Top Ten Tuesday used to be a weekly post hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, but was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl. “It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.” This is definitely something I can understand and want to participate in.
I haven’t been blogging for nearly as long as TTT has been going, so this rewind gives me the time to revisit previous topics that I never got the chance to do. This week I’m going to talk about gateway books. Have you ever read the kind of book that gets its hooks in you and makes you want to read a ton more books in that genre? Here’s my gateway books for various genres:
- The Witching Hour by Anne Rice — while I classify this one firmly in the fantasy genre, it also has a major historical fiction component, and it made me want to read more historical fiction books. Especially focusing on witches.
- The Anastasia Syndrome and Other Stories by Mary Higgins Clark — I got my hands on this book early on and fell in love with mystery/thrillers and haven’t stopped reading them since.
- Hook/Lost in Darkness by Gina L. Maxwell — I definitely had a grudge against romance, thinking it was going to all be the cheesy 80s and 90s style romance that I used to sneak-read as a kid. This was suggested to me, and boy did it open a whole new world of modern-day spicy romance novels to me.
- Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert — this book showed me all about the genre of rom-coms that were inclusive, where I could identify with a plus-size and disabled character, laugh while reading, and not have to deal with corny words for genitalia.
- Circe by Madeline Miller — I didn’t even know that mythology retellings were an entire subgenre until I discovered this book, and then fell into a whole rabbit hole of retellings.
- Kill the Queen by Jennifer Estep — this was my first introduction to fantasy as an adult, and I haven’t looked back since. Now it’s my most frequently read genre most months.
- The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang — as a subgenre, military fantasy has quickly become a favorite, and to think that I didn’t even know that it existed before this book dropped.
- Dread Nation by Justina Ireland — this was one of the first horror books that I read recently, and I like to call it horror-lite. As a self-proclaimed wuss, this is a genre I’m only starting to read, but the ones I can manage, I do enjoy.
- Game of Cones by Cynthia Baxter — this was the first cozy mystery I ever read, and I was actually surprised at how much I love the genre, since I also love the super dark and gritty and gory kind of mysteries too.
- The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt — I’m sure I read literary fiction before this, but this one stands out the most to me, especially since I loved this book so much. This is a genre that can be hit or miss for me, but when it hits, it hits hard.
What are some of your gateway books?
Categories: Top Ten Tuesday
Leah's Books 
I loved CIRCE so much…now I’ll be on the hunt for this sub genre of mythology
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There’s so many! I especially loved The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker and Elektra by Jennifer Saint.
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Gateway books. That’s a good way to describe them! The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan was my gateway book into truly epic fantasy. I’d read Mercedes Lackey’s The Last Herald-Mage trilogy previously, and Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern, but The Wheel of Time was the first series I read that was fantasy on a major scale.
Happy TTT!
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Right? I love thinking of them like that! And I’ve got that one on my TBR. It’s so cool when we find a book that opens up a whole new world of books to us, isn’t it?
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This is an awesome topic! Now I’m thinking about my gateway books. I really liked The Goldfinch too.
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Isn’t it? I love the idea of gateway books, and I was surprised at how many I was able to think of. The Goldfinch was such a great experience.
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This is a GREAT topic choice. Harry Potter made me fall in love with fantasy, but it definitely wasn’t the first fantasy series I picked up. Lisa Kleypas’s Dreaming of You made me fall in love with historical romances.
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Thank you! I loved the idea so much when I did this post, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be the first one you read, just the one that made you fall in love with the genre. I’ve got to read a Kleypas book at some point!
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Yeah, there are so many retellings of classic myths (and legends and fairy tales, too) out there.
I still need to read Circe myself. 🙂
My post: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-bookish-things-ive-quit-doing/
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I’ve realized how much I love retellings of all sorts! Circe was such an incredible read for me.
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My goodness, what a great topic. I’d really have to give it some thought and go back lots of years, but this did make me think. I’ve read Witching Hour and Circe (and also fell, still falling, into the retelling hole) and Poppy War is on my list as a series I’m eager to start. Great list.
Terrie @ Bookshelf Journeys
https://www.bookshelfjourneys.com/post/ttt-series-to-finish
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Thank you! I definitely had to scroll through the years for this one, and I don’t know if we ever stop falling into the retelling hole once we start! The Poppy War is gritty and dark but so, so good!
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While I’ve read all of the Vampire Chronicles, I’ve not ventured into any of Anne Rice’s other novels. But the Mayfair Witches series is supposed to be really good.
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.
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I read the first few books in the Vampire Chronicles, but definitely veered right into the Mayfair Witches and completely fell in love. I think I love it even better than the Vampire Chronicles!
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I enjoyed reading why each of these books brought you (and hopefully others) to a new genre/sub-genre/type of book to read.
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Thank you! I couldn’t just list the books without explaining why they inspired me to read more books like them! But I think everyone has their own gateway books if they think about it.
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I haven’t read any of these books, but I have heard about The Goldfinch. Game of Cones though sounds something that would be RIGHT up my alley!
My TTT where I talk about popular books I haven’t read yet.
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The Goldfinch was fantastic, but I really enjoyed Game of Cones! It’s such a cute and fun cozy mystery. Hopefully I’ve inspired you to try one (or more) of these books!
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I’m not sure I could pinpoint a specific book that got me interested in a different genre or subgenre. But many of these do look interesting.
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/favorite-historical-fiction-the-1960s-1970s/
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Thank you! I’m not sure why these all stick in my mind so clearly, but they definitely do.
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I recently binged the first three books of The Vicious Lost Boys series and it has now made me seek out more dark romance type of books. Its been a while since something like that has happened to me so its nice to feel like I actually want to read!
My TTT: https://www.mollysbooknook.com/top-ten-tuesday-5-podcasts-that-will-spook-you-or-motivate-you/
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Oh that’s awesome to find a series that you click with so wonderfully! I might just have to check that out, because the “dark romance” book that was suggested to me didn’t have any romance at all, but I’m open to trying new books, so thanks for the heads up!
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Great topic, and not one that I’ve given much thought to. I can’t believe I’ve only read one of these books in your list, The Goldfinch. Unfortunately I had the complete opposite reaction you did haha. I really abhorred it. 😛 (But I’m glad you liked it!) I was mad that I wasted my time reading it and going through the library holds list 2-3x just to finish it lol! This was part of the process I guess I inadvertently took that made me realize these types of stories aren’t for me. I lump it in with Wuthering Heights & Normal People.
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Thank you! I guess that was the gateway closing for that kind of book for you, and it was a really, really long book, so I can completely understand your frustration. Literary fiction seems to be super hit or miss for most people.
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