top ten tuesday

Ten Books I Read at the Beach [Top Ten Tuesday]

Michelle12 Comments

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday is Top Ten Books That Should Be In A Beach Bag. I don’t actually differentiate between beach reads and non beach reads. If I go to the beach, I bring whatever book I happen to be reading. And I probably plan last minute beach trips more than most of you and long beach vacations less than most of you because I live so close to the beach. So I don’t plan for beach reads. To prove my point, these are Ten Books I Read at the Beach:

  • We Have Always Lived in the Castle
  • The Handmaid’s Tale
  • Matched
  • The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott
  • East of Eden
  • The Postmistress (Read the entire thing during a LONG day at the beach camping at Cayo Costa)
  • Persuasion
  • The Glass Castle
  • The Bell Jar (Clearly the BEST beach book ever)
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Yes, the first time through. Couldn’t pass up a beach day with friends just because it was the day after the release).

What about you? Do you have beach-specific books? Or do you just grab whatever book you are reading like me?

Top Ten Tuesday is a bookish meme hosted by the lovely ladies of The Broke and the Bookish.

Top Ten Books I Just HAD to Buy…But Are Still Sitting on My Bookshelf [Top Ten Tuesday]

Michelle20 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday

I am excited to participate in Top Ten Tuesday for the very first time. I always love reading these posts and this week’s topic – Top Ten Books I Just HAD to Buy…But Are Still Sitting on My Bookshelf – is too good to pass up.

1. The Passage

The Passage

The excitement I felt at coming across Justin Cronin and The Passage at BEA when it was NOT on the schedule was overpowered by my summer reading slump and temporary fear of chunksters.

2. Shanghai Girls

Shanghai Girls

When the paperback came out a year ago, I think I specifically went to the bookstore to buy it. Because I love Lisa See. But I never seem to get to her books in a timely manner.

3. The Handmaid’s Tale

The Handmaid's Tale

Sigh. I have had this book for at least 4 years. And I’ve wanted to read it longer. Someone make me. Soon.

4. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

I’ve owned this since I finished Everything is Illuminated. Recently, a few bloggers have finally read it and enjoyed it. I must join them.

5. Unaccustomed Earth

Unaccustomed Earth

I cannot express my love enough for The Interpreter of Maladies and The Namesake. Why haven’t I picked this up yet?

6. The Art of Racing in the Rain

I was SO EXCITED for this book for about a month. Then I kind of forgot about it. Funny how that happens.

7. Her Fearful Symmetry

Fearful Symmetry

I think the mixed reviews made me hesitate. But I still very much want to read it.

8. Jane Austen’s Letters

Jane Austen's Letters

This was one of the many things I picked up during the Jane Austen obsession of 2007. And also one of the many things I never read.

9. The first book in about a trillion YA series (like Uglies, The Luxe, Vampire Academy, The Knife of Never Letting Go, The Forest of Hands and Teeth)

Uglies

So many YA series. So few hours in the day.

10. All of the nonfiction books sitting unread on my shelf that look really interesting but I never feel like reading (The Audacity to Win, Jane Austen: A Life, The Code Book, Flow, and Supreme Conflict to name a few)

The Audicty to Win

I want to learn. But I also prefer fiction. Herein lies the problem.

This post is just the tip of the iceberg. I have SO MANY books I need to read. What are some of your top I-needed-it-but-never-read-it books?