YOU recommend! It’s time for you guys to take over my blog & make my formidable TBR even longer

Posted on by Ashleigh

you-reccomend

Guys, you’re taking over my blog.

At least for today, anyway.

This blog is basically one huge recommendation for reading. There’s an endless amount of books talked about on here, but even so, there’s even more I’ve not yet discovered.

Now, recently I posted my Reading Resolutions for 2017 video. For those who you who haven’t seen it (which you totally should, you know. Would be very much appreciated *winks*), three of the resolutions on there are about bringing a difference to my reading taste.

1. I hope to read more nonfiction

2. I hope to read more diversely

and 3. I hope to broaden my genres

Which means I’ve got a lot of book buying to do in 2017. And you know what I need to do that?

Your recommendations!

diversity

While I do read diverse books, I sure as hell know I could do better.

Now, I’ve already started my research. I already have a list forming of books with diversity in them (including mental health). I’ve spent ages trawling through recommendation threads on Twitter. But there’s so many out there, it’s a little overwhelming. On twitter, all these threads are just titles to me, and while I do have tabs open next to each other for Goodreads, taking the time to look into each book, it’s always so much more nicer when the recommendations are somewhat tailored.

So here’s what I’m after:

Everything. I want books featuring PoC, LGBTQ+, different cultures, disabilities, mental health.

Now, I DO tend to read fantasy the most. So any diverse recommendations within the fantasy genre will be great. But I’m not opposed to reading contemporary either, which I know is what most diverse books come under. So really, recommend away!

nonfiction

This one, admittedly, is probably the hardest.

Before this year, I had ZERO interest in nonfiction. I’d attempted to read so many autobiographies, but they’re just a huge no from me.

But ohhhh how that changed.

This year, I read The Diary of A Young Girl by Anne Frank. And it filled my heart with so many emotions. I both loved and hated it so much.

Which is where we get this growing interest in nonfiction from. I am a HUGE fan of history. While I’m really bad at remembering important names and dates, I have a fascination for stories from long ago, and the fact they actually happened blows my mind. Which I’m pretty certain is why I felt so strongly about Anne Frank’s Diary.

So I’m on the hunt for more historical nonfiction. I’m planning on buying Night by Elie Wiesel and Hiroshima by John Hersey. Anything that will teach me more about the events of the past without being – dare I say it? – boring and textbook like...throw it at me!

And if you have a nonfiction recommendation that isn’t historical, still throw it my way! I’m considering getting We Should All Be Feminists by  Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, so let me know if that a good one 🙂

classics

So the resolution to broaden my genres is an all-round thing, but I specifically need recommendations for two genres: classics and poetry.

Now for classics, I’ve been on quite a roll with them this year. I’ve read on of Jane Austen’s books each month towards the end of the year as part of the Austentatious book club, and this is still in progress until…February? I think?

But I want to make sure this carries on. Once I’ve run out of Jane Austen books, I don’t know where to go next.

A few I’m interested in most at the moment are: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (I own this one already), The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Handmaid’s Tale (I’m getting this for Christmas), Little Women and I Capture The Castle. 

If there’s any you think I should get to, please let me know – including modern classics!

poetry

And finally, poetry.

I’ve literally only read a couple of poems by Tennyson and Christina Rossetti for an English Literature class ages ago.

I want to learn to enjoy poetry. But having no idea where to start, I need some of you guys to guide me on my way.

I’ve seen a couple – Milk and Honey and The Princess Saves Herself In This One, but are these a good place to start? Are there others?

So now…take it away guys!

I hope you like this idea. I know it’s very different to the usual kind of thing you see on book blogs, but I’m attempting that many new changes to my reading list, I’m hoping you’ll get involved and help me out!

Feel free to recommend as many as you want – whether that’s just one, or one for each category, or even a whole host of books. I’ll be writing them all down in my notebook so I can have a list to choose from!

And even though I’ll say it again if you comment, THANK YOU FOR HELPING!

I appreciate you guys more than you realise ❤

Until next time…

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60 thoughts on “YOU recommend! It’s time for you guys to take over my blog & make my formidable TBR even longer”

  1. For Diversty, the best book that I read this year for that was Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton! It was pretty hyped when it came out but that hype seem to have disappeared so i’m bringing that back because the books is so good!😊

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  2. I need to read more diversely too, so I will definitely be keeping an eye on your post for recommendations too. But one diverse book I read and absolutely loved last year was Your Voice Is All I Hear by Leah Scheier. It’s about a girl whose boyfriend has schizophrenia.

    For Non-fiction, I tend to like animal-based stories, so I definitely recommend Our Zoo by June Mottershead (the story of the formation of Chester Zoo) and It’s All About Treo by Dave Heyhoe (the story of an army dog in Afghanistan).

