doesn't surprise me, books often are.

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  5. There are so many fantastic books on your list. I considered Magician, Northern Lights and Blood, Sweat + Tea for my list. Loved them all. I also loved Red Mars. I sadly didn't finish the trilogy. It was so long ago I think I will have to re-read the first two books before I move onto the third one.

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  6. Great choices! Feist, Pratchett, Rowling, Pullman are all great authors! And I love those series. I actually haven't read Red Storm Rising, but I've heard I should... kinda don't want to if the ending is going to make me mad! :)

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  7. Hello there, I don't run into many men book bloggers, so I'm honored to visit your site. This is the first site i visit so far and there is not a repeat of a book. NICE!! i think i see three i may look into. Happy Reading 2 U

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  8. Ooh, some really good ones. Jurassic Park is fabulous.

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

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  9. I've currently got Mort on hold from the library. I'm hope in can redeem the Discworld series for me... I'm also a huge Dirk Pitt Fan!

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  10. Hurrah for finding Terry Pratchett! I nearly put Blodd, Sweat & Tea on my list but then I remembered it was a random find and I've been the one recommending it to everyone!

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  11. I loved JURASSIC PARK, book and film. It was my introduction of Crichton's work. I did read the sequel, LOST WORLD and enjoyed that much more than the film and also TIMELINE, which again, I enjoyed much more than the film.

    Someone else recently recommended MORT to me, I must remember to pick it up. :)

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  12. Good to see all the various comments, if any of you read some of these books now and enjoy them then I feel like I have accomplished something.

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