Hi and welcome to the reading world!
Today is another Top Ten Tuesday post, which is as always hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week is about books published over 10 years ago! Let’s get into the list.
The Graphic Novelization of a Classic Tale! Of the many admiring reviews Bram Stoker's Dracula received when it first appeared in 1897, the most astute praise came from the author's mother, who wrote her son: 'It is splendid. No book since Mrs. Shelley's Frankenstein or indeed any other at all has come near yours in originality, or terror.'A popular bestseller in Victorian England, Stoker's hypnotic tale of the bloodthirsty Count Dracula, whose nocturnal atrocities are symbolic of an evil ages old yet forever new, endures as the quintessential story of suspense and horror. The unbridled lusts and desires, the diabolical cravings that Stoker dramatized with such mythical force, render Dracula resonant and unsettling a century later.
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Published by Penguin on August 25, 2020
Genres: Young Adult Fiction / Classics, Young Adult Fiction / Horror, Young Adult Fiction / Vampires
Pages: 512
Experience this amazing reimagining of Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen’s classic story of love and misunderstanding—featuring the colorful and contemporary illustrations of Alice Pattullo. Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice has stood the test of time as one of her best novels. Biting commentary, romance, and misunderstanding abound in this classic story. Pride and Prejudice follows the romantic adventures of Bennett sisters, Mr. Bingley, and his dour friend Mr. Darcy. Pattullo's full-color, folkloric, multi-faceted pieces of art breathe new life into this engaging, romantic novel, making it a collectible for book and art lovers everywhere. The Classics Reimagined series is a library of stunning collector's editions of unabridged classic novels illustrated by contemporary artists from around the world. Each artist offers his or her own unique, visual interpretation of the most well-loved, widely read, and avidly collected literature from renowned authors. From The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and from Edgar Allan Poe to the Brothers Grimm, collect every beautiful volume.
Classics Reimagined, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Published by Rockport Publishers on October 1, 2015
Genres: Fiction / Classics, Fiction / Literary, Fiction / Romance / Historical / Regency
Pages: 376
Nella Larsen (1891-1964) occupies a central place in African-American and Modernist literature, and her status as a Harlem Renaissance woman writer is rivaled only by Zora Neale Hurston's. This Norton Critical Edition of Larsen's electrifying 1929 novel is accompanied by Carla Kaplan's insightfully detailed introduction, explanatory annotations, and a Note on the Text "Backgrounds and Contexts" connects Passing to the historical events of the day, most notably the sensational Rhinelander/Jones case of 1925. Fourteen contemporary reviews are reprinted, including those by Alice Dunbar-Nelson, W. B. Seabrook, Mary Griffin, and W. E. B. Du Bois. Little-known documents, including those by Juanita Ellsworth and Caleb Johnson, reveal America's fascination with-and fear of-the cultural phenomenon of passing. Also included are Larsen's statements on the novel and on passing, as well as a generous selection of her letters. The theme of "The Tragic Mulatto(a)" in American literature is explored through related writings by Lydia Maria Child, William Wells Brown, Kate Chopin, Mark Twain, Countee Cullen, and Langston Hughes, among others. Finally, Joseph Seamon Cotter, Jr., Jessie Redmon Fauset, Countee Cullen, W. E. B. Du Bois, Allen Semi [Nella Larsen], George S. Schuyler, Carl Van Vechten, and Langston Hughes voice their impressions of passing from the perspective of the Harlem Renaissance. "Criticism" provides sixteen diverse interpretations of Passing by, among others, Deborah E. McDowell, Judith Butler, Cheryl A. Wall, Thadious M. Davis, George Hutchinson, Mary Helen Washington, Ann duCille, Gayle Wald, Claudia Tate, and Jennifer DeVere Brody. A Chronology and Selected Bibliography are also included. Book jacket.
Passing by Nella Larsen
Published by A. A. Knopf on July 27, 2022
Pages: 215
““As compelling as Tan’s first bestseller, The Joy Luck Club. . . No one writes about mothers and daughters with more empathy than Amy Tan.” “[An] absorbing tale of the mother-daughter bond . . . this book sing[s] with emotion and insight.” Ruth Young and her widowed mother, LuLing, have always had a tumultuous relationship. Now, before she succumbs to forgetfulness, LuLing gives Ruth some of her writings, which reveal a side of LuLing that Ruth has never known. . . . In a remote mountain village where ghosts and tradition rule, LuLing grows up in the care of her mute Precious Auntie as the family endures a curse laid upon a relative known as the bonesetter. When headstrong LuLing rejects the marriage proposal of the coffinmaker, a shocking series of events are set in motion–all of which lead back to Ruth and LuLing in modern San Francisco. The truth that Ruth learns from her mother’s past will forever change her perception of family, love, and forgiveness. “A strong novel, filled with idiosyncratic, sympathetic characters; haunting images; historical complexity; significant contemporary themes; and suspenseful mystery.” “For Tan, the true keeper of memory is language, and so the novel is layered with stories that have been written down–by mothers for their daughters, passing along secrets that cannot be said out loud but must not be forgotten.” “Tan at her best . . . rich and hauntingly forlorn . . . The writing is so exacting and unique in its detail.”
The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan
Published by Ballantine Books on July 27, 2022
Genres: Fiction / General
Pages: 400
–The Philadelphia Inquirer
–People
–Los Angeles Times
–The New York Times Book Review
–San Francisco Chronicle
The graphic novel acclaimed as "the most affecting and successful narrative ever done about the Holocaust" (Wall Street Journal) and "the first masterpiece in comic book history" (The New Yorker) - PULITZER PRIZE WINNER - One of Variety's "Banned and Challenged Books Everyone Should Read" Maus is a haunting tale within a tale, weaving the author's account of his tortured relationship with his aging father into an astonishing retelling of one of history's most unspeakable tragedies. It is an unforgettable story of survival and a disarming look at the legacy of trauma.