    As for Classics, my absolute favourites are Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and Dracula by Bram Stoker. However, for a more recent Classic, I’d definitely recommend The Princess Bride – it’s probably my all-time favourite book and has something for everyone (fantasy, romance, humour, adventure etc).

    I hope this helps somewhat.

    Lauren @ My Expanding Bookshelf

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    1. Ah I hope this post helps you too then!
      Thank you so much for all the recommendations, I’ve written them all on my list 🙂 A bit hesitant about the nonfiction animal ones, since I’m prone to sobbing if anything happens to animals, but maybe if I need a good ol’ sob one day I’ll pick them up! Particularly It’s All About Treo – that one sounds really interesting.
      Also – I really love Wuthering Heights! I read it earlier this year 😀

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  4. Paperwight by Meg Haston is about eating disorders, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a modern classic that’s got the same feel as The Creeper Man, A Streetcar Named Desire is a modern classic play about mental health, Identical by Ellen Hopkins is a novel in verse about mental health, Sarah Waters is great for lesbians in historical fiction, The Song of Achilles is LGBT host fic too, The Masked Truth by Kelley Armstrong is a thriller surrounding mental health…

    So many more I could recommend but I feel like these are the best!

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    1. SO MANY RECOMMENDATIONS YAAAS! 😀
      I’ve heard of quite a few of them but haven’t read any, so they’ve all been added to my lists! And so many of these fit more than one of the categories, yayy! Thank you 😀

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  5. I read some nonfiction books this year, and the books I want to recommend to you is: Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident by Donnie Eichar (I have a review on the book on my blog if you are interested), and Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari (history book about Humankind, as the title says). Sapiens is more heavy than Dead Mountain. I hope you like them 🙂

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  6. Ooh I’d like to recommend Under Rose-Tainted Skies by Louise Gornall, an own voices YA contemp about a girl with agoraphobia, OCD and anxiety – one of my favourite books of this year!
    For poetry, The World’s Wife by Carol Ann Duffy is great, very feminist!

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    1. I’m actually getting Under Rose-Tainted Skies for Christmas! I can’t wait, I’ve no doubt it’ll be one of the first I dive into in 2017 😀
      And I read a couple of Carol Ann Duffy’s poems during my Literature course, I can’t believe I forgot to mention her aha 😆 I didn’t read The World’s Wife though, so I’ve added it to my list. Thank you for the recommendations!

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  7. As far as nonfiction goes, I just finished an excellent book called When Everything Changed by Gail Collins. It’s about the changing role of women in America from 1960 to the present and was written in such an engaging way. If you’re interested in learning more about the feminist movement or women’s history in general then I highly recommend it!

    Right now I’m in the middle of Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy and I’m LOVING it. The writing style is absolutely gorgeous. This classic was also made into a movie recently, so you could also watch that adaptation. A few of my favorite classics (though there are many!) are Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Animal Farm by George Orwell, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and My Antonia by Willa Cather.

    Hope these recommendations help! 🙂

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    1. Definitely interested in that, thank you Holly! When Everything Changed sounds SO up my street 😀
      I’ve read Jane Eyre and The Great Gatsby, but the rest I haven’t. Added to my list, thank you!

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  8. Some good psychological books are ‘One Girl’ by Torey Hayden, Made you Up by Francesca Zappia, Gemma by Meg Tilly and We Were Liars by E Lockhart.

    A Non-Fiction book that looks at mental health – An Examined Life by Stephen Grosz

    In terms of Classics – Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, The Garden Party and any other story by Katherine Mansfield, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote and Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.

    Hope you like these books!

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    1. They both sound super interesting, and I’ve never heard of them before so thank you! I’m currently making my way through Jane Austen’s books – currently reading Mansfield Park and then all I have left is Sense And Sensibility 😀

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  11. Yes! Milk and Honey is a great place to start with poetry. At least it was for me. I loved it! But I would highly recommend listening to the audio version.

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    1. So many people love and talk about it, I figured it’d be a good place to start! I hadn’t thought to try the audio version though – I imagine it’s got a lot of feeling to it (if that even makes sense?) 🙂

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  12. Yes! Milk & Honey and The Princess Saves Herself are great poetry books to start with! Also, I know I’ve recommended these before, but Tiny Pretty Things & Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda are great diverse reads and I totally think you should read them *wink*

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    1. It’s funny because I just got my friend both of those poetry books for Christmas and now I want them aha 😆
      And they’re both on the list from when you recommended them the other day 😀 Don’t worry, they’re high priority *wink* 😀

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  13. So many possible recommendations… an amazing fantasy series is the Pellinor series by Alison Croggon! It is so good!! I also highly recommend the Tiger and the Wolf! In terms of classics I highly recommend North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy and the Three Musketeers by Alexandra Dumas! 🙂

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    1. Ooh I’ve never heard of the Pellinor series or The Tiger and The Wolf – I’ll definitely be checking those out!
      While I’ve heard of the classics, I’ve not seen many people recommend them surprisingly! I’ll make sure to add them to my list 🙂 Thank you!

