Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl since January of 2018. Jana writes, “it was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.” In that spirit, link up with your list at That Artsy Reader Girl and comment with your list, link, or thoughts below.
5-star ratings should be given few and far between. Not that I’m ironfisted or anything, it’s just that I reserve the highest rating for those special books I consider to be nothing short of legendary. Books possessing that elusive combination of powerful story, enjoyability, plus top-quality writing garner my legendary status.
The last two years worth of my ratings averaged 3.3 and 3.2, according to Goodreads, and those were actually incredibly rewarding reading years. Having said that, I don’t expect to get ten 5-star reads this year, or any year, but I admire the optimism. These books look the most promising:
10. Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line | Deepa Anappara. With two things going for it landing on this list; a vast setting in India, plus it’s said to be heart-breaking, sounds like 5 stars to me.
9. The Friend | Sigrid Nunez. If I can get through this grief-stricken, life-affirming, animal companion story without blubbering all over the pages, it may deserve 5-stars.
8. The Binding | Bridget Collins. My friend Julie just raved about it and we have similar reading tastes, so it’s speculation, but a likely contender.
7. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine | Gail Honeyman. I’ve heard a lot about this story, all of it good 5-star potential.
It will be a nice surprise if any of the above truly prove 5 star reads, however, the next group are surer bets:
6. Wise Man’s Fear | Patrick Rothfuss. I’ve got fingers crossed this story holds up as remarkably well as in The Name of the Wind.
5. The Return of the King | J.R.R. Tolkien. If the third part of The Lord of the Rings is as good as the first part, the King is golden.
4. Bear Town | Fredrick Backman. Backman penned my highest rated book of last year and Bear Town comes almost as readily recommended. I’m preparing my heart for another touching tale.
3. The Outsiders 50th anniversary edition | S.E. Hinton. I’ve only read parts and pieces, first as a teen and later when editing the book for a speech piece. If it’s as rad as I remember, it’s a safe pick.
2. Les Miserables | Victor Hugo. The writing is undoubtedly worthy. Whether or not I feel it’s enjoyable or exhausting after 1464 pages will be the deciding factor.
1. Beneath the Scarlet Sky | Mark Sullivan. Nearrrrly done reading and it’s shaping up to be my first 5-star read of the year and that’s exciting.
Which books do you see rising to the top in 2020?
The Scented Library 
I adored The Binding, easy five stars from me :))))))))) I hope you love all of these <333
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Sweet! I’m getting pretty excited for it now, just gotta decide if I will listen to audio, or spring for a physical copy.
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I bought the hardback because it’s just too beautiful to not have a copy :)))
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Good thinking!
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Oof. I think my average ratings for the past two years were slightly higher than yours (3.5-ish), but I tend not to give out a whole ton of five stars, either.
If you liked the first part of LotR, I think you’ll enjoy the third. It’s got aaaall the action and fighting and wonderful endish stuff. I think the second book felt the slowest for me.
I STILL somehow haven’t read Beartown. I really need to do that this year, too. I’m not sure it’ll be five stars for me, even though it’s Backman, because I’ve had some people with similar tastes end up DNFing it or not liking it as much? So I’m sort of curious.
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Lol, yeah I’m more into LOTR for the journey (so much walking) and the language and underdog story, but I can handle the action if it’s not too drawn out. I’m sure I’ll give it a finale boost anyhow.
I was in a reading slump in 2015-2017 so averaging in the 3’s post-2017 was good for me considering I read a lot more. I have a feeling it will be a highly rated year though, I don’t plan on reading a ton of new books, but more with good word-of-mouth, so I’m set up for success 🙂
That makes me curious about Bear Town too, I’ve been told to have my tissues ready…
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One day I will read Les Mis… good luck!
Lauren @ Always Me
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You too, we are gonna’ need it. PS, I’m starting it next month for my #unreadshelf participation @_@
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