Top Ten Tuesday: Most Intimidating Books

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.

Each week they will post a new Top Ten list that one of their bloggers over at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone is welcome to join.

The topic for this week is: Top Ten Most Intimidating Books (might be intimated by size, content, that everyone else loves it but you are sure you won’t etc)

For me there are two top reasons why I find them intimidating – length and hype.

If a book is super long, I often find that I’m a little nervous that I’ll never get through it. And if a book is hyped up and people tell me HOW AMAZING it is… I often feel like it’s just not going to live up to my expectations based on hype and I tend to put those books off reading too.

Intimidating by Size:

Les MisérablesAtlas ShruggedGlass Houses (The Morganville Vampires, #1)The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1)

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo – I love the musical. And the recent movie was pretty good too. But every time I complain about how much I dislike the character of Cosette, my brother urges me to read the book. Apparently she’s a lot more rounded in the novel. It’s just so long! And there are no pictures…

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand – I carry a copy of this book everywhere. I had it in my school bag, the car, beside my bed… I’ve taken it everywhere (even overseas) for the past ten years. And I still can’t finish it!

The Morganville Vampire series by Rachel Caine (this series has SO many books… or at least it feels like that… I have read some of the early books and I own the three most recent… I know I’ll get there eventually.

Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien – I’ve watched the movies… I really need to read the books!

Intimidating by Hype:

Twisted perfection (Perfection, #1)Hush, Hush (Hush, Hush, #1)The AlchemistAngelfall (Penryn & the End of Days, #1)The Casual Vacancy

Abbi Glines – I’ve not read anything by her. Nor have I bought any books by her. But so many books of hers have been recommended to me on goodreads with dozens of !!!!’s and ZOMGS! and I just… need to work myself up to reading a book of hers.

Hush Hush by Becca Fitzgerald – I have this series on my shelves but I’m afraid I’ll end up disappointed… and I have a new policy that if I don’t like a book I donate it. I’m not ready to part with my pretty box set just in case…

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho – It’s my friends favourite book. There’s a lot of pressure right there!

Angelfall by Susan Ee

The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling – okay so maybe the only hype for this one is my own. As a very proud Harry Potter fan, I know I shouldn’t compare this book with her other series but it’s there in my mind and I think the colours of the cover always remind me of my dislike of vegemite… it’s very intimidating!

Intimidating by Hype and Length:

City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1)Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices, #1)

The Mortal Instruments & The Infernal Devices series both by Cassandra Clare – I’ll admit it. I’m a BAD TMI fan. I’ve only read City of Bones. Which I really liked. But this series and then the pre-series… it’s a huge mountain of work! And when you have a somewhat short attention span… it’s a huge undertaking. Add to that the fact that so many people love and rave and live and breathe these books… I’m so hesitant to pick up City of Ashes and make my way though them all.

Anyone intimidated by any of these books? Should I stopped being afraid of any of these? Any I should add? Feel free to leave a comment. Hope you have a great week and thanks for visiting 🙂

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8 Comments

  1. Great picks! These all do sound intimidating (I agree the most with the hype part), but I thought Hush, Hush was a pretty amazing book, and I absolutely adored The Clockwork Angel! If ever there’s a time you find yourself less intimidated, I hope you’ll try them out 😀

  2. Angelfall really lives up to the hype!!! It was AMAZING!! And City of Bones made my list too!!! But I personally wasn’t a big fan of it!!! I thought Hush, Hush was okay, but it had some…weird parts in it…..And Les Mis…THAT BOOK SCARES ME!!!! Nice list!
    My TTT

  3. I’ve read Hush Hush and I liked it. I haven’t read any of the other books in the series. I remember I owned the first six books of the Morganville Vampire series but when I heard there were still a lot more books that were going to be written I stopped. I feel like acquiring them again. See if I like them more this time. I loved TID and I’m a bad TMI fan too. I’ve only read City of Bones and City of Ashes. I’m halfway through City of Glass… and have been for the past month. Oops.

  4. I’d like to pick up The Casual Vacancy, too, but actually I’ve seen a lot of negative reviews for it. Which was very surprising. Twisted Perfection looks kind of interesting, thanks for showing it to me. Nice list!

  5. Les Misérables is on my list too with LOTR. I just started reading Clockwork Angel as I’ve heard so, so much about Cassandra Clare’s books but I like it so far! 🙂

  6. Aahh, I have been trying to get myself to read LOTR for YEARS! Loved the Hobbit, lived for the movies, but died trying to get through the trilogy. Kate @ Mad But Magic got through Les Mes & she totally does recommend it on our TTT this week!

    I’ll throw a hesitant thumbs up in for TMI/TID…Cassie Clare makes me giggle and sucks me in but if you listen to haters the stuff they point out really starts to jump out at you (e.g. “She wasn’t wearing any makeup” .. :::no time passes::: “Her eyes were smudged with mascara”).

    And if it makes you feel better about Atlas Shrugged I have been carrying around a thousand-page history of the Thirty Years War all summer (as if I am going to read it!??!? When!?!?)

    Fabulous list!!!!!

    Sam @ Mad But Magic

    Our TTT: http://madbutmagicya.blogspot.com/

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