Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl. Each Tuesday is assigned a topic. This weeks topic: Books I Can’t Believe I’ve Never Read
This was a tough one for me because there are so many books I want or plan to read that I haven’t (there are hundreds on my TBR list) This list is a combination of modern books and classics.
Title: Lightlark
Author: Alex Aster
Published: August 23, 2022
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Series: Lightlark
Synopsis:
Welcome to the Centennial.
Every 100 years, the island of Lightlark appears to host the Centennial, a deadly game that only the rulers of six realms are invited to play. The invitation is a summons—a call to embrace victory and ruin, baubles and blood.
The Centennial offers the six rulers one final chance to break the curses that have plagued their realms for centuries. Each ruler has something to hide. Each realm’s curse is uniquely wicked. To destroy the curses, one ruler must die.
Isla Crown is the young ruler of Wildling—a realm of temptresses cursed to kill anyone they fall in love with. They are feared and despised, and are counting on Isla to end their suffering by succeeding at the Centennial.
To survive, Isla must lie, cheat, and betray…even as love complicates everything.
Filled with secrets, deception, romance, and twists worthy of the darkest thrillers, The Lightlark Sagais a must-read for fans of legendary fantasy writers Marie Lu, Marissa Meyer, and Leigh Bardugo.
So I’ve seen so many social media posts/reels talk about this book series. The synopsis sounds great. I finally bought the boxset of the first three books for the series last year during my birthday book haul, but the shrinkwrap still remains surrounding the books. So many books so little time.
Title: Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
Author: Anne Frank
Published: June 25, 1947
Genre: History
Synopsis:
Discovered in the attic where she spent the final years of her life, Anne Frank’s Diary has become a timeless classic; a powerful reminder of the horrors of war and a moving testament to the resilience of the human spirit.
In 1942, as the Nazis occupied Holland, thirteen-year-old Anne Frank and her Jewish family fled their home in Amsterdam and went into hiding. For the next two years, until they were betrayed to the Gestapo, the Franks and another family lived in the cramped “Secret Annexe” of an old office building. Cut off from the outside world, they endured hunger, boredom, the strain of close quarters, and the constant fear of discovery and death.
Through it all, Anne documented her experiences in a diary filled with vivid observations. At times thoughtful, poignant, and even unexpectedly funny, her writing offers a remarkable window into the strength and vulnerability of the human spirit. It’s both a compelling self-portrait of a bright, spirited young woman and a heartbreaking glimpse of a life that should have been far longer.
I have owned a copy of this book for probably twenty years now and I still haven’t read it. Every year I tell myself this year I will, but then I don’t. I don’t know if it’s because I know what happens because this really happened, she was a real person, and maybe I’m avoiding the heartbreak I know I will feel when I do read it.
Title: The Count of Monte Cristo
Author: Alexandre Dumas
Published: January 1, 1846
Genre: Historical Fiction
Synopsis:
Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantes is confined to the grim fortress of If. There he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo and becomes determined not only to escape but to unearth the treasure and use it to plot the destruction of the three men responsible for his incarceration. A huge popular success when it was first serialized in the 1840s, Dumas was inspired by a real-life case of wrongful imprisonment when writing his epic tale of suffering and retribution.
This is a favourite of one of my friends, who recommended reading it. But long before that I had of course heard of it, mainly because of the movies made for it over the years(Which I also have not seen). In the film V For Vendetta it also makes an appearance. I’ve purchased the Everyman’s Library edition this year and it is sitting on the shelf of books I have reserved for my physical TBR. I intend to read it within the next two years. It might take me awhile since it’s over 1000 pages.
Title: Wuthering Heights
Author: Emily Bronte
Published: November 24, 1847
Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance
Synopsis:
Emily Brontë’s only novel endures as a work of tremendous and far-reaching influence. The Penguin Classics edition is the definitive version of the text, edited with an introduction by Pauline Nestor.
Lockwood, the new tenant of Thrushcross Grange, situated on the bleak Yorkshire moors, is forced to seek shelter one night at Wuthering Heights, the home of his landlord. There he discovers the history of the tempestuous events that took place years before. What unfolds is the tale of the intense love between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw. Catherine, forced to choose between passionate, tortured Heathcliff and gentle, well-bred Edgar Linton, surrenders to the expectations of her class. As Heathcliff’s bitterness and vengeance at his betrayal is visited upon the next generation, their innocent heirs must struggle to escape the legacy of the past.
This is one of the most popular classic romance books I hear about all the time. I believe many people ended up reading it while in school but it never made reading lists for me in school. So it sits unread. I do plan to read it eventually, when exactly? I have no idea.
Title: The Cruel Prince
Author: Holly Black
Published: January 2, 2018
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Series: The Folk of the Air
Synopsis:
Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.
And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.
Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.
To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.
As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.
When I first started getting into more fantasy romance books, this one kept being talked about. I’ve heard good things about it. I have the ebook for the first book so it’ll eventually make it to my immediate TBR list.
