Top Ten Tuesday : A Star is Born
2 February 2021 
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme where every Tuesday we look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) bookish examples to demonstrate that particular topic. Top Ten Tuesday (created and hosted by The Broke and Bookish) is now being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and future week’s topics can be found here. This week’s topic :
Books Written Before I Was Born
This could potentially be the easiest list to write ever (no, not because I was born so long ago that the potential is bottomless) – because I’ve read lots of my dad’s books and loved them and a good number of them were classics – he got me started reading really.
Okay, I struggled – struggled to keep the list to 10 – I may have gone over, whoops, call the book police…
So, here goes:
- Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien – Not even with 10,000 books to choose from would this be left off the list – it would be folly.
- The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis – This book always made me want to look inside cupboards and wardrobes to look for other worlds.
- A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I’ve read this book so many times just before Christmas and this year listened to an audio version which was excellent.
- Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. I love all her books to be honest but Northanger Abbey has got that lovely ode-to-gothic vibe going on.
- Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. I read this book years ago as part of a Vintage Sci Fi event organised by Little Red Reviewer and loved it. I don’t tend to focus on sci-fi so when I find such a great read it makes me very happy.
- The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins – I absolutely love this book. In fact I’m so surprised that I’ve not reread it many times. I heartily recommend it.
- Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier – I loved this book and have read and reread it many times, I’ve even read retellings. It’s the writing, you know. It’s just bloody marvellous.
- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte – I’ve read all the Bronte sisters novels but Jane Eyre remains my favourite.
- Sherlock Holmes – okay, this is a massive cheat because I’m not naming one story but all of them. The entire Sherlock Holmes collection by Arthur Conan Doyle, Brilliant.
- Dracula by Bram Stoker – can we just give this guy a round of applause. Okay, I think there was an earlier vampire story but come on, everyone has heard of Dracula right? And look at all the great books and films that really take inspiration from this.
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. The sharp ones out there will have noticed that this takes me to No.11 – one too many books for a ‘top 10’ list yes? But I couldn’t leave off the queen of sci-fi after all. People would think me monstrous.
Mmm, seems I may have a thing for books that err on the side of Gothic, dark or fantasy. Who knew.
Any favourites on here??
Books and travelling with Lynn 
Ooh I love the Narnia books and Rebecca!
(www.evelynreads.com)
I’ve only read the one Narnia book unfortunately – *hangs head* and I recognise that at this stage I probably won’t go back and pick up the others which is a shame.
Lynn 😀
Great choices, I’ve read and loved most of these – and The Woman in White also makes my list this week as a book on my TBR that’s older than me so HOORAY for seeing your endorsement this morning 🙂
Maybe 2021 is the year I squeeze in a Dracula reread – I haven’t read it since I was a teenager, and I’m curious to see how I find it now.
The Woman In White is such a good book. I haven’t read it for a while but it still holds a very firm place in my mind.
And, I did reread Dracula recently, I wanted to see how it would stand the test of time – and I still enjoyed it tbh, plus it was good to reread it to see what I’d missed first time round or what I’d forgotten.
Lynn 😀
Good choices here! I still have yet to read The Lord of the Rings but I really am hoping ill get to it this year. The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe is the only one out of that series that I have read and it still annoys me to this day because its the third book in the series isn’t it? I really need to read the others! Rebecca is on my list as well but I am a bit bad for reading the classics. I always say that I want to, never get round to them though!
I confess I haven’t read any of the Narnia books other than the Witch/Wardrobe and I’m not sure that I’ll get to them at this point. Hope you get a chance. Lord of the Rings is quite possibly my favourite book – although in two minutes I’ll have decided on something else – and I have reread it in the past few years so I know it’s not just a ‘young me/rose tinted glasses thing’. I love that book, of course some people think it’s too descriptive but I love the writing. Rebecca is also possibly my favourite book (so the argument begins), it is a classic, but it’s a more modern classic so the writing style is very easy to get along with. The writing is fantastic, DuMaurier is a brilliant wordsmith, in fact I highly recommend Rebecca, My Cousin Rachel and Jamaica Inn. Seriously, I don’t think you’d regret any of those. The stories are amazing.
Lynn 😀
Now I’m even more excited! I must admit I was worried about Rebecca with the age of it I thought maybe the writing style might be hard for me to get along with because a lot of the older books I’ve read I’ve ended up not enjoying for that exact reason!
Yes, I think that’s quite often the case tbh. Getting used to the older style of writing. But Rebecca is not too old (I’m thinking comparatively speaking with say HGWells Time Machine or even Austen.). I think Rebecca was 1930/40s ish? You could go to Amazon and click on the “look inside” option to see if you like the style. 😁
So many favorites listed! I’ve read the last three on your list countless times. I’m reading the LOTR trilogy for the first time now. Halfway through the Two Towers and loving it.
Ooh, I love LotR so hope your reading continues to wow you.
Lynn 😀
So many great ones! I had a hard time narrowing down my list too — Jane Austen could take six out of 10 spots. 🙂
Yes, you’re quite right – Austen could have almost stole the show.
Lynn 😀
“I may have a thing for books that err on the side of Gothic, dark or fantasy…” – Ha! Who can blame you though? 😛 Guilty here as well!
I know – they are good aren’t they – how can we reist.
Lynn 😀
Ooh I like this list. So many great titles, Jane Eyre and Dracula are particular favourites. I’ve never read Northanger Abbey but the mention of gothic makes me think that I should.
Yeah, Northanger Abbey is a book that takes a funny look at the love of gothic that seemed to be sweeping the nation at the time. So, Mrs Radcliffe’s Mysteries of Udolpho was very popular at the time and had young ladies swooning all over the place and Austen wrote of a young woman with a very active imagination who is quite naive and longing for something to dramatic to happen in her life so ends up greatly over thinking things. I liked it. But then I pretty much liked all her work.
Lynn 😀
I love your description of this, it sounds a bit gothic but also fun. I must have either a ‘real’ or an e-book copy of Northanger Abbey somewhere I’m sure, am going to check so next time I fancy something classic it’ll be there. I may have seen an adaptation a while ago but I’m sure I haven’t read the original book.
I hope you get a chance to pick it up – interested to see what you think of it.
Lynn 😀
Great list, Lynn! So many classics. I think Northanger Abbey is so underrated. It’s where you really see Austen parodying something (in this case Gothic novels) while….also making a pretty darn version of it.
Yes, exactly what I love about it.
Lynn 😀
Oh so many of these are favourites, I would practically have to copy out your list to answer, Lynn! 😅😍
Haha – yes, we do share a lot of books in common.
Lynn 😀