Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I’m Not Sure I Want To Read

Top Ten Tuesday is an original blog meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.This week’s prompt: “Top Ten Books I’m Not Sure I Want To Read (books you may have bought but aren’t sure if you are into it anymore, books you wanted to read but heard mixed things about, hyped books you aren’t sure about — basically any book that has you going, ‘TO READ OR NOT TO READ?’”

On my phone, I keep a to-read list, books I’ve come across online, in shops or through other people’s recommendations. I don’t know if I’ll get round to them and I’m embarrassed to admit that (at the moment) it’s due to sheer tiredness (cough laziness) on my part. I’m a former lit student – I’m still enjoying light relief novels, I’ll go back to the important ones in time …

1)  The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini – I’ve been told over and over again that it’s amazing and I’ve written it down to read … but it looks very emotionally taxing.

2) Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson – Two Christmases ago my cousin bought me a beautiful hardback edition of this book, which looks lovely on my shelf … where it’s remained untouched for two years. It just looks quite long …

3) Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks – I’ve only ever heard good things. But I’ve also heard the words heartbreaking, sorrow, war … I might get round to it one day.

4) Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier – The plot sounds great, I’m just worried about when it was written. I’ve never gotten along with early C20 work that well.

5) A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole – This was recommended by a friend as a ‘must read’ … it’s been a year and I still haven’t picked it up.

6) Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy – Again it’s the word tragic that’s causing me the problem – but I’ve never read a book about the Russian aristocracy either and that does sound interesting. Decisions, decisions …

7) The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger – I read an excerpt of this a few years ago – thought it was great, added it to my list and never looked at it again. I really do want to read it! It’s just a matter of getting round to it.

8) C – Tom McCarthy – Exactly the same as above – read an extract, thought it was great. The problem here was when I read the blurb of the novel and heard the plot I was less interested. It’s a conundrum.

9) The Fault in Our Stars – John Green- It looks great, it does. But I’m putting it off for two reasons. One I’m not sure I’m emotionally stable enough to read it (‘Me Before You’ left me hysterical – I try to read only one book about dying protagonists per decade), and two it’s been so hyped up I’m worried it’ll be an anticlimax.

10) The Comoran Strike Novels – Robert Galbraith – I love J.K. she’s my hero. But … when author’s write a series, I have a hard time reading their other works as separate entities. (Sophie Kinsella novels particularly). In this case though, hopefully the genres are different enough so that I won’t expect the detective to pull a wand out at any moment…. When you think about it, choosing a pseudonym was the right way to go. Shame her cover was blown.

There’s my lazy little list. Is there anything on their you would 100% recommend? I might get over my laziness enough to pick it up!