Happy New Year, Bookworms!
As you know, on Tuesdays, I make lists! The ladies of The Broke and The Bookish host Top Ten Tuesday every week with a new topic. They do this so I don’t have to think so hard! Today’s list is the top ten books I resolve to read this year. Soooo, without further ado, I give you:
1. The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien. I’m going to read these buggers, even if I complain about the endless walking the whole way through!
2. Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. You shouldn’t be surprised by me throwing a few classics in here. I still have holes in my education. Some things need to be remedied.
3. 11/22/63 by Stephen King. I loved The Stand so much that I feel like I should read more King. However… The supernatural murderous clowns and outright nightmare stuff has to be kept to a minimum. I’ve heard this is a good option for a ‘fraidy cat like myself.
4. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. It’s pretty tragic that I haven’t read this. Embarrassing, really.
5. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. The Tudors are possibly my favorite source of historical fiction. Since the Mantel books have been so highly acclaimed, I’m anxious to read them!
I also resolve to wear this hat as often as possible.
6. Matched by Allie Condie. It’s been recommended to me a few times. I listen to people, I swear. Plus, I’m kind of digging the YA these days. Don’t get any ideas, I’m not going to go whole blog into it or anything. I just like to dabble. Dabble dabble doo!
7. The Passage by Justin Cronin. This might be YA too, but whatever. It’s a dystopia where zombies meet vampires! Really, why haven’t I read this yet?!
8. Casino Royale by Ian Fleming. Yep. The first James Bond book. A friend gave it to me for Christmas. Why the heck not? It’s all iconic and stuff. I’m curious!
9. The Light Between Oceans by ML Steadman. I’ve heard good things. Plus, historical fiction!
10. Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan. Magical bookstores? Um, yes.
What about you, Bookworms? Any bookish resolutions for you?
Tilly Bud - The Laughing Housewife
I thought Rebecca was over-rated. Frenchman’s Creek is better.
Words for Worms
Hmmm… Good to know! Thanks! 🙂
Sarah Says Read
The Grapes of Wrath was just so many things. I’m glad I read it as part of a readlaong – I may have quit otherwise for being a bit bored, but the discussion and thinking about stuff ended up being really worth it. Also, funny GIFs made it SO much more fun.
I just got Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore from the library! It’s going on my Monthly TBR, I hope it’s good.
Good luck with your reading this year!!
Words for Worms
Best of luck with your reading as well! I actually started The Grapes of Wrath once just after high school, but I figured now that I’m all old and seasoned I’d try again. That may be wishful thinking…
Liesel Hill
Great List! The Passage = Awesome. LOTR = Freakin’ Awesome! I’m not a fan of Steinbeck, but I won’t say not to read him. The intercalary chapters are actually very profound, and the main reason I’m not a Steinbeck fan is because I’ve read most of his major works. Great list! hope you enjoy them all! 😀 My TTTs are at Musings on Fantasia and LKHill. Happy New Year! 😀
Words for Worms
Thanks Liesel! 🙂 Your lists are full of books I don’t know- I’ll have to check some of those out.
A.M.B.
Happy New Year! I love The Grapes of Wrath and Rebecca (and The Mitchell and Webb Look has a funny Rebecca sketch you might want to see after you read the book, particularly if you’ve seen the Laurence Olivier movie). I couldn’t get through Wolf Hall, but historical fiction is very hit or miss for me.
Words for Worms
Books are so funny that way. What one person can’t get into, another person loves. Thanks for the GOW encouragement- I fear I might need it :).
didibooksenglish
Cool there are a few on your list that are on mine too – The Lord of the Rings (although I’m not sure I’m going to love it as much as The Hobbit), Rebecca ‘won it in a giveaway on Claire’s blog Word by Word), Wolf Hall (gotta read the woman who got the Man Booker twice-go girl!), The Passage (everybody seems to really like it and it’s adult horror, so I’m curious), Casino Royale (have always wanted to read Ian Fleming to see the differences with the movie), Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore(it just sounds great what can I say). The Grapes of Wrath is good but one of my Steinbeck all time favorites is East of Eden. Love that book!! Check it out! Careful with Matched. It’s a trilogy and I hear it’s not so good as it progresses. Happy New Year and happy reading! Your Dad was funny! 😀
Words for Worms
LOL I’m glad you find my Dad amusing. I’m sure he’ll regale us with his weird Dad humor in the New Year! I hear lots of good things about East of Eden too. There are so many good books! I want to read them all!
didibooksenglish
Yeah me too. At the moment I’m reading a YA called Speak and it’s really good. Even though I’m not a total fan of YA. I like some of it but my goal is to look for what’s good. I don’t want to get up in flat interminable saga like series. Blog post will be coming as soon as I’m finished. So are doing doing the Goodreads blog challenge? How many books are you going to read this year?
