Top Ten Tuesday

Aren't you just so ready for another list? This weeks Top Ten Tuesday, as always hosted by the fab The Broke and the Bookish, is really fun, and lets me tell you a little bit about the blogs I like to read, as well as the books that get my attention! It is going to be a mixture, of books that I have already read after their recommendation, as well as books that I fully intend to read sometime but just haven't gotten around to yet! This weeks topic is in honour of BBAW, an event that I'm fully aware of but haven't yet participated in- yesterday's topic was a bit similar to this post I did for Armchair BEA, so I'm pretty comfortable just not posting about it- but I can still participate in my own teeny way with this weeks TTT (which I totally voted for as my favourite meme for BBAW. Obviously!)

Top Ten Books I Read/Intend to Read Because of Another Blogger


1. Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen, because of Jenn from Booksessed- Jenn is basically my blogging bff, so when she said that Water for Elephants was one of her favourite books I thought, hey, I think I'll give that a go! I'm glad I did- I liked it a lot, although maybe not quite as much as Jenn- but still, a lot!

2. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan, because of Alley from What Red Read- I haven't quite got round to reading this yet, but I have gotten it out of the library, which is a good start! Allie's blog is possibly my favourite in the entire universe, and when she says a book is great, I've gotta believe her, so once I read her review of this, I immediately put this on my wish list.

3. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, because of Adam from Roof Beam Reader- I'm not sure that Adam has even formally reviewed this book on his (amazing) blog, but I do know that he talks about it a lot. Wondering what all the fuss was about, I bought Perks on a whim, and I'm so glad I read it- My favourite book of the year so far, probably one of my favourite books of my life,  so I'm really grateful that he likes to sing its graces a lot!

4. Pet Semetary by Stephen King, because of Kayleigh from Nylon Admiral- Ok, so obviously I'm reading all the Stephen King books anyway, so Kayleigh didn't strictly make me hurry out to buy Pet Semetary, since I already had it. BUT- her review of Pet Semetary did make me all edgy and hurrying along of myself so that I could get to it on my list because it sounds awesome. And so it had better be...

5. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, because of Amanda from Dead White Guys- I adore Dead White Guys, which I found before I was even a blogger, and when Amanda said on twitter that she was going to be reading Anna Karenina, I thought, yeah, I've had it for about a million years, I might as well read it too. It is SO amazing that I was really happy for my sheep-like actions that day. Even if it did take me about 20 years to finish (or, you know, 2 months or something. Whatever!)

6. On Beauty by Zadie Smith, because of Breana from Literary Musings- I already owned On Beauty before I read Breana's review of it, but now I want to read it so much that I also have Howard's End out of the library, which I apparently have to read beforehand to fully understand On Beauty. It sounds like a lot of work to me, but I trust Breana when she says it's important, so I'm a gonna do it anyway!

7. Lady Chatterley's Lover by D H Lawrence, because of Allie from A Literary Odyssey- I should really say that I re-read Lady Chatterley's lover because of Allie's readalong way back in April, which I probably wouldn't have done without this encouragement- what I found was a book that was much better than the one I remembered, so I've really got to thank Allie for this one!

8. Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta, because of Ashley from Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing- I know next to nothing about this book, which I think is mostly the best way to go into books, other than that it is one of Ashley's favourite books, she personally recommended it to me on twitter, and when I like someone's blog and they say a book is their favourite, believe me, I pay attention.

9. Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, because of Kit from Books are my Boyfriends- Honestly, I want to read everything Kit has ever reviewed because she is hilarious and brilliant and oh my gosh everyone should just read her blog right now! Eating Animals is just one example because I'm on a bit of a Foer kick these days, but really, everything she's reviewed, I just want to read.

10. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, because of various mysterious bloggers- Yeah, so I really don't know why I read Middlesex, other than it must have been because of other bloggers because I really disliked The Virgin Suicides, and I surely can't have just decided on my own to read another Eugenides book? So thanks guys, whoever you are- it was completely awesome, and definitely another one of those favourite books of the year for me.

So, who influenced you to read various books? Were they successes or not? Did you want to throttle your recommender because they were so awful? Let me know in the comments guys!