Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Top Ten Tuesday: Back-In-The-Day Book Reviews



Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is the first ten books I ever reviewed. I started writing book reviews in 2011 but didn’t get serious about it until 2014. I’ll happily show you which ten books I reviewed first, but I’m not linking to reviews. My early ones are too embarrassing. I might shrivel into a ball of humiliation and self-loathing if you saw them. My skills have definitely improved over the years.







Back-In-The-Day Book Reviews





1. Different Seasons by Stephen King


Horror Novellas




Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption—the most satisfying tale of unjust imprisonment and offbeat escape since The Count of Monte Cristo.

Apt Pupil—a golden California schoolboy and an old man whose hideous past he uncovers enter into a fateful and chilling mutual parasitism.

The Body—four rambunctious young boys venture into the Maine woods and in sunlight and thunder find life, death, and intimations of their own mortality.

The Breathing Method—a tale told in a strange club about a woman determined to give birth no matter what.








2. Bridge To Terabithia by Katherine Paterson


Middlegrade Modern Classic



Jess Aarons' greatest ambition is to be the fastest runner in his grade. He's been practicing all summer and can't wait to see his classmates' faces when he beats them all. But on the first day of school, a new girl boldly crosses over to the boys' side and outruns everyone.

That's not a very promising beginning for a friendship, but Jess and Leslie Burke become inseparable. Together they create Terabithia, a magical kingdom in the woods where the two of them reign as king and queen, and their imaginations set the only limits.










3. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood


Literary Fiction



The Blind Assassin opens with these simple, resonant words: "Ten days after the war ended, my sister Laura drove a car off a bridge." They are spoken by Iris, whose terse account of her sister's death in 1945 is followed by an inquest report proclaiming the death accidental. But just as the reader expects to settle into Laura's story, Atwood introduces a novel-within-a-novel. Entitled The Blind Assassin, it is a science fiction story told by two unnamed lovers who meet in dingy backstreet rooms. When we return to Iris, it is through a 1947 newspaper article announcing the discovery of a sailboat carrying the dead body of her husband, a distinguished industrialist.










4. To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf


Classic



The serene and maternal Mrs. Ramsay, the tragic yet absurd Mr. Ramsay, and their children and assorted guests are on holiday on the Isle of Skye. From the seemingly trivial postponement of a visit to a nearby lighthouse, Woolf constructs a remarkable, moving examination of the complex tensions and allegiances of family life and the conflict between men and women.

As time winds its way through their lives, the Ramsays face, alone and simultaneously, the greatest of human challenges and its greatest triumph—the human capacity for change.










5. Expecting Armageddon: Essential Readings In Failed Prophecy by Jon R. Stone (Editor)


Sociological Essays



A synopsis for this book doesn’t seem to exist. (Probably because normal humans don’t read these kinds of things.) Basically, it’s a collection of dry, data-filled essays about what happens to religious fringe groups when the apocalypse they predict doesn’t happen. This collection is a response to Festinger’s When Prophecy Fails study.













6. Emma by Jane Austen


Classic



Emma Woodhouse is one of Austen's most captivating and vivid characters. Beautiful, spoilt, vain and irrepressibly witty, Emma organizes the lives of the inhabitants of her sleepy little village and plays matchmaker with devastating effect.














7. Close Range: Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx


Literary Fiction Short Stories



Annie Proulx's masterful language and fierce love of Wyoming are evident in these tales of loneliness, quick violence, and the wrong kinds of love. Each of the portraits in Close Range reveals characters fiercely wrought with precision and grace.













8. Divergent by Veronica Roth


Young Adult Dystopia



In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.








9. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak


Young Adult Historical Fiction



It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still.

By her brother's graveside, Liesel's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger's Handbook, left behind there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordion-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever there are books to be found.

But these are dangerous times. When Liesel's foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up, and closed down.








10. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan


Middlegrade Fantasy



Percy Jackson is a good kid, but he can't seem to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. And lately, being away at boarding school is only getting worse—Percy could have sworn his pre-algebra teacher turned into a monster and tried to kill him. When Percy's mom finds out, she knows it's time that he knew the truth about where he came from, and that he go to the one place he'll be safe. She sends Percy to Camp Half Blood, a summer camp for demigods (on Long Island), where he learns that the father he never knew is Poseidon, God of the Sea. Soon a mystery unfolds and together with his friends—one a satyr and the other the demigod daughter of Athena—Percy sets out on a quest across the United States to reach the gates of the Underworld (located in a recording studio in Hollywood) and prevent a catastrophic war between the gods.







Do you review books? What’s the first one you reviewed?






64 comments:

  1. Oh, c'mon! We want to see those reviews from the past! I bravely shared mine...though I'm not terribly sure I have improved all that much....

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    1. Haha, I’m not sure if all of them still exist on the blog. I know they’re on Goodreads, but I deleted a bunch of blog posts when their formatting broke.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  2. I hated looking back at my reviews this week! I linked mine though lol.

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  3. I'm shocked at how many bloggers aren't linking to their old reviews! There's no need to be embarrassed. It's fun to see how much we've evolved and progressed. That's why I loved today's topic. It's FUN!

    Happy TTT!

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    1. People are braver than me. It’s good to know I’m not the only one who’s embarrassed by old posts.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  4. I am sure my reviews have not improved at all. So I didn't mind linking them. It is very on brand that you read AND REVIEWED a book about cults whose doomsday never came.

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    1. Haha, it is on brand! I think I’m the only person who reviewed that book on Goodreads. Maybe I’m the only person in the universe who has actually read it.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  5. I love this topic... definitely know what you mean about early reviews being cringe-worthy! I might have to post about this later in the week.

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  6. My early reviews are not great either...I linked them, but I already regret it, haha. It's so fun to see the early books bloggers reviewed. Close Range sounds great!

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    1. Close Range is excellent. It’s still one of my favorite short story collections ever.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  7. I loved Different Seasons! What is the earliest review you've written that you'd be proud to share with your readers?

    My TTT.

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  8. Wow, what a great variety, there's something for just about every kind of reader here. And yeah, I linked to my original reviews, too. Join in the cringe-fest! ;-)

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    1. Haha, cringe-fest is right! I used to be very terrible at writing reviews.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  9. Great list! I love The Book Thief and I need to read more Margaret Atwood.

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    1. Margaret Atwood is one of my favorite authors. I’m slowing working my way through her novels and short stories.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  10. I love the broad mix of books you have up there! Perhaps I should have done the same, not actually put the link to my reviews in this week's post!

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  11. Hey. I read 2 on this list! My daughter loves Riordan, so I have started the Percy Jackson books, and she as all into dystopians back in the day, so I read her Divergent books too. If I had known how it would all, I would never have picked up the first book. I could never read Terabithia. The movie crushed my soul and I think the book would destroy me.

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    1. Yeah, the Divergent books have a very disappointing ending. I got spoiled for it and only finished the series because I owned the whole series.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  12. I don't think you're alone on the early reviews thing! Good grief some of mine... ergh lol.

    Divergent! Woo hoo!! I liked the first two but never read the third... and Expecting Armagedon sounds pretty interesting...

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    1. It’s probably good that you never read the third. I thought it was disappointing!

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  13. When I look at my old reviews (even though they're like 1.5 years ago) I still cringe at them. I don't know why. My posts just feel so baby-ish lol... Sometimes I even read my recent reviews and go " I wrote that? Really??!!!"

    I've read a couple on your list. Bridge to Terabithia made me mad in middle school because in all the books I've read back then, only the bad guys die, never the main characters xD

    Elle Inked @ Keep on Reading

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    1. Haha, I loved Bridge To Terabithia when I was in middle school because it isn’t fluffy. Most of the books in my school’s library were fluffy.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  14. I think Divergent was one of my early book reviews too (if I recall correctly). I totally forgot about TTT. I'll do this topic too to post tomorrow.

