Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Top Ten Tuesday: Books that are realistic.

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Top Ten Tuesday is a meme

Today's theme is supposed to be 'Books that were deceiving' meaning books that were a lot different from what the reader expected it to be. Let's face it - Almost all of the books that I read tend to be different from what I was expecting. So then I got thinking about how sometimes the actual story is deceiving in terms of real life. Even in fantasy novels there are certain elements that should still remain realistic and don't...

However, I then thought that that was something I'd been thinking way too much about lately so Instead I decided to go for something quite the opposite. Books that are honest about real life, or atleat parts of it.

1. SPEAK by Laurie Halse-Anderson
I still can't believe they banned this in some places. It's the kind of stuff that really happens. It's not just the abuse that's realistic, but a lot of the little observations that Melinda (The main character and narrator) makes note of. Things like the written and unwritten rules of high school.

2. ATONEMENT by Ian McEwan
Some people liked to make out that this book was too depressing. Perhaps it was, But it wasn't deceiving either. The thing I learnt from this book is that broken things don't always get fixed. Sometimes broken things stay broken and nobody gets a happy ending.

3. I CAPTURE THE CASTLE by Dodie Smith
A lot of people adored it, but not the ending. Personally I loved the ending. (Spoiler Alert) I really, once again enjoyed the fact that there wasn't a happy ending. We don't always get what we want.

4. THE BELL JAR by Sylvia Plath
I'm not sure about all the suicidal stuff, but I tend to agree with a lot of the social stuff.

5. LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI by Melina Marchetta
Sometimes discovering who you are has nothing to do with who you are biologically.


Sorry. Only got five books there...

Your Favourite Blogger,
Natalie

4 comments:

Anne said...

I felt the same way about Atonement. It was depressing but it was a very good book. I liked the movie as well.

Angela said...

Fantastic list! New follower via GFC :)
http://ajarndtbooks.blogspot.com/

Anna said...

i deffinetly agree about speak and looking for alabrandi. most marchetta books are so realistic they leave me going 'that's so true, how did she know? how can she explain it so perfectly?'
i found speak so real i just wanted to hold Melinda, the descriptions of depression were perfect.
on a side note, have you heard the poem laurie halse anderson wrote for the 10th anneversary of speak?
if you haven't here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic1c_MaAMOI

Natalie_vintage_girl said...

yes. my edition is the 10th aniversary one. seriously the best poem :)