Top Ten "Modern" Books People Tell Me I MUST Read (60)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

I say "modern" because if I listed the number of classics everyone always tells me I need to read we'd be here forever. But I'm bad at reading classics so I think I should go with books I'll maybe actually read if you guys get excited enough about them in the comments.

Ten (Or Eleven) Authors Whose Books I Buy Compulsively (58)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

I have a serious book buying problem. Like, when I get birthday money, my dad asks: "How many books do you think you can buy with that?" I brush him off, but the truth is? I'm crunching the numbers even before he asks. So it's no shock that I have many books and, more specifically, many books by my favorite authors.

PLEASE NOTE: I have not read all books pictured below. There are a few instances of good reading behavior from me, but definitely not for each and every picture. Which basically means I'm a hoarder. And please try not to judge me for my Rainbow Rowell collection. (I KNOW, OKAY? I KNOW.)

So let's do this thing.

Top Ten Books I Had to Buy But Haven't Read Yet (15)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

I am so entirely guilty of buying books, putting them on my shelves and then never getting to them. I know some people have rules: "I only let myself buy one book a week" or "I can only buy one new book when I finish three I already have" and all I have to say is: YOU GUYS ARE STRONG. I will say that I've gotten much better at not buying as many, but I still have a fairly large stack of books I haven't read yet sitting on my shelves.

However, the REAL problem with me writing this post isn't that I don't have 10 books I own that I just haven't gotten to yet. It's that I'm not AT home. So basically this whole post is going to be done from memory. I mean, I do have A WHOLE BUNCH of books here with me I haven't gotten to yet, but I think I'm going to try and make this a list of books I've had for A LONG TIME. Like since before I started blogging long. Just because they deserve the most attention, y'know?

1. Insurgent by Veronica Roth

I picked this one up basically right after finishing Divergent, probably right around it's release date, but I think at this point I may just wait until the 3rd one comes out since everyone's all: OMGNEEDTHENEXTONENOW. I did enjoy Divergent, though, and I do want to read the rest of the series. SO I WILL.

2. The Scorch Trials and The Death Cure by James Dashner

I read The Maze Runner a REALLY LONG TIME AGO and I liked it. So I bought the second one and never got to it. And then I bought the third one because I like complete series and I liked The Maze Runner so I thought it would be a good idea. I haven't gotten to either book in the rest of the series yet. So I'll probably have to re-read The Maze Runner, then read the other two and figure out where I stand now, many years after first reading The Maze Runner (I'm pretty sure I read said book a couple of months after it came out in 2009? My book opinions change over the years, so we'll see).

3. The Dragon Heir by Cinda Williams Chima

This is another series I've neglected. I really loved the first two (when I read them back in high school) and I bought the third with good intentions but obviously the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray (sometimes I try to be LITERARY). Anyway, this series has magic and swords and stuff, which I very much enjoy, so YAY.

4. Faerie Lord by Herbie Brennan

I don't know if you guys have heard of this series. It's a bit older. I think it's technically Urban Fantasy, which I don't normally love, but but I do have very fond memories of reading first one (Faerie Lord is the fourth in the series) way back in the day, so I think I'll have go back and do a re-read of the whole series.

5. Trickster's Queen by Tamora Pierce

YOU GUYS KNOW I LOVE TAMORA PIERCE, RIGHT? The first 3 quartets (Alanna, Daine and Kel) are my FAVORITES EVER. But then there came the Trickster Duology and I only read the first one (Trickster's Choice). I have the second one. I just need to read it (and the first one again to refresh my memory, of course). Also, from this you can probably guess I haven't read the Beka Cooper Trilogy. I have never been more ashamed of myself ever. 

6. The Diviners by Libba Bray

So I didn't buy this book until after I started blogging (maybe within the first two weeks) but I think about it, just sitting there on my shelf, every now and again. This is MOSTLY because it's got a lot of my big buzzwords in the summary (magic, 1920s, New York...). So I put it on the list to force myself to read it when I get home.

7. God Save the Queen by Kate Locke

I picked this one up this past summer because I love Steampunk. The second one in the series has since come out but I haven't read the first one yet. I guess the second one coming out is kind of incentive to read the first, considering I won't have to wait for the next installment....

8. The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan

DEAR PERCY JACKSON: I AM SORRY. I LOVE YOU. NEVER DOUBT THAT. 

But seriously? On my iCal, the day this book came out is called "Percy Jackson Day". Only, school got in the way and I never found the time to read past the Percabeth reunion (because, let's face it, I obviously had to read at least that far). The lovely Jennifer has lent me her e-copy of the book, though, so I WILL READ IT (*am excited*).