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    1. It seems like a lot of my blogger friends started blogging around the time that Divergent was popular.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  15. I can barely go back and read my early reviews because they're so cringey, lol. I think I was one of the last people on Earth to read The Lightning Thief, lol, and I still haven't returned to reading the series- yikes!

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    1. I read the original series and then got burnt out. I’m not interested in the 1000 follow-up books.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  16. Hahaha I shouldn't have linked either! I definitely loved Divergent. I should really read that series again.

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  17. I cried SO MUCH after reading Bridge to Terabithia! Have you seen the movie? Some of my earliest reviews were books from Netgalley, the Maze Runner series and Harry Potter :)

    Uma@Books.Bags.Burgers.

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    1. I have seen the movie! I think it was less sad for me because I knew what was coming.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  18. Some great books! Different seasons is still one I want to read for the short story The Bodies as it is what one of my favorite movies is based on.

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  19. I've only read a couple of these, and some were even on our list. It's funny seeing our old reviews.

    Ash @ JennRenee Read

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  20. What a wonderfully varied group of books! (That's a compliment; I like readers and bloggers with a wide range of reading interests.) And I haven't read a single one except The Lightining Thief. No, not even Bridge to Terabithia or The Book Thief, though both are on my list to read at some point.

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    1. Thanks! The Book Thief and Terabithia are excellent books. I recommend them.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  21. I've never read any of Rick Riordan's work, but I need to. Here is my Top Ten Tuesday.

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    1. I read his first series, but I didn’t love it enough to read all of the follow-up books.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  22. I only read BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA BY KATHERINE PATERSON, god that book made me cry

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  23. If I did this post, I couldn't have linked to old reviews either ahah I am a little ashamed of them, but... well, they're here and proof that we improved :D
    I haven't read Bridge to Terabithia, but Ive seen the movie and cried so, so hard ahah. I should read the book someday :)

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  24. You had a good variety here! I think we all cringed a bit at those old reviews, but that's okay. We all have to start somewhere!

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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  25. Wow, you started with some fabulous books! I loved both The Blind Assassin and The Book Thief, and To The Lighthouse is one I want to read as I enjoy Woolf's writing

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    1. The Blind Assassin and The Book Thief are two of my favorite books ever.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  26. I love the variety in your list. My early reviews were pretty cringeworthy too, lol.

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  27. My early reviews were definitely cringeworthy. I'd like to think that I did improve in some aspects. I've of course read Divergent, the hype was huge when I started blogging. I want to read the Percy Jackson series soon, I think it is a series that I'll read with the Littles.

    Tina @ As Told By Tina

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    1. I hope the Littles like Percy Jackson! It’s fast-paced and funny, so I would have liked it as a kid.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  28. I love the Percy Jackson books! I've read those a dozen times, and my son loves hearing them! I can't remember what my first review was, and I'd have to go look! I'm pretty sure it was something adult and paranormal. The Winter King, maybe. Something like that? Hah! I do think we all get better at reviewing over time. We find our rhythm and improve as we go.

    Lindsi @ Do You Dog-ear? 💬

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    1. I enjoyed the original Percy Jackson books, but now there are so many! I’m not motivated enough to catch up.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  29. In my Sagecoveredhills blog, I first wrote about books I was reading in January 2005. I didn't review books, but made comments on them including: Craig Childs, "The Secret of Water" Richard Francaviglia’s, "Believing in Place: A Spiritual Geography of the Great Basin". David James Duncan’s "The River Why?; Daniel Wallace’s, "Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions" and Mark Spragg’s, "Where Rivers Change Direction" My first "review" was more an essay and came a few months later as I wrote about John Shelton Reed's "Whistling Dixie."

    I've done hundreds of reviews since then!

    www.thepulpitandthepen.com

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    1. Wow, you’ve been reviewing for a long time. I think I’ve written over 400 reviews now.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  30. I enjoyed The Body and I liked the film. The Book Thief made me cry so bad!

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  31. I still haven't read The Book Theif! ��

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