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 Best Bookish Memories (9)

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

Okay guys, I'm about to get real with you all: I've never been to a signing or waited in line for a book. I've waited in line to see a movie adaptation of a book at midnight (that'll be on the list, since it's still bookish enough for my standards) but never the actual book. I think I'm slightly more embarrassed by the first bit - the never having gone to an author signing. To be completely honest, before I started book blogging I was never so serious about going to signings and I only started blogging about two months ago. But also I'm all awkward-town when it comes to meeting authors/musicians/actors/what have you. More on why that is in a discussion post, mostly because the whole thing gets lengthy and I want to share my feels in depth at a later date.

Anyway, enough with the qualifiers and ON WITH MY POST, which is in chronological order, and as such, nicely organized. For once.

1. Getting my tweenage hands on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

I was 11 and in sleep-away camp for the summer. My parents preordered me a copy. They called me on Sunday (my calling day) and they told me my sister got hers the day before. I went to a Jewish camp, so Sunday was our Saturday mail day. I ran all the way back to my bunk and all of my friends were huddled around the Barnes & Noble box that had come for me. I don't know why that one, of all the Potter books I pre-ordered like that, was so special. Maybe because 15 other girls were just as excited about my acquisition as I was. Either way, it was great.

2. All Things Tamora Pierce

My Middle School librarian recommended Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce to me when I was 11 or so (as I've noted elsewhere on the blog). I'd mostly stuck to the basics in reading until that point - Potter, the Babysitter's Club, Nancy Drew - but this was my first shove into something a little different. It changed me forever in the best way possible.

3. My feels for the His Dark Materials Trilogy (and my respect for the teacher who assigned it)

I had this teacher in Middle School who was possibly the most supportive teacher I've ever had. He encouraged me to write (even though I wasn't that good) and read (no matter what anyone thought of me). Anyway, at some point, said teacher assigned the class to read The Golden Compass. We listened to the book in audiobook form (guys, it was brilliant), but of course I HAD TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED, so I read ahead and eventually finished the whole series before we finished The Golden Compass in class. I would go to my teacher after school and talk to him about it. He would chuckle and listen to me fangirl and ask me all the right questions. I'll never forget that series or that teacher.

4. My introduction to Sarah Dessen

In High School, I got all busy with trying to fit in, which somehow included nerding over comic books instead of YA books (don't ask, I have no answer). It wasn't a bad thing, but I kind of let books fall by the wayside. Until my friend Danna shoved This Lullaby in my face and said: "READ THIS." I did, I rediscovered the love and I regret NOTHING.

5. Finishing the Harry Potter series

Oh Potter. How you take over my blog. But really, I couldn't write this list without mentioning this. IT WAS THE END OF AN ERA. I wasn't the happiest with the last book, but still, the era. It ENDED.

6. Waiting on line to see The Hunger Games at Midnight

YEAH I DID. I didn't dress up though. A bunch of us bought tickets weeks and weeks in advance. And good thing we did because the ENTIRE MULTIPLEX was sold out. It was insanity times a million and I loved seeing all these college kids who'd read the book come out in droves. And yes, they were ALL college kids. I went to school in Boston.

7. Meeting Lauren DeStefano and Sophie Littlefield

Okay, I've never been to a signing, but I did intern at a literary agency this past summer and got to meet these two WONDERFUL authors. They were so sweet even and I hadn't read any of Lauren's books yet - imagine all the fangirling if I had!!! But really, the whole encounter truly enforced the idea that authors are people too, y'know?

8. Starting my blog

I feel like this one's kind of obvious, but this blog is one of my most favorite life accomplishments. It's something I did entirely for myself and I'm proud of it, even though I'm not sure most of my friends really get what I'm trying to do here. But my friends don't need to get it so much, because I've made all these awesome book blogging friends on Twitter and other places on the Interwebz and YOU GUYS GET ME, RIGHT?

9. Meeting Alexa

I've only ever met the one other book blogger and when I did, said one book blogger gave me BOOKS. We also ordered the same thing for lunch. The only bad part was that we only had an hour!

10. Staying up late with my newborn nephew, reading with him on top of me.

I'm a night owl by nature, so when my older sister had her baby just before I left for Londontown and I had nothing super important to do with my days, I would occasionally stay up late with the Little Lion Man. I'd settle him on my torso, facing forward, and we'd read together. One day, when he's older and can understand words, I'll tell him his first book was actually Fever by Lauren DeStefano and NOT Good Night Moon. Although that's for sure in his future as well, along with Where the Wild Things Are.

**BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!**
I didn't count this in my Top Ten because there's a REALLY LONG story behind these photos that I'm not going to get into here. But basically I went to Platform 9 and 3/4 on my first day in London with one of the mostly lovely girls I've ever had (and likely ever will have) the pleasure of knowing. To many more escapades, dear one!

I hope you guys enjoyed this glimpse into my bookish memory bank. Please be sure to leave me a link to your list of memories or just a short little story so I can hear how happy books have made YOU in the past! I do love all this sharing. ^_^