Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday! This should be an interesting week, because we’re going to talk about our favorite books released in the last ten years! I’m interested to see what some of our favorite older books are, because we’re always talking about the new books, but although I’ve been a reader for my whole life, I haven’t been a book blogger for that long. As you’ll see, some of these years were a challenge for me! Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl!
Since 2019 isn’t even halfway over yet, I’m going to start my blast from the past in 2009. Like my “Favorite books I read for the first time in 20XX” lists, I’m only going to list the first book that I enjoyed in a series. Unless I say otherwise, you can assume that all the other books in the series should be on this list too (that way you don’t see the same series year after year).
2009: Aяguing With Idiots – Glenn Beck
This was a hard year for me to do. Even though I’ve been a reader for years, this is the only book I could find that I read that was released in 2009. Weird, huh? I can find books from 2008, books from 2010, but I went through an entire list with over 1600 books released this year, and the only other books I found on that list that I’ve read… weren’t actually released that year (or they were books in the middle of a series, like City of Glass or Catching Fire). So while I did enjoy this book and it has a lot of good information, this book actually won the year by default.
2010: The Twelfth Imam – Joel C. Rosenberg
2010 was a much easier year to find books from. Perhaps it was a little too easy. There were so many amazing books that came out this year. Not only did The Twelfth Imam, the first book in the David Shirazi series, come out, but so did Clockwork Angel, the first book in The Infernal Devices, as well as Unbroken and Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. They were all great books, although the last two are nonfiction books. It’s been a while since I read this book, and I almost picked Clockwork Angel, but I remember totally shipping David and Marseilles (I think that was her name) and now I want to read the series again, so I’m putting it here.
2011: Legend – Marie Lu
This was probably the most difficult choice I had to make on this list, because Divergent came out in 2011 as well. These are two of my favorite books by my two auto-buy authors. I’d like to say that they are tied, although I’ve read Divergent so many times (in English, Spanish, German, and partially in Russian even) that I kinda need a break from it for now. So Legend wins out by a hair (today), but if we did this list five years from now, Divergent might win.
2012: Shadow and Bone – Leigh Bardugo
Going through a list of books that were released in 2012, a recent read of mine, Shadow and Bone, tops the list. Throne of Glass also came out this year. They’re both fantasy books, but completely different. I think Shadow and Bone ultimately wins out because of 1) its Russian inspiration and 2) the sweet relationship between Alina and Mal. I go for that over the Throne of Glass relationships any day (sorry Sarah J. Maas, your books are still good).
2013: The 5th Wave – Rick Yancey
Normally, when I think a book is really good, I’ll recommend the entire series to someone. That really isn’t the case with The 5th Wave. While I loved this book, the last two books in the series disappointed me. That’s pretty much the opposite of how I feel about Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series, which started out as a 3 star book for me, but by the end of the series got consistent 4 and 5 stars (Clockwork Princess came out this year, which made me ugly cry). But this book was good, and I’d read it again, but maybe not the rest of the series.
2014: The Young Elites – Marie Lu
Although I think The Rose Society and The Midnight Star were better books than The Young Elites, 2014 was a year of sequels. The Grisha Verse Trilogy was ending, as was The Mortal Instruments. Four: A Divergent Story Collection also came out this year. The Young Elites was the first book on this list that I actually read the year it came out, which I find surprising. I remember reading it shortly after we moved to Colorado, which was in late 2014.
2015: An Ember in the Ashes – Sabaa Tahir
There were a few books I loved that came out in 2015. Not only did An Ember in the Ashes come out, but so did Six of Crows. Since I already gave Leigh Bardugo a book series on this list, and I kinda like the both quite a bit, I’ll give this year’s book award to Sabaa Tahir. A Court of Thorns and Roses and Red Queen also came out this year, which I liked, but still, I think Ember deserves the top spot. At least today.
2016: Lady Midnight – Cassandra Clare
I read so many Cassandra Clare books last year that I’m a little surprised that this is the only of her series that ended up on this list. Several other great books came out this year including Summer Days and Summer Nights (a collection of summer stories) and Ever the Hunted, but I have to give Lady Midnight the top spot for this year, especially since I loved so many of her other books that didn’t make this list.
