Top Ten Tuesday: book recommendations for non-readers

Top Ten Tuesday is back! We have actual topics again, hooray, my brain gets a break from having to think of different ones each week. Yay!

So I couldn’t think of a specific topic to choose where I could think of 10 books to recommend. I’m a huge thriller, mystery reader but I wasn’t sure how I can turn that into a topic… so, instead I’ve gone with a list of lots of different genres! This is a list for “non-readers”, and by that I just mean people who don’t read as much as us, who you’d want to recommend an excellent book to, as they don’t read many!

BTW, I’ve been trying to make my graphics for this post for ages now and Canva is just not working for me today, we we’re going old school!

Modern Classics

Synopsis: A lawyer’s advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of Harper Lee’s classic novel – a black man charged with the rape of a white girl. Through the young eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Harper Lee explores with exuberant humour the irrationality of adult attitudes to race and class in the Deep South of the thirties. The conscience of a town steeped in prejudice, violence and hypocrisy is pricked by the stamina of one man’s struggle for justice. But the weight of history will only tolerate so much.

TKaMB is my all time favourite book. It’s just such a lovely book that tackles tough subjects and gives out a great message. All the characters are incredibly well developed and feel like people who could really exist, the storyline is heartbreaking and heart warming all at the same time and the writing is so simple and easy to get on with. Not to mention, it’s a short book so it will be a quick book for people to get through!

Synopsis: Patrick Bateman is twenty-six and he works on Wall Street, he is handsome, sophisticated, charming and intelligent. He is also a psychopath.

I think this one is a bit of a tricky one to recommend, considering it’s so dark and gory, but if you find the right kind of person, this will be perfect for them! Anyone who is asking for dark, horrific reads (do many people ask for that lol), then this is the book for them! Don’t be mean and recommend this to someone weak stomached or who could only just take the amount of gore in the film… this is way, way worse.

Thrillers

Synopsis: On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy’s diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer?

Here is the cliche thriller rec for all non-readers! Even though I LOVED this one when I read it, I know that lots of people think this wasn’t actually that great a thrill ride, but it’s definitely still good. It’s got just the right amount of exciting.

YA

Synopsis: Todd Hewitt is the only boy in a town of men. Ever since the settlers were infected with the Noise germ, Todd can hear everything the men think, and they hear everything he thinks. Todd is just a month away from becoming a man, but in the midst of the cacophony, he knows that the town is hiding something from him — something so awful Todd is forced to flee with only his dog, whose simple, loyal voice he hears too. With hostile men from the town in pursuit, the two stumble upon a strange and eerily silent creature: a girl. Who is she? Why wasn’t she killed by the germ like all the females on New World? Propelled by Todd’s gritty narration, readers are in for a white-knuckle journey in which a boy on the cusp of manhood must unlearn everything he knows in order to figure out who he truly is.

Now I’m not much of a YA reader, but if someone came to me wanting a YA recommendation this is the book I would choose! I remember this book been so exciting and cute when I read it. It also had a fair amount of creepiness to it, which I loved even as a younger reader.

Historical fiction

Synopsis: Tourists flock to the cabin of eleven-year-old Anna O’Donnell, who believes herself to be living off manna from heaven, and a journalist is sent to cover the sensation. Lib Wright, a veteran of Florence Nightingale’s Crimean campaign, is hired to keep watch over the girl.

If you’re looking to recommend a historical fiction novel, look no further! This one is a slow-paced, mystery set during the Irish Potato Famine. It’s a great, but also harrowing read with ties to religion and romance throughout.

Horror

Synopsis: Rosemary Woodhouse and her struggling actor-husband Guy move into the Bramford, an old New York City apartment building with an onimous reputation and only elderly residents. Neighbours Roman and Minnie Castavet soon come nosing around to welcome them and, despite Rosemary’s reservations about their eccentricity and the weird noises she keeps hearing, her husband starts spending time with them. Shortly after Guy lands a plum Broadway role, Rosemary becomes pregnant and the Castavets start taking a special interest in her welfare.

As the sickened Rosemary becomes increasingly isolated, she begins to suspect that the Castavet’s circle is not what it seems.

Looking for an old school, bone-chilling horror with no gore or silly apparitions? Well look no further than Rosemary’s Baby! I can’t recommend this book enough to horror lovers. It’s creeps up on you so slowly and stealthily. Don’t read before bed.

Synopsis: Paul Sheldon is a bestselling novelist who has finally met his number one fan. Her name is Annie Wilkes, and she is more than a rabid reader—she is Paul’s nurse, tending his shattered body after an automobile accident. But she is also furious that the author has killed off her favorite character in his latest book. Annie becomes his captor, keeping him prisoner in her isolated house.

Annie wants Paul to write a book that brings Misery back to life—just for her. She has a lot of ways to spur him on. One is a needle. Another is an axe. And if they don’t work, she can get really nasty.

I’ve never felt so out of breath reading a book. This one is truly terrifying, on a completely person-to-person basis. No paranormal stuff needed! I would recommend this to readers who love a good scare.

Sci-Fi

Synopsis: No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, when death comes, Harry always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life he has already lived a dozen times before. Nothing ever changes.

Until now.

As Harry nears the end of his eleventh life, a little girl appears at his bedside. ‘I nearly missed you, Doctor August,’ she says. ‘I need to send a message.’

This is the story of what Harry does next, and what he did before, and how he tries to save a past he cannot change and a future he cannot allow.

Trying my hardest not to sound like a totally pretentious twit right now, but this is probably only a good book to recommend for a more advanced reader? It’s twisty, and mind-bendy as hell and it gets a little confusing at times! But, this book will take you on an immense journey, so anyone you know who likes sci-fi should be handed this book immediately!

Synopsis: “Are you happy with your life?”

Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious.

Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits.

Before a man Jason’s never met smiles down at him and says, “Welcome back, my friend.”

In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible.

Is it this world or the other that’s the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could’ve imagined—one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself even as he battles a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe.

Everyone knows my thoughts on this book (it’s bloody amazing!!!) so I cant see that it comes as any surprise that it’s on this list. Practically everyone enjoyed this books… it’s a fast-paced, crazy, romantic and heartwarming science fic thriller… it’s perfect for any sci-fi junkie out there.

True Crime

Synopsis: Prosecuting attorney in the Manson trial, Vincent Bugliosi held a unique insider’s position in one of the most baffling and horrifying cases of the twentieth century: the cold-blooded Tate-LaBianca murders carried out by Charles Manson and four of his followers. What motivated Manson in his seemingly mindless selection of victims, and what was his hold over the young women who obeyed his orders? Here is the gripping story of this famous and haunting crime. 

Best true crime book out there, hands down! If a reader is looking for something dark, criminal, mind-boggling and true then this is the book to recommend! It’s a hefty book at over 500 pages but it takes no time to read at all, because you’re whizzing through every page!

So there you have it! Those are my picks for “non-readers”, by genre!

I hope you’ve enjoyed my take on this weeks theme. I’d love to hear about what books you’d recommend to “non-readers”! Let me know in the comments!