Five Books People Have Been Telling Me I MUST Read

I can’t get to ten on this week’s Top Ten Tuesday, primarily because if enough people recommend a book (such as The Fault in our Stars by John Green), I will usually read it fairly promptly…which makes it ineligible for this particular list! I’ve also excluded books that have been brought to my attention by the authors themselves—I don’t mean via spammy advertising here (that NEVER works), but books where I’ve gotten to know the author on Twitter or similar and then decided to buy it.

So, here is my list, such as it is!

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. I’ve lost track of the number of people that have recommended this book to me, and after including it in my list of books I’m not sure about reading, I got even more endorsements. I’ve bought the paperback and it’s on my to-be-read pile.

Everything by Mary Renault. That’s not the name of the book, mind you! But I recently read her book The King Must Die, and a friend, on seeing this via Facebook, insisted I have to read all her other books set in Ancient Greece — which I think is all of them. I’ve been reading a lot about the era recently, both fiction and non-fiction, so I may well do. (Currently I’m a little bit in love with Achilles from The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller.)

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. After I reviewed The Raven Boys, it was suggested that I pick up this book. I will eventually, if Stiefvater’s books keep being as awesome as The Raven Boys was, but I really want to read the rest of The Raven Cycle first — at least, that part of it that is already available in paperback!

Boneshaker by Cherie Priest. A zombie-mad friend recommended this one, and the blurb sounds really interesting: zombies, steampunk technology and an alternate history America? Ok, why not!

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner. A couple of friends gave rave reviews to this book on Goodreads and their blogs. On top of that, Jay Kristoff (who wrote The Lotus War trilogy) is co-writing a book called Illuminae with Amie, and he also recommended this. These Broken Stars is firmly on my wish list but I haven’t bought it yet.