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  14. I would recommend The Diabolic by S.J Kincaid. I finished it recently and oh my god! so good! Its science fiction which I don’t think you own a lot of, correct me if I am mistaken, so this would be good for you to read. 🙂 xx

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  15. For diversity, I’d reccommend checking out A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. It follows two women in Afghanistan before and during the time of the Taliban and I found it a really fascinating read. Not the sort of book I ever usually reach for, but I’m definitely glad I read it.

    My favourite Classic is And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. Such a clever book. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll is a really great, and really strange, children’s book.

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    1. Just added A Thousand Splendid Suns to my TBR, thank you! It does sound really fascinating, like you said!
      I’ve never actually thought about reading an Agatha Christie book before, despite hearing so much about them. Might have to give it a go! Also I’ve been meaning to read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland for SO LONG now :O

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  16. I’m currently reading The Court of Fives on audio and it’s a diverse fantasy (based in an Egyptian-style world) with a LGBTQ+ relationship (between secondary characters). I do have some issues with the book, but it’s definitely different as far as fantasies go. I LOVED Rebel of the Sands (which I saw someone else suggest) and A Thousand Nights by EK Johnston, both YA fantasies. Non-fiction wise, have you read anything by Erik Larson? I read his In the Garden of the Beasts and it was really gripping! He uses a lot of letters, interviews to develop his story while also being purely factual. He has a ton of history NF books. (Also Betty White’s autobiographies are hilarious!)

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    1. I’ll check out The Court of Fives! A Thousand Nights is already on my TBR, it sounds really good 😀
      And no, I’ve not read anything by Erik Larson – heading over to Goodreads to look at his book now! History nonfiction sounds like exactly what I want, thank you!

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  17. i recommend ‘The Rest of Us Just Live Here’ by Patrick Ness for diversity, it’s a novel within a novel that deals with mental health and eating disorders among other things. For poetry I recommend ‘Major British Poets’ edited by Oscar Williams and ‘The Collected Works of Adam Lindsay Gordon’. For classics I would go with any of the Tommy and Tuppence books by Agatha Christie. Hope that helps.

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    1. I’m currently partway through Patrick Ness’ Chaos Walking trilogy, and was planning to read The Rest Of Us Just Live Here after!
      They’ve all been added to my list, thank you! 😀

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  18. I definitely recommend We Should All Be Feminists and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall – I actually read both of them this year, and they both got five stars from me! Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, which is a graphic memoir (and fits both the diversity and nonfiction categories) is also a great choice. It doesn’t feel like you’re reading nonfiction at all, and I really enjoyed the story!

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  19. I actually haven’t read many diverse books. I want to recommend Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (I haven’t read it, though). This caught my eye when I was in a bookshop. Being Nigerian, I became really eager to read something by a Nigerian author. I heard that it’s about racism in America and Nigeria but there’s not much of a build up or plot?

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  20. I am afraid I do not read enough nonfiction. As far as classics though, Little Women is a favorite of mine so it is on my recommendation list. I also happen to love Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë if you are looking for any others great reads 🙂

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  21. You should read More Happy than Not it’s a diverse book that’s sci fi with some fantasy elements, also Annie on my mind is about LGBT people and takes place in the last. Another great historical fiction book is Between Shades of Grey(it has nothing to do with any other shades of great books, it’s about a lesser known part of WW2)

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  23. For Poetry I particularly liked Charles Bukowski’s The People Look Like Flowers At Last collection. I read it years ago but it was a good introduction to poetry!

    I second anything by Shirley Jackson!! We Have Always Lived in the Castle is great 👍 Jane Eyre is also amazing but Ender’s Game is somewhat of a modern classic and I am in love with the whole saga 😫

    Rosehead by Ksenia Anske is a story set in Germany about a girl who thinks her family’s rose garden is going to eat them. The author is self published and was offering her book for free on her website a while ago. I bought it and I’ve read some of it and it’s very endearing. Just keep in mind that it’s more middle grade ☺ Anna-Marie McLemore is an #ownvoices author who writes about Mexican American teenagers! Her husband is also transgender so elements of his experience are in one of her books, as well as other sexualities and ethnicities!

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  24. I’m not good at recommending outside my genre, so I’m going to recommend INSIDE my genre and suggest Under The Never Sky, The Sin Eater’s Daughter, and Kiss of Deception series. You need Fantasy or Sci-Fi, I’m here for you! Lol!

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    1. Under The Never Sky has been sat on my shelf for YEARS, I’ve no idea why I haven’t read it yet. SciFi isn’t a huge thing for me I guess. I LOVE The Sin Eater’s Daughter! ❤ And The Kiss of Deception is on my TBR!

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