Words for Worms
Oh! I read Speak a long time ago- it’s very good, you’ll like it.
didibooksenglish
Yes I’m enjoying it a lot.
Words for Worms
I just signed myself up for the GoodReads challenge. I’m shooting for 100 books, but we’ll see how far I get. I read a lot, but I really like reading big fat meaty novels, and it’s kind of hard to get through those quickly. Plus I keep buying things on sale, only to learn there was a REASON they were on sale. Sigh.
didibooksenglish
I also signed up for the 2013 Big Book Challenge on goodreads. Someone invited me. So i fixed my challenge for that to 5 books. For this challenge the books you read have to be over 400 pages. That with my Goodreads challenge makes 60 books. That’s enormous for me. I’m feeling inspired.
Lucy
Awesome diverse list! Good idea to check out Matched before the movie comes out, and now that the trilogy is complete. I’ve had my eye on 24-hour bookstore too. Good luck with all your reading goals and happy new year!
Words for Worms
A movie? Oh dear. There are so few movies that live up to books… Now it’s moved up the list of urgency!
Karen H
The Passage is great as is the second book in the trilogy, The Twelve. Don’t leave too much time between reading them, because there are a TON of characters to keep track of. I waited too long, and was confused now and then.
I am a huge Stephen King fan; I’ve read everything he’s written (okay, not Under the Dome), and I did not like 11/22/63. Very disappointing. I’ve read The Stand about 10 times.
Words for Worms
What wasn’t great about 11/22/63? The fact that it wasn’t scary? Because that’s what appeals to me! 🙂 When is the third book in the Passage trilogy due out? I might just wait for that and then read them back to back. I am bad at waiting for new books…
Rhian
According to Wikipedia, the last Passage book is not due until 2014.
Tea Time with Marce
Rebecca was my favourite read last year, loved it, my main book to read this year is Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier.
Words for Worms
Sounds like fun!
Darlene
Part of my goal for 2013 is to read books already on my shelf that haven’t been read. (I just feel guilty having them sit there as I think of other new books I want to buy.)
Among some I plan on reading are…
*Illusion by Frank Peretti
*The Book Thief
*Night Circus
*A Tale of Two Cities (not looking forward to that one)
*The Stand by Setphen King
If anyone can recommend a good copy of The Stand I would really appreciate it. All I can find in the stores are like Mass Market sizes, which I hate. Does a hard back copy exist??
Words for Worms
Okay, The Book Thief, The Night Circus, and The Stand are awesome. I only got 50 pages into A Tale of Two Cities because I’m lazy. I don’t know if you can get a hardback of The Stand- I got it on the Kindle. I feel that I should read what I’ve got, and yet I keep acquiring. It’s a sickness.
H. Stern
Book…
Book…
Book…
AWESOME F*ING HAT
Book…
Book…
Book…
I’m sorry. Those are all good books. But then an awesome hat happened, and I had to be sure we all stopped to appreciate that.
Also: World War Z is a surprisingly good read. I think I read it on a flight from here (Maryland) to Houston. There are some really touching vignettes, and of course, some silliness. Just yet one more recommendation! Plus, it’s a pretty fast read.
Words for Worms
Oh I loved me some World War Z! I’m highly concerned about them ruining the movie version…
H. Stern
I knoooooooooooooooooooow. Sad face.
In some ways, it’s kind of like The Stand, where, yes, ok, there was an overall plot line, but there were also interesting vignettes that, for the sake of the movie, had to be eliminated.
One of the best, and most difficult to read, parts of that book was the one about the pet store. I don’t want to ruin it for anyone who hasn’t read it, but it was just…. I mean… the book is just surprisingly well written. I’m having a hard time believing they can do it justice.
