Happy December, everyone! Hard to believe this year is almost over.

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by Ambrosia at The Purple Booker. Here are the rules if you want to play along:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This week’s teaser comes from American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

“It’s easier to kill people, when you’re dead yourself,” she told him. “I mean, it’s not such a big deal. You’re not so prejudiced any more.”

This is a re-read for me, but I had forgotten how dark and twisted this book can be. I absolutely love it!

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Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is:

Top Ten Books I Want to Read Again

It’s been a while since I’ve done a Top Ten Tuesday, but I felt inspired by the #TBTBSanta this year and wanted to play this week. The topic has a couple of options this time around and I am choosing the interpretation that these are the books that I wish I could read again for the first time. We all enjoy re-reads, but there’s nothing like the magic of that first time: the surprises, the thrills, all of it.

1. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling – I have a feeling that this one will be on a lot of lists this week. While there has been a lot of controversy surrounding Rowling and her beliefs (and for good reason), these books are still magical to me. I still remember reading them for the first time, anxiously awaiting the next book, staying up for the midnight release parties. It was a good time and no amount of re-reading will recapture that.
2. Feed by Mira Grant – This book is up at the top of the list for endings that made me do a double take. It was such a twist, such a surprise, and such an absolute shock that I had trouble focusing for the rest of the day. Which was really bad, since I finished it on my lunch break at work and had to spend the afternoon pretending that I was normal. 
3. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern – This book is so beautiful, it’s almost painful. It was one of the few times where I felt completely immersed in this magical world, so much so I was almost disoriented when I put it down. I honestly believe that Erin Morgenstern is one of the most talented authors of our age right now. I wish so much that I could experience this for the first time again, since I had no idea just how much I was getting into.
4. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood – This is another book that felt like it took over my life when I was reading it, although in a different way. Oddly enough, I read the book because I saw that a television show was being made, but then never watched the show because I had the pictures so clear in my head. 
5. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card – Another problematic author, one that I was hesitant to put on my list, but the truth is that this book was a big part of what made me write back in the day. I loved this whole series so much, but the first book will always be my favorite. Another shocking twist ending that I didn’t see coming and would love to experience for the first time again, especially since now that I know the secret, it’s so obvious. 
6. The Circle by David Eggers – This is such an odd book but I love it so much. It is one of those books that I ended up reading almost all in one sitting because I couldn’t put it down. I wanted to be a part of the Circle, while still acknowledging that they were probably the bad guys. I found the entire concept fascinating.
7. Paper Towns by John Green – It’s funny how a John Green book almost always finds its way on my lists. This was my first John Green book and it’s one that I stayed up late into the night reading because I had to know what was going on with Margot. I had to know if Q would find her. I had to know the answers to all the riddles. It’s still a good read even knowing the ending, but it’s just not quite the same.
8. The Splintered series by A.G. Howard – Ugh, I love this series so much! I lost myself in this version of Wonderland almost as much as I did in The Night Circus. Wonderland is supposed to be twisted and weird and this version did not disappoint. There was always something new and unexpected with every turn of the page.
9. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett – Oh, this book. Snarky and dark in the best way possible. Nothing like laughing at the end of the world, watching an angel and a demon try to head of Armageddon and not quite sure exactly how they’re gonna pull that off. And let me just say, the Amazon miniseries? Absolutely spot on.
10. The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare – First three books, then six books, another series that held my heart and stomped on it multiple times. I loved everything about this series – the characters, the story world, the plot twists. This series was actually one of my gateways into modern YA literature. Before that, I read mostly fantasy and literary stuff for school. 

Please leave your teasers and top tens in comments!

Categories: Teaser Tuesday, Top Ten Tuesdays

Tags: books, teaser tuesday, top ten tuesday