Top Ten Tues: Underrated

Top Ten Tuesdays are hosted by The Broke and The Bookish, and feature lists related to all things bookish–characters, authors, titles, and favorites. They’re an excellent way to find new interesting books on a variety of topics, and to find bloggers that love the books you do.

Check out their blog for their top ten and lists of other bloggers who participate!

January 17:  Ten Underrated/Hidden Gem Books I’ve Read In The Past Year Or So (up to you if you want it to be those published in the past year or so or just ANY underrated book you’ve read recently)

I’m going for favorite reads in the last year, and labeling them underrated if there aren’t a lot of Goodreads ratings (under 1,000.)

1. Mostly Void, Partly Stars; Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor. I adore the Welcome to Night Vale podcast, It’s smart, weird, and funny. This is the script, complete with notes on each episode about how the idea was arrived at, who wrote it, etc.

2. Liquid Fire; Anthony Francis. Magical tattoos,, and a magical tattoo artist. It’s a lot more dangerous than you’d think.

3. Rise; Mira Grant. I love zombie apocalypse stories, and this one is unique–everyone is infected, so life just has to go on somehow. Bonus points for naming the bloggers who go poke at zombies with sticks “Irwins.”

4. Lucky Penny; Ananth Hirsh, Yuko Ota. Nifty graphic novel about a woman named Penny who has some terrible luck. It starts with her losing her job and her place, and goes downhill from there, but it’s funny, and life gets better.

5. Kindred Rites; Katharine Kimbriel. A series about a young girl with power, learning how to use it–and fight back the monsters.

6. Bhotta’s Tears; J.D. Lakey. The second book about a bad luck ‘black bead’ girl, and the many perils that beset her people.

7. Last Adventures of Constance Verity; A. Lee Martinez. What if you don’t want to be an adventurer anymore? Constance Verity is determined to become normal–no matter the price.

8. Secret Loves of Geek Girls; Hope Nicholson. A collection of short stories and comics celebrating the loves of geeky girls.

9. Princess Princess Ever After; Katie O’Neill. An adorable story about rescuing yourself–and sometimes getting a little help.

10. Project Elfhome; Wen Spencer. Short stories in a wonderful urban fantasy, where the city of Pittsburgh jumps back and forth between Earth and Elfhome.