Books that intimidate. That is the topic of  The Broke and the Bookish Top Ten Tuesday for this week. It had me thinking for a bit… And then had me facing an uncomfortable truth.

Size of a book? Not a problem, although big books and I do have commitment issues (Edward Rutherford’s New York is case in point – at 860 pages in the world’s tiniest font I’m not sure I have the stamina).

Topic? I can’t think of a topic that intimidates me as such, although there are some things that I have simply no interest in reading about.

Here’s the thing. I’m an absolute book pusher (that’s the uncomfortable truth bit). Ask anyone who’s told me they’ve never read any John Irving. And so to the intimidating bit – books that are favourites of friends/bloggers, whose taste in reading matter I trust.

When someone says that I must read a particular book I automatically get nervous – what if I don’t like it? And yet I’m always pressing books on others. So, it’s time to man up. I either read all of the books on the list below (the favourites of friends and other bloggers, you know who you are) or I stop pressing books that I love on other people. Fair’s fair and all that. Continue reading →