2017: Carve the Mark – Veronica Roth
To be honest, Marie Lu’s Wildcard might win this year (I put it as the best book I read for the first time in 2017), but I really liked Carve the Mark (I’d kinda like to reread it again soon) and since this was the #2 book, and I gave Legend the top spot for 2011, I’ll give Ms. Roth the spot for this year. Other amazing books from this year include Caraval, Flame in the Mist, and Strange the Dreamer. This was a great year for books!
2018: The Cruel Prince – Holly Black
Holly Black’s The Cruel Prince gets the final spot in our favorite books from the last ten years list. It was my third favorite book I read for the first time in 2018, but the ones that beat it were Enchantée (released in 2019) and Wildcard (the second in the series) so I’m giving this the top spot for the year. Queen of Nothing, the final book in this series, was the first book I pre-ordered for 2020 (although they moved up the release date to November, so yay!).
So there you have it, some of my favorite books released in the last ten years. If I were to do this list next year, there would probably be many of he same books, but there might be a few changes as I get to try out new books.
What were your favorite books from these years? I’m looking forward to seeing your lists, especially for some of the older years. Next week, we’re going to talk about some of my favorite fantasy books.
I loved AEitA so much! Not only for the story but because that’s the book my hubby had used to ask me to be his GF. So it holds a special place in my heart. Shadow and Bone is one I’ve been dying to read. And I loved TYE!
Genesis @ Whispering Chapters recently posted…Amazing Intimate Romance + Awesome Friendship: Passion on Park Avenue by Lauren Layne
What a cool story! My dh gave me a book shortly after we met. We have kids named after characters in those books.
I love your list! So many books that nearly made my list but where I did make the other choice haha. And I love that you tried to pick as many authors as you could, that was definitely part of my reasoning for some as well.
Isabelle @ the Book Dutchesses recently posted…TTT #81 | Favorite Books Released In the Last Ten Years
Now I have to go see your list to see what you put!
Confession: Half of these books are either on my TBR or I own and haven’t read yet (or both, I guess, technically). xD Which is sad. Like you, I wasn’t a book blogger until recently, either, and my “reading a lot” constituted, like, 12 – 20 books a year. So I feel like I missed so much and need to catch up now. I want to read Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse soon, so I can get a jump start before the show comes out. :3 I really need to read, like, all of Marie Lu’s work, too. The Cruel Prince was a great choice for last year! Man, there were just so many good books that came out in 2018 that it was really hard to pick one.
Sammie @ The Writerly Way recently posted…Ten Best Books, 2009 to 2018 Edition (Congrats, You Win … Bragging Rights?)
I feel like I’ve been catching up too. I’ve read a lot of the major “must read” books now, but every week it seems like I’m saying “ooh I need to read something by X!” For my summer TBR I wrote down a bunch of books that I’ve bought or keep saying I wanted to read, and used a random number generator to pick for me, LOL.
I really need to try some of Holly Black’s stuff sometime.
My TTT.
She’s very good. I need to read some of her backlist at some point now.
Still really want to read Marie Lu’s “Legend” book; I discovered that I really did enjoy “Warcross” (the sequel not quite as much), so I’m curious to give more of her books a chance. 🙂
Rissi JC recently posted…All Time Favorite Books from the Last 10 Years | Top 10 Tuesday
Even though I like all her books, I think I like Legend the best. Plus the fourth book comes out this fall!
I need to read more Marie Lu, I’ve only read warcross.
Greg recently posted…Top Ten Favorite Books Released in the Last Ten Years
Warcross is her most science-fictiony book, Legend is dystopian and The Young Elites is fantasy with an evil protagonist. So you might like them.
Great list! I enjoyed The Cruel Prince so much more than I expected to – I can’t wait for The Queen of Nothing!
Jess @ Jessticulates recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday | Ten years of amazing books!
I’m glad they moved up the release date!
I became obsessed with The Fifth Wave the year it was published. What if be had an alien invasion? Suddenly, I was making a plan for me and my family what we would do. Funny, I know. My 10 years of favorites
That’s really cute. 🙂 But you never know when a disaster might happen. Probably not an alien invasion… but economic collapse, EMP, war… they could happen.
