Top Ten Tuesday 1#

Most Memorable Books I Read Before Becoming a Blogger

                        Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, in which you make a list of ten things (Absolutely shocking, I know. I didn’t mean to blindside you like that.), the theme being given to you. This week, it’s the best books I’ve read before I was a blogger. Now, I know this is my first week doing this, but I am going to slightly twist the theme to Most Memorable Books I’ve Read Before Becoming a Blogger. I hate to directly compare two books that have nothing to do with each other. My love for Crank by Ellen Hopkins is completely different than my love for the Inheritance Series by Christopher Paolini. Being memorable is cross-genre though, and I feel that it’s fairly close to the original topic. This list should NOT be treated as a list of recommendations, ‘kay? Cool.

10. The Other Normals by Ned Vizzini – The easiest way to explain this book being on the list is this: the book uses pubic hair as an honest to god tool for character development. It’s an odd mix of nerd wet dreams and absurd humor, all woven together into a high fantasy.

9. Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl – I was just five when I was exposed to this story, and can still remember an alarming amount. My ma and granny bought me several audio books, James and the Giant Peach being the only one I can distinctly remember besides Fantastic Mr. Fox, when we were on a road trip of sorts, and I think that was where the seed of my book addiction began. It’s been more than ten years since then, and I can still remember the story. Fantastic Mr. Fox served only as the seed for my addiction; the next book saw to it that that seed would blossom…

8. Harry Potter by JK Rowling – There must be a hundred people who attribute their love for stories to Rowling, and I proudly count myself as one of them. Ma read them and then took me to the movies. It became our thing, I guess. Eventually Granny started buying me audiobooks, which I listened to over and over and over and over and over again. Every night without fail I’d listen in bed. I must have listened to those tapes a good twenty times a piece.

7. Deadline by Chris Crutcher – Can you promise not to judge? You have to understand that between killing bears and rolling boulders, men cry sometimes, okay? Tears shaped like swords, but tears nonetheless. Deadline holds the title of first book to make my eyes water (that’s code for bawl). That alone is enough to make it worthy of being on this list, but alongside that, the book is simply funny.

6. Unwind Trilogy by Neal Shusterman – Unwind and UnWholly especially, have stuck with me like no other books ever have. I read UnWholly over five months ago and I still think about it almost daily! If that isn’t memorable, I don’t know what is.

5. Crank and Glass by Ellen Hopkins – It isn’t a secret that I’m a massive fan of Ellen Hopkins. Really, this list could just be books by Ellen Hopkins, but figuring that’d be awfully dull, I chose just two. Crank and Glass are powerful, horrifying stories. After I finished them, I remember just staring at the wall for an hour, not even thinking, content in simply being. Just writing about it leaves me breathless. Beautiful is a word that I feel is overused, but Kristina’s story is beautiful.

4. Time Travel by Stein Gatter – I really wish I was able to come up with more, but I have only one more and that deserves the place of 1, so excuse me as I  teleport you to the future.

And after those last three, you are probably asking yourself, “How can Cain top those?” Well, dear reader, little did you know, but those are nothing compared to…

1. The Day My Butt went Psycho by Andy Griffiths – Does this need to be explained? Because it seems pretty self-explanatory to me. Butts that detach themselves, plan to take over the world, too many puns (buns?) to count… This book has it all. Even if someone has never read the book, the title alone should get it on their lists!

Well, how’s that for a Top Ten Tuesday? Butts, drugs, fantasy. Wouldn’t that be a great concept album? (If you said yes, we need to talk.) I think I have covered every facet of literature, and I have given you an insight into my insanity. Until next week!

PS – First person to name the reference gets an internet hug.