Top Ten Tuesday – Ten Books I’m Thankful For

So being in the UK Thanksgiving really isn’t a thing for me, so there’s no holiday prep happening in the house right now, no pumpkin pie will be eaten on Thursday and turkey is strictly reserved for December 25th! While Thanksgiving is slowly creeping into UK life it is solely in relation to the Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals that have sprung up everywhere in the last 5 years or so…

As Thanksgiving really doesn’t mean anything to me, I’m using today’s Top Ten Tuesday to talk about some of the books and series that I’m thankful to have in my life. Some are quite meaningful and others are completely superficial but I’m thankful for them all and so I’m listing them in no particular order!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme currently hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Today’s Prompt

Thanksgiving/Thankful Freebie

Harry Potter

Harry Potter didn’t make me a reader but it certainly cemented my love of books. I’m thankful for all the joy Harry Potter has brought people all over the world! I’ve spoken about Harry Potter over and over again on the blog but I loved getting to grow up with Hermione especially. I was lucky enough to get into Harry Potter pretty much from the beginning, I started my final year of primary school in September 1998, our teacher tried to get us into The Hobbit but it really didn’t work so instead he read us this relatively new book about a boy wizard that was slowly starting to pick up some hype. Come the end of the school year we still had a chapter to go and the whole of my class stayed behind after the final bell so we could find out what happened. I’m not sure there’s another book that could have done that for an entire class!

To Kill A Mockingbird

I studied this book for GCSE English, my English teacher picked this out of all the available texts that were part of the syllabus. We were the only class out of 13 in the year group that studied the book and I don’t think that was by chance. To Kill A Mockingbird was so important to me as a mixed race teen and I certainly learnt a lot from Atticus from the true meaning of courage to the importance of walking in another’s shoes.

I have to be honest though I’ve not been brave enough to pick up Go Set A Watchman… 

Noughts and Crosses

This trilogy (as it was at the time) was so mind-blowing for me as a mixed race young teen. I think it’s still a really important read for any teenager, it really got me thinking and created a lot of positive conversation in my school. Semi rural Devon was not known for its diversity back then!

His Dark Materials

Lyra, Will, Pan… So many wonderful characters filled the pages of this epic trilogy, I fell in love with it as a teen and devoured the series one book after another, I really did love them! This was probably the first really epic fantasy that I remember reading – in my head this falls into a separate category to Harry Potter – but it’s stuck with me all these years later, what I wouldn’t give for my own daemon!

I didn’t think much of the movie The Golden Compass but I’m so excited for the BBC adaptation that’s in the works!

Sherlock Holmes

I’ve always loved a mystery story, from reading the Famous Five books as a child. Sherlock Holmes was probably my first foray into reading adult mystery novels, I remember watching a TV adaptation with my dad and then spending a book token I got from a school prize evening on the complete collection. I have the paperback but I do have my eyes on a pretty hardcover.

Suffice to say Sherlock cemented my love of mysteries that exists to this day. The modern BBC adaptation is certainly a bonus!

Thomas the Tank Engine

Thomas is probably the first thing I remember truly being a fan of. I had the books, the videos, the toys and I got an annual every Christmas! You could say I was a little obsessed as a small girl lol

The Secret Garden and A Little Princess

Having read through the class library my year 2 teacher brought in her personal copy of The Secret Garden to read and I am so pleased she did. She did everything she could to encourage my love of reading and I’ll always be thankful for that. I also went on to read A Little Princess and loved that story

Inspector McLean

I discovered these by accident a couple of years ago when Audible made certain books free for a promotion. After listening to this one I soon used up my credits on the rest of the series. These books really reignited my love for reading fiction at at time when I was finishing uni and drowning in textbooks

The Dark Gifts Trilogy

People are probably bored of me raving about this trilogy by Vic James by now but I won’t stop! These books gave me all the feels and totally twisted my mind! I loved that Vic constantly had me second guessing myself. Now I just need the beautiful US hardbacks in my life

Cormoran Strike

This one is totally superficial. As much as I adore the books I am most grateful for the fact Tom Burke now makes regular appearances on my TV screen!

Those are ten books or series that I’m thankful to have in my life. Are there any books in particular you’re grateful for? Did you do something different for your Thanksgiving freebie? Let me know in the comments!