Tuesday, November 17, 2020

Top 5 Tuesday - Top 5... Books I'm Glad I Read



Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme that explores different topics. Originally created by Shanah at Bionic Book Worm, it is now hosted by Meeghan at Meeghan Reads. For a list of November topics you can click here. To participate, link your post back to Meeghan's blog or leave a comment on her weekly post.

In some ways I expect this will be easy. I've been reading forever, so there are lots to choose from. But, then, how can I narrow this down to just five? Here are my picks for Top 5... Books I'm Glad I Read


I was a hold out on the Harry Potter series. Just like I haven't read the Twilight series, I just don't like reading wildly popular books. Maybe I'm afraid they won't live up to my expectations. Maybe I am too impatient to invest time in a series just to have to wait for each new book to come out. 

I finally took the plunge in 2015 and discovered what the big deal is about. I read through the rest of the series that year. 



Saffron Dreams was unlike any book I had read up until that point. It features a Muslim couple in New York City happily living their lives until the day after the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11. It provides a different perspective on how the world was changed after that day. It tells one woman's difficult journey to pick up the pieces of her shattered life in a country that has suddenly put her and an entire race under a microscope in order to make sense of a monumental tragedy.



Reading The Kensei was an accomplishment for me. I'm not much of a vampire story kind of person. This story, however, is a bit different because it takes place in Japan and has a character who is a former KGB assassin. It is fast-paced, which I love, and has tons of action and some witty banter. I also love those. 


If anyone told me I would like The Lunar Chronicles before I read Cinder and Scarlet, I would have laughed at them. I love historical fiction, not futuristic cyborgs. Cinder, the main character, drew me in right away, as did the plot of the first novel. I really need to catch up on this series. 


You really need to like reading if you're going to tackle a book that is over 1100 pages. What amazes me about The Stand is knowing I almost gave up on the book that remains my all-time favorite. Setting up all the characters and putting them in place, took time. Four hundred pages in, I really wasn't sure this was the book for me. Once I reached 600 pages, the pace picked up, the characters came together in two different places, and the storyline finally made sense. I breezed through it after that. 

I am not sure I would want to read it this year, considering it starts with a super flu that is accidentally released and kills off the majority of the population. A little too much like 2020 if you ask me. That said, I may need to read this again one day to see what my reaction is after being away from it for so long.

1 comment:

Meeghan reads said...

Firstly, it's always the easy sounding topics that are the hardest!!
Secondly, I'm so glad you stepped outside your comfort zone and read The Lunar Chronicles!! It's so sweet but empowering, and I LOVE Cinder and Scarlet. 💕
Great list!!