Top 10 Books Recommended By My Co-workers

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is supposed to be My Ten Favourite Top Ten Topics We’ve Ever Done In The Past 5 Years, but since I have only been doing this for a few months, I’m going to do…

Top 10 Books Recommended By My Co-workers

1. Fluke: Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings by Christopher Moore – Just why do humpback whales sing? That’s the question that marine behavioral biologist Nate Quinn is trying to answer, until the extraordinary day when a whale lifts its tail into the air to display a cryptic message spelled out in foot-high letters: Bite me. I chose this book because it actually made me laugh. It’s well-written, the characters are spot-on, and the pacing is just perfect. (Recommended by Paulo)
2. The Secret History by Donna Tartt – Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality they slip gradually from obsession to corruption and betrayal, and at last – inexorably – into evil. (Recommended by Monika)
3. Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón – Immerse yourself in a stunning depiction of mid-century Barcelona. This labyrinthine mystery about love, loss and literature will captivate you with it’s diverse array of characters. Prepare to lose yourself in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. Simply one of the best reading experiences of my life. I enjoyed every page, every sentence of this novel. It started off as a slow read for me, a chapter here and there, passively enjoying it. Then, at some point, it ensnared me, and I just couldn’t put it down. An absolutely captivating book. (Recommended by Patrick)
4. I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson – Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else—an even more unpredictable new force in her life. (Recommended by Sarah)
5. Bone by Jeff Smith -After being run out of Boneville, the three Bone cousins, Fone Bone, Phoney Bone, and Smiley Bone, are separated and lost in a vast uncharted desert. One by one, they find their way into a deep, forested valley filled with wonderful and terrifying creatures…Humor, mystery, and adventure are spun together in this action-packed, side-splitting saga. Everyone who has ever left home for the first time only to find that the world outside is strange and overwhelming will loveBone. (Recommended by Scott)
6. The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by William Joyce – Everything in Morris Lessmore’s life, including his own story, is scattered to the winds. But the power of story will save the day. A book for all ages, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is a tale that highlights the importance of books. If we treasure them, they will be our constant friends through joy and pain. If you love the book (which I’m sure you will) I recommend watching the short film on YouTube.(Recommended by Brigette)
7. You Deserve a Drink: Boozy Misadventures and Tales of Debauchery by Mamrie Hart -Since launching her YouTube channel “You Deserve a Drink” in 2011, comedian Mamrie Hart has built an intensely devoted following of more than half a million viewers. Like her bawdy and bacchanalian show, Hart’s eponymous debut pays tribute to her boozy misadventures with an original cocktail recipe accompanying each hilarious tale. From the “Leaves of Three Martini,” commemorating the hookup to whom she accidentally gave poison ivy, to the “Bizzargarita,” in honor of the time she and a friend were approached by two uber-Republican couples who wanted to “swing” while on vacation in Mexico, You Deserve a Drink is as useful as it is entertaining. (Recommended by Will)
8. They Left Us Everything by Plum Johnson – After almost twenty years of caring for elderly parents Plum Johnson and her three younger brothers experience conflicted feelings of grief and relief when their mother, the surviving parent, dies. Now they must empty and sell the beloved family home, which hasn’t been de-cluttered in more than half a century. Twenty-three rooms bulge with history, antiques, and oxygen tanks. (Recommended by Sandy)
9. Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum – Anna Benz, an American in her late thirties, lives with her Swiss husband Bruno and their three young children in a postcard-perfect suburb of Zürich. Though she leads a comfortable, well-appointed life, Anna is falling apart inside. Adrift and increasingly unable to connect with the emotionally unavailable Bruno or even with her own thoughts and feelings, Anna tries to rouse herself with new experiences: German language classes, Jungian analysis, and a series of sexual affairs she enters into with an ease that surprises even her. Tensions escalate, and her lies start to spin out of control. Having crossed a moral threshold, Anna will discover where a woman goes when there’s no going back. (Recommended by Sam)
10. Horns by Joe Hill – At first Ig thought the horns were a hallucination, the product of a mind damaged by rage and grief. He had spent the last year in a lonely, private purgatory, following the death of his beloved, Merrin Williams, who was raped and murdered under inexplicable circumstances. A mental breakdown would have been the most natural thing in the world. But there was nothing natural about the horns, which were all too real. (Recommended by Katie)