Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish. A prompt is given each week, and I hope to do it every week so I always have something going up on Tuesdays. This week we are discussing my top ten books I have read in one day. I checked my Goodreads read list and picked ten books that I not only enjoyed, but finished in twenty four hours. I will be focusing primarily on novels, because I feel like graphic novels or comics are an obvious day read.
This Star Won't Go Out: The Life and Words of Esther Grace Earl by Esther Earl
Esther Earl was a cancer victim who was known widely in the Nerdfighter community and I actually found out about her through John Green's videos. When she passed at sixteen I remember how hard it was for John but also the community. I per-ordered this book the moment I was told about about it. I believe John Green mentioned it, and I looked it up on Amazon, and it was so new there wasn't even a cover yet. I remember keeping an eye on news of the book, and when I finally got it in the mail the day of the release I was so excited. I read it on the bus on the way to my classes, cried, read it in between my classes, cried, and then cried some more reading it back from my classes. I finished it finally in my dorm room, my This Star Won't Go Out bracelet on my wrist with tissues in my hand. Reading Esther's writing and reading the writings of all the people that loved her so much had me so emotional. I remember being such a wreck.
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
Another book that made me so emotional that I was a wreck. The book isn't too long, and with the illustrations it makes it feel even shorter. But the book has such a heavy weight to it because of the topics. It follows Conor, a pre-teen who's mother is dying from cancer and he's in denial about it. A monster comes to his window at night and it wants the truth from Conor. This book is so beautifully written and the illustrations really help the reader feel like they're in the same head space as Conor. I couldn't put it down, I felt tied to the book unable to let it go until I also knew Conor's truths.
The Merciless by Danielle Vega
This book was one I was hearing a lot about from the BookTube community. I kept hearing it be described as Pretty Little Liars mixed with The Excorcist which seemed awesome to me. I believe I read it around Halloween and I sat down thinking I'd read a few chapters before bed and I ended up staying up most of the night. I think the dark added the creepiness to the experience which made it a really entertaining read.
Noggin by John Corey Whaley
This book, and every John Corey Whaley book, was amazing. It had me hooked the minute I started reading. It follows Travis, who has his head chopped off and his body frozen in the freezer as he waited for a head transplant. He wakes up in some other guy's body five years later, finding out his life moved on five years without him. He's still sixteen years old and everything around him has changed. Including his family, best friend, and girlfriend. Travis has difficulty melding his old life with his new one, and he's finding that this is going to be harder than he thought. This book was great. JCW is so talented at writing slices of humor in a sad story. He's great at writing honest dialogue and likeable characters. I couldn't put it down.
Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley
Another John Corey Whaley Book. Honestly, all three of his books are absolutely amazing. I love his writing and characters so much. If I had read his first book (Where Things Come Back) I would have that on this list too. Highly Illogical Behavior is a fairly short books and the characters have you interested from the beginning. It is about Soloman, who suffers from agoraphobia and hasn't left his house in three years. Lisa wants to help Soloman to get better, so she throws herself into his life and brings along her boyfriend Clark. It's about the three of them growing closer, and dealing with fear and self identity. Once again, JCW writes amazing characters that I could constantly read about. I loved their interactions, and I loved Soloman's family. I love when a family has a prominent role in the story, and all three of JCW's books has that.
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
I read this one recently, and I couldn't put it down. It's about Starr, our main character who witnesses her childhood friend Khalil get shot and killed by a police officer. Khalil was unarmed. Starr has to deal with the trauma she has gone through, hearing the media call Khalil a thug, and she has to deal with the inner struggle of finding her voice to talk about what she saw. This book is another book that is a heavy one, but it has a lot of humor in it that make Starr, her family, and her friends so fun to read about. Even if they're going through something really hard, they have to still live their lives and that means finding humor and happiness in every day life. Which I really loved. I think Starr is one of my favorite female characters. I could not let this book out of my hands until I got to the end and even then I kept the book an extra day (I borrowed it from the library) to re-read my favorite passages.
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
This book's mystery is what kept me hooked. Throughout the book you're not completely sure what is really happening in the story. The story is easy to follow, but you know there's something else underneath what you're reading, but you can't quite put your finger on it. That's what kept me reading. I am actually not going to write what it's about, I think it's best to go into this book not knowing the synopsis. It's more fun that way, but I highly recommend it.
Daughters Unto Devils by Amy Lukavics
I picked this book up late at night hoping to get through the entire book in a sitting. I started it, thinking it wouldn't be too scary only because I hadn't seen great reviews on Goodreads. Normally when it comes to the people I follow on Goodreads I look for a specific handful of reviewers who for the most part share similar opinions as mine. Fortunately, they were wrong and I was completely hooked in this story. I am not sure if it was the late November night or if I was just in the right mindset to get spooked but I was incredibly creeped out by this book. I actually want to re-read it to see if it happens again. I ended up reading it all in one night, and staying up the majority of the night.
Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
This book is about our main character Maddie who has a disease that basically makes her allergic to the world. So she is stuck inside all her life with her mother, who is a doctor and her personal nurse Carla. She seems content with her life until a boy moves across the street and they start communicating through e-mail. I listened to this book on audible while cleaning my apartment and walking my dog. It's a fairly short book I believe it was almost seven hours long. I listened to it on and off throughout the day and finished it. The story was sweet and addicting, and the narrators did a really great job. I think young adult contemporary are the easiest books to read in a day because of how easy they are to read and how addicting they can be. I highly recommend this book and the audiobook.
A List of Cages by Robin Roe
This book was being hyped by both my best friend and Booktube, so when I started this book I was worried I wouldn't like it. Instead I was completely hooked to the story from the get go. More than half of the book gets you hooked because you want to keep reading in order to know if all the characters you love will have a happy ending. Then an event happens that shifted me from wanting to know to needing to know. I remember going to bed thinking I'd finish in the morning and instead I grabbed my book light and stayed up until I could finish it. This is another book that focuses a lot on family and friendship which I think are the best kind of books.
<3 :D
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