Top Ten Tuesday: Gateway Books

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted at The Broke & The Bookish. Each week they host a different top ten topic.


This weeks topic is a brilliant one. It's about sharing the books that led you to something else. A book that got you into reading or one that got you reading a genre that you never used to read. I have so many that I could put down so narrowing it down will be really hard.
I'm just going to name books and not authors - because there is always that one piece of an authors work that is the 'gateway' book because it led you to them.


The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling


This has to be number one because it's the gateway book of gateway books. It is the first series that really sucked me in, I grew up with these books and they will never leave me. This is a series that I will still be rereading when I am old and grey if I live that long. This led me to everything else, it led to me loving series and wanting to follow something all the way to the end. It's the first book series where I became a real fan. The series that I had to have the next book at midnight on the very minute it was released and had to beg my parents to take me to get it. The first books where I sat up until the early hours of the morning reading it because I couldn't put it down. I really believe that Harry Potter led me to become the huge bookworm that I am today. 

His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

I think I may have discovered this book before or just as I was discovering Harry Potter. It blew child me away and captured my imagination so much. I still to this day want my own daemon because life is clearly not complete without one. If anyone asks me to recommend books to them this is always one of the first books I think of after Harry Potter. It's an amazing fantasy series and I can't fault the book at all. If you have never read the series you have to give it a try. This series was different to anything I had read up until that point and it made me start to push myself as a reader. It led me to finding more books that were unlike anything I usually read and pushing myself out of my comfort zone.

The Noughts & Crosses Series by Malorie Blackman
This was the probably one of the most thought-provoking books that I read as a kid. It really got me thinking about the world around me and issues that, as an eleven year old, I hadn't really thought about before. This, Harry Potter & His Dark Materials are the three series that I have probably recommended the most in my life. The love story in this totally got to me and I root for Callum and Sephy the whole time. This led me to finding more books that challenged me as a reader and really made me think. It also showed me that books didn't need magic or wizards for me to love them.


The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Hunger Games introduced me to dystopian novels and I have never looked back. It's probably my favourite genre to read now and I can't get enough of it. The Hunger Games is the ultimate one in my eyes because of how many wonderful books and series it has led me to since. I hunted down as many dystopian as I could after reading it and I found some amazing books that way.


The Sight by David Clement Davies
I picked this up in a book shop as a kid and devoured a large chunk of it before my parents found me. I couldn't put it down and thankfully my parents got the book for me and I read it the whole way home. This book led me to David Clement-Davies who writes some of the greatest books I have read and who is greatly under-appreciated. This book is told from the perspective of wolves and I have never cared about a pack of animals more. This book still makes me sob now that I am an adult and that's how I know it's a favourite. I have this book to thank for leading me to David Clement-Davies and for making me hunt down as many books told from the perspective of animals as I could find.

Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma
This book led me to challenge myself as a reader and my own quick judgements. This is the story of a brother and sister who fall in love, something I wouldn't have really considered reading. But I saw so many amazing 5* reviews for it that I decided that I would give it a go. I am so glad I did because it was incredible, completely blew me away and left me with feeling so many emotions that I was thinking about the book non-stop for weeks. It's led me to read books that I usually wouldn't consider, it's made me pick up more books that handle taboo subjects. It's led me to push myself more as a reader and not always stick within my comfort zone when it comes to reading books. And it's made me look like a weirdo as I keep thrusting a book about incest at people and demanding they read it. 

Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
This made me look at chick-lit in a whole other light. I hated chick-lit before this and had steered well clear of it. It always seemed to be the same gushy, romantic nonsense where you see the ending coming from the very beginning. But an advert for the movie made me really want to give this a go and it was worth it. It completely surprised me and I ended up loving it. After I finished it I knew I wanted to try more of the genre and I have this book to thank for any chick-lit I have read since.

A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
The first book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series is definitely a gateway book for me. Before it I hadn't really read any epic fantasy series - I'm thinking LOTR and others. I was always put off by the length, the amount of characters, character names and a whole host of reasons. But after absolutely loving the TV series, I decided I had to give the first book a go and I am glad I did. I will be reading the rest of the series when I can find the time but also when the next book releases probably because I am impatient. This book will lead me to more epic fantasy series!

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
This led me to read every single thing Jodi Picoult had ever written and then following her books from then on. It got me reading a lot more adult fiction because before that I read mostly young adult. It led me to author authors similar to her, the wonderful Diane Chamberlain in particular.

Alienated by Melissa Landers
I was never really interested in alien books, especially not ones where the alien was the love interest. But my interest was peaked by this one and I decided to give it a go. It became one of my top reads of 2013 and an instant favourite. It also led me to try and hunt down more alien books and it was how I came to start the Lux series, which is amazing!



Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover: Review 5/5
The Summer I Found You by Jolene Perry: Review 3/5
Five Friday Favourites: Book Covers
My Weekly Book Haul
What I Thought Was True by Huntley Fitzpatrick: Review 3/5




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42 comments:

  1. Hunger Games and Harry Potter also made my list this week! =)

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  2. Oh THG is still probably The Series for me. If you ask "what's your favourite book?" it's the first series that pops into my head (that and "Maggie Stiefvater" is hard to pronounce and impossible to spell, soooo Suzanne Collins wins for that one XD). I wish I'd read HP as a kid! I think it would have really inspired me...instead my gateway-childhood-book is probably Narnia. ;)

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    1. I have yet to read any MS books, I should really hurry up and do that! I have never read Narnia either... what is wrong with me?!? ;)

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  3. Nice! Harry made my list as well!

    Here's my Tuesday post

    Have a GREAT day!

    Old Follower :)

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  4. I love your list. I had Harry Potter as well and I loved The Hunger Games but didn't put them on my list. :/ So many good books!

    Kristalyn @ The Sarcastic Palmtree
    My TTT

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  5. I'm sure once I have read A Game Of Thrones it will make me want to read more books in a similar genre too! Great list :)

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    1. It was incredible and addictive... but those books are sooooo long! ;)

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  6. The first David Clement-Davies book I read was Firebringer and I loved it so much! Goodness knows where my copy is now, I read it so many times when I was younger that the cover fell off!
    Cora @ Tea Party Princess

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    1. Haha! I did the exact same thing to Firebringer, I had to buy a second copy lol :)

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  7. Fantastic choices! Love Game Of Thrones, brilliant books!

    My First TT - Thea @ Gizzimomo's Book Shelf

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    1. I need to hurry up and get to the rest of that series :)

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  8. Harry Potter is a fav this week! Great list.

    Check out myTTT.

    Leydy @OUaT & RCE

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  9. I haven't read some of these but they all look great! Great list :)

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  10. LOVE Love love Harry Potter! I am so happy to see him on so many lists this week! :)

    Here is my TTT

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  11. Fantastic list hun! I have to say, Harry Potter would be high on mine, and I also think Something Borrowed is in fact a series, so I don't know if you knew that anyway, but you also encourage me to try his Dark Materials, so well done! :D

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    1. I did and I actually ended up really loving the sequel! You should read it, IT'S AMAZING!!!! ;)

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  12. OMG! Your so right about His Dark Materials!! LOVE THAT SERIES!!
    This is such an awesome list!!! Thanks for sharing!!!
    Check out my TTT xoxo
    Michelle ~ Book Hangovers Blabs Books

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    1. Thanks! I love His Dark Materials, such a unique and wonderful series :)

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  13. I am most looking forward to getting my hands on the sequel to Throne of Glass (Clash of Midnight) and The Ring and The Crown

    Thank you for the giveaway!
    - Annie (DoughnutandCo)

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  14. I haven't read anything by Colleen Hoover yet, but I'm really interested in Maybe Someday! It sounds like super swoon-worthy story. I hope I will like it as much as you did :D

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    1. It's such a brilliant story, I hope you get to it soon :)

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  15. I'm totally with you on Forbidden. I tell people to read that book all the time!!

    I didn't manage a TTT today, but I did post a review of an amazing book that I think everyone should read - check it out here.

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    1. Haha! I loved your post by the way, could not stop laughing ;)

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  16. Ahhh so many great choices - amazing list! I also included some of your choices on my Top Ten - love HP, HG, Something Borrowed and His Dark Materials. Just a really great list - thanks for sharing! :)

    My Top Ten Gateway Reads

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    1. Thanks! It was fun being able to share my fav books lol ;)

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  17. I've never heard of The Noughts and Crosses Series, but it looks really interesting. And, love that it is "noughts," so you know right away its not American. :) For some reason The Os and Xs series just doesn't sound that impressive...

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    1. Heehee, exactly! I definitely recommend, it's an amazing series :) :) :)

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  18. I still need to read Game of Thrones. I absolutely love the series (can't wait until Sunday!) but I still haven't read the books yet. Usually I read the books first (before a movie or tv show) but I've actually really enjoyed being completely shocked when I'm watching. I do have the first one, though, so I'll be reading it soon. Great list! ~Pam

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    1. I LOVE GAME OF THRONES! EPIC SERIES! The first book was really great but I haven't got to the others because 1. the length and 2. I don't want to ruin the TV show for myself lol.

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  19. Alienated by Melissa Landers
    thx u so much ^^

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  20. HP and His Dark Materials got me back into reading YA and I'll always be grateful for that! Great list!

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  21. NOUGHTS AND CROSSES. I'm so done. Why is this book series not more known, I really really love this series and I keep recommending it to everyone I know. I mean. It's beautiful. Great choices :)

    Also, I haven't read anything by Colleen Hover yet, but I recently got Hopeless so I'm hoping to start on that one :)

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    1. I KNOW!!! Everyone should read that series and love it! I haven't read Hopeless yet, hoping to get to it soon :)

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