books

Books I read because of their popularity!

Bhagyashree
My lame photography skills at their best! 😅 Photograph by: Bhagyashree. All rights reserved.

Hi everyone! I hope all of you are doing well. Slowly and steadily, things are going back to normal for us, yet we still have a long way to go back to the world where breathing freely did not have repercussions. Waiting for that to happen eagerly. Till we wait for that to happen, let’s focus on things which can bring in a ray of hope: BOOKS!

What is your criteria for choosing books to read? Is is the genre or the word of mouth? Or someone’s recommendation?
Have you ever read books just because of their immense popularity and later drooled over them?

As guilty as charged, I have read some books just out of sheer popularity and loved them, later on! So I guess there was some solid reason behind their wide fan base, after all!


Here’s the curated list of books.

1. Life of P by Yann Martel– A tale of unusual adventures of a boy and a tiger stranded in the middle of the majestic Pacific Ocean, lined with themes of love, loss, family, friendship,  ultimately ending at the realms of human understanding and belief. With its writing entrenched with so many deep subplots, subtexts and grave words, this book has become one of my most loved novels ever. I can’t even begin to explain how beautiful and resonating the quotes are in the book! You start the book, expecting to read a novel from the adventure bookshelf, and it experiencing a story both true and untrue to life, that it becomes difficult to forget. Do read it, if you haven’t already!


2. Me before you by Jojo Moyes – Oh God! What a masterpiece of a novel. As many of you already know, I don’t usually read love stories, I made an exception for this one. It is a beautiful story wrapped around fighting the will to die and finding the will to live when life pushes you down. The best change this novel brought about in me, is that I have come to terms with the uncertainty and the warped fairess of life and have opened up to uncomfortable conversations pertaining to themes like these, unlike before. Although I found the ending extremely harsh and heartbreaking, it is a novel worth a read.


3. Wonder by R.J. Palacio- The story of a young boy hidden behind a huge helmet who piques your interest as soon as you meet him and woos your heart away with his positivity and intelligence. There is no other kid in the literary world that I have loved more than Auggie ,happily cheered for his accomplishments and screamed with frustration when he gets bullied. One more reason as to why I have enjoyed this novel is its perfectly executed multiple perspective writing. All the characters come together to contribute their share of stories which ultimately became something larger than life and create a bliss for the readers.

Tell me in the comments section, which you read because of their popularity and how you liked/ disliked them!

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Until the next time,

Cheers!

©2020 Bhagyashree. All rights reserved.

Published by Bhagyashree

Hi, I am Bhagyashree: published author, guitarist , passionate book lover, online book club founder and vivacious speaker! I love everything about good books, heartfelt poetry music and coffee. If you don't find me scribbling poems or stories in my diary, you can find me propogating sarcasm. Do check out my blog for posts related to books, poetry, stories and more!

39 thoughts on “Books I read because of their popularity!”

  2. Of these, I’ve only read Life of Pi, although it’s been probably close to 15 years.
    Good question… I don’t know if I have a usual pattern as to how I discover a new book. Some books I read because they were popular, but some very popular books I have absolutely no desire to read whatsoever (the Twilight series, for example).

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    1. That’s great! How did you like the book?

      I agree about Twilight. It’s a book series that even the offer of a free lifetime membership of a library cannot make me read! The same goes for books which began as its fanfic. These are some pieces of literature, which I would never read.

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      1. If you’re talking about the books I think you’re talking about, the ones that began as Twilight fanfic, yeah, I have no desire to read those either.
        I spent the summer and fall of 2005 traveling, wandering around the USA, living out of my car and sleeping in cheap motels, campgrounds, and the couches of friends, relatives, and people I knew from groups on the Internet I was part of at the time. (That might be my next writing project when I finish DLTDGB, making that into an episodic continuing story, although it wouldn’t be nearly as long.) My 29th birthday was during that trip, and if I remember right, right around the time of my birthday I was on the other side of the country (Washington, DC) having dinner with someone I knew from a message board (we are not still in touch today). After we had dinner, she showed me this really cool bookstore in the city, and we saw Life of Pi on a shelf. She asked if I had ever read it, I said no, and she got it for me and said it was my birthday present. So I still have it here. Maybe it’s time to read it again. I remember I liked it, but it was kind of strange, in a good way.

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      2. Yup. Talking about the same books. I wonder how do these books have such a wide fan base?!

        Such great memories of chance encounters and adventures! I am sure these would make interesting reads in your memoirs. I would love to read them, someday.

        That was so sweet of her. Yeah you should definitely re-read it. That book ages like fine wine.

        For the time being, I’ll await my turn for such beautiful adventures! 😅

        Liked by 1 person

      3. I think they have a wide fan base for the same reason as traditional romance novels… because women want to experience their fantasies. But I don’t know… that’s just a guess.
        It’ll be years before I’m ready to write that. DLTDGB is going to go at least until the last day of 1999, and I’m only in September 1995. The story about my travels would not be nearly as long, since I was only on the road for four months, and I would not be able to start writing it until after DLTDGB ends, because a few of the same characters besides me would be in it. But there was also a long chain of events leading up to those four months on the road, so I could write about that too. And my actual experience in 2005 was more well preserved, because I have digital photos and I kept a blog of the highlights while I was traveling. (I believe it still works… I’ll send you the link if you really want.) I had a camera when I was a university student, but it sat in a drawer unused until late in my second year, which is why most of the pictures I have shared on my blog were pictures of places I write about taken recently rather than in the 90s.

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      6. Oh… also… a related topic… when I do finish DLTDGB, especially if I have a lot of people who have followed my story from the beginning, I was thinking it would be fun to rewrite a few of the episodes from the perspectives of other characters. That would be an interesting writing exercise, although I’d have to speculate on what was going on in their minds. The one where I had the meltdown and ran away in the middle of the night (https://dontletthedaysgoby.home.blog/2019/08/29/march-3-1995-throwing-the-box/ and https://dontletthedaysgoby.home.blog/2019/09/07/march-4-1995-friendship-is-special/) I would like to rewrite from Sarah’s perspective, and the episode I will be posting next, about meeting Megan for lunch after not having seen her all summer, I would like to rewrite from Megan’s perspective, particularly in light of what will be happening with the Megan subplot over the next few months.

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  5. I haven’t read any of these, but I do want to read Wonder. I enjoy reading popular books, but I’ve typically a follower. I wait for a while – Years, even – and then I read it. The last time I stayed up all night and waited for a book to be released was Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I was on a trip to Europe with 40 of my classmates and three teachers, and it was our last night in London. We went to the midnight release at Waterstones and it was absolutely incredible! I have an American copy and my hardback British copy.

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    1. OMG.This is incredible !How I wish I was old enough to attend the worldwide release of Harry Potter books. I am sure it must have been a surreal experience! How exciting. I would love to hear more about this story some day! 🌸

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  11. I have my favourite authors but also read books on popularity. I’ve read Me Before You and also loved it. I like most of her books though. I’m immersed in Robin Hobbs trilogies at the moment and any spare minute is spent reading them

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      1. The ones I’m reading now are the Farseer trilogies.. set hundreds of years ago about a young boy called Fitz who becomes an assassin for his King and about his ability to bond with animals..I’m on the second set. Someone from our book club suggested the very first one and I’ve been hooked since.

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