Title: A Game of Thrones
Author: George R. R. Martin
Published: August 6, 1996
Genre: Fantasy
Series: A Song of Ice and Fire
Synopsis:
Summers span decades. Winter can last a lifetime. And the struggle for the Iron Throne has begun.
As Warden of the north, Lord Eddard Stark counts it a curse when King Robert bestows on him the office of the Hand. His honour weighs him down at court where a true man does what he will, not what he must …and a dead enemy is a thing of beauty.
The old gods have no power in the south, Stark’s family is split and there is treachery at court. Worse, the vengeance-mad heir of the deposed Dragon King has grown to maturity in exile in the Free Cities. He claims the Iron Throne.
So technically speaking I did start reading this many years ago, I got anywhere between 1/4 to 1/3 of the first book and then stopped reading it. I forget now why. I do intend to read the whole series at somepoint. I did enjoy what I read and I have watced the TV series up to I believe the fifth or sixth season. I own the leatherbound box set of the books, so I really have no excuse.
Title: We Used to Live Here
Author: Marcus Kliewer
Published: June 18, 2024
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Synopsis:
As a young, queer couple who flip houses, Charlie and Eve can’t believe the killer deal they’ve just gotten on an old house in a picturesque neighborhood. As they’re working in the house one day, there’s a knock on the door. A man stands there with his family, claiming to have lived there years before and asking if it would be alright if he showed his kids around. People pleaser to a fault, Eve lets them in.
As soon as the strangers enter their home, inexplicable things start happening, including the family’s youngest child going missing and a ghostly presence materializing in the basement. Even more weird, the family can’t seem to take the hint that their visit should be over. And when Charlie suddenly vanishes, Eve slowly loses her grip on reality. Something is terribly wrong with the house and with the visiting family—or is Eve just imagining things?
This unputdownable and spine-tingling novel “is like quicksand: the further you delve into its pages, the more immobilized you become by a spiral of terror. We Used to Live Here will haunt you even after you have finished it” (Agustina Bazterrica, author of Tender Is the Flesh).
I keep hearing good things about this book. I purchased the Ebook probably about a year ago, put it on my TBR list but then other books kept getting put ahead of it. I will probably read this one in October of this year.
Title: Wizard’s First Rule
Author: Terry Goodkind
Published: August 15, 1994
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Sword of Truth
Synopsis:
The “wonderfully creative, seamless, and stirring” debut novel in the Sword of Truth epic fantasy series by the #1 New York Times bestselling author (Kirkus). Terry Goodkind’s debut novel, Wizard’s First Rule, was a phenomenon from the moment it was first published by Tor Books in 1994. In it, readers are drawn into the magical New World, where ordinary Westland forest guide Richard Cypher accepts his extraordinary destiny. As a Seeker of Truth, Richard is the only one who can stop the tyrannical wizard Darken Rahl from seizing the all-powerful Boxes of Orden. When the beautiful and mysterious Kahlan Amnell appears in Richard’s forest seeking help, his humble world is turned on its head. After proving that he can wield the Sword of Truth, Richard knows that a confrontation with Darken Rahl looms. But Kahlan beseeches him to reach beyond his sword and invoke his inner nobility in order to face the dangerous challenges ahead.
A classic in the fantasy world. I was a child when this book published, way beyond my reading level at the time. I have ebook versions of the first few books now so eventually I will get to them.
Title: The Color of Magic
Author: Terry Pratchett
Published: December 1, 1983
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Discworld
Synopsis:
In a world supported on the back of a giant turtle (sex unknown), a gleeful, explosive, wickedly eccentric expedition sets out. There’s an avaricious but inept wizard, a naive tourist whose luggage moves on hundreds of dear little legs, dragons who only exist if you believe in them, and of course THE EDGE of the planet…
The book series Discworld by Terry Pratchett is often talked about by a couple of my friends. They reference characters that appear in the series, or events that took place within them. Often leaving me lost as I have yet to read any of the books from the series. I do intend to at some point, so I can know what they are talking about the next time they refrence something from it.
Title: Once Upon a Broken Heart
Author: Stephanie Garber
Published: September 28, 2021
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, YA
Series: Once Upon a Broken Heart
Synopsis:
For as long as she can remember, Evangeline Fox has believed in true love and happy endings . . . until she learns that the love of her life will marry another.
Desperate to stop the wedding and to heal her wounded heart, Evangeline strikes a deal with the charismatic, but wicked, Prince of Hearts. In exchange for his help, he asks for three kisses, to be given at the time and place of his choosing.
But after Evangeline’s first promised kiss, she learns that bargaining with an immortal is a dangerous game ― and that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than she’d pledged. He has plans for Evangeline, plans that will either end in the greatest happily ever after, or the most exquisite tragedy.
I devoured the Caraval series and had heard about this one by Stephanie Garber. I’ve owned ebook versions of the books for a few years now but have yet to read this one. Especially when it involves a character we see in the Caraval series. Which is another one of the reasons I was drawn to read this series too. Maybe this year I’ll read them, if not next year for sure!
Thanks for reading!
What books would you have added to your list?
Were any of these on your lists too?
Leave a comment below and let me know!
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