Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Picked Up On A Whim

op Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and The Bookish. Every Tuesday bloggers list 10 bookish things according to a certain theme. Today we’re listing ten books that we picked up on a whim. I’m going to interpret this as buying/reading books that I hadn’t heard about before. As a blogger and follower of the online book community it’s hard not to buy based on recommendations, so I really liked this opportunity of looking through my books finding these that I just bought because they stood out on the shelves. They’re mostly older ones that I bought before I got into the book-blogging community. I was pleasantly surprised to see some of them again, a lot of them were absolute favourites of mine when I was a teenager.

1.TimeBomb – Scott K. Andrews

I picked up TimeBomb from a table of free books at a convention. I can’t remember if it was Nine Worlds or Fantasycon. I liked the cover and the description of the book and I wasn’t disappointed. I enjoyed the book very much and can’t wait to read the second one (which also has a stunning cover btw).

2. Shadow’s Son – Jon Sprunk

I picked up Shadow’s Son when I was a at big book fair in Belgium. They do a tour of Flanders and the Netherlands with a huge amount of all sorts of books, most at reduced prices. I go every year and because it’s always very busy, the selection of books I buy there are mostly based on covers and quick glances at descriptions. Shadow’s Son was one I bought solely based on the cover and it is basically how I discovered Pyr. It is the first book in a trilogy and I enjoyed all three of them very much.

3. The Demon King – Cinda Williams Chima

Aaah, The Demon King! I bought it at the same book fair as Shadow’s Son and fell in love with it straight away. I bought the other two books in the series immediately after and eagerly awaited the fourth and last book after that. Seven Realms is a series that’ll always belong to my favourite YA series and it’s all because I picked up the first book because I liked the cover.

4. Lord of Snow and Shadows – Sarah Ash

Similar story to the two books above. I bought it at the book fair and completely fell in love with it. I bought and read the other two books in the trilogy some time after that and loved them as well. So far, the book fair has given me quite a few successful blind buys.

5. Stardust – Neil Gaiman

I was 16 I think when I bought Stardust. Again I picked it because I liked the cover. I didn’t really realise that the cover was actually the movie cover. It was my first Neil Gaiman book. I still curse myself for forgetting it when I went to World Fantasy Convention back in 2013. Luckily Mr. Gaiman is an amazing guy and signed my programme (with a short story of his) instead.

6. Magician – Raymond E. Feist

Magician was my first big Fantasy love. I went into town to buy some books with my then-boyfriend and I randomly bought this one. My life would never be the same again 😉

7. City of Stars – Mary Hoffman

I think I was obsessed with this book for a long time when I was a teenager. I remember making paintings about it and reading it again and again. I didn’t really realise this was the second book in the series until I did some research to see if there were other books like it I could read. The Stravaganza series has 6 books now, though I’ve only read three. They are still on my TBR though and one day I will finish the series.

8. The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon

My mum actually bought this book, but I wanted to read it too and it has been one of my all-time favourites ever since. What an absolutely amazing book.

9. Wit’ch Fire – James Clemens

Another one of my first Fantasy loves. I read this book so many times when I was younger! I think I bought it because I liked the cover and I think it was the first time I bought a book from the Adult section of our local bookstore. I quickly read the other books in the series and I’m due a re-read soon!

10. Sorcerer’s of the Nightwing – Geoffrey Huntington

This is a YA horror series that was one of my favourites when I was a teenager. Unfortunately the third book ends with a huge cliffhanger and the fourth book was never published. A few years ago it seemed the other would publish it anyway, but it has been quiet around him again.