#BLOGTOBER DAY 11: TOP TEN TUESDAY: Ten recommendations I've ACTUALLY read

(Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and The Bookish!)

You guys recommend a lot of books to me, but I don't often have the time, the funding or the inclination to read them.
These ten are different, in that I actually went through the effort and picked them up. But were they worth it, or did they just make me avoid recommendations even more than I already do?
(I will admit, I've already talked about a few of these on a Top Five Wednesday about recommendations... I don't read many!).

10) 'Flight To Eternity' by J.R. Harrison

We had a little book club going on at lunchtimes, in which one of my colleagues was reading 'Flight To Eternity' and gave updates on exactly how bonkers the chapter that she'd read the night before was. Answer? Very, massively, ginormously bonkers. I had to read it for myself, and I'm still so confused on whether it was good or bad...

9) 'Atonement' by Ian McEwan

I was recommended this way back in sixth form, and the story still haunts me today. I've read more Ian McEwan novels since and none of them have ever lived up to this one (and I'm far too scared to even think about reading 'Nutshell', his newest release). 

8) 'The Fever' by Megan Abbott

'The Fever' wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but I'm glad I picked it up. It had been on my TBR since before publishing, but it wasn't until one of my colleagues told me she'd absolutely loved it that I bothered to pick it up. 

7) 'Gotham Academy'

When I started reading comics and graphic novels, I was recommended this as a starting point, and I've not looked back since. 

6) 'The Queen of the Tearling' by Erika Johansen

Two of my colleagues bugged me until I read 'The Queen of the Tearling', and I really regretted it. I HATED this book. However, I then fell head over heels in love with the second novel in the trilogy (and I'm now the first in the reservation queue for 'The Fate of the Tearling' when it releases at the end of next month!). 

5) 'Trigger Warning' by Neil Gaiman

My first experience of Neil Gaiman was equal parts brilliant and disappointing. I love short stories, but while some of them were the best that I'd ever read, there were also quite a few that I just couldn't click with. It definitely convinced me to read more of his writing, and I really loved his non-fiction collection 'The View From the Cheap Seats', which I wouldn't have explored without reading this first. 

4) 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' by Douglas Adams

I didn't think 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' would ever interest me, but I ended up really liking it (so much so that I'm going to be reading the rest of the series over the next month!). 

3) 'Good Omens' by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

'Good Omens' is my ex-girlfriend's favourite book, so I read it to impress her. I ended up loving it: the chemistry between Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman sucks you into the page and makes it impossible to put down, and impossible to stop thinking about afterwards - I already want to reread it. 

2) The Autumn series by David Moody

I LOVED the first book, but felt as though every further installment was repetitive and a little bland. I still haven't read the fifth and final novel, because the third and fourth disappointed me so utterly.  

1) The Forest of Hands and Teeth trilogy by Carrie Ryan

My best friend recommended that I read this trilogy, right before we had a falling out that resulted in us not talking for four months. Bummer.

I don't know if I didn't enjoyed this series because of my eternal and lifelong burning hatred towards her (which has now completely dissipated!) or because they were just a little bit average... But I read the entire series, so that shows determination!

I hope you enjoyed this Top Ten Tuesday! Do you often read recommendations, or do you always choose your own books?