Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly book meme run by That Artsy Reader Girl. I found this week’s theme to be an interesting little challenge, as I decided to specifically include books that I already own a copy of; I also went to certain lengths to ensure a good number of the titles were not just named after a lead character and that the title isn’t technically a subtitle beneath a featured franchise title, e.g., almost any Star Wars book. Some usual suspects managed to sneak in here, but I always like it when these lists get me to talk about something from my personal library that I haven’t brought up as much before.

Spiderlight by Adrian Tchaikovsky

I read this book a few years ago now, but it remains one of my favourite standalone fantasy novels, telling a story where light vs. darkness is woven into the very fabric of the world the characters inhabit, yet everything about what that really means comes under question.

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

I was happy to realize this book was another strange compound word, as I almost put Coraline here. Admittedly, I love that book a lot more, but I’m happier to list this one since I’m less likely to bring it up. Regrettably, a lot of my memories of this book are indistinct, though I do recall enjoying the climax of it all, which I remember a little better. It’s more middling in my esteem among Gaiman books, but I think I’m most likely to reread this one.

Berserk by Kentaro Miura

This cover stands in for the entire series, as no one book really deserves to stand over the others in my mind. This long-running dark fantasy manga is one of my all-time favourite comics; though it can been a little too hack-and-slashy for me at times, it has fantastic illustrations and a compelling story about the darkness at the heart of human ambition and the indomitability of the human spirit in the face of suffering and adversity.

Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

Though I had read a number of Moshfegh’s novels before this one, I was so impressed with its quality by the end of reading my eBook copy that it has sat on a shortlist in my brain of books I’ve already read that I want a physical copy of ever since. Told in the past tense by the title character, it slowly reveals the circumstances around her disappearance from her hometown and family when she was 24 years old.

Circe by Madeline Miller

Though I had meant to read The Song of Achilles for a number of years before this one, this was the first of Miller’s novels I ended up reading. I think I ended up liking the former a little more, but this was still a great fictionalization of the mythology around the witch Circe from The Odyssey, giving a great amount of depth to a character who is otherwise known as for playing a small part in a larger story.

Uzumaki by Junji Ito

A number of Ito’s works actually qualify for this, but there is no denying the impact and quality of this book. I’ve become a little jaded with his work lately, I think I dove in a little too deep with reading everything coming out lately, but this book stands as an undeniable example of his genius when it comes to horror, even if some of his other work falls short.

Hogfather by Terry Pratchett

A great many Discworld novels qualify as well, but this one has earned a special place in my heart as one of my favourite Christmas stories (though not quite about Christmas as we know it). It’s a wonderfully festive tale about the power of human belief and imagination, where Death himself takes on the role of a holiday figurehead to undermine a fiendish plot to see the jolly fat man assassinated.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

I’ve included this book before in these posts, and I couldn’t resist doing so again here. I just love it a lot and the copy pictured above full of fantastic illustrations has been the perfect excuse to reread it, though I’ve been neglectful in actually committing to doing so.

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

I’ve been meaning to read this for a long time too, especially considering it’s rather short length, but I think what holds me back is feeling like I’m committing to a trilogy. I keep hearing it stands fairly well on its own, however, so I think this may become one of my vacation reads when I go on a trip in a few weeks.

Fangs by Sarah Andersen

A bit of a departure from the author of the comedy webcomic Sarah’s Scribbles, this collection of short comics is about a relationship between a werewolf and a vampire. Though there isn’t much of a plot to speak of, it’s sweet, funny, and a little macabre as we see the ins and outs of this couple’s relationship as their love blooms while they navigate and embrace their idiosyncrasies.

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Until next time, thank you for reading! Feel free to share your own list down below.