Unexpected Treasure: Three of the Best

Wednesday—Unexpected Treasure
We invite you to share with us a book or genre you tried due to the influence of another blogger.  What made you cave in to try something new and what was the experience like?
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I am a rather eclectic reader, so I haven't exactly been exposed to a new genre due to blogging. I do, however, spend more time in certain genres and less in others due to blogging. When it comes to books though, there have been quite a few that I would probably not have heard about or read if it weren't for the wonderful world of blogging...and the amazing bloggers who share their love for books with the world.

One of my favorite reads of 2010 actually came from one of my favorite bloggers, Ana from things mean a lot. Based on her recommendation, I picked up Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. This book rocked my world. A moving, complex, and intelligent tale of two women struggling against the circumstances of their lives, Fingersmith awes the reader with beautifully written prose that is simultaneously delicate and powerful. I wish I could tell you more about it, but this is a book which must be experienced. To reveal the plot would totally skew the first-time impression.

Jenners, over at Find Your Next Book Here, is another blogger who consistently adds to my wish list. One of my favorite reads I snagged from her blog is gods behaving badly by Marie Phillips. In this wonderfully snarky and humorous book, the Greek gods are floundering in the twenty-first century.  Slowly losing their power, worshiped by none, they live together in a London home amicably insulting each other and dreaming of better days.  When Aphrodite and Apollo start fighting and drag two mortals into it, things go from boring to devastating fast.
If you like fun, irreverence, and quick reads, you will like this book!  If you are offended by swear words and poking fun at the gods and God, you should probably stay away.

One recommendation was not a new book to me; instead it was a quick kick in the pants motivating me to finally read it. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde languished on my TBR shelves for years, sitting there, judging me, but I kept putting it off misguidedly believing it would be a tedious, boring read. Amanda from The Zen Leaf, an intelligent, prolific, and fun blogger, motivated me to finally pick it up when she referred to it as one of her favorite reads. I was not disappointed. Every single beautiful page of this fascinating story has an idea, a claim, that is discussion worthy.  The plot itself offers wonderful themes: the construction of identity, hedonism, naturalism, the art and artifice manipulation, love, the role of literature, and on and on.  Dorian's fall into self-aggrandizing and immorality, and his sporadic and half-hearted attempts to escape present readers with a warped mirror with which to judge their own beliefs. Do not be scared of this book. Read it!

There are so many more books I could add, but as this post is already getting a bit long, I'll leave you with the following:

Book Bloggers wreak havoc on your TBR piles, but they also introduce you to some amazing books!