Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted over at The Broke and the Bookish.  Each week we get a new theme.  This week's theme is top 10 books that should be required reading for teens. It is hard to say that any book should be "required" as I would love to see teens out there reading books that they choose. Since there will be "required' reading I feel a variety should offered in order to help them become familiar with different types of writing and perhaps find a genre they would like to read more of. It's going to be hard to choose just 10 but here are my picks:

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
I think this is a book everyone should read, it's one of my all time favorites.

2. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
This is not only a classic with pirates, high adventure, suspense and adventure, it is also study in moral ambiguity. Plenty of fun reading, plenty of meat to discuss.

3. Night by Elie Wiesel
The past should be remembered.

4. The Call of the Wild by Jack London
I loved this one as a teen and loved it as an adult.

5. 1776 by David G. McCullough
History that is very readable.

6. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Or any other book by this great author!

7. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
A great introduction to the fantasy genre. Perhaps they will be encouraged to go on to The Lord of the Rings. I was.

8. Frankenstein by Mary Shelly
They know the monster from the movies. Now read and find outr who the real monsters are.

9. Anything by John Steinbeck
Peruse his books and choose one.

10.The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
This moving story of an autistic teen is a must read.

Well, there are so many great books out there it is hard to stop here.

Top Ten Tuesday

Top 10 Tuesday time – a weekly bookish meme hosted over at

The Broke & The Bookish. Today the topic is:

Top Ten Bookish Pet Peeves

All those things that annoy you in a story,

with book covers, bookstores, etc.

This should be fun!

*Broken spines-I let a friend read one of my Stephen King books once. Her husband, being a fan, wanted to read it too. He bent the book back in several places and broke the back to pieces. I had to donate it to goodwill and purchase a new one. I don't guess I had to, but I couldn't stand it. Talk about ticked. I don't buy used books with broken spines either, paper or hard back.

*Dog eared pages - Please use a bookmark if you have one of my books. I actually lend them with a bookmark in them, just in case....

*Coffee cup rings - on book covers.

*Short Stories - I'm making myself read some short story collections this year. Usually I find that short stories just leave me - empty - wanting more.... especially if it is a good one.

*Books that are too long - with a lot of extra stuff thrown in just to make it long. I don't mind a long book if the story moves right along but please don't drag out scenes, add story lines that end up not adding anything to the main story......

*Modern slang in historical fiction - it's distracting

*Newest book in a series is hard back - when all the others have been paperback

*Bar code or other stickers - over prices on audio books or over the blurb.

*Books without a blurb - I want one even if it is a favorite author.

*The heroine who does stupid things - in the name of being strong and independent. Yikes!

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Characters I'd Want As Family Members

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because she is particularly fond of lists. We'd love to share our lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!
This should be a fun list. It will take some thinking

*Flavia de Luce - I think this precocious child would be a lot of fun to have in the family. Never a dull moment with her around

*Biggie - from the Biggie series by Nancy Bell. What could be better than a rich, loving, smart Grandma?

* Enzo - (The Art of Racing in the Rain) ok, so he's a dog. I would just love to have him living with us!

*Dad Howitt (The Shepherd of the Hills) - a simple, wise man - what a great grandfather he'd make.

*Stephanie Plum - if she was in the family, I'd probably get to meet Ranger. :)

*Patricia Anne & Mary Alice from the Southern Sisters series by Anne George. These two would be wonderful sisters, lots of fun, adventerous & brave.

* Anna Pigeon from the series by Nevada Barr - What a great aunt or sister she would make. A caring person who is always moving to a new exciting place. YEA!

*Mr. Bennet from Pride and Prejudice - What a wonderful dad he'd make (if you actually needed one) or uncle. He loves his daughters, he doesn't expect them to bend to the rules for young ladies of the day and puts up with their mom with humor.

*Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - He has been my hero for years. It would be great to have your hero in your family. I would love for him to be my uncle.

*Joe Grey from The Joe Grey mystery series by Shirley Rousseau Murphy - Yep he's a cat. I have a dog on this list and now a cat. I think they would get along just fine and would liven up my life wonderfully.