Hi, guys! I’m finally joining in on another Top Ten Tuesday topic. It’s been a while since I participated in this meme without tweaking the topic so much it became something else entirely. This week, we’ll be talking about the Books I loved but never reviewed. I think this is a perfect way to shout out some of our favorite books that might have gone unnoticed.
Researching for this post made me realize that I write a lot of reviews! I thought coming up with 10 will be an easy task for today’s post. Oh, I was very wrong. 😅
Going through my trusty Goodreads shelf, I couldn’t even find ten books with 5-star ratings I didn’t review. At the end, I had 7 but decided to reduce it to 5, just because 5 is a much better number than 7 (in my opinion). And also because there were two books on this list that I still hope to write reviews for, even though it’s been over a year since I read them.
| 5 BOOKS I LOVED BUT NEVER REVIEWED |
|---|
The Martian by Andy Weir
Whenever anyone asks me what my favorite Sci-Fi is, my answer is always «The Martian» by Andy Weir. I loved everything about it – the humor was on point, the survival skills were very interesting to read about and Mark Watney was such a great character to follow through these tragic events. Just talking about this book now makes me want to re-read it! Surprisingly, Andy Weir’s other book «Artemis» wasn’t as good. I still enjoyed it very much, but uuuh… I hated the main character!
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
This one is my favorite book of all time! No other story, no other character had me so completely attached to the pages of the book like Eleanor did. I actually don’t regret not reviewing this book. Yes, it’s great to have my thoughts on books all stored on my blog and I can pull them up and read them at any moment, but «Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine» holds a very special place in my heart and I’m content with not sharing my thoughts. I also try to avoid reading other’s reviews on this book. 😀
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Unlike the previous book, I was going to review «An American Marriage». I even have a draft of my review somewhere on my GDrive, but I never got around to finishing it. I’m almost certain that it’s more than 50% done and probably all I have left is edit a little bit and maybe add a few things. There is just so much to say about this one! It had commentary on many different subjects that I found fascinating. I should definitely finish this review at some point this year.
The Selection Series by Kiera Cass
I started this series during my Hong Kong trip, as something fun to do on a 13-hours-long plane trip. I have to be honest with you, guys, I loved it! 😀 I think I even read book 2 while I was in Hong Kong and struggling with jetlag at night. They were quick, fun, and easy, and I loved every second of it.
Windhaven by George R.R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle
The Hunger Games is my favorite TV show of all time, but my favorite George R.R. Martin’s book is actually «Windhaven»! I tried so many times to read the Song of Ice and Fire series. I read the first book twice and only got as far as 100smth pages of Book 2🤦♀️
«Windhaven» was a completely different experience. I read it very fast and loved everything about it. It’s such a unique standalone fantasy story, in my opinion, and it definitely deserves more love.
Another book I loved but haven’t reviewed yet is «The Kite Runner» by Khaled Hosseini. I read it in July for my “traveling through books” challenge and I had all the intentions to write a review for it, especially because it’s part of my “15 before 30 books” challenge, but it’s such a heartwrenching and important story that I just kind find the right words to do it justice.
FUN FACT: I recently found my TTT post from June 2019 where I talked about books in my favorite genres that I wasn’t interested in. And, surprise surprise, THREE of the books from that list I already read this year – one of them being «The Kite Runner»! And another book I included this year in my “5-star predictions post”!
Do you always review your favorite books? Or do you find it difficult sometimes to review books you really loved?
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WhimsyPages 
The Martian is such a good book. I loved it. And yes I struggle sooo much with talking about books I love 😂😂 when I hate a book I have way more things to say lol. Great post 🥰
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The Martian is one of those rare books that I’m considering rereading sometime in the future. It was so funny and just incredible. Although, I didn’t like Andy Weir’s second book, but I’m interested to see what else he comes up with in the future.
And yes, Why is it so difficult to find things to talk about when you love them?? 😀
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I still haven’t read The Martian though it has been on my bookshelf for a very long time! I’m interested to read your thoughts on Windhaven too as I had never even heard of it!
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The Martian was such a great book! Highly recommend 🙂 And WIndhaven was actually a xmas present from someone very long ago, and it was one of the first fantasy books I read in while and was blown away by it!
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Great! I will definitely check them out 😀
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The Selection seems like the perfect guilty pleasure read, and I need it in my life.
Generally, I review all the books I’ve read. But there are some favorites I read before starting the blog, and now I want to reread them to post a review.
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Ahah, yeah, definitely! 😀 I didn’t expect to enjoy the Selection as much as I did. Lol
That would be great 🙂 I don’t usually reread books, but can definitely see myself rereading these ones in the future.
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This week’s prompt made me realise how many reviews I haven’t written 😂 Mostly because I read these books pre-blogging/reviewing, so they have star ratings but no reviews lol Eleanor Oliphant and Kite Runner would also make the list on top of the easy 10 I picked haha woops…
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I don’t actually have that many, as I only started reading again like 6 months before starting my blog and I didn’t read that many books per month (especially compared with the n.º of books I manage to read now) Lol
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The Martian was on my list, too!
My TTT .
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I’ve seen the Martian and All the Lights we Cannot See (which is another book I could have included) in many TTTs 😀
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I loved the character of Eleanor Oliphant. I hardly ever see characters as real as she seemed on the page.
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So true! I was fascinated by her and after finishing the book just wanted more of Eleanor or at least a similar book with a similar character.
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I’m glad you loved The Kite Runner – it’s been on my TBR for a while. I’ve read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini and I loved it so I can imagine how emotional TKR is!
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Ooh, I’m not ready for A Thousand Splendid Suns yet 😀 But I’ll definitely read it in the future.
