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.
Once more I’ve found I can’t quite do the ‘proper’ Top Ten Tuesday here, so I’ve amended it slightly. The actual theme is – Books I Loved So Much I Had to Get a Copy for My Personal Library, but I haven’t actually purchased books I’ve had as arcs or read/listened to in a different format, though there are some I would love a copy of. So I’ve changed it to books I want a copy of for my person library. I’m also not a bit re-reader, so there are specific instances where I would want another copy of a book. So it’s a bit less than ten books I’m highlighting here.
This week’s TTT was submitted by Alecia @ The Staircase Reader
Top Seven Books I Want Copies of For My Personal Library
Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution
R.F. Kuang
Sometimes it’s hard not to feel incredibly annoyed with poorly formatted arcs. I know there are going to be mistakes and errors, but this book absolutely deserves much better, especially as a lot of it relies on things like formats and Chinese characters etc, and it’s just badly done in the arc. But even with that, this is possibly one of the best books I’ve read in a very long time, and I have only just finished it. It’s a truly fantastic novel and shows Kuang as one of the most excellent writers of her generation and beyond. Of course I want my own personal copy of this.
Mexican Gothic
Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Narrated by Frankie Corzo
I listened to this as an audiobook, but sometimes I feel like I miss things in audio. I thoroughly enjoyed this and the narration was excellent, but I would definitely love to have my own copy to read at my own pace, and get the full scope of what happened in High Place.
This is How You Lose the Time War
Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone, Narrated by Cynthia Farrell, Emily Woo Zeller
Another audiobook, so a lot of what I mentioned for Mexican Gothic applies here too. Additionally, though still similarly to Mexican Gothic, there’s a lot of imagery here I would have loved to have had the chance to really take in, in a way I find difficult to do with some audio versions. There’s a lot going on here in a short space, and I’d love a physical copy so I could really take my time with it.
Read my review of This is How You Lose the Time War
Nettle & Bone
T. Kingfisher
I read this one as an arc via NetGalley, but I’d love to have a physical copy to reread. The book itself was fantastic, the worldbuilding really effective, and it has this wonderfully dark fairy tale vibe to it. I’d love to have a physical version because sometimes that gives a different vibe to a book, and I think I’d like to explore this one again.
Read my review of Nettle & Bone
The Rust Maidens
Gwendolyn Kiste, Narrated by Melanie Carey
Another audiobook, and another instance of absolutely loving the story but definitely feeling like there may have been parts I missed. This is such a powerfully visual story too, and it shifts back and forth in time which with a single narrator can be tricky to follow. I definitely want to pick up the physical version of this and read it again.
Read my review of The Rust Maidens
The Poet X
Elizabeth Acevedo
This is another one I read as an arc, and one I think was definitely let down with poor formatting. It’s still a fantastic read, but I think as a novel in verse it deserves to be read in the way the author envisioned it, something crucial to poetry. I also really want to check out the audio version, as it feels like it would be wonderful read out loud.
Read my review of The Poet X
Cursed Objects
J.W. Ocker
I would love a physical copy of this book, and it would look really great on my bookshelf. There’s a lot of information in here but some images too, largely drawings from what I remember, but as usual with many e-arcs the formatting means they’re not at their best. I’ve seen photos of the physical version too and it really does look beautiful.
Read my review of Cursed Objects
There we go – top seven books I want copies of for my own personal library! Some I originally listened to as audiobooks, others I read as arcs. I’d love to know if there’s a book you read in one format you’d love to own in another, or if there are any you’d read which you’ve then gone and purchased your own copy of.
Unwrapping Words 