We’ll see.
Lyssapants
your hat is amazing.
that is all.
Words for Worms
Thank you. I love it so much!
Lauren@FilingJointly
I believe I have a hat quite similar to that hat. Am I currently wearing it? No. Because I am in Starbucks and that would be ridiculous. Am I actually currently wearing it? Yes. Also the matching gloves. People keep giving me odd looks but I am just all “Don’t Hate, Spheniscidae.” Because I am an former Science Olympiad nerd and memorized lots of the Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species stuff. And Spheniscidae is the Family that Emperor Penguins belong to and I have decided my hat is an Emperor Penguin.
Wow. I JUST realized why Ryan won’t go places with me anymore.
Moving on. In my almost entirely worthless opinion, I thought Grapes of Wrath was meh. East of Eden is where it’s at when it comes to Steinbeck. Wolf Hall and Penumbra are totally on my list too. I’ve read the first book of The Passage and I promise you it’s not really as YA-ish as the other post-apocalyptic YA stuff of late. I might not have actually known it was supposed to be YA until you said that. I really liked it but there are parts that get a little bit slow.
Words for Worms
Only the coolest of the cool have amazing ear flap penguin hats. Among the coolest of the cool is my “nephew” Eli. We got the same hat for Christmas. He might look better in it, because he’s a super cute toddler. Maybe I should do East of Eden instead of the Grapes. You’re not the first person to tell me this… Hmmm….
Rhian
I resolve to make a dent in the eleventy billion books in my TBR pile. I’ll also read any new books in the eleventy billion series I’ve got going. Plus books for my bookclub, plus books for the Blogstalker bookclub (need to go check the next one whoops!), plus any books that you review here that look interesting. Oh as well as any books my favourite deal, er, bookshop owner push, er, recommends.
Sigh, just imagine how much reading I could do if I didn’t have to work. Whenever anyone says I would be bored not working (say if I won the lottery) I think nuh uh, not with all the books in the world.
Words for Worms
That’s a fantastic resolution! I think I’m going to post the latest edition of Blogstalker Book Club next Friday, because I don’t think I’ll get my review done for this Friday :).
alenaslife
We share some book goals, but I’ve got to tell you it’s the hat that grabbed me. I just bought the same one for my son, who loves it. Happy reading.
Words for Worms
Oh, thank you. My husband is unsure of being seen with my in my hatted glory in public…
melodylynnsimpson
I need to get to Matched & The Passage. Great list!
Words for Worms
Thanks for stopping by!
Ashley F
I just started Mr. Penumbra. Got it for Christmas. Seriously the LOTR trilogy? There’s like 40 pages somewhere as they walk through a forest. God love Tolkien the dude was a genius but he created a world and by God he is gonna tell you the shape of every rock!!!! What saved me was that I read them as they released the movies so I would read the book a month or so before the film. So over 3 years I didn’t want to stab my eyes out.
Words for Worms
Yeah, I’m getting kind of nervous about these, I struggled a little to get through the Hobbit.
annabelsmith
What a great list. I’d like to read The Grapes of Wrath too because I loved East of Eden but apparently Steinbeck considered the old grapes his piece de resistance. Rebecca is a great fun read. Casino Royale… not so much. We read it for book club for the reasons you say and it was universally panned. It had the worst line in it: ‘The sweet tang of rape’ – how offensive is that? so, i’ll be interested to know what you think. The Pssage – OMG yes! It’s not YA by the way, those kids couldn’t handle it! JUstin Cronin’s books are on just about every top ten I’ve written this year. The Light Between Oceans is one I’ve committed to read for the Australian Women Writers Reading & Reviewing Challenge. And Mr Penumbra’s on my list too – can’t wait for that one. Here’s my list:
http://annabelsmith.tumblr.com/post/39359194653/top-10-tuesday-the-first-ten-books-i-plan-to-read-in
Words for Worms
Ooooh, that’s not encouraging to hear about Bond. Boo. Glad to hear The Passage isn’t in fact YA- I keep getting confused- I feel like all dystopias are YA anymore. Not that I’m hating on YA… It’s just getting a bit redundant. On my way to check out your list! 🙂