Top Ten Tuesday: One-Word Reviews for the Last Ten Books I Read

Posted on by The Book Lover's Sanctuary

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Previous Top Ten Tuesday Topics

This week’s topic is a real challenge for me: throughout my life, whether at school or university, whether at the bar or as a teacher, I have always been told that I talk too much. My observations almost always include the phrases “Very teacher-led… A lot of teacher-talk…” And my reviews on here tend to the longer side – my average over the last twelve months is 1,197. Can I reduce that by 1,196 words? Can I?

Well, let’s try!

First step, lets look at the last ten books I completed:

The Code of the Woosters, P. G. Wodehouse

One Word Review:

Joyous

Build Your House Around My Body, Violet Kupersmith

One Word Review:

Haunting

Careless, Kirsty Capes

One Word Review:

Heart-wrenching

October, October, Katya Balen

One Word Review:

Wildness

The Kaiju Preservation Society, John Scalzi

One Word Review:

Fun

Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

One Word Review:

Classic

The Island of Missing Trees, Elif Shafak

One Word Review:

Beautiful

Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens

One Word Review:

Surprising

Mrs Caliban, Rachel Ingalls

One Word Review:

Haunting

Cloud Cuckoo Land, Anthony Doerr

One Word Review:

Epic

So, how did I do? I think I kept to the brief! Do you agree with those word choices if you’ve read those novels? If you’ve read them, what one word would you have chosen?

I cannot tell you the self-control it is taking not to add more to these mini-micro reviews, but ambiguous and cryptic seems to be called for, so I will step slowly away from the laptop here… stepping away…

Upcoming Top Ten Tuesday Themes


May 10: Bookish Characters (these could be readers, writers, authors, librarians, professors, etc.)
May 17: Books I Was SO EXCITED to Get, but Still Haven’t Read (bonus points if you tell us how long it’s been since you got them!)
May 24: Book Quote Freebie (Share your favorite book quotes that fit a theme of your choosing! These could be quotes about books/reading, or quotes from books. Some examples are: quotes for book lovers, quotes that prove reading is the best thing ever, funny things characters have said, romantic declarations, pretty scenery descriptions, witty snippets of dialogue, etc.)
May 31: Comfort Reads (Share which books or kinds of books you turn to when you need to escape. You can either share specific titles if you love to re-read, or you could share qualities of books you look for in a comfort read.)

Published by The Book Lover's Sanctuary

#bookblogger, teacher, father | he / him |

27 thoughts on “Top Ten Tuesday: One-Word Reviews for the Last Ten Books I Read”

  2. This was a hard topic for me – one word – I thought it would be ‘impossible’ for me! But I did it and resisted the desire to add more words!

    I’ve read just two of your books – Oliver Twist, my word for that is ‘shocking’ and Jane Eyre. Jane Eyre is the hardest to sum up in one word, maybe’feminism’ or ‘independence’. Neither are enough though.

    Like

  3. Great one-word reviews! I’m really looking forward to reading Kupersmith’s and Shafak’s books but I’m now also looking at Careless cos I love a good heart-wrenching read! Sounds interesting 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Same! I’ve always been wordy, at least in my writing. I never understood why my classmates complained about writing long papers—it was no problem at all for me! That has definitely carried over into my reviews as well and I’ve had to consciously trim them so that I don’t give away too much about the books I’m reviewing. You did great with this prompt. I especially love that you described books as “joyous” and “surprising.” Both of those words make me want to read the books. Well done!

    Happy TTT!

    Susan
    http://www.blogginboutbooks.com

    Liked by 1 person

  17. LOL!! I felt exactly like you, I tend to be ‘wordy’ when it comes to reviews as well, and a million words are right now floating around unsaid in my head after this post….
    As for your list, I have only read Jane Eyre and Oliver Twist (ages ago, granted but agree with your word choices).. and the others, at least half are on my TBR and the others are joining them there now..
    My TTT is here

    Like

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