9. Horizon by Sophie Littlefield

I read the first two books in the Aftertime series but I haven't gotten to Horizon yet. It's SITTING ON MY SHELF, I just need to pick it up. But sometimes, because I run a YA blog, I tend to ignore the Adult books since I likely won't review them on the blog. That's not really an excuse though, because I started this series this past summer (before I started blogging). So basically I'm just the worst.

10. Tithe by Holly Black

I bought this one a REALLY, REALLY long time ago but I never read it. I don't know why. But everyone loves Holly Black SO MUCH so I figure I should stop ignoring this book of hers since I already happen to own it.

There are SOSOSO many other books on my shelves I've been neglecting, but these are the ones I feel like I NEED TO GET TO as soon as I get home and have access to them. Although, I'll be reading a lot more than 10 books because, as mentioned, a lot of these are series I'll probably have to re-read. And I think I'm doing a mass Tamora Pierce re-read this summer anyway (with some other lovelies - keep an eye out for that). So basically this Top Ten Tuesday topic opened a Pandora's Box of reading and nostalgia, which will likely lead to me being anti-social until the end of time. But my friends are used to this kind of behavior, so it should be okay.

Now tell me: What's on YOUR list? Do you have a lot of oldies-but-goodies whose next-in-series snuck past you like I do? Or is your list full of recent releases? Let me know in the comments below!

Top Ten Authors On My Auto-Buy List (12)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

There are SO MANY authors I would put on my auto-buy list. Mostly because there is so much awesome out there and I apparently ENJOY being broke (no, not really, I just like books more than I like money, I guess). But here are my Top Ten. I feel like a lot of mine will be on a lot of your lists.

1. Sarah Dessen
ALWAYS Sarah Dessen. She is a contemporary genius. It's like she helped invent the feels. Or the word squee. Or both. I just can't imagine not pre-ordering something she wrote.

2. John Green
John Green is a genius I haven't known about for nearly long enough. Not only do I love the stories he tells, I love HOW he tells them. Not to mention, every time I read one of his books, my fangirling gets more and more serious because I realize JUST HOW CLEVER this man is.

3. Tamora Pierce
Tamora Pierce has been on my auto-buy list since I was a tiny, itty bitty reader. The worlds she crafts are just so magical and I want to soak up EVERY BIT of it in hopes that one day I'll find myself in those worlds. But until then: EVERY SINGLE BOOK WRITTEN BY THE GODDESS SHOULD BE MINE.

4. Gayle Forman
Gayle Forman is another author who probably helped invent THE FEELS. She's so awesome-pants I'm not even sure we're all worthy to read the words she puts on the page. She just knows how to tell a story, y'know?

5. Tahereh Mafi

I feel like there are a lot of authors who helped invent the feels. Add Tahereh Mafi to the list. I fall to pieces again and again with every word. I can't BELIEVE I waited so long to read her books, but I know I'm hooked now, to be sure, and will be buying everything she writes ever from now until the end of time.

6. Philip Pullman

I don't even know if Philip Pullman writes all that much anymore - a least not YA, but I DO know the man HONEST TO GOD knows how to weave an amazing tale. So I'll pretty much overlook any bizarre, angry undertones found in his work just for that.

7. Maggie Stiefvater
On more than once occasion I’ve noted that she could write about feet and I would still buy that book. And I meant it. Not to mention Maggie Stiefvater is entirely adorable, which makes me just LOVE HER EVEN MORE.

8. Rick Riordan
Honesty time: For the release date of the latest Percy Jackson book, I put an all-day event in my calendar entitled: PERCY JACKSON DAY. I regret nothing. But really, I just love what Rick Riordan does with mythology and I kind of hope he starts up another series about a different mythology group. Norse, this time? How many different mythologies are there? I don't even know, but I want this author to write a series about each one I can HAVE THEM.

9. Markus Zusak
I read The Book Thief and proceeded to buy everything else he’s written. Markus Zusak's writing style is SO DIFFERENT and so very heart breaking that I can't imagine my life without his books.

10. J.K. Rowling
But only if it’s YA. I took The Casual Vacancy out of the library a couple of months ago because I really wasn’t sure how I would like J.K. Rowling’s foray into adult fiction and, I’m not going to lie, I haven’t yet finished the book. But if she ever puts out another YA book, I assure you I’ll be buying it. And so will all of you, probably. And then we'll all freak out over it together. So I'm EXCITED.

HOW CUTE IS THIS MAN?

So that's the list. I know, I know, so many obvious choices, but it's the TRUTH and I would never lie to you guys! Now tell me, who do we have in common and what are your other choices?