Top Ten Books I Have Read or Could Read in a Day

I'm linking up with the Broke and the Bookish for Top Ten Tuesdays . . . a day late, but who cares.

Some books probably shouldn't be read in a day by a slow reader who probably needs to take a break and do some work or school or chores, but you know, I get sucked in and have to stay up into the wee hours to finish. For fast readers all of these could be daytime books, I think. A lot of these are going to be fairytales or fantasy and middle grade, those are often fast reads. Keep in mind that I'm guessing and thinking in terms of a Saturday or day off unless you are Speedy Gonzales.

I'm trying to keep this to not as well known books (I'm I think I could read some Harry Potter and Narnian books in a day, but that is boring on a list).  Also, I'm grouping books together so as to get a good representation and not leave out any of a series. The first five are the fantasy and fairy books.

1. The Ordinary Princess by M. M. Kaye. A truly easy fast read and SUCH an adorable princess story.

2. Entwined by Heather Dixon. The twelve dancing princesses is my favorite fairytale and this is my favorite retelling. Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George is fun too.

3. The Faery Rebels trilogy and Swift and Nomad duology by R.J. Anderson. I think I stayed up for both of the latter two. Faeries in modern times.

4. A Snicker of Magic and A Key to Extraordinary (the latter is my favorite). Magic in the New World in the most appropriate place, Appalachia. I love it. A lot of the folksy culture of the folksy places in the Old World settled here.

5. 100 Cupboard trilogy by N. D. Wilson. Narnia-esque. Give this trilogy time to build, don't stop at the first one.

6. A Tangled Web by L. M. Montgomery. This is one of her stand alone novels. And it has a bit different storyline. Its HILARIOUS.

7. The Eagle of the Ninth series by Rosemary Sutcliff (The Eagle of the Ninth, The Silver Branch, Frontier Wolf, The Lantern Bearers, Dawn Wind, Sword Song, The Shield Ring. I don't count the Authurian novel crossover, for adults, because of content issues and the plot is more Arthurian). I love Sutcliff's historical fiction. Its hard to pick a favorite in this series. And by series, I mean each character in succeeding books is a descendent of the earlier book. Each can be read alone.

8. Jip by Katherine Patterson. I've enjoyed most of the novels of hers I've read because of the writing style, but this one is less well-known I think, and rather unique in plot. Try not to read any review or anything on the back or cover, so as to get the full effect.

9. The Penderwicks series by Jeanne Birdsall. Any of these I think are pretty fast reads. I prefer the last three. I love the everyday coziness and the accurate looks into the hilarious (to adults) reasoning of children.

10. The Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries by Dorothy Sayers. I love the writing and characterization in these mysteries. The drama doesn't so much come from the mystery plots so much as the characters and subplots (particularly when Harriet Vane makes her appearance). If you like you mysteries to be more novel like and less fantastically superficial (Agatha Christie, cough), you will like these.

Labels: ,