Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Books I Read Because Someone Recommended Them to Me.
I could probably list hundreds, but here are the first 10 that come to mind… with a big THANK YOU to the amazing people who did the recommending! (With review links where available, in case you want to know more about the books…)
1. Florence Adler Swims Forever by Rachel Beanland: Recommended by my husband’s friend, whose book group read this over the summer. (review)
2. Finishing School series by Gail Carriger: Even though I loved the Parasol Protectorate series, I was under the impression that I wouldn’t care for these books — but my daughter kept insisting I needed to give them a try. She was right! So enjoyable. (review)
3. Fools and Mortals by Bernard Cornwell: A captivating novel about Shakespeare and his players, which I probably never would have read except that my book group picked it for a group read. Loved it! (review)
4. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Reid Jenkins: I’ve loved this author’s works, but for some reason didn’t get around to reading Evelyn Hugo despite owning a copy… until all the rave reviews from other book bloggers convinced me to finally read it. Thank you, all! Such an excellent book. (review)
5. The Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler: I had never heard of Octavia Butler as of about 15 years ago, before a coworker (who’s also once of my best book buddies) urged me to read this. Truly a life-changing read.
6. Kate Shugak series by Dana Stabenow: I first heard of these books because they were recommended by another favorite author, Diana Gabaldon, on her “Methadone List“. The Kate books quickly became favorites, and I hope the author never stops writing them! (series overview)
7. If I Grow Up by Todd Strasser: My son, who is the most reluctant of readers, insisted that I read this book. And since he almost never reads willingly, I had to check it out to see what it was that made such an impression. (review)
8. The Blind Side by Michael Lewis: I am not a sports fan. At all. So why would I read a football book? Because one day while driving to work, I heard a review on NPR, and it was so highly recommended that I thought I’d give it a try. Glad I did!
9. All of Tamora Pierce’s books! I could list tons of books recommended by my daughter, but Tamora Pierce’s Tortall books were her favorites as a teen (and probably still are), and I finally got around to reading them over the past couple of years. And with minor exceptions, thought they were excellent!
10. I would be remiss if I didn’t include Letters from Thailand by Botan, which is the book that is at least partially responsible for me falling in love with my husband! If he hadn’t recommended it, we might never have started talking about books, and we all know how a booklover’s heart glows when you get on our favorite subject! If you want to know the backstory, you can check out my post here.
What books made your list this week? Please share your TTT link!
Bookshelf Fantasies 
Great list! I love that your daughter has recommended some books you’ve loved to you.
She’s an awesome reader (and daughter <3) , so we share books all the time.
I’ve heard good things about The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.
My post.
It’s really a wonderful book! I shouldn’t have waited to read it!
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo could have made it to my list too. I don’t think I would have ever picked it up if it wasn’t for all the hype it received. I did end up enjoying it a lot!
I really don’t know why it took me so long. I think I assumed it was just a typical Hollywood story, which doesn’t usually appeal to me. I’m so glad I finally read it!
Seven Husbands book keeps coming up. Guess I’ll give it a try. https://pmprescott.blogspot.com/2020/10/ttt-102020.html
It’s really a wonderful book!
Great list! I definitely read Evelyn Hugo because of recommendations as well!
(www.evelynreads.com)
I probably would have read it eventually anyway, because I’d read her earlier books and really enjoyed them — but seeing all the rave reviews made me finally dive in. 🙂
I heard Michael Lewis’ adoptive mom (can’t remember her name) speak earlier this year at a family history conference and their story is very inspiring. I haven’t read THE BLIND SIDE yet or watched the movie, but both are ones I need to get to, even though I don’t know anything or care anything about football!
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
Oh, I absolutely don’t care about football, but ended up learning a lot about it from the book! The book goes much more into detail about the different positions and why the main character became so sought after, which made it really fascinating. The movie was good too, but focused much more on the emotional side.
I just love how personal your list is and how many good memories you have associated with the books you love! I’m going to have to check some of these out:-)
Aw, thanks! So many of the books I end up loving have an association with a friend or family member or my book group!
Oooo I love the Tortall books (never was able to make my mom read them though!)
I read Alanna when my daughter did, when she was about 12 or so, and then even though she continued, I never did until recently. Tell your mom to give them a try!
I’ve heard such great things about Tamora Pierce’s books! I’ve had her Tortall series on my list for too long now! 😅
Oh, they’re so good! Do you like audiobooks? I did the audio version for all of them when I did my big binge last year, and really enjoyed them.
I’ve never tried an audiobook, but there’s no time like the present to start. I will take your suggestion into consideration! 😊
Evelyn Hugo has been getting a lot of love today. So many recommendations for it. It’s awesome!
I agree! Such a great read.
I loved reading your story of your HTB. Thank you for sharing that with us!
Oh, thank you! Putting together this post prompted me to go back and read our story again, and it made me really happy. 🙂
Yay! Wonderful list!
Thank you! It’s so nice to be on the receiving end of such great book recommendations. 🙂
Florence Adler Swims Forever looks so good! I don’t remember ever seeing it before now. Thanks for the recommendation!
It was so good! The characters are really interesting, and I loved how vivid the time and place were.