Sep 3 2013
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Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Wish I’d Read in School! (8/3/2013)

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 This feature, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, is one of my favorites. This week’s topic:

Top Ten Books I Wish I’d Read in School!

The books I’ve chosen are practically classics within their genres, and simultaneously ones I don’t think I’ll ever get around to reading without outside pressure. I realize that admitting this is literary blasphemy…please don’t yell at me.

#1 The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide: I know, I know. How can I possibly be a fan of science fiction without having read this title? I also included this one in my list of most intimidating titles because I just don’t like “punchy” humor, and I’m terrified I won’t like this iconic series.

#2 The Lord of the Rings: I read (and enjoyed) The Hobbit, but couldn’t get into the trilogy despite my best efforts. I finally gave up on going through the motions of reading the book because I wanted to like it so much. The movies, however, remain my all time favorites, and I have die-hard fans of the books to thank for that!

#3 Brave New World: this is a highly conceptual novel that I always wished my professors had made me read in school. I know a lot of writers I enjoy today took inspiration at one point from this book. Also, my go-to guy for science fiction ranks it in his top three favorite books of all time.

#4 The Chronicles of Narnia: I bought these when I was a kid, saved up my allowance and everything for the big nice boxset… And then they sat on my shelves unread for almost ten years. By the time I finally picked up The Magician’s Nephew I realized just how much I didn’t enjoy allegorical stories (plus, it was kind of boring…).

#5 Jane Austen: The Complete Works: Most women I talked to who have read this author fawn over her to a degree that makes me slightly ashamed I’ve never read her. Aside from the fact that I’m not much of a classic fiction girl, I’ve just never found the storyline or time period particularly compelling.

#6 Dune: This one is on my list because, despite the fact that I’ve not yet read it, I wish it’d been a part of my early discoveries of the wonders of science fiction. This one is the exception on the list, as I am pretty sure I will be reading it within the next year.

#7 Don Quixote: of all the classics, this one appeals to me the most. I find the idea of a armored man attacking a windmill hysterical. I likely won’t ever read it, but I wish my teachers would’ve had it on their required reading list.

#8 The Foundation Trilogy: As another pioneer of the science fiction world, this is another one that I wish would have been part of the “foundation” of my sci-fi repertoire.

#9 Grimm’s Fairy Tales: I find these fascinating, and I think I would’ve really enjoyed studying them in school. I tried reading them a couple of years ago, but there were just too many things I enjoyed reading more.

#10 The Book Thief: I know, it’s amazing, it’s beautiful, it’s original… I really wish it’d been included in a history class at some point because it just doesn’t sound like something in my wheelhouse of books.

  Keep in mind that these books are on my list because deep down I really want to read them, I just haven’t been able to bring myself to.

What books do you wish you’d read in school? Did any of mine make your list?

 by Niki Hawkes

16 comments on “Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Wish I’d Read in School! (8/3/2013)”

  2. I tried to love LoTR, I tried to convince myself that if I just kept reading I would become obsessed. But, in all honesty, high fantasy books just aren’t my thing. I’m okay with saying that now. Glad I am not the only one!

    I also haven’t read The Book Thief, shamefully though. Because it totally is in my wheelhouse, I just haven’t gotten to it yet!!

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    • I’m in the same boat with Lord of the rings… I guess we both had good intentions, LOL. Even though it’s iconic, I just needed more than beautiful writing and epic world creation to get into it. As for the book thief, I swear I don’t go a week without seeing it on at least five other top ten lists… Perhaps I’m being too stubborn ha ha.

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  3. I adore H2G2, and Austen. But do not try to read all of her works close together, I warn you–they’re actually pretty similar, and will start to run together. The Guide series has actually very short books, should you decide to tackle the first one.

    I couldn’t get into LotR, either. But every reader’s different, right? Which is good, because otherwise we’d have far less of a range of books out there.

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    • Ain’t it the truth! I, for one, am glad for the variety. It always amazes me how two people with extremely similar tastes in books can have such different reactions to the same title… It’s what keeps me paranoid at recommending books at work, LOL.

      I really hope to get to the point where I can pick up all the excellent books that you mentioned, especially the Guide series. After my husband saw this post, he vowed to read it out loud to me to speed up the process, ha ha.

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  4. I DID read these in school. LOL. Some, at least. I liked Brave New World and agree that Chronicles would be a great book to read in class.

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