Top 5 Tuesday: Friends’ Recommendations

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly book discussion with a new topic every Tuesday hosted by Meeghan of Meeghan Reads. It’s each blogger’s job to pick five book-related things (though you’re welcome to pick things from other media, if necessary) that fit the topic.

Today’s topic is books you read because a friend recommended them to you. You can also choose books you read because of book blogs or BookTube. I’m going to list books recommended to me by friends and family. For some of these, I had to reach deep back into my memory to remember that they’d been recommended to me at all! Oops, sorry guys! I value your opinions and appreciate you thinking of me. So says the Great Spirit of Thanksgiving.

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Witches of Ash and Ruin by E. Latimer

Though I read this book for a short-lived book club, it was already on my radar because a friend recommended it to me. She knows I’m always looking for fantasies with F/F romances (and she is as well), so she occasionally slides into my DMs with a new recommendation. This is one I’ve read (most of the others are on my TBR) and I’m so glad I did. This book is The Raven Cycle by way of sapphic witches. It really surprised me with how much I love it. I hope desperately E. Latimer writes a sequel!

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Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente

Another friend recommended this to me back in, I think, 2017. I enjoyed it, but unfortunately I think I’m a bit too smooth-brained to fully grasp it. Or maybe it’s because I’m not all that familiar with Russian folklore and this book is saturated in it. On the upside, it introduced me to Catherynne M. Valente, who has written other books I enjoy or plan to read.

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Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

This one is a huge throwback. My sister recommended this series to me when we were teenagers. At first, I didn’t want to read it because I was done with vampires at the time and thought it sounded cringy. But she begged me to give it a chance, so I did. And now, all these years later, I’ve not only read the series multiple times, but the spin-off series and a lot of Mead’s other books. Would I love it as much if I read it for the first time now? Questionable. But I read it in high school and it’s still good enough that it remains grandfathered in.

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Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

My mom actually recommended this one to me. She was totally blown away by the twist and told me I needed to read it. I’m not a huge thriller fan today, but back then I’d try most anything (and do still enjoy a good change of pace every now and again). I thought it was incredible and was as blown away by the twist as my mom was. We watched the movie adaptation immediately and, from what I remember, it was pretty faithful to the source material. All in all, it was a good time.

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The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Out of all the recommendations I’ve gotten from family and friends, I think this one is my favorite. A friend recommended it to me and I read it a few months later. It wound up being one of my favorite books of the year (I believe it was 2018). I’m not a huge historical fiction reader, but this one is incredible. I was heartbroken to hear about Ruiz Zafón’s passing. He was such an incredible writer. RIP Carlos Ruiz Zafón.

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What are some books you read because a friend recommended them to you? Tell me about them in the comments!