Top 10 Tuesday: Ten Best Books So Far

This week’s Top 10 Tuesday from The Broke and the Bookish is the Top 10 Best Books So Far. Halfway through the year, already — wow. These, in an effort not to play favorites, are not in any kind of order.

We Were Liars by e. Lockhart. Finished this one on Monday night — stayed up to do so — and turned around and gave it to a student this morning. It was great. I can see how the twist would throw people. I think I was thinking about it more than I was immersing myself in the story, pulling from what I know about similar books in the genre, so my prediction was pretty close to on the money. Doesn’t take away from its awesomeness, and I’m excited to recommend it to more mystery/suspense readers in the fall.


The Martian by Andy Weir. Read this one because I heard about it on the Book Riot podcast, the it came up in a 3 for 2 sale on Audible. I am convinced that I wouldn’t have enjoyed this one as much had I not done it as an audiobook. So good that I stopped listening to my podcasts for a week so I could finish it.


Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor. I didn’t know this was the last in the series. Argh! Great ending to a great series. It didn’t shy away from the effects of war on both soldiers and civilians. I can’t imagine a better introduction to angels vs demons stories than these.

Saga (Vols. 1-3) by Brian K. Vaughn. So my friend Allyn was talking about Saga. After downloading a sample and reading the first few panels, I was hooked. Had to buy the next two volumes too. Somewhere in there The Professor read them too. Had to go to Hastings to get issue 19 (which they didn’t have) but I met a nice girl who is going to put issue 19 and 20 aside for me when It comes out on the 15th. I even wrote a post about what I think/wish/hope will happen in our house once we have kids.


Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adachie. Read this one with Allyn. Less a love story and more social commentary for people who aren’t of color. Here’s our discussion.


Wool by Hugh Howie. Recommended to me by the same person who recommended Ready Player One. This one is a dystopian wherein everyone lives in a silo after the destruction of the planet, essentially. People are punished by being sent to the Cleaning — out of the silo to clean the cameras so that people can see what the world looks like. Of course, since it’s dystopian, something nefarious has to be going on…


The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken. Another dystopian. I can’t remember where I got this one, possibly the Scholastic Book Fair at school because someone was talking about it. Apparently I’m good at taking suggestions sometimes.  This one is about teenagers with powers. I’m a sucker for books about teenagers with powers. Maybe because I wanted powers when I was a teenager.

Who am I kidding? I still want powers.


UnSouled (Unwind Dystology #3) by Neal Shusterman. More on the questions about what it means to be alive and what motivates us to do the things we do. Riddle me this: did Frankenstein’s monster have a soul?

Hollow City (Miss Peregrine #2) by Ransom Riggs. More kids with powers. I actually liked this one better than the first one. The first felt a little X-Men meets time loop to me and I wasn’t really engaged, though I thought the integration of the original pictures was cool. And maybe that’s what I like so much about this series. David Levithan did the whole picture integration thing with Every You, Every Me and it didn’t feel near as seamless as this did.


How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell (read by David Tennant). My friend Dawn mentioned to me one day that How to Train Your Dragon was read by Tennant, my favorite Doctor, which sealed the deal for me on this one. So I will be perfectly honest in saying that part of my love for this story has to do with David Tennant as the narrator, and I will probably listen to more just for that.

What are some of the best books you’ve read so far this year?

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

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5 thoughts on “Top 10 Tuesday: Ten Best Books So Far

  1. Laini Taylor’s writing is so completely gorgeous! I’m hoping she really does write other novels in the universe because I am absolutely not ready to leave her world. I was pretty skeptical with the whole angels things, but she just dealt with everything in really kind of a perfect way for my sort of taste. Sadly I have no other recommendations for you as it was also a first for me haha. But I’ve heard Angelfall by Susan Ee is amazing from people I trust, so there’s that maybe?

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    1. I totally agree about Taylor’s writing. I was sucked into the world before I got a chance to realize I had been. I do know there’s a short piece featuring Zusana and Mik… The cover is purplish and has something to do with cake (which is not a lie, for once — sorry. Couldn’t let cake go without a Portal reference). Thanks for the recommendation. Library, ho!

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  2. I completely agree with you about The Marian! I really do think it wouldn’t have been as good without the audio. That’s not gonna stop me from buying it for my bookshelf though :P.

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  3. I completely agree with you about The Martian! I don’t think it would have been as good if it wasn’t fort the audio. Still not gonna stop me from buying a physical copy for my shelves though :P.

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  4. How to Train Your Dragon was so much fun read by Tennant. His Scottish lilt was just swoonworthy, despite the content.

    I keep being told to read Wool. I have it in my pile. Same with The Darkest Minds and Saga.

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