Tuesday 1 March 2011

Top Ten Tuesday



I LOVE this weeks top ten, because it totally relates to how I live… I have so very many books that I have bought, with complete excitement, and then just put away and left for years! I’m trying to rectify that somewhat at the moment though. So, without any further ado, here are:

The Top 10 Books I just had to Buy, but Are Still Sitting on My Bookshelf

1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy- I started reading this about 4 years ago, but since I was just starting university and had to deal with shit like Tristram Shandy and evil flatmates, I’m pretty sure I couldn’t handle the 800 plus pages as well. I have, however, just started reading it again (like, yesterday) and all signs look good! 

2. White Teeth by Zadie Smith- I have both this and On Beauty sitting in the bottom of my wardrobe (where I have to store a lot of my books) and I have no good reason for not having read them... But I will get round to them one day!

3. Confessions of an English Opium Eater by Thomas De Quincey- I think this is one of those kind of books that I bought more for the title than any actual content- it was actually by my bed for a really long time, but I moved it away and it's never found its way back into my interest... It is a thin book, though, so I will probably read it eventually!

4. Watership Down by Richard Adams- I got this because my friend told me it was pretty good... sadly, whenever I look at it and see the size of it, I do tend to think that I don't want to expend that much effort on a story about rabbits! 

5. Walden by Henry David Theoreau- I got this to help me write an essay on Thoreau, but it arrived after I had actually handed it in... consequently, it now resides by my bed, where I'm finding it really really hard to get past page 20...

6. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky- Another one of those pesky Russian authors, a book I guess I thought I should buy, without considering whether I would actually read it or not. Which I will! Just, not yet...

7. The Freud Reader- My attempt to delve further into the human mind, I actually lugged this massive book home from New York, when I bought it at The Strand bookstore. Sadly, it hasn't been opened since that time, which makes it a bit of a wasteful thing to have carried home...

8. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway- I read literally about 5 pages of this a really long time ago, but I just couldn't get on with it. I have, however, been assured that Hemingway is really super awesome, so I might try it again some day- like, when I've read all these other books!

9. Dangerous Liasons by Choderlos de Laclos- The reason I bought this book can basically be summed up in two words- Cruel. Intentions. Sadly, a film I loved when I was about 11 is not necessarily a basis for making me read a book!

10. Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela- I really badly want to read this book (so badly that I asked for it for my birthday and everything!) and I have read about 50 pages of it. Sadly, there are about 1000 pages, and every time I look at it I just feel intimidated by it. I will absolutely read it though, and hopefully sooner rather than later!

So that's my top ten for the week. How about you? Any books that you just can't handle reading, even though you definitely wanted them in the shop?

14 comments:

  1. Oooh, I highly recommend you picking up a collection Jung if you want to delve into the human mind. He was Freud's contemporary but incorporated quite a bit of mythology in his speculations, plus his mandalas are equally cool.

    As it goes, Jung used to correspond with Freud through letters, looking up to Freud as his teacher. But then when Jung began to stray away from Freud's thinking, Freud had a conniption and severed all conversation.

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  2. Oh man... Freud was such an idiot really, wasn't he?! I might check me out some Jung after I've gotten through my giant Freud collection lol

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  3. Oh, I adore Watership Down. It has fantastic world-building. The rabbit society is more real than many human societies in books, while remaining completely non-human, not the same.

    Also, it's Exodus, but with rabbits. Hazel leads his people from destruction to a new home. There are issues with some bits of it being dated, you can see in my review from a re-reading a couple years back:

    Watership Down @ The Blue Fairy's Bookshelf

    (I read a whole sequence of books about animal societies and compared them.)

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  4. Great list! I struggled a little with Anna K, but enjoyed Crime and Punishment and Watership Down. I also need to dust off a couple Hemingway books. Also, thanks for the tip on Robinson Crusoe!

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  5. @Lindsay- thanks for your recommendation! Am definitely more keen to read Watership Down now (I've totally been doing this all day too lol- telling people that they *must* read certain books! hehe)

    @TwoBibliomaniacs- You're welcome-just trust me on the Robinson Crusoe thing, you don't even want to go there!

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  6. I've had White Teeth and On Beauty on my TBR list forever, but have yet to buy either, let alone read them. Nice list!

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  7. I think you'll really like Watership Down. It was a sweet book.

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  8. I read Anna Karenina last year, while it wasn't my favourite book, I'm glad I read it. Hope you'll enjoy it! (I wanted to seriously kick Anna's ass at some points, just so you're warned)

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  9. Haha, I have heard that from other people too, Daisy! I'm sure I will learn to hate her, since I hate characters really easily! Haven't actually met her yet in the whole 40 pages I've read, but I'm all prepared for the annoyingness!

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  10. Your list looks about what like mine would look like. Books you feel you should read, but that I probably won't. Your cake sounds delicious. I'm a new follower.

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  11. I have quite a few of these books at home as well. White Teeth is one of my favorite books. You should read it.

    Check out my list here: http://hawthornescarlet.blogspot.com/2011/03/top-ten-tuesday-tbr.html

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  12. Wow... you've got some DEEP ones on this list! I have Watership Down too, and it has sat here forever I think.

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  13. Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate your honest opinion on Desperation! You do indeed have some heavy reading on this list. I have Anna Karenina in my TBR pile too and it's been there for a while. I guess it's the size of the thing that holds me back. I read Watership Down several years ago and remember liking it a lot. It is so much more than a just story about rabbits. I think you'd like it. Happy reading. I'm now a follower.

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  14. Hi, found your list here from twitter #AboutTimeIRead.

    I highly recommend Crime and Punishment! It's my favorite, or second favorite book... (I have a hard time deciding between that and Gone with the Wind as my top favorite :) )

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