Today’s prompt for Top Ten Tuesday is “Ten Hyped Books I’ve Never Read.”  I’m often hesitant to read hyped books, because I worry that they won’t meet my expectations. Here’s a mix of adult and YA books.

• The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
• Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
• Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
• A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
• If I Stay by Gayle Forman
• Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia
• Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
• The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare
• The Selection by Kiera Cass

Even though I own a bunch of these, I’ve still never read them.  Are there any hyped books that you haven’t gotten to yet?

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday prompt is 10 books I’d love to see as movies or TV shows.  This is hard, because I always think that books would make great movies/TV shows in theory, but they’re rarely as good as I expect.  Nevertheless, here are ten books that I think would transfer well.

1. A Great & Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray.  Actually, the whole Gemma Doyle series.  That would be great as a CW show.  I can see the dramatic promos now…
2. The Diviners by Libba Bray would be great too.  I can see it drawing the same kind of attention as American Horror Story.
3. I always thought that Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palaniuk would be a great movie.  I was really disappointed to find that the film rights were sold, but a movie was never made.
4. The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer would be amazing either as a TV show or a series of movies.  Who doesn’t want to see a cyborg saving the world?!
5. The Virgin Romance Novelist by Meghan Quinn would be perfect as an HBO (or similar cable network) series.  It’s so funny, and I think all the jokes and awkward situations would easily transfer to TV.
6. Necessary Lies by Diane Chamberlain would be a total Lifetime movie, but I could get behind it.
7. I would love to see a TV series based on Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins.  I can see it being a lot like Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
8. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline would be great as a movie.  Can you even imagine the virtual reality on the big screen?
9. Most Rainbow Rowell books would make good movies, but I think Landline would transfer particularly well.
10. I remember thinking when I was in high school that the Fearless series by Francine Pascal would make a great TV show.  Even now, in my mid-twenties, I’d watch it.

What books would you like to see on TV or as a movie?

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday prompt is 10 books I plan to have in my beach bag this summer.

I feel the need to say that I don’t go to the beach very often.  I actually wouldn’t ever go if I could avoid it, because:

• I don’t like being hot.
• I don’t like huge crowds of people.
• The beaches in New Jersey are super gross.
• I literally see people getting their faces cut off because of skin cancer every day.

But… I will probably spend time at my boyfriend’s family’s beach house this summer.  On the porch.  In the shade.  (Still doused in sunscreen, though.) Close enough, right?  So here’s what I’ll be bringing with me.  (Hint: It’s a lot of Krista & Becca Ritchie, because I’m so overwhelmed with ARC’s that I haven’t had much time to read for pleasure.)

1. Kiss the Sky by Krista & Becca Ritchie
2. Hothouse Flower

   by Krista & Becca Ritchie

3. Thrive

   by Krista & Becca Ritchie

4. Addicted After All

   by Krista & Becca Ritchie

5. Fuel the Fire

   by Krista & Becca Ritchie

6. Long Way Down

   by Krista & Becca Ritchie

7. Amour Amour

   by Krista & Becca Ritchie

8. The Master Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg
9. The Boy Most Likely To by Huntley Fitzpatrick
10. Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray

In all actuality, I’ll probably bring a Kindle full of Netgalley approvals.  But a girl can dream…

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday prompt is “10 Books I Will Probably Never Read.”  I never say never, but these are 10 books I don’t expect to pick up anytime soon.

1. Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk // Sorry, Chuck. I loved everything he wrote up until about 2005, then it got a little too weird for me.  His early books actually had a plot, but I feel like his more recent ones are solely written for the shock value.
2. Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James // I actually read the first few chapters a few years ago.  I’m not opposed to erotica by any means, but there are so many authors that have done it better and less problematically.
3. The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks // Or, really, anything by him. There was a time in my life when I prided myself on reading all of Nicholas Sparks’ books.  By the time I was about 16 or so, I realized that they all have the same plot, and they’re all far too sad.
4. Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick // #1, because it sounds like a blatant rip-off of Twilight, which I didn’t even enjoy that much anyway. #2, because I don’t really go for books that glorify stalking. And #3, because it is waaaaayyyyyy too overly hyped and I’m sick of hearing about it.
5. Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire // Another over-hyped, problematic book in which the main character literally stalks his love interest.  “Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his appeal, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’s apartment for the same amount of time.” No thanks.
6. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov // I’ve tried a good 3 or 4 times over the years, and I just cannot get through this book.  The furthest I ever got was 75%.  Sorry, Nabokov. I did like Invitation to a Beheading.
7. Four by Veronica Roth // See also: Free Four, The Transfer, and any and all novellas associated with the Divergent series.  Why?  Because the only good book was the first one, and then they all went downhill.  I’m still not over how awful Allegiant was.
8. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon // I have this on my TBR list, but let’s be honest.  I’m probably never going to read this.  Even if everyone I know who’s read it says it’s amazing.  It’s just a lot of books, and they’re all really long, and I’m not sure that the plot would hold my interest.
9. Wicked by Sara Shepard // and all the books that come after it in the PLL series.  I read the first four books when I was in high school, and you know what?  They were pretty good.  I casually watch the tv show.  But the PLL book series is now on #16, and that’s just excessive.  I know I won’t read them all.
10. By Blood by Ellen Ullman // I struggled for months to finish this book, and I can say with almost 100% certainty that it’s never going to happen.  The plot drags.  The characters are boring.  Everything that happens is predictable.  I felt like every minute I spent trying to slog my way through was a minute wasted.

Are there any books that you will never read?