[Top Ten Tuesday] Books I Loved but Will (probably) Never Re-read

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish but is currently being run by That Artsy Reader Girl. 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 I am talking about books I loved but  I don't have any interest in re-reading. This one is a bit hard because typically if I love a book I'll probably have an urge to re-read it. So I am going to talk about books I enjoyed but not enough that I'd re-read them.

Secrets for the Mad by Dodie Clark 

I really enjoyed this autobiography by Dodie Clark. However, a lot of the information in this book are stories she has shared on her YouTube channel or other social media. So although I enjoyed reading her writing I don't think I'd re-read the book. At least not anytime soon.

Synopsis:
When I feel like I'm going mad I write.

A lot of my worst fears have come true; fears that felt so big I could barely hold them in my head. I was convinced that when they'd happen, the world would end.

But the world didn't end. In fact, it pushed on and demanded to keep spinning through all sorts of mayhem, and I got through it. And because I persisted, I learned lessons about how to be a stronger, kinder, better human - lessons you can only learn by going through these sorts of things.

This is for the people with minds that just don't stop; for those who feel everything seemingly a thousand times more than the people around them.

Here are some words I wrote.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline 

I read this book in college and really enjoyed it. I didn't get most of the 80's references (I was born in '91) but at the time I enjoyed the adventure and plot of the story. Then I re-read it last year and I didn't like it so much. I was bored a lot of the time and I even got annoyed at some of the elements of the story. I can't see myself re-reading this one. 

Synopsis:
In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. When Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape.
 

Buffering: Unshared Tales of a Life Fully Loaded by Hannah Hart 

This is such an amazing autobiography and I highly highly recommend it. But like most autobiographies (or non-fiction books in general), I can't see myself re-reading them because I already know the information now. It's odd, because you could could argue I know what's going to happen with a fiction book too if I am re-reading it. But it just feels different.

Synopsis:
By combing through the journals that Hannah has kept for much of her life, this collection of narrative essays delivers a fuller picture of her life, her experiences, and the things she’s figured out about family, faith, love, sexuality, self-worth, friendship and fame.

Revealing what makes Hannah tick, this sometimes cringe-worthy, poignant collection of stories is sure to deliver plenty of Hannah’s wit and wisdom, and hopefully encourage you to try your hand at her patented brand of reckless optimism.

Marley and Me by John Grogan 

I read this book in high school and although I really liked it (and the movie) it's just too sad and I don't have the emotional strength to go through this book/movie ever again. I cannot do books about real dogs because it's just too sad.

Synopsis:
John and Jenny were just beginning their life together. They were young and in love, with a perfect little house and not a care in the world. Then they brought home Marley, a wiggly yellow furball of a puppy. Life would never be the same.

Marley quickly grew into a barreling, ninety-seven-pound streamroller of a Labrador retriever, a dog like no other. He crashed through screen doors, gouged through drywall, flung drool on guests, stole women's undergarments, and ate nearly everything he could get his mouth around, including couches and fine jewelry. Obedience school did no good—Marley was expelled. Neither did the tranquilizers the veterinarian prescribed for him with the admonishment, "Don't hesitate to use these."

And yet Marley's heart was pure. Just as he joyfully refused any limits on his behavior, his love and loyalty were boundless, too. Marley shared the couple's joy at their first pregnancy, and their heartbreak over the miscarriage. He was there when babies finally arrived and when the screams of a seventeen-year-old stabbing victim pierced the night. Marley shut down a public beach and managed to land a role in a feature-length movie, always winning hearts as he made a mess of things. Through it all, he remained steadfast, a model of devotion, even when his family was at its wit's end. Unconditional love, they would learn, comes in many forms.

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk 

I really loved this book and the movie but I don't think I am interested in reading it anytime soon. It's one of those stories where I enjoyed it but I didn't enjoy it enough to re-read it.

Synopsis:
"The first rule about fight club is you don't talk about fight club." Chuck Palahniuk's outrageous and startling debut novel that exploded American literature and spawned a movement.Every weekend, in the basements and parking lots of bars across the country, young men with white-collar jobs and failed lives take off their shoes and shirts and fight each other barehanded just as long as they have to.

Then they go back to those jobs with blackened eyes and loosened teeth and the sense that they can handle anything. Fight club is the invention of Tyler Durden, projectionist, waiter, and dark, anarchic genius, and it's only the beginning of his plans for violent revenge on an empty consumer-culture world.

The Selection by Kiera Cass 

I enjoyed this trilogy a lot but I didn't love the spin of duology. This is a story I enjoyed being in and reading but I wasn't obsessed enough to want to re-read it. I'm happy I finished it but it wasn't an absolute favorite-have-to-read again.

