i decided to participate in the “top ten tuesday”, which is a weekly challenge hosted by the broke and the bookish. right now, the challenge is on a break, so i thought, i would do one of the old topics, so you could get to know me and my taste in books a little bit better. the topic for this week will be:
“top ten most intimidating books”
1.) “harry potter” by j.k. rowling
here’s what you need to know. i am 32 years old and i have never read “harry potter” or seen any of the movies. why is that you ask? well, i don’t know. before last year, i wasn’t big into fantasy and i didn’t read much as a kid. so i did not grow up with these books. and now i am terrified. everybody loves these books. but almost everybody grew up with them. they made a huge part of their lives. but not mine. and now i am scared. what if i don’t like these books? i really want to, but what if they are not my cup of tea? i think, i am just afraid to find out. 😀
2.) “the pillars of the earth” by ken follett
i got this book to read for a challenge. but. i am not the biggest fan of historical fiction. i don’t know why. i’d rather read ya-contemporaries 😀 but this book is supposed to be so good and i have it since years on my shelf. but it is just so so so soooooooo huge! that’s the thing that intimidates me the most 😀
3.) “a song of ice and fire series” by george r.r. martin
this one shouldn’t intimidate me, but it does. i started this series a couple of years ago and i was almost through the first book. but then i stopped, because i wasn’t a big reader back then. but i remember loving it. and i told myself, i won’t watch the tv show, until i read the books. the size of these books is just wow. this will take me a long time and it intimidates me, because knowing, i won’t be able to read other things just to finish this, keeps me away from these books. also the fact, that the last book still hasn’t come out, makes me hold back.
4.) “anna karenina” by leo tolstoy
until this point, i have read quite a few classics and i feel confident to read a lot more. i mean, i was afraid to read jane austen for so long and now the only book i have left by her is “emma”. and it wasn’t scary at all once i started reading her books. but here, we are talking about russian classics. a whole different thing. the size of russian classics indimidates me so much, because reading classics isn’t like reading a ya book. and knowing that there are so many pages, makes me kind of dizzy haha 😀 but i know, that at some point i will do it. there is a reason, why they are called classics, right? 😛
5.) “history is all you left me” by adam silvera
i know i will cry. i don’t know if i am ready to cry 😀
6.) “farseer trilogy” by robin hobb
i really really really want to get into robin hobbs world, but there are just. so. many. books. it doesn’t end with the trilogy, there are so many more :O
7.) “mistborn” by brandon sanderson
another example for a fantasy series, that intimidates me. a lot of books and huuuuuuge books. also, i heard mixed things about this. some people say, it is perfect. other people say, that it’s not. i guess, i will have to find out for myself. at some point.
8.) “ready player one” by ernest cline
i wanted to read this book for such a long time now. but i still didn’t do it. it sounds perfect. it sounds like a book that i would love very much. but i also heard negative things about it and i have such high expectations, that i am afraid to start it, because i don’t want this book to let me down.
9.) “red rising” by pierce brown
same reason. this series is hyped so much but on the other side there are people who didn’t like it at all. my problem is, that i want to like it but i am not so sure. that’s why i haven’t touched it yet! *facepalm*
10.) “moby-dick” by herman melville
it’s huge and it’s about a whale. come on! do i need to say more? 😀
so guys, that’s it. which of these have you read and can recommend? maybe my mind will be calm and i can finally start on these? please let me know! 🙂
I’ve asked for History is All You’ve Left Me as a bday present 🙂
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i hope you’ll get it 🙂 and then you can cry too 😀 😀 😀
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I completely agree with the”A Song of Fire and Ice”-series! Those are at the top of intimidating for me – simply because they’re huge and then there’s a series on them. I don’t know when I’ll ever start reading them – they do look pretty in my bookcase though, haha – but I do know that I’m putting off watching the series until I have!
As for Ready Player One, I definitely recommend reading it! I loved it and since there’s a movie coming out, that equals another motivation. If only to find out whether you’d like the movie more or less. [I know I got high expectations for the movie after reading the book. I know they can make an awesome movie out of it so fingers crossed they don’t mess it up..]
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haha yeah, the books look great on the shelf! i am pretty sure, that some day we will manage that! 😀
i saw the trailer for “ready player one” and it was interesting 😀 i will read the book before the movie, because i love to compare. i just don’t know when. so many books, so little time… 😦
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I have a mountain of books to read, so I’ll be postponing those for quite some time, haha. No idea when I’ll ever get to them.
Since I started my blog I just feel like reading the newer ones first – but those keep piling up as well. :’)
Haven’t seen the trailer yet, honestly! Hasn’t crossed my path yet. I’ll definitely need to look it up as soon as I get home – so curious about it!
Every bookworm’s problem, haha. Always books, not nearly enough time. We need more hours in a day.
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yeah i have the same problem. i keep buying books and then i see another new release that sounds great and suddenly there are more and more books :O
let me know what you think about the trailer. i can’t compare it, because i didn’t read the book but i would like to know, if you like it.
we need more hours aaaand we need a job, where we get money for reading all the books haha 😀
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Yup! Couldn’t sound more familiar! Except that I also have a boyfriend who likes giving me the stink-eye as soon as I’m heading towards a bookstore, haha. [Not to mention his face when I get home with another book haul..]
I will!
I have a job.. But not having to pay rent would be awesome.. That would be tons of money for books, haha!
