Top Ten Tuesday: Books We Loved But Never Wrote Reviews For

TTT is by The Broke and the Bookish.

Yash

1. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han: I don’t know if I’ve ever made a post about realistic fiction/romance on here. Hmm. In any case, I did love this one. And I hear a sequel is coming out soon! (Though I think it works well as a stand alone too.)
2. Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman: The best of his anthologies, in my opinion. Has the creepiest, goriest Snow White story. I really appreciate Snow White stories that get as far away as they can from this version.
3. Mouse Bird Snake Wolf by David Almond and Dave McKean: An odd creation story for middle grade readers. Between Almond’s words and McKean’s illustrations, it really does feel like a whole other world.
4. Fire by Kristin Cashore: I loved it. I work it into lists and op-eds, but I haven’t reviewed it for some reason.
5. Kissing the Witch by Emma Donoghue: Another fantastic anthology. Maybe we should do another anthology month …

Janet

1. Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson. Beautiful, honest, and compelling. A picturebook that is not to be forgotten.
2. The Merlin Conspiracy and pretty much everything else by Diana Wynne Jones. What can I say about DWJ’s books except that I love them?
3. Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett. Pies, football (soccer, if you live in North America), crowd magic, racism/species-ism, romance novels, wizards being wizards, rules, politics, friendships, love, courage … I didn’t discover this book until last month but it is possibly my new favourite Discworld story. You might want to hit the kitchen and bake a good supply of pies (savory and sweet) before reading.
4.  Iron John by Eric Kimmel, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman. The illustrations add darkness and gold and new meaning to this story, which has been rewoven from the original fairy tale. Hm, a retelling. Maybe I’ll write about picturebook versions of this tale later this month.
5. The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope. If you like historical novels, ballads, and tales of human dealings with the Good Folk, here’s one for you. Middle grade novel with a stubborn protagonist.

Nafiza

1. Jellicoe Road – Melina Marchetta
   I will be rectifying this next month. Because it’s all about friendship and hey, that’s what we’re going to be discussing next month!
2. The Ghosts of Ashbury High by Jaclyn Moriarty
   I wouldn’t even know where and how to properly express the glee and wonder I felt while reading this month. It was just…amazing.
3. The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
   Even though I did not write an official review of this, I think I convinced enough people to read it by not shutting up about it when I met them or when I emailed them. Haha.
4. The Glass Sentence by S. E. Grove
   This remarkably well thought out middlegrade novel was one of my favourite reads of 2014. I didn’t review it but I probably did talk about it with my friends or go off on Twitter about it.
5. Wild by Emily Hughes
   This little picturebook is utterly brilliant. I just need a copy it for my own.
6. Big Bad Bunny by Franny Billingsley
   Another really wonderful picturebook that all adults need to read because it is that awesome.