Synopsis:
For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself—and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson 

I enjoyed this book a lot a couple summers ago. I listened to it on audiobook and I was really invested into the story. I think it's a cute summer story. However, I am not a huge fan of young adult contemporary summer-y stories. I think I'm a bit too old for them to really relate. I keep my mind open though because if one gets really good reviews I am up for checking it out. But overall I am not really into them anymore.

Synopsis:
Taylor Edwards’ family might not be the closest-knit—everyone is a little too busy and overscheduled—but for the most part, they get along just fine. Then Taylor’s dad gets devastating news, and her parents decide that the family will spend one last summer all together at their old lake house in the Pocono Mountains.

Crammed into a place much smaller and more rustic than they are used to, they begin to get to know each other again. And Taylor discovers that the people she thought she had left behind haven’t actually gone anywhere. Her former best friend is still around, as is her first boyfriend…and he’s much cuter at seventeen than he was at twelve.

As the summer progresses and the Edwards become more of a family, they’re more aware than ever that they’re battling a ticking clock. Sometimes, though, there is just enough time to get a second chance—with family, with friends, and with love.

Just One Day by Gayle Forman 

Like Second Chance Summer, I am just not into young adult contemporary stories as much as I used to be. However, this dulogy was really fun and I enjoyed reading it. It is a cute travel romance that I enjoyed but I think I've grown out of this kind of genre now.

Synopsis:
When sheltered American good girl Allyson "LuLu" Healey first meets laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter at an underground performance of Twelfth Night in England, there’s an undeniable spark. After just one day together, that spark bursts into a flame, or so it seems to Allyson, until the following morning, when she wakes up after a whirlwind day in Paris to discover that Willem has left.

Over the next year, Allyson embarks on a journey to come to terms with the narrow confines of her life, and through Shakespeare, travel, and a quest for her almost-true-love, to break free of those confines.

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia 

I really loved the first 3/4 of this book but there is something a character does (that feels so out of character honestly) that kind of ruined the book for me. I still gave it a high rating (which was probably too generous honestly) but the last act of the story kind of ruined it for me. I can't see myself re-reading the story because the first 3/4 of the story is SO good and it's ruined by the last part.

Synopsis:
In the real world, Eliza Mirk is shy, weird, and friendless. Online, she’s LadyConstellation, the anonymous creator of the wildly popular webcomic Monstrous Sea. Eliza can’t imagine enjoying the real world as much as she loves the online one, and she has no desire to try.

Then Wallace Warland, Monstrous Sea’s biggest fanfiction writer, transfers to her school. Wallace thinks Eliza is just another fan, and as he draws her out of her shell, she begins to wonder if a life offline might be worthwhile.

But when Eliza’s secret is accidentally shared with the world, everything she’s built—her story, her relationship with Wallace, and even her sanity—begins to fall apart.

Final Girls by Riley Sager 

I really enjoyed this mystery thriller but not enough to want to re-read it. I was a bit disappointed because of all the hype but overall I did enjoy it. I recommend it if you're in the mood for a fun mystery thriller, but I don't think it was worth the hype and I cannot see myself re-reading it.

Synopsis:
Ten years ago, college student Quincy Carpenter went on vacation with five friends and came back alone, the only survivor of a horror movie–scale massacre. In an instant, she became a member of a club no one wants to belong to—a group of similar survivors known in the press as the Final Girls. Lisa, who lost nine sorority sisters to a college dropout's knife; Sam, who went up against the Sack Man during her shift at the Nightlight Inn; and now Quincy, who ran bleeding through the woods to escape Pine Cottage and the man she refers to only as Him. The three girls are all attempting to put their nightmares behind them, and, with that, one another. Despite the media's attempts, they never meet.

Now, Quincy is doing well—maybe even great, thanks to her Xanax prescription. She has a caring almost-fiancé, Jeff; a popular baking blog; a beautiful apartment; and a therapeutic presence in Coop, the police officer who saved her life all those years ago. Her memory won’t even allow her to recall the events of that night; the past is in the past.

That is, until Lisa, the first Final Girl, is found dead in her bathtub, wrists slit, and Sam, the second, appears on Quincy's doorstep. Blowing through Quincy's life like a whirlwind, Sam seems intent on making Quincy relive the past, with increasingly dire consequences, all of which makes Quincy question why Sam is really seeking her out. And when new details about Lisa's death come to light, Quincy's life becomes a race against time as she tries to unravel Sam's truths from her lies, evade the police and hungry reporters, and, most crucially, remember what really happened at Pine Cottage, before what was started ten years ago is finished.

Thanks for reading!