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your boyfriend is mean…. 😀
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Haha, my boyfriend is convinced I need some kind of book-leash. Pretty sure he’s sometimes contemplating getting me banned from bookstores.. :p
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that would not be fair! he should support you hahaha
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“I will if you’ve ever read all the god damn books you keep on buying before actually buying more.”
Literally his answer when I once said that, haha xD
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you need to work on that hahaha
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Reading A Song of Fire and Ice is totally worth it and once you start reading they don’t seem that huge anymkre 😋
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I doubt they’ll ever seem less huge, haha. I once started reading them in Dutch [mother tongue] and struggled through some chapters.. Mostly the chapters of characters I didn’t like – obviously. Which made them hard to get through at times.
But I reallyreally want to know what happens next before watching the series so I have to put them in my schedule. Somehow. Someday. :’)
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someday, someday maybe 😀 😀 😀
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you’re just saying that, because you are almost done 😛
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Noooo still have 2 books to go that are published and I don’t know how many more that aren’t published yet 😋
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yeah, but you are way more in the series than i am 😂🙈
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Then change that 😋
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but wheeeeen? 😀
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Now 😂
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no time *facepalm*
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Fantasy, especially the huge ones, always intimidate me. I’ve been wanting to read A Song of Ice and Fire and Mistborn for the longest time, but they are HUGE. I’m also not big classic reader, but somehow Anna Karenina has found a pot on my TBR, along with Les Miserables, two huge books. And I completely agree with Harry Potter. Although I am still young, I didn’t get to grow up with them. And now the books look huge to me.
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yes, they are huge. but for some reason, they kind of seem as they need to be huge, i don’t know 😀 i guess is worth reading them, because so many people did and they loved them. so i need to! at some point haha 😀
yeah, harry potter. so many books in a series. and what if number one is bad and you don’t want to continue? i think there is no other way, than finding out, right? 😀
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I’ve read Red Rising, the first book of the Mistborn series, and Ready Player One. Red Rising is intense. WAY more than the Hunger Games. I didn’t really like it, but that’s because it’s not the kind of book I go for. I liked the other two. 🙂
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uh, i like intense! 😂
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Haha, I think you’ll love it then!
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I’m in the same position about Moby Dick… it’s just sooo long! It’s been on my shelf for 2 years and I’m ashamded to say I’ve never even read a page 🙈🙈
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haha i’m glad i’m not the only one! 😂🙈
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Oh man I felt intimidated just reading some of your choices!! I have the Pillars of the Earth, but it’s so huge and will take such devotion I’m not sure when I’ll be ready, and Mistborn, especially since it’s part of a very thick trilogy. I’d recommend giving Harry Potter a try though…the first book is very easy and not too long!! I can imagine how it must feel massively intimidating though, considering how well loved they are!
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yes, it will happen this year! i can do it! 💪
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Busy Reader, but I love the way you do the metrics at the top!
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Hmmm… somehow this comment jumped to the wrong window. I had your July Wrap Up open and this one, and this was meant for the other blog. Your comment here was supposed to say… Pillars is my favorite on this list!!!
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haha, i got confused 😂 but thanks! and really? you can recommend it? i shouldn’t be afraid? 🙈
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Pillars is in my top 10 books. i prefer the 2nd one, but both are close to a 5 rating. Just got the third one yesterday.
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alright, that sounds good to me! maybe it will happen this year! 🙂
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I love the Russians! All of them, but Tolstoy has my heart. Tolstoy is very accessible, too. He writes straightforwardly, and his characters are each so vivid. I’ve read as much of his work as I can find, and Anna Karenina is where I started with him. I recommend the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation.
I used to read Harry Potter every summer and found something new in them each time 🙂
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awww thanks! yesterday i started my “war and peace” in one year project! i am reading it with a friend as a buddy read and i am excited. we have the pevear/volokhonsky translation. 🤗 we’ll see how that goes 😂
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Excellent – it’s even better than AK. Tolstoy has a way of letting his characters truly live – they’re so different at the end of his novels, but the changes are so natural to their personalities. I think you’ll notice this when you’re at the W&P especially.
*Side note: the leave-taking scene between Andrei and his father is remarkable (it’s near the beginning so you might be coming up in it soon!)
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uh that sounds really intriguing! thanks so much! 🤗 i am really looking forward to it! this will be a great project!
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huge books intimidate me too! which is why i probably will never read lotr, asoiaf, and mistborn. i mean, i’d love too, but they’re a huge commitment!
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i know. i also think, that it’s hard to start, because there are so many books and huge books for that matter and then the question: “what if book number one sucks?” – what am i supposed to do then? 😀 #problemsofabooknerd
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Fantastic list! A few of these books definitely intimidate me, especially Harry Potter and the Song of Ice and Fire series. My generation grew up with HP but I have yet to read the books. I watched the movies but have never gotten around to reading them. I definitely want to love them, but I’m always afraid I might not if I do choose to read them! And I don’t watch GoT but I really want to. The books are massive so I think I’ll save them for after I catch up on the TV series! 😀
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thank you! finally someone who hasn’t read HP either 😂
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You got History is All you Left me right 👌🏻😂 I was completely the same with the Harry Potter series. I felt there was so much pressure to read them because I hadn’t! And I think a lot of people feel the same way about A Song of Ice and Fire series because it ginormous!!! 😂
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oh yes it is 😂
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