Top Ten Books I Wish I Could Read Again For The First Time

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and The Bookish. 

1. The Hunger Games (series) by Suzanne Collins
Wow.  I breezed through each of these books.  It was physically painful to wait for the next one to come out.  I wish I could have savored them instead of reading them like a maniac.  I have reread the series twice now without stopping to read them slowly.  Fail. 

2. The Little House on the Prairie (series) by Laura Ingalls Wilder
I was obsessed with these books growing up.  OBSESSED!  I wanted to be Laura.  I remember making the lemonade recipe in the Laura Ingalls Wilder cookbook and taking it to school for a project.  I still have my box set of the books.  I also may or may not still have a VHS tape where I recorded the Laura Ingalls tv movie in 1999...

3. Persuasion by Jane Austen
I wish I had realized how much I loved this book sooner than I did while reading it.  It tops P&P for me.  Two words: Frederick Wentworth.  "You pierce my soul.  I am half agony, half hope."  Sigh.

4. One for the Money (series) by Janet Evanovich
I feel like I know Stephanie Plum.  This is the book that started a crazy/beautiful (fictional) friendship.  It's hard to believe One for the Money was first published in 1994.  And now Katherine Heigl is trying to ruin my life the movie is coming out in January.  I'm trying to be positive about it.  Really.

5. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

I remember being surprised by this book in high school.  With so much predictability in entertainment these days, it's nice to read something a little unexpected. 

6. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
This book receives a lot of press.  I have only read it once.  I want to read it again without the pressure of having to read it in grade school. 

7. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (series) by J.K. Rowling
It would be kind of fun to go back to a time when Harry Potter was not a household name, when a few of us read about a kid with a weird scar and some eclectic friends.

8. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
I think this is one of the first dystopian books I ever read.  I used it as part of a thesis in high school English.  I'm not sure I ever truly understood the implications of what I was reading.  It would be interesting to read it now, given all the changes that have taken place in my life and my reading since then.

9. The Giver by Lois Lowry
I loved this book the first time I read it.  It stuck with me for a long time. 

10. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
I read The Help quite a while before its bright yellow cover lined all the shelves in stores.  I remember thinking how different these women's lives were from mine, yet also how I felt like I had been transported back in time.  I wish I hadn't sped through the second half of the book the first time around. 

Top Ten Tuesday: Words I Love

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and The Bookish.   

Top Ten Words I Love (in no particular order):

1. egregious - "extraordinary in some bad way; glaring; flagrant" - I use this word as often as I can use it appropriately.  I have always loved it. 
2. minion - "a servile follower or subordinate of a person in power" - Let's be honest; who hasn't thought about having some minions running around to do their bidding?  Oh wait, maybe it's just me.  :)
3. conspicuous  - "easily seen or noticed; readily visible or observable" - I have a thing for amateur sleuths and their stories.  This word seems necessary to any sort of sleuthing. 
4. schnapps - "any strong, dry spirit" - I'm not much of a drinker, but I enjoy saying this word. 
5. ambiguous - "open to or having several possible meanings or interpretations" - If I had to choose one word to describe my future right now, this would probably be it. 
6. vortex - "something regarded as drawing into its powerful current everything that surrounds it" - Do you have a word that just makes you laugh every time you hear it?  This is that word for me. 
7. diaphragm - "the partition separating the thoracic cavity from the abdominal cavity in mammals" - Hiccups?  No way.  It's much more interesting to call them a spasm of the diaphragm. 
8. superfluous - "being more than is sufficient or required; excessive" - What is not to love about saying this word? 
9. aficionado - "an ardent devotee; fan, enthusiast" - It feels so much more sophisticated to call oneself an aficionado and it's fun to say. 
10. drawl - "to say or speak in a slow manner, usually prolonging the vowels" - I'm a sucker for a sweet Southern drawl. 

All definitions from Dictionary.com.  

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Can't Believe I've Never Read

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and The Bookish. 

This week's topic appealed to me because there are so many books I'm ashamed to say I haven't read!  Oops.  Maybe listing some here will remind me to read these books sooner rather than later.  Here are ten of them, in no particular order. 

1. The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis
That's right.  I've never read a single one of these babies.  I've seen the first two movies and I liked them.  I'm not sure why I didn't read these books as a kid.  I was probably too busy reading Little House on the Prairie repeatedly... 

2. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Somehow I missed having to read this in school.  I'm starting to feel like that happened quite a bit.

3. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
I know I will like this, but don't ask me why I haven't read it yet.  Embarrassing. 

4. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
I'm supposed to be reading this as a bonus for the Classics Challenge.  I need to start it soon!

5. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
This is a book that I just feel like I am supposed to read.  I think I've been consciously avoiding it more so than others.

6. The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien
Never read any of these either.  Again, I really liked the movies.  I think I may have started reading the first one a while ago, but couldn't get into it.  I need to give it another chance.

7. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
So far I've missed out on this pop culture phenomenon.  I have a copy waiting to be read though!

8. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Well, I haven't watched the movie because I knew I wanted to read the book first.  A small victory!  I've had a hardcover copy that I got on the cheap at the library book sale for about three years.  Lame. 

9. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Wow.  This isn't even a long book.  I do remember some people having to read it in high school, but for some reason I didn't...?

10. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Okay, at least I've tried to read this several times in the past.  Of course, I've always failed.  One day I will prevail... maybe.  :)