I think I need to give Holly Black a try after al these recommendations. Though I probably would have gone with Divergent (no offence to Legend) as I have warm memories of rereading that when I was pregnant with my eldest daughter
🙂 That’s sweet. A few years ago, Divergent probably would have won, but I don’t even know how many times I’ve read it (not including fanfiction). I still play Divergent trivia every day on QuizUp. I’m the all-time second highest ranked player in the world in that topic (I’m trying to take the #1 spot eventually).
It’s nice to see some love for The 5th Wave. I actually enjoyed the movie- so I was going to check it out but I kept seeing mediocre reviews for it everywhere and they kind of put me off.
Great list! And thank you for stopping by earlier!
Sarah recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite books of the past decade
You’re welcome. I liked the movie too (it’s how I discovered the books) but I did like the book better. And I wasn’t too impressed with the sequels.
Nice list! So many I’ve heard of, but I haven’t read yet!
🙂 It’s funny because I have several favorites that I know I talk about a lot, but we’re all reading different books and visiting all the different blogs on TTT so even though I sometimes feel repetitive, we’re always seeing different books from different people.
I love the Young Elites series – so good!
Thanks for visiting my blog earlier.
You’re welcome!
I’m trying to tackle The Midnight Star in Spanish. It’s taking a while (because of the language).
I enjoy reading your explanations and details about each year’s picks. Great list!
Thank you!
I really need to read Grisha trilogy and then Six of Crows duology. I already bought all of the books… it’s just a matter of prioritizing them over the other ones. And I LOVE «The 5th Wave» series. All books with dystopian / survival settings are usually my favorites, definitely need to read more of those. Do you have any recommendations? 🙂
There’s a new dystopian called Verify that’s coming out later this year! Maybe they’re starting to come back!
I also liked The 5th Wave and was disappointed in the other two books. The Cruel Prince by Black has been on my TBR list since it came out! Hopefully I will get to it soon.
They moved up the release date for The Queen of Nothing so you could read the entire series this year!
This list made me realise just how many great fantasy series there are that I still need to get to! Holly Black’s books are definitely the highest up on my TBR though!
This has been a great week for finding new books!
Carve The Mark was awesome <3 I listened to it on Audiobook and I loved the narrators. They did an amazing job. If you are on the fence about when to re-read it, maybe give the audiobook a try 😀
Brittany recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday – Favorite Fantasy Books Released In the Last Ten Years
Glad to hear they did a good job on them. Although I have the series in hardback so I’ll probably just reread those.
Lady Midnight and The Cruel Prince are both in my possession but I’m struggling to motivate myself to read them. I really need to get on it and see what the fuss is about!
Hope you get motivation or them soon! They’re both really different, so depends on what your mood is for!
I’ve never read any of these books, but so many of them have been on my TBRs at one point or another! I’ll have to add them back on now that you’ve jogged my memory… great list!
Holly @ Nut Free Nerd recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Books Released in the Last 10 Years
There’s so many books I see on Top Ten Tuesday that I want to read! I hope you get to some of these soon!
I’m up to Lady Midnight in my ‘working my way through the ShadowHunterverse’ journey! Good to see it was your fave for that year, hopefully I enjoy it as much.
Bree @1girl2manybooks recently posted…Review: The Island Of Sea Women by Lisa See
That’s what I spent most of last year doing. Now I want to reread!
Legend is one my favorite series of all time! And I’m currently reading The Young Elites! Great list 😀
Yay! Are you planning on reading Rebel this fall?
Great list. I just finally read An Ember in the Ashes last week and really loved it.
Suzanne @ The Bookish Libra recently posted…Can’t Wait Wednesday – THE GUINEVERE DECEPTION by Kiersten White
So I guess you’ll be joining the rest of us impatiently waiting for the last book!
THE CRUEL PRINCE! That might have been on my list if I did 2019 lol
One of the books that deserved the hype :-).
I am going to have to revisit An Ember in the Ashes. I need to either finally finish the series or move on.
Well, the fourth book does come out next year, so if you’re waiting for a good time, maybe right before then?
I really enjoyed Legend when I read it but I couldn’t get into The Young Elites 🙁
Annemieke recently posted…Witchsign // Book Review // #wyrdandwonder
🙁 After reading that series a second time, I like the 2nd and 3rd books more. But it is definitely a different style.
so many great series named here!!
Thank you!