Top Ten Tuesday – Top 10 Books That Far Exceeded My Expectations
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!
This week’s TTT topic is Top Ten Books That Surprised Me (in a good or bad way). I had to think about this one for a while because I’m usually pretty good about picking books that I have a pretty good shot of enjoying. The biggest wildcards for me are the books that I decide to pick up because they’re super hyped and I want to know what all of the fuss is about. Sometimes those books are a complete bust for me, but other times, as in the case with the ten books below, these books can be a wonderful surprise and far exceed my expectations for them. In many cases, they go on to become favorite books of mine, as in the case of the Harry Potter series, The Lunar Chronicles, and The Night Circus.
The Great Alone, which I haven’t even reviewed on the blog or Goodreads yet, is the latest in the line of books that have exceeded my expectations. I just finished it this weekend and absolutely fell in love with it. It’s a book that focuses on living off the land in Alaska and I don’t think I would have even picked it up if I wasn’t already such a big fan of Kristin Hannah’s writing. I went into it thinking it might be a book that would let me down, but nope, just the opposite. I think it’s my favorite Hannah book yet.
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Top 10 Books That Far Exceeded My Expectations
1. THE HARRY POTTER SERIES by J.K. Rowling
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2. THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins
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3. ROOM by Emma Donoghue
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4. THE NIGHT CIRCUS by Erin Morgenstern
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5. THE GREAT ALONE by Kristin Hannah
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6. THE LUNAR CHRONICLES by Marissa Meyer
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7. THE LILAC GIRLS by Martha Hall Kelly
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8. A MONSTER CALLS by Patrick Ness
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9. THE MARTIAN by Andy Weir
