Top 10 Tuesdays: Ten Books That Have Been on My TBR Longest and I Still Haven’t Read

For some reason, this is one of my favourite lists to make even though it just draws attention to how long some of these books have stagnated on my list. This kind of topic has come up in Top 10 Tuesdays before, and I made posts about it back in July 2017, and again in September 2017. Embarrassingly enough, I have not yet read a single one of the books from either of those lists (although I tried to get Creepy and Maud from the library, only to learn that it was out of print!) and only two of them are on my list for this year. I still have some prompts open in my challenges though, so I may need to squeeze in a few more of these. Although these are books that I haven’t got around to yet, they are all still books that interest me enough to keep them on my list.

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

1) The Midwife’s Confession by Diane Chamberlain

I’ve mentioned before how I’d added many of Diane Chamberlain’s books to my list before I’d read a single one, because the plotlines just seemed so interesting. This was one of the first of her books that I put on my TBR, back in April 2015. This book is about a midwife named Noelle who has committed suicide, leaving behind an unfinished letter as the only clue her friends have about why she did this. I honestly have no good excuse for why I haven’t read this book yet since it seems like something I would really enjoy. I finally read one of Diane Chamberlain’s books last year and I loved it, so I already know I enjoy her writing style.  Her books tend to remind me of Jodi Picoult’s in terms of the storylines, and looking at the list has reminded me how much I wanted to read this. It may be one that I have to prioritize soon!

2) P.S. I Love You by Cecelia Ahern

I think I added this one to my TBR originally because I have a physical copy of it. I have never seen the movie, although it does interest me. This book is about a young woman whose husband has passed away from an terminal illness, and leaves her a series of letters to help her move on with her life. It’s the kind of the book that I need to be in the right mood for in order to really enjoy, but it does sound like something I might like if it’s done well. I’ve never read anything by Cecelia Ahern, and I think I kind of lumped it in with The Devil Wears Prada. I loved that movie, but didn’t like the book at all. I think I somehow assumed this would be the same, even though I hadn’t even seen the movie. It’s also a book that got stuck in the “book first or movie first?” loop, and I never made a decision. I wouldn’t say this book is a top priority, but I would still like to give it a chance. And that goes for the movie too!

3) The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks

I think this might be the one and only Nicholas Sparks book I’ve never read, although I’ve owned a copy for many years now. I saw The Notebook movie first, and then read the book not long afterwards. I remember enjoying both, but not loving them as much as everyone else seemed to so I put this sequel on the backburner for a while and then forgot about it. When I finally remembered that I wanted to read it, I decided I had to re-read The Notebook again first, and I’ve had so many new books that I wanted to read instead that it just hasn’t happened yet. This book is about Noah and Allie’s son-in-law, Wilson, who is trying to win back the affections of his wife. To be fair, I probably would have enjoyed this more if I had read it during the height of my Nicholas Sparks phase, but it still seems like something I would like. It’s another one that is not a top priority, but it’s been on my list for way too long!

4) Little Mercies by Heather Gudenkauf

The first year I did a reading challenge, I ended up finishing early and reading a couple of Heather Gudenkauf’s books to pass the rest of the time before my next challenge started. Both of the books I read were 4-star reads for me, and I have almost all of her books on my TBR. This book is abouth a social worker named Ellen Moore who gets involved in the case of a 10-year-old child who is living on her own. I think part of the reason I was drawn to this book specifically is because I’d seen so few that have social workers as a main character, and I discovered it when I was in my program for a social work-related field. Considering I’ve enjoyed both of the other books I’ve read by this author, I think this one would be worth a chance. The main reason I haven’t picked it up yet is because although the story interests me, it doesn’t really stand out either when I’m searching my list for things to pick up next.

5) The Kindest Thing by Cath Staincliffe

This book has been on my TBR since June 2015, but I honestly had no memory of it whatsoever until I looked at the synopsis. As soon as I saw that, I knew exactly why I had added it to my list. This book is about a woman named Deborah who helps her husband end his life, and is put on trial for murder. I was interested in this book because the plot is similar to Jodi Picoult’s Mercy, which is one of my favourites. I’ve been put off reading it because it’s received very mixed reviews, and for the pretty shallow reason of the relatively short page-count. Given the subject matter, it seemed a bit odd that this book was under 300 pages, and I think I always questioned how well the author could develop a strong enough story about such a complex topic in so few pages. I guess the only way to find out is to actually read it!

