When you’ve read over 400 books in your life, it’s pretty easy to forget books that you loved, especially if you don’t consider them to be your ultimate favourites. Thanks to my horrific memory – both short and long term – I tend to only talk about books that have either stuck with me for a very long time or I only just read and still have on my mind.
The books that I’m talking about in today’s post are books that I do love, but I just don’t really talk about for many reasons: they’re either books I read a long time ago, or they’re classics, or they’re just not favourites so they’re never really on my mind.
Dracula by Bram Stoker – I don’t talk about classics very often because I don’t read a lot of them, but Dracula is one that I will talk about sometimes because it’s one of my favourites and a huge inspiration to me as a writer.
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell – I first read this book completely unprompted when I was 14, and have since read it twice for academic reasons. And, thankfully, neither of those times have stopped me from loving this book. Yeah, it gets a little heavy at times, but it will still be relevant.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee – I know there are a lot of people who hate the fact that studying books is a huge part of school, but I will be thankful that my Year 11 English teacher tried to get us to read this book for our GCSE. Until we switched to Of Mice and Men because one kid decided this one was “too hard”. I wouldn’t have read this at all if we hadn’t read the first chapter.
Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake – This book was my gateway to horror and not being a big baby anymore, and although it is a little heavy on the romance, I do still love it. And I will always think that the UK cover is better than the US cover because her dress is actually bloodstained on the UK cover.
Forgotten by Cat Patrick – It’s probably a little ironic that I constantly forget that this book exists. I haven’t heard from Cat Patrick in a long time and I do hope she publishes another YA book soon. (I know she has a new book coming out this year but it’s middle grade)
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins – It feels like a million years since this series was the biggest thing in the world, but the upcoming President Snow book has definitely helped me to remember how much I loved this series when I was a teenager. Until Mockingjay, that is.
The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey – If you’ve been blogging for as long as I have, you may remember a time when people had a special rating for books that became instant favourites. I gave this book that special rating when I read it years ago, but for some reason, I never finished the series. Hopefully, I will get around to doing that.
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater – I don’t love this series as much as other people do, but I still do it. There’s definitely something special about how Maggie’s books are more character-driven than plot-driven.
Warcross by Marie Lu – I feel like I’m way overdue for a reread of this series because I miss the characters so much. Especially Hideo.
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han – I’m not the biggest contemporary romance fan, so I don’t talk about them all that often, but this book is still a whole lot of fluffy goodness.
talk to me!
What books do you love but rarely talk about?
I loved The Hunger Games and The Raven Boys as well. I read To Kill A Mockingbird for school and I liked it but it was never a favourite.
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/04/14/top-ten-tuesday-259/
I have a feeling that I may have liked To Kill a Mockingbird a lot less than I do if I actually studied it instead of reading it on my own.
Yeah, Dracula is amazing.
My TTT .
One of the best, in my opinion! 😀
Good post. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Dracula when I finally read it a few years ago. It is excellent.
I was 14 when I read Dracula for the first time and it took me a year to read, but I’m surprised that I enjoyed it too! 🙂
Cat Patrick is one of those authors that I always meant to read but haven’t yet. Great list!
I hope you do get to read some Cat Patrick! She doesn’t have a lot of books out, but I’ve enjoyed all of hers that I’ve read 🙂
I’m pretty sure Of Mice and Men was the first classic I read for high school, but I don’t remember much about it (other than that it was short). To Kill a Mockingbird, on the other hand, is one of the few that always stuck with me.
I don’t remember much about Of Mice and Men other than the most basic parts of the plot, but I think I’ve purposely forgotten it because I didn’t really like it.
I really loved Warcross but still need to read book 2! I just purchased it from Book Outlet a week ago, so I’ll try to get to it soon!
I hope you enjoy Wildcard! I think I liked that one just as much as Warcross 🙂
I have a horrible memory, too! I had to switch up the topic for today because I couldn’t even think of ONE book that fit the prompt 🙂
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is my favorite book of all time! It’s fabulous, isn’t it? I also enjoyed the HG series. I can’t wait to read the prequel.
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
It definitely took me a while to think of a list. If I can’t really remember what books I don’t talk about, how can I talk about them? 😂 And I’m so excited for the Hunger Games prequel too!
I’ve heard so many great things about Anna Dressed in Blood but never have gotten around to reading it. Maybe it’s time to pick it up!
Maybe! I definitely recommend it 😀
I own Anna Dressed in Blood but haven’t read it yet. Happy to see it here on your list! And I also haven’t finished The Fifth Wave series, but I really enjoyed it, too. Great list!
Hopefully we both get to finish The Fifth Wave someday 🙂
I think I’ve read Forgotten as well (I say I think because although Goodreads is telling me I read it, I can not remember any part of the book whatsoever). Great list!
Kind of fitting that you’ve forgotten about Forgotten (I’ll see myself out) 😂
I need to read more Cat Patrick. I really like her The Originals. And Marie Lu- I loved Warcross!!!
I want to read more Cat Patrick too, but I’ve already read all of her YA books and it doesn’t look like she has any more being published any time soon :/
I used to talk about The Raven Boys a lot, but haven’t recently. Such a great series. We should all talk it up.
We definitely should! I used to see a lot of bloggers talking about The Raven Boys but it’s mostly quieted down.
I still fully love (and reread) THG (yes, even Mockingjay- dare I say, ESPECIALLY Mockingjay, but I know I am in the minority!) Funny, I too enjoyed The 5th Wave then never read the rest of the series! Love To All the Boys, too! One of these days I am going to read Anna Dressed in Blood, I just always forget! Great choices!!
I hope you do get around to Anna Dressed in Blood! Talking about it’s making me want to revisit it 🙂
I recently finished The Hunger Games series then rewatched the movie series and still loved it. It’s probably gonna be one of those series I’ll never get tired of.
It’s been a really long time since I read The Hunger Games but I have a good feeling that I’ll still enjoy it if I do decide to revisit it 🙂
To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my all time favourite books. I loveeee all the characters! Great list.
Yay! The characters in TKAM are the greatest 😀
Ahh, Warcross! I read the first book and have been meaning to read the second one for AGES ahah 🙂 And yes, The Hunger Games, I too rarely talk about this series, but I love it so much! 🙂
I hope you get to read Wildcard some day! I loved it just as much as the first book 😀
I am ashamed to confess that I have read 1/10 of the books on your list. 🙈
I think I have a lil’ scream about The Raven Boys every day at this point XD Something about Maggie Stiefvaters’ writing is really captivating but I still haven’t read all of her books, I plan to though! 😀
I plan to read Warcross after I finish my current read!!! I’m glad it made your list!
Great List!! Happy Reading! <3
I’m very slowly working my way through Maggie Stiefvater’s books, and I’ve enjoyed all of them so far! And I hope you enjoy Warcross! 😀
I finally read Dracula this year — I’m not generally a horror fan but I got curious after reading Shadowplay by Joseph O’Connor, a new novel that is all about Stoker and his inspirations — largely the theater. It’s a little tricky to keep things straight (like Dracula, it’s written as a collection of documents by various people) but you might want to give it a try. I loved it!
Shadowplay sounds interesting, I’ll definitely give it a look. Thanks for the rec! 😀