Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Top Ten Tuesday

Today I'm participating in Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Top Ten Underrated Books (books you can't believe aren't more popular, books that are more obscure, etc.)

1. Jellicoe Road/On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta.  So if you've been hanging around my blog you probably have realized my love affair with Melina Marchetta and all of her pure amazingness with words.  She is literally the goddess of writing and should be added to Mount Olympius.  Move over Athena!
Jellicoe Road
2. The China Garden by Liz Berry.  I absolutely adored this novel and I haven't met another person who has read it (well besides my besties who I made read it and they loved it too).  

The China Garden
3. Schooled by Gordan Korman.  This book is all about acceptance and truely knowing who you are even when every else thinks you're a crazy smelly hippy.
Schooled
4. The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart.  This is a cute novel full of action, fantasy, mystery, fun and puzzles. 
The Mysterious Benedict Society (Mysterious Benedict Society, #1)
  
5. Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen.  This is one of my favorte books.  It has just a touch of magic and reminds me of Alice Hoffman's style. 
Garden Spells
6. The Life You Longed For by Maribeth Fischer.  This was a heartbreaking tale about Mitochondrial Disease, Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, and how a family deals with it all.  It's very moving and very powerful. 
The Life You Longed For: A Novel
7. The Kindness of Strangers by Katrina Kittle.  This is an exceptional story about sexual abuse of a child and the aftermath once the secret was discovered.  This novel will leave you breathless and thinking about it for days after reading.  You will want to seek out others who have read it just so you can discuss everything that happened.  
 
 The Kindness of Strangers

That's all I got this week.  I'd love to hear what some of your choices would be.  I'm always looking for new books that are not as 'popular' but just as good as the hit books.  

15 comments:

  1. The Kindness of Strangers sounds interesting!

    Check out my Top 10!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hmm I like a heavy book once in a while. I'll have to take a closer look at Kindness of Strangers.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great list! All of these sound really good and interesting. May have to add some of them to my ever growing tbr pile. [:

    Thanks for stopping by my blog!
    Erin @ Let's Evaluate

    ReplyDelete
  4. I've seen The China Garden twice on these lists now so will absolutely have to read it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. These all sound great!! Not sure which one to add to the TBR pile first!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love this topic because I'm hearing about all sorts of books and authors I've never heard of before!

    Please check out mine if you have the chance:

    http://deadtreesandsilverscreens.blogspot.com/2011/08/top-ten-tuesdays-aug-09-edition.html

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow, all of these sound amazing, and I've never heard of any of them! I'll definitely have to check out Kindness of Strangers and The China Garden. Thank you for sharing and for visiting. :) Happy reading!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Glad you included The China Garden. I almost put Jellicoe Road on my list as well- it's fabulous. I have Garden Spells on my shelf but have never read it, and now I'm planning to check out Benedict Society!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Jellicoe Road is the best! I really want to read the Mysterious Benedict Society.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I've never read these. I took note of them though.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Garden Spells (actually any of SAA's books) is an excellent choice. I've read all her books this year and loved every single one. Definitely an author who deserves more recognition

    ReplyDelete
  12. Garden Spells in one of my favorite books too!

    ReplyDelete
  13. LISA! Not only do we share a fabulous name, but I'VE READ AND LOVED The China Garden!!!!! I loved this book and became obsessed with all Ireland-settings books! Amazing!! :)

    Great list! I must check out Melina Marchetta pronto! P.S. I'm a new follower and am lovin' your blog already! ;)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Oh my goodness! I LOVE Melina Marchetta! We should be friends. :P I LOVE LOVE LOVE that you included Jellicoe Road on this list (Saving Francesca was on mine, b/c JR is more well known, thanks to its Printz award) but I SO agree that more people should be loving this one too!

    I'll have to look into the other books on your list too. Some of them sound pretty awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Gardens Spell is one of those charming stories that blurs or perhaps even redefines reality by mixing magic and realism in a delightful way. How you define the book very much depends on what you are looking for. I picked up the novel as a light read and thoroughly enjoyed it.

    ReplyDelete

I love love love hearing your wonderful thoughts! Thanks for stopping by and happy reading.