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I try to review all the ones I read now, but sometimes I’ll say ‘Full review to come’ then promptly forget, or it’s an old favourite from before I started reviewing on Goodreads or my blog. I hadn’t heard of Windhaven before, I’ll have to check it out!
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Windhaven was incredible! I hope you’ll get the chance to read it soon 🙂
Ahaha, I try to avoid putting RTC on Goodreads, because I know I will forget to write it 😀
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Eleanor Oliphant was a good book, for sure. I’ve never seen that cover. I think I like it better than the one I own. 🙂
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It’s the same as the hardback I have 😀 I saw the different cover, but I def prefer this one. It’s not exactly white, more of a grayish silver ❤
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Loved Eleanor Oliphant, but also didn’t review it. I don’t have that many reviews up my sleeve. Yet. Might change that! I do a bit of Goodreads here and there and now with the blog, I hope to do it more on that platform.
Happy TTT! Here’s my TTT
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Sometimes I actually prefer not to review the books I really loved. It makes them feel a little bit more precious 😀 When I started this blog, my only concept for it was to have a place where I could store all my reviews in a pretty way. So in the beginning, I only wrote reviews, but then when I discovered other book bloggers, I saw that there are TONS of other content I could share here 😀
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I love the list!b👏🏻❤️ I think I’ll give The Martian a chance, I really liked the movie & OMG, I remember loving The Selection when I read it, SO long ago, although I just stop with the original trilogy, Ive never really felt the need to read the rest of the “New” books 😊✨
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You haven’t read the Martian????? UUuuuh, I’m so jealous of you! You get to read it for the first time! I loved it so much, hope you’ll find the time for it ❤
And yea, I tried the first book in the new series following America's daughter, but didn't read anything else.
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I tend to review everything, I love sharing the love for books I enjoyed and I love writing rants, it’s usually the in between books that I find hardest to review!
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2020/08/11/top-ten-tuesday-276/
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Yeah, the in between books can be difficult to review. Especially the ones where nothing really was wrong but they still weren’t enjoyable enough 😀
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Oh 100%!
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I really liked An American Marriage.
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.
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I’d love to read more books by Tayari Jones 🙂
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Great list! I really need to read The Martian!
My post!
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Yes!!!! x 10000 😀 It’s still one of the best (and funniest) sci-fis I’ve ever read!
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Fantastic list! Love your comments about the books you included. I was not blown away by The Martian, I have to say! This is my TTT
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Thank you so much! I read Artemis by Andy Weir and while I enjoyed it, I think the Martian was so much better 🙂
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If I don’t start the review immediately after reading the book then I probably won’t review it because it’s like I literally cannot find the words to describe the book. And it’s only with favorites which just makes it more annoying. Most of the time I just end up reviewing it after rereading.
I loved The Martian movie adaptation (even own the dvd) so I should def check out the book! Plus, I’ve always had my doubts about the Selection. It seems fun but I just have this feeling that I won’t enjoy it? (Someday I might just pick it up form the library and give it a chance.)
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Yeah! I’m the same. I’ve been trying a different tactic lately, so I wouldn’t be stuck on one review for hours. Whenever I start a new book, I immediately create my draft, write my initial thoughts (introduction) and then just keep updating it as I read the book. It seems to work well so far 😀
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Great post! I’ve read so many books that I’ve loved and wished I’d reviewed, this is such a good way to share the love for some of them. 🙂
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So true! 😀 Sometimes I prefer not to review the books I love, Idk… it makes them a bit more precious in my mind. Ahaha. But these types of posts are great to just give brief thoughts and share the bookish love!
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The Selection was a fun read. It was probably an easier on to read wit jet lag than others. Glad you enjoyed it!
My TTT.
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The Selection series was so addictive! 😀 There were a couple of nights when I couldn’t fall asleep for hours, so stayed up so late reading these books. Lol
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Lots of great-looking books on here. I haven’t read any of them, although a few are already on my TBR list.
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
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I hope you’ll get to the ones on your TBR soon! I loved all of these 🙂
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I loved The Martian and An American Marriage, too! Can you believe I still need to read Eleanor?? It’s waiting on my TBR shelf. Hearing how much you love it makes me want to pick it up even sooner. And I understand what you mean about not wanting to write a review BECAUSE you love it so much. I feel that way about some books, too. I don’t want anyone to try to change my opinions about them. Or I love them so much, I just don’t care what anyone else thinks. Ha!
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Yeah! Exactly! 😀 And you need to read Eleanor Oliphant soon! I’ve never read any book with such an amazing character. Would love to hear your thoughts on it ❤
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I wish I would have done this TTT post, because there are so many books that I read and love but don’t review. Over the last year or two I’ve just been reviewing ARCs. When I first started my blog I reviewed ever single book I read. I need to get back into doing that! I actually really liked the Selection books (minus not liking America much). I didn’t love book 4 or 5 though. I’ve had The Martian on my TBR for so long now. I haven’t read The Kite Runner before, but I did get the graphic novel from my library that I hope to read this month. I know it’s not going to be exactly the same as if I read the actual novel though, but maybe it’ll motivate me to finally pick up the regular version if I love it. 🙂
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You can still do it without the TTT! 😀 I’d love to see what books you loved but didn’t review!
I’m actually the opposite! When I started blog I didn’t review every single book, but last year and this year, I try to review almost everything I read. It can be exhausting though, so I do allow myself to pick up certain books from my shelves and go into them knowing that I won’t be writing a review for it. It feels so liberating 😀
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Yeah, I’ll have to do a post about books I loved and didn’t review soon. 🙂 Yeah, reviewing every book can get exhausting and I think that’s why I stopped reviewing so many. But I think next year I might try to challenge myself to do more reviews. It’s nice to allow yourself to not review a book though. 🙂
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