Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!
This week's theme is 'Top Ten Books We Enjoyed That Have Under 2000 Ratings On Goodreads', so this week will be a good opportunity to show some severely underrated books some well-deserved attention!
Peter and Alice by John Logan: I don't tend to read plays that often, I'd much rather see them performed, but I'm so glad I read this one. John Logan's a fairly famous script and screenwriter; he wrote Gladiator and Skyfall, and also created Penny Dreadful, which was one of my favourite shows until that horrifically rushed and disappointing ending. Le sigh. Peter and Alice is a fairly short play based on the true meeting of Alice Liddell and Peter Llewelyn Davies, the real-life inspirations behind Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Peter Pan. It's wonderful.
Disturbance by Ivy Alvarez: This is a poetry collection published by Seren Books, where I used to work, and I think it's fantastic. It's narrative poetry that tells the story about a family and their community after the father of the family murders his wife and son and then kills himself. It's so well executed, and so worth your time.
Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: I'm never going to miss an opportunity to mention this book. It's one of my favourite books of all time and I wish more people would read it because it so deserves to be read. Check it out!
Beyond the Pale by Emily Urquhart: The first piece of non-fiction on my list this week. Emily Urquhart is a folklorist whose daughter was born with albinism. She decided to explore how albinism has been portrayed in folklore, the history of albinism and the way people with albinism are treated all around the world. Parts of this book are harrowing, but it's so worth reading and so interesting.
Corrag by Susan Fletcher: A brilliant piece of historical fiction based on The Massacre of Glencoe, where a young girl, Corrag, is accused of witchcraft and murder and waits to be burned at the stake. If you like novels such as Burial Rites and Alias Grace, you'll like this too.
Unicorn Tracks by Julia Ember: This book has unicorns in it. What else do I need to say to get you to read it?
Jane Eyre's Sisters by Jody Gentian Bower: More non-fiction, but this time literary criticism. Jane Eyre's Sisters explores the heroine's journey, rather than the hero's journey, and I thoroughly enjoyed it - this is the book that got me reading non-fiction for my own enjoyment!
The Undressed by Jemma L. King: My favourite poetry collection. Jemma L. King wrote The Undressed after finding old photographs from the 19th/early 20th centuries of women in rather risque positions. In this collection King gives each of the women a name and a voice of their own, and it's fantastic.
The Creation of Anne Boleyn by Susan Bordo: The last piece of non-fiction on this list, and possibly my favourite. This isn't a history book about Anne Boleyn, but rather a cultural look at Anne. Bordo explores how Anne Boleyn has been portrayed in historical fiction and TV dramas, and looks at how people have seen her as everything from an incestuous whore to the mother of the Reformation. It's such a good book.
Rolling in the Deep by Mira Grant: If you like found footage films like The Blair Witch Project or Trollhunter, you'll enjoy this little novella which is basically a literary equivalent. I had so much fun reading this, and as someone who doesn't tend to read many mermaid books I really enjoyed this one.
Which books made your list this week?
