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.
Happy June! One of my favorite things about books is the way that they are able to draw out emotions. A lot of times they draw out positive emotions, but other times they can bring out negative emotions. This week’s prompt is books I had VERY strong emotions about, and we are given the freedom to discuss any emotion, whether they are happy, sad, angry, terrified, surprised, or anything else. Here are some of my favorite books that I felt VERY strong emotions about:
- New Nigeria County by Clare Brown. This book made me feel uncomfortable, but not necessarily because of the book itself. More so because of how it examines the main situation, and how different it seems when societal and gender roles change, especially viewing white people as a minority and how experiences alter because of that.
- The Boy with the Star Tattoo by Talia Carner. I loved this book, but it made me cry both happy and sad tears for the characters and the impossible situations that they were put into, and how things turned out for some of them.
- Lilith by Eric Rickstad. This one really hit me in all the feels. The story starts with a school shooting, and focuses a lot on the ripple effects. When the gun control debate starts up, I wanted to rip some characters out of the book and throw them against the wall.
- Daughter of the Merciful Deep by Leslye Penelope. This book is set in the 1920s and 1930s, and I was enraged while reading some of this, and terrified for the characters as well. Penelope does a wonderful job of getting me to feel strongly about the characters and situations.
- The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon. There’s so much casual misogyny in this historical fiction book, and I couldn’t help but be furious about how Martha is dismissed and spoken to by male characters in the book.
- Family Family by Laurie Frankel. Frankel has this amazing way of creating such realistic characters, and this book had me so invested that I was in tears, both sad and then happy while reading.
- The City of Stardust by Georgia Hunter. Not only was I surprised at how much I loved this book, but I was endlessly frustrated by certain characters and how they acted.
- The Lover by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. I fell in love with this short story, and it had me on the edge of my seat to find out what happened next.
- Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice by Elle Cosimano. I was so happy to read this book, and absolutely loved every minute of it. Also, it’s such a fun series, so I laughed my way through the story.
- The Light of the Midnight Stars by Rena Rossner. It’s hard to put into words the feelings I experienced when reading this book, but this was one of the very first fantasy books that heavily incorporated Jewish themes and characters. It’s one of the first books that let me see myself and my own culture on the page.
Have you read any of these? What are some books that drew out a lot of emotion from you?
Categories: Top Ten Tuesday
Leah's Books 
The Finlay Donovan books have been on my mental TBR list for a while now. I own the first two books I think and will, hopefully, give book one a chance soon! 🙂
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I think we’ve talked about this series before. Just in case, I highly suggest the audiobook versions, for at least one. The narration is wonderful and gave me a voice for Finlay that was absolutely perfect and set the tone, so that I could hear her and the other characters in the narrator’s voice even when I read books in ebook format.
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It’s always exciting when a story evokes such intense feelings. Your list has some powerful reads that I’ll definitely consider adding to my TBR pile.
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I love hearing that my list might inspire people to add books to their TBR. Books that draw out strong emotion always leave me feeling like it did the job well.
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I struggled with the first Finlay Donovan book, so I haven’t read any of the others in the series. I hear so many people say they love it, and how funny and quirky the characters are, but I just struggled to connect with them.
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/warm-fuzzy-reads-12-books-to-give-you-warm-fuzzy-feelings/
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I hate when that happens! It’s really tough to get invested in a book where you don’t feel connected to any of the characters. I did find it easier to connect with the characters on audiobooks, but not every reader is going to love every book, right?
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That last one sounds interesting. I like reading Jewish fiction, but have never encountered a fantasy take on it. My list is here, if you are interested. 🙂
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Thank you! I’m chock full of Jewish fantasy recs, if you’re interested. And I’m absolutely planning to check out your list. Maybe I’ll do a future TTT post about Jewish fantasy books!
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An interesting list. I am hoping to read Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead soon 🤞🏻
Have a great week!
Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog
My post:
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Emily Jane! I am going to literally harass you every single week until you read Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead. Just kidding, I know how tough it is to just toss in a random read on your scheduled TBR, but it’s so much fun and it’s absolutely worth it.
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😂😂😂 I get the slight impression that you think that I should read it soon 😂😂😂
I’ll make it my next book in the Summer Challenge 😊
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Yay! I’m so glad you picked up on my super subtle messaging. 🤣🤣🤣
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😂
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Honestly, I DNF books with misogyny in them even if they were written that way to seem more historically accurate or what have you. I simply don’t have the stomach for it!
Here is my <a href=”https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-books-i-had-very-strong-emotions-about/“>Top Ten Tuesday.</a>
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Me too, for the most part. Although in The Frozen River, it’s just one character that is actively misogynistic, while society was just sucky in thinking that women were more emotional and incapable of doing certain jobs (like being a doctor). Then again, every book needs to have a villain, right?
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I’ve had the Moreno-Garcia book on my list – I will have to read it!
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You *do* have to! And it’s just a short story, and so interesting that you’ll fly through it. I genuinely hope you love it as much as I did!
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I had it in my hands the other day at the library. We are going again on Friday and I will check it out this time. Lol.
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Can’t wait to see what you think!
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I really want to read Daughter of the Merciful Deep, especially after your description. Oh wow, I read a book by Rena Rossner I liked and I didn’t know she had written more! & also I’m trying to give more short stories a chance to trying The Lover might be a good idea since I already know I like the author! Nice list 🙂
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Thanks! Apparently we’ve found our reading twin 🤣 but seriously, it’s always so cool to find another person who has such similar taste in reading! I think you’ll probably love Daughter of the Merciful Deep, and I’m heartbroken that Rena Rossner has only written two of these beautiful books.
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