6) A Theory of Relativity by Jacquelyn Mitchard

I think I first added this book to my list because I thought the title was pretty intriguing. Not long after I first saw it on Goodreads, I ended up with a physical copy that I still have never read. This book is about a 24-year-old bachelor who wants to raise his niece after an accident leaves her orphaned, but the child’s paternal grandparents battle him for custody. If I’m honest, one of the main reasons I’ve put off reading this book is because I really did not enjoy the first (and only) Jacquelyn Mitchard book that I read. I found that one very slow and boring, and I couldn’t stand the main character. I have a couple of her other books on my TBR as well, but my experience with the first one was enough to put me off for a while. I think it’s only fair to give her another chance if there’s a book that interests me enough, and this one does seem like a pretty good candidate.

7) Love Anthony by Lisa Genova

I actually have a copy of this one also, and I’ve loved both other Lisa Genova books that I’ve read so far. This book is about a woman named Olivia, whose young son with autism has recently died and is trying to make sense of her loss. While visiting Nantucket to try to cope, she befriends Beth, a stay-at-home mom who is having marital problems and is trying to recapture her passion for writing. The synopsis is a little confusing, but seems to suggest that Beth’s writing channels Olivia’s son in some way. I have no idea how this might work, but it also sounds like a pretty interesting concept. Just about any book that has to do with autism tends to appeal to me because of my job. I think the main reason I haven’t picked this one up yet is because I found the synopsis confusing, so I was never sure whether it was a book I was in the mood for.

8) Hold Still by Nina LaCour

I didn’t even realize I had a Nina LaCour book on my list for so long already. I’ve been hearing great reviews of her for the past year or so, and although I knew I had her books on my list, I didn’t realize one had been there for almost three years already. This book is about a girl named Caitlin who is coping with her friend Ingrid’s suicide, and finds a copy of Ingrid’s journal which might help her understand. Of all of Nina LaCour’s books, this is probably the one I’ve heard the least about, which may be because it was her first and seems to be quite different from the books that have followed it. I’ve heard so many great things about Nina LaCour that I’m sure I’ll be reading at least one of her books this year, but I’m not sure if this will be the one. I haven’t picked it up yet because I had quite a few books with similar plotlines on my list, and always ended up prioritizing the others.

9) Goodnight, Beautiful by Dorothy Koomson

I feel like Dorothy Koomson is among the first authors I discovered exclusively through Goodreads, since her books kept coming up as recommendations for me and so many of them sounded good. This book is about a woman named Nova who agrees to become a surrogate mother for her close friend Mal and his wife, only to have Mal’s wife become suspicious of their closeness and force him to cut ties with Nova and the baby. Years later, Nova’s son is in a coma and she wants Mal, whose marriage is still struggling, to have the chance to meet his son. This sounds like such an incredible, complex family drama story and I would love to read it. My biggest barrier to reading Dorothy Koomson’s books is that they are really hard to get copies of. I’ve only read one in the past couple of years, and that’s because I made the library buy a copy. I requested another one, but was told it was out of print. Dorothy Koomson’s a British author, and I’m in Canada, so her books aren’t really sold here.

10) Even When You Lie To Me by Jessica Alcott

I feel like each of these lists so far has the obligatory book that I’m actually going to prioritize reading, so I had to include this one since it is actually on my list to read this year as part of my reading challenges. This book is about a student-teacher relationship, which is a topic that I’ve seen handled really well before in some books. I’m not even sure why this book caught my attention so strongly this year after sitting on my TBR since 2015, but when I started compiling my challenge lists, my mind kept jumping back to this one. I think part of the appeal is how much I loved The Whole Golden World, which was an excellent book on the same topic, and for some reason, I assume this one will be just as strong (although with no real reason to think so).

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