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Top Ten Tuesday #11: Books On Our Fall TBR List

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish where book lovers post their top ten books for various themes that are given.

September 17th: Top Ten Books On Our Fall TBR List

Caleb’s Picks:

I’m looking at the most “immediate” of my to-read list, which consists of over 80 books. It wasn’t easy to pick only ten of them.

  1. That Hideous Strength, by C.S. Lewis. I finally got my hands on a copy! I am looking forward to this.
  2. Walden, by Henry David Thoreau. I only recently discovered Thoreau through Walking, and I became immediately fascinated by his philosophies. I haven’t been so excited about reading a book since I started Don Quixote.
  3. Any book by Agatha Christie. I have eight Agatha Christie paperbacks on my shelf just begging to be read.
  4. The Institutes of Christian Religion, by John Calvin. Slowly but surely I’ll be working my way through this during the fall . . . and the winter . . . and the spring . . . and maybe summer . . . and possibly next fall . . .
  5. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This has been on my list of books I’ve wanted to read for a long time, so I figure I ought to get around to it soon.
  6. The Tale of Despereaux, by Kate DiCamillo. A friend picked this out recently and recommended it to me, and I try to be compliant. I look forward to it: in a small way it will feel like revisiting my childhood day of reading The Mouse and the Motorcycle. Then I can watch the movie and see how much the screenwriters changed.
  7. The Castle in the Attic, by Elizabeth Winthrop. I read this once, a long time ago, but all I can remember is that I enjoyed it and that there’s a castle, a dragon, and a mirror. Aforementioned friend read this recently, and conversation would be more interesting if I could remember something about the story.
  8. The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices, by Wilkie Collins & Charles Dickens. I’m familiar with Collins, and though of course I know Dickens by name and bibliography I am ashamed to say I have never heard his work, and here’s as good a place to start as any.
  9. The Pearl, anonymous, edited by Sophie Jewett. Happened upon it by chance, but I’m glad it did, because it looks like a short, sweet read. It’s antiquity and anonymity makes it all the more intriguing.
  10. The Cabin, Vicente Blasco Ibáñez. I’ve read short stories by Ibanez before, and I thoroughly enjoyed his novella Luna Benamor; but I have yet to read an Ibanez novel. I look forward to seeing how his writing holds together on a larger scale.

Andrew’s Picks:

  1. The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman. I recently read American Gods and Anansi Boys—the first Gaiman novels I’ve ever read—and thoroughly enjoyed them. Based on all the positive response to this, I’m really looking forward to reading it (and recently purchased it).
  2. The Cuckoo’s Calling, by J.K. Rowling (Robert Galbraith). I wasn’t a huge fan of The Casual Vacancy, but there were still some things I really enjoyed about it—the writing in general, for example, was still excellent (as expected for J.K. Rowling). And I am a fan of J.K. Rowling—I absolutely loved the Harry Potter books. That, coupled with how this is actually a mystery novel (it seems like a lot of people thought Casual Vacancy was as well, but it wasn’t really), I’m really looking forward to it.
  3. Furies of Calderon, by Jim Butcher. I love the Dresden Files. Like, love love love. Definitely some of my favorite books I’ve ever read. I’ve also heard that the Codex Alera isn’t as good as the Dresden Files, so I’m not going into these expecting perfection or anything. But they do sound good, they’re high fantasy, and it is still Jim Butcher as the author, so I’m really looking forward to finally reading this series (starting with the first book, Furies of Calderon).
  4. Raylan, by Elmore Leonard. I saw this book—hardback—bargain priced at a Barnes & Noble a few weeks ago and instantly picked it up and decided to purchase it. I really enjoy the FX series Justified (based on Leonard’s short story, “Fire in the Hole”), and since this book is about Raylan Givens, the main character of Justified, I thought it’d be awesome to read. So already this was on my “read soon” list (I mean I have hundreds of books “to-read” so I have another list with only a couple dozen or so that I want to read ASAP), but then I got the unfortunate news that Leonard passed away. So this is bumped up even more. I’ve been meaning to read something by Leonard for a while, I love the show Justified, Givens is a great character—this seems like a great place to start, and I eagerly await reading this.
  5. The Eye of the World, by Robert Jordan. Nope, I’ve never read this before, nor any book in the Wheel of Time series. I know, that may be surprising. But I finally found this book at a used bookstore and so will finally be giving it a read. I’m really excited to see what all the hype (and, in some cases, the criticism) is about and if it’s a series worth reading or not. I guess I’ll see.
  6. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke. I love magicians. The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern, and The Prestige, by Christopher Priest, are two of my favorite books, both dealing with magicians as the main characters. The Prestige (directed by Christopher Nolan, based on the book) is one of my favorite films. I love magicians (you could say that even carries on to wizards like Harry Dresden, Harry Potter, Gandalf, etc.). And, well, as you probably guessed by now (if you didn’t already know), this book is about magicians. So, yes, I’m looking forward to it.
  7. The Second Death, by Caleb Peiffer. Another mystery, this time written by a friend of mine (who just released a new book–check it out!). I’ve been meaning to read this book for the longest time, but just haven’t gotten around to it (especially when I read the first chapter, which was just amazing, I’ve been meaning to read it even more). Definitely a high priority for me.
  8. Hart’s Hope and Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card. I’ve been meaning to read some of Card’s work for a long time now. Ender’s Game is a priority mostly because of the movie and because of how much everyone’s talking about it—it’d be nice to be able to join in on some conversations. I also just need to read more Sci-Fi in general. I’ve been looking forward to reading Hart’s Hope since a friend recommended it to me (plus, it’s fantasy, which I love, and I’m looking for more great fantasy stand-alone books).
  9. The Mysterious Affair at Styles, by Dame Agatha Christie; and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Both classic mysteries. I’ve read a small handful of Christie books, and at some point I want to read through every Hercule Poirot (and I mean, all her other books, too) novel, starting, of course, with the first (and continuing them in order). I’m also planning to slowly make my way through every Sherlock Holmes story (short story or otherwise)—during the Spring I read A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of Four, so now I plan to read the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes short stories.
  10. Without Remorse, by Tom Clancy; and Naked Heat, by Richard Castle. Listing them together since they’re both Thrillers (espionage and mystery, respectively). I’ve been meaning to read (yeah…I’ve been saying that a lot) the Jack Ryan books for a long time now in order (I’ve only read Dead or Alive and later)—hoping this Fall is when I actually start doing it. I’m a huge fan of the television show Castle, so naturally I’m excited to read this novel written by Nathan Fillion an unknown ghostwriter that’s tied to the TV series.