Top 5 Tuesday #27: Exceeds Expectations

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Shanah, the Bionic Book Worm.

This week’s topic:

Top 5 books that exceeded my expectations

Thunder & Lightning: Weather Past, Present, Future by Lauren Redniss (illus.)

This is an illustrated nonfiction book about the weather that I learned about from YouTube. I heard that it was great, and it was that and more. I learned so much from this book and liked the illustrations that accompanied the many facts. It’d say it’s geared toward teens and adults, but you could read it to kids and will most likely need to explain some stuff to them. I highly recommend it. Check out my review to see some of the illustrations.

The Arrival by Shaun Tan (illus.)

This is a silent children’s graphic novel about a man trying to find a safe place for his family to live. It’s an amazing, fantastical story that is told entirely without words. Readers have to rely on nonverbal communication — body language, facial expressions, gestures — to follow the story being told. It’s an amazing read with beautiful art. I highly recommend it too. Check out my review for samples of the illustrations.

The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St. Clair

I’ve mentioned this book on here a number of times because it is one of my favorite reads of 2019. It, too, exceeded my expectations because I thought it would be boring — it wasn’t. It’s a nonfiction book about colors. It talks about the impact of colors on art, history, the sciences, society and how they developed over the years. There was potential for the topic to be dry and boring, but the writing and facts kept me interested throughout.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

I didn’t expect to like this novel as much as I did. I watched part of the movie first, so I knew what would happen and still I was hooked from the first page. It’s a popular mystery novel about a man who many suspect has murdered his missing wife.

To Night Owl From Dogfish by Holly Goldberg Sloan & Meg Wolitzer

This is another one I didn’t expect to enjoy as much as I did. It’s a middle-grade (high end of middle grade; I thought it was YA until I saw it shelved in MG in the bookstore) contemporary novel about two girls whose dads are dating each other. The dads send the girls to the same summer camp hoping they will become friends. The entire story is told through emails and text messages and it’s such a fun a read! It was hilarious and heartwarming but overall very entertaining and enjoyable. I knew I would enjoy it because it was described as being similar to The Parent Trap (which I love), but I liked it even more. It was one of my favorite books of 2019.

That’s it for me.

Let me know if you’ve read any of these.

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