Top Ten Tuesday – Books I Was SO EXCITED to Get, but Still Haven’t Read!
Today’s Top Ten Tuesday post topic, Books I Was SO EXCITED to Get, but Still Haven’t Read, is going to be a fun one to participate in. It’s reminded me that I have a lot of great books that I really want to read, and some of them I’ve had for an embarrassingly long time!
I have been through my bookshelves and selected my top 10 books, I’ve also got a step further and done some research to find out roughly when I got them, so you have an idea of how long I have had them for. There’s even one book, the first book, that I couldn’t put a precise date on as to when I bought it. Whoops!
Enough of the preamble; shall we jump into the list so you can find out what some of the oldest books I’m excited to read are: –
Malice – <2016?
I cannot tell you when I bought Malice by John Gwynne.
The only way I have been able to roughly date this book is a memory of myself packing up this book when I left a job in February 2016. I was using a paperclip as a bookmark (although I’d only got through the first few pages in reality). The paper clip had left a slightly rusty mark on the page, so that tells you how long had even been there! I have absolutely no idea when I physically purchased this book, and that makes this the oldest book on my list.
I’ve heard great things about this series and John Gwynne, so maybe this post is telling me it’s time to pick this one up at last.
The Shining – 07/2017
Thankfully we jump ahead a little bit with this next book, although not by as much as I’d like! Now we are in the realms of a timeframe in which I had started my blog. This book is still nearly 5 years in my possession, however, and I still haven’t read it! I have come to love Stephen King even though horror isn’t a genre I would have picked up originally. I have given other books of his a go and I have come to love them.
I have no doubt that The Shining will be just good. I feel like this would be an excellent read to pick up in autumn or around Halloween, so maybe that’s what I’ll save this one for!
Th1rt3en – 10/2017
When I drafted this post I put together my list in what I thought was roughly date order, but I was surprised by this book. I was convinced I’d bought this a lot later, but obviously not!
Ironically, I think my mum is more likely to read this book before I do and it’s been on my radar a lot longer. Admittedly, I hadn’t realised that this was the fourth book of a series (but the stories don’t seem connected so could be read in any order) when I picked up my copy in Waterstones. That won’t stop me though, and if my mum gives the rest of the books a really good review when you can guarantee I will be picking these up as well!
Fools and Mortals – 05/2018
I’ve become a huge fan of Bernard Cornwell’s The Last Kingdom, aka the Saxon Stories series. Having started this one, I saw a copy of Fools and Mortals in Waterstones and decided to give it a go based on author alone.
Don’t get me wrong, I really love the sound of the synopsis, but it’s my love of Bernard Cornwell that drove me to pick this up and see what it was about in the first place! I’m still working my way through the Saxon Stories series now, but I should think that I will pick this up long before I finish that one.
Norse Mythology – 10/2018
I love the idea of reading a book about Norse mythology, and given that Neil Gaiman is a well-known writer in the fantasy genre, I was really excited to buy this book.
I’ll admit that now I am a little bit more sceptical. When I bought this book I had every confidence that I was going to enjoy Neil Gaiman‘s writing, however that hasn’t necessarily proven to be the case. I haven’t hated his books, don’t get me wrong. But the best read has been a three star rating from me. I finished American Gods but didn’t enjoy it and I couldn’t even finish Good Omens, his collaboration with one of my favourite authors, Terry Pratchett.
It’s not going to stop me from picking up Norse Mythology though, as I’m hoping the subject of the book will help spur my interest.
Skyward – 12/2019
I used Goodreads as a good indicator of when I had purchased copies of books and added them to my TBR for this post. However, I ended up resorting to my Sunday summary update posts to find out when I purchased Skyward, because I forgot to add this onto my TBR at the time.
It turns out I bought my copy of Skyward in December 2019. When you see that date you probably automatically assume that I got it for Christmas, however I purchased it a few days beforehand with a book voucher I had one for my competition at work. I joked in that post that it was a rare occasion, and I’m pretty sure I haven’t won anything like it since.
I can’t grumble though; last year we were all given vouchers as a thank you for our work rather than a competition. They are good eggs.
The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz – 01/2020
We are down to the last four books on this list and in terms of recency, we just about make it into the 20s.
I added this book to my TBR back in January 2020. I recalled that at the time I had read or listened to another Auschwitz themed book around the same time, and having looked back, I had finished listening to Cilka’s Journey by Heather Morris. Whilst a morbid subject, I love books with this setting. Clearly I wanted to continue to pursue the genre further, and to date I still do!
In fact, I’ve gone onto purchase even more Auschwitz themed books in paperback since then. Strangely, this is almost a bit of a comfort read. But not really, you know what I mean!
Invisible Women – 03/2020
This next book on my list is a little bit different, however having read Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg recently, this is one that I’m going to make sure I end up reading this year.
Up until a couple of months ago I would not have described myself as a feminist. There are a lot of reasons why that is the case, mostly being the negative connotation that comes with the word. However, Lean In reminded me that just because people associate the word in the wrong way, that doesn’t mean that I am not a feminist. I do want equality, for women in the workplace and for men in their personal lives.
I really liked that Lean In covered both sides of the story, because men are just as pushed out of primary parental roles as women are in the workplace. It’ll be interesting to see if Invisible Women takes the same route, or if it really just focuses on women and the injustices we live day-to-day.
Nevernight – 02/2021
I really loved the Nevernight trilogy as audiobooks, and so after I finished listening to Darkdawn I decided to buy the whole trilogy to read in paperback. I must admit I thought I had bought them a little more recently than February last year, but that’s still not too long you have been sat on myself waiting to be picked up!
The Witches – Salem 1962, A History – 10/2021
This is the most recent book on this list. I only purchased my copy of this around about six months ago, and I’ll admit I purchased it on a whim. I happened to see it in the bookstore and I really think it’s an interesting topic.
For that reason, I will can’t wait to give this a read. However, with all the older books on my list yet to be picked up, this one might take a while to get to!
So, those are my top ten books I was so exited to get, but still haven’t read… yet! Have you read any of the books featured in today’s Top Ten Tuesday post? Have you now added any to your TBR? Let me know in the comments!
