There are a lot of books that have been on my To-Be-Read list for years, but I haven’t been able to bring myself to actually reading them yet. In most cases, my procrastination in getting around to them is due to size or the number of books in the series, or just the sheer density of the novel.
I thought it would be fun to talk about some of these books, so here’s my book bucket list!
The Game of Thrones Series by George R. R. Martin
I adore the Game of Thrones television series, and I’ve wanted to read the books ever since I finished the first season. However, each book is absolutely massive. A Song of Fire and Ice, the first book in the series, is a whopping 848 pages. The third book, A Storm of Swords is, according to Goodreads, 1178 pages. That’s some intimidating stuff right there. Another reason I haven’t read any of these yet is that I’m waiting for George R. R. Martin to finish the series, but since that is a long time coming, I might just jump into it.
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House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
Despite owning a copy of this book for years, I still haven’t finished it. A few years ago I made it about a fifth of the way through before giving up. It feels like more of an art project than a traditional novel. The pages are out of order, it’s written in a variety of different styles, and it’s simply difficult to read. I’m determined to get through it though, and I’m planning on attempting it again in 2019.
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Dune by Frank Herbert
The fact that I love science fiction and fantasy but haven’t read this book yet makes me feel deeply ashamed of myself. I tried to read it back when I was probably too young for it – I believe I was in middle school at the time. I put it down after the first 20 pages or so and haven’t picked it up again. From everything I’ve heard about it, I have a very strong suspicion that I will adore it, I just need to push myself to actually read it.
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Moby Dick by Herman Melville
I always assumed I’d have to read this book in school at some point, but I never did. At 720 pages, it’s a huge book. I feel as though this is one of those classics that everyone needs to read at least once, I just need to make the time to do so.
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The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien
If I’m being honest, I’m not entirely sure why I haven’t read The Silmarillion yet. The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit are a couple of my favorite books of all time. I own a copy of The Silmarillion that I inherited from my mother. I literally have no excuse to not have read it yet, but here we are. I’ve been wanting to do a massive re-read of all of Tolkien’s books so that might be a good time to read this one.
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Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
This is the type of book that might be on the Book Bucket List of most people. It’s a long novel at 803 pages and was originally published in 1877. It seems like even for a fast reader like myself it might end up taking quite a bit of time to read it.
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The Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas
The seventh and final book in this series was just released earlier this month, and I’ve heard nothing but praise surrounding this series. I love young adult fantasy, but it’s always a little intimidating starting a new, long series. I’ll get around to this one eventually though!
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Journey to the West by Wu Cheng’en
This is one of the four Chinese classics and is the most prevalent of the four in popular culture. The premise sounds really interesting and I would have loved to tackle it for November’s #readtheworldchina challenge. Since I’m already reading Outlaws of the Marsh, however, there’s no way I would have been able to finish both in one month.
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Beowolf by Unknown
Unlike most of the other books on this list, this one is incredibly short, at only 213 pages. I never read it in school like most people I know did, which is disappointing. My boyfriend adores this story, and I would love to give it a shot.
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The Mistborn Series by Brandon Sanderson
Although the Mistborn series is the one highest on my list of Brandon Sanderson books I want to read, this could easily just be any series of his. Sanderson is an incredibly prolific writer and well-known for his fantasy series. It’s a daunting task, however, since there are so many books to read.
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There are a plethora of other books I could have added to this list, mainly classic novels that I haven’t read yet, but these are the top ten that I would like to tackle before I die.
Read Yourself Happy 
Great post! I started reading The Game of Thrones books but stopped after clash of kings – it takes so much time honestly. Think I’ll revisit them next year sometime haha. Thanks for sharing! I’ve added a few of these to my TBR x
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Re: Dune, same here 😅. Actually what’s worse is I don’t remember whether I read it or not. I feel like I might have cuz I know the story, but I think it’s only because I had watched the movie and TV series way back.
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I think I may have seen the movie as well, or at least part of it. I don’t remember though for sure
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[…] My Book Bucket List […]
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[…] I have! I don’t want to give too much away yet, but 2019 will include a lot of reading challenges and books that have been on my Book Bucket List. […]
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