Top Ten Books On My Spring To-Be-Read List

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, and you can find more about this meme here. This week is the top ten books on my Spring TBR. I don't really know how much reading I'm going to get done this Spring as next month I have my final exams, but here's my list anyway!

1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
I'm pretty sure this was also on my Winter TBR...I just haven't gotten to it yet. It's reached that point where I really, really want to get this read just because I'm sick of constantly putting it on my TBR.

2. Crome Yellow by Aldous Huxley
This is a really small one, so I reckon I could knock it off pretty quickly. Like Anna Karenina, it's also on my list of 14 books I wanted to read this year.

3. The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray
This is another one on that list. I read the first 300 pages or so earlier this year but I put it down for some reason. I'm going to try and get this done as soon as possible.

4. Amy and Matthew by Cammie McGovern
I bought this one at the Melbourne meet-up a few months back, and I've since heard that this is a little disappointing...I just want to get it read now.

5. The Enemy by Charlie Higson
I've been reading this one for MONTHS. I'm really enjoying the story, but I have to be in a certain mood to read it. Hopefully I can get it done this season.

6. Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
I've been reading this for literally a year and a half. The thing is, when I'm actually actively reading it I'm really enjoying it and I'm getting through it quite quickly but then I put it down for something else...

7. Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
I've had this one out from my Uni library for months now. Considering the year is almost over, I should probably read it and return it!

8. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
OKAY, CALM DOWN! This is a re-read for me but I really, really need some Etienne St Clair in my life right now.

9. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
No, I haven't read this one yet. Yes, I know how good it is. I'll get it read as soon as I can!

10. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
Okay, so I don't actually expect to finish this one this Spring but I'd like to at least start it. If all goes to plan, I'd like to read the entire Lord of the Rings this summer.

So yep, that's it! I expect some of you to laugh at my ambitious goals...I know I am. Let me know which of these I should read first. Until next time...

REVIEW: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Title: The Hobbit

Author: J.R.R. Tolkien

Publication Date: August 15th 2002 (First published 1937)

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Format: Paperback

Pages: 351

Rating: 4.5/5
Blurb: In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.

Written for J.R.R. Tolkien’s own children, The Hobbit met with instant critical acclaim when it was first published in 1937. Now recognized as a timeless classic, this introduction to the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, the wizard Gandalf, Gollum, and the spectacular world of Middle-earth recounts of the adventures of a reluctant hero, a powerful and dangerous ring, and the cruel dragon Smaug the Magnificent.

Review: A couple of years ago, fourteen year-old Ely thought that reading The Hobbit sounded like an excellent idea and so she borrowed it from her school library- she hardly managed to get past the first chapter. Fast-forward, April 2012: Ely decides yet again that she will try to read The Hobbit- this times she gets five chapters in before she puts the book down again. December 23rd, 2012 rolls around and Ely realises she has six days until she is going to see the movie with her friends which means six days to read the book. 

 

And so began my third attempt of reading The Hobbit and finally, my first successful attempt. If you happened to read my book to movie adaption review (which will be linked further down), you'd known that despite my original difficulty with this book, this time around after the first few chapters I found myself really enjoying what I was reading. As mentioned in the book to movie, I fell in love with all the characters and the world fairly quickly (some more quickly than others), as well as the narrative style that has an aspect of teasing about future events to you. 

 

Out of the three parts (determined by where the movies will end, or rather where they are rumoured to end)- the first and last parts were definitely my favourites. The first part because of the characters, objects, places etc. that were introduced that I was aware of from my very limited knowledge of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the third part because of all the action that was happening and ultimately how everything wrapped up. 

Sometime in 2013 I plan to actually pick up The Lord of the Rings books for the first time and hopefully enjoy them as much as I enjoyed The Hobbit!

You can see the book to movie adaption review here

Questions for you...Have you seen the movie? If yes, and if you've read the book- which did you prefer? And finally, if you've read The Lord of the Rings- did you enjoy them?