TOP TEN TUESDAY | Books I HAD To Buy…But Are Still Sitting On My Shelf Unread

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish where we list our top tens! This week’s topic is “top ten books I HAD to buy…but are still sitting on my shelf unread.” I am guilty of buying books and leaving them unread. I feel bad. I don’t mean to neglect them! I am just easily distracted. (btw, as I compiled this list, I realize there are no young adult novels, DDD:)

1. Serious Pleasures: the Life of Stephen Tennant by Philip Hoare

I am obsessed with lifestyle of the Bright Young People, especially Stephen Tennant, who I already know is such a fabulous individual. I bought this book last summer, but then classes began, so this book was put on the back burner. 

2. Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh

Again, this book dealt with the Bright Young People. One of my favorite types of people in history. And it was a satirical view of the BYP? Umm, yessss. I was looking everywhere for a reasonable price, and I finally found one at an used bookstore in San Francisco in January. 

3. The Late Hector Kipling: A Novel by David Thewlis

I got this book two (or more) years ago because I was going through a David Thewlis love fest, and was thoroughly pleased that he had written a book. He’s such a fantastic actor, and no doubt a fantastic novelist. I actually did start the book but I stopped? I don’t know the reasons.

4. Who Could That Be At This Hour? by Lemony Snicket

My friend actually bought this for me for Christmas. I have been meaning to read it because it’s Lemony frickin’ Snicket’s new series! But I haven’t gotten in the mind frame of reading the book. 

5. Watch Your Mouth by Daniel Handler

Daniel Handler, my heart! I love his books, and this has been on my must read. I decided to purchase it because it was relatively cheaper to buy it at this used bookstore in my city than to buy it online. Yay! 

6. House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

This was the first Edith Wharton book I bought. I felt strongly about the author and the plot/themes of the novel, and I still do. I wish I had taken an English course that focused on Edith Wharton’s work because it’ll force me to read her books and I’ll have legitimate reasons of why I adore them.  

7. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

This has been sitting on my shelf for over three years. Any Margaret Atwood book is a must read, and this particular book of hers was recommended to me. The premise of it intrigued. Sisters, betrayal, intrigue? Yes, please. But uh, yeah, I never felt in the mood to pick it up. 

8. Kafka on Shore by Haruki Murakami

Murakami has always been on my reading list, so I decided to buy this (along with The Blind Assassin), thinking I would read it, but that never happened? Pure laziness on my part. I will read his book! One day. 

9. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

I really should just compile all of Edith Wharton books into one number because I own the majority of the books she’s written, but never read it? I’m sorry, Edith Wharton! 

10. The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family by Mary S. Lowell
The Mitford sisters are absolutely fascinating to me. They have very rich backgrounds; each advocated for different ideologies like Nazism, Communism, and Socialism. They are such a mess (but I thrive in that). It’s overwhelming looking around my room and seeing books I’ve bought going unread.