Maus by Art Spiegelman
Published by Pantheon Books on July 27, 1993
Genres: Biography & Autobiography / Historical, Biography & Autobiography / Literary Figures, Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs, History / Holocaust
Pages: 159
Here is the paper back boxed set, in its original two-volume format, re-released to include a sixteen-page booklet designed by the artist.
A brutally moving work of art--widely hailed as the greatest graphic novel ever written--Maus recounts the chilling experiences of the author's father during the Holocaust, with Jews drawn as wide-eyed mice and Nazis as menacing cats.
A Good Morning America 2021 Top Summer Read Pick The visionary author’s masterpiece pulls us—along with her Black female hero—through time to face the horrors of slavery and explore the impacts of racism, sexism, and white supremacy then and now. Dana, a modern black woman, is celebrating her twenty-sixth birthday with her new husband when she is snatched abruptly from her home in California and transported to the antebellum South. Rufus, the white son of a plantation owner, is drowning, and Dana has been summoned to save him. Dana is drawn back repeatedly through time to the slave quarters, and each time the stay grows longer, more arduous, and more dangerous until it is uncertain whether or not Dana's life will end, long before it has a chance to begin.
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
Published by Beacon Press on February 1, 2004
Genres: Fiction / African American & Black / Women, Fiction / Historical / General, Fiction / Science Fiction / Time Travel
Pages: 288
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, Warbreaker is the story of two sisters, who happen to be princesses, the God King one of them has to marry, the lesser god who doesn't like his job, and the immortal who's still trying to undo the mistakes he made hundreds of years ago. Their world is one in which those who die in glory return as gods to live confined to a pantheon in Hallandren's capital city and where a power known as BioChromatic magic is based on an essence known as breath that can only be collected one unit at a time from individual people. By using breath and drawing upon the color in everyday objects, all manner of miracles and mischief can be accomplished. It will take considerable quantities of each to resolve all the challenges facing Vivenna and Siri, princesses of Idris; Susebron the God King; Lightsong, reluctant god of bravery, and mysterious Vasher, the Warbreaker. Other Tor books by Brandon Sanderson The Cosmere The Mistborn trilogy Mistborn: The Wax and Wayne series Collection Other Cosmere novels The Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series The Rithmatist series Other books by Brandon Sanderson
Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson
Published by Macmillan on June 9, 2009
Genres: Fiction / Fantasy / General
Pages: 592
The Stormlight Archive
The Way of Kings
Words of Radiance
Edgedancer (Novella)
Oathbringer
Mistborn: The Final Empire
The Well of Ascension
The Hero of Ages
Alloy of Law
Shadows of Self
Bands of Mourning
Arcanum Unbounded
Elantris
Warbreaker
Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians
The Scrivener's Bones
The Knights of Crystallia
The Shattered Lens
The Dark Talent
The Rithmatist
The Reckoners
Steelheart
Firefight
Calamity
Shirley Jackson's beloved gothic tale of a peculiar girl named Merricat and her family's dark secret, with an afterword by Jonathan Lethem. A Penguin Vitae Edition Merricat Blackwood lives on the family estate with her sister Constance and her uncle Julian. Not long ago there were seven Blackwoods—until a fatal dose of arsenic found its way into the sugar bowl one terrible night. Acquitted of the murders, Constance has returned home, where Merricat protects her from the curiousity and hostility of the villagers. Their days pass in happy isolation until cousin Charles appears. Only Merricat can see the danger, and she must act swiftly to keep Constance from his grasp. Penguin Classics presents Penguin Vitae, loosely translated as “Penguin of one’s life,” a deluxe hardcover series featuring a dynamic landscape of classic fiction and nonfiction that has shaped the course of our readers' lives. Penguin Vitae invites readers to find themselves in a diverse world of storytellers, with beautifully designed classic editions of personal inspiration, intellectual engagement, and creative originality.
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
Published by Penguin on February 23, 2021
Genres: Fiction / Gothic, Fiction / Horror, Fiction / Literary
Pages: 160
Recounts the adventures of Buttercup, a beautiful woman and Westley the man she loves. Includes revenge, true love, monsters, miracles, pirates and great escapes in the fairytale kingdom of Florin.
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on July 27, 2022
Pages: 450
Soar into the modern classic about a young witch and her clever cat--the inspiration for the Hiyao Miyazaki film that became a phenomenom! Half-witch Kiki never runs from a challenge. So when her thirteenth birthday arrives, she's eager to follow a witch's tradition: choose a new town to call home for one year. Brimming with confidence, Kiki flies to the seaside village of Koriko and expects that her powers will easily bring happiness to the townspeople. But gaining the trust of the locals is trickier than she expected. With her faithful, wise-cracking black cat, Jiji, by her side, Kiki forges new friendships and builds her inner strength, ultimately realizing that magic can be found in even the most ordinary places. Blending fantasy with the charm of everyday life, this enchanting new translation will inspire both new readers and dedicated fans. "A gentle story of magic-tinged independence."--The Wall Street Journal "An enchanting, gently humorous all-ages family read-aloud."--Kirkus Reviews "Young readers will delight in Kiki's humorous experiences."--School Library Journal
Kiki's Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono
Published by Random House Children's Books on June 8, 2021
Genres: JUVENILE FICTION / Action & Adventure / General, Juvenile Fiction / Classics, Juvenile Fiction / Fantasy & Magic
Pages: 208
What are some backlist books you’ve read that were published over 10 years ago? Feel free to let me know in the comments!
Thanks for stopping by!
Rae