The Most and Least Popular Books On My TBR

I’ve seen a couple variations of this post around the blog-o-sphere and thought I’d give it a try!

For the purposes of this post, I am defining popularity by the number of ratings a book has on Goodreads, and ignoring any book that has not been released at the time that I’m writing this post (I schedule most of my posts, so hello from the year 2020!).

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Most Popular

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. This exemplary novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story is of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his new love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted “gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession,” it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.

The Great Gatsby is one of the great classics of twentieth-century literature.

A classic by an old white man. I am not particularly surprised.

 

 

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkeness bind them

In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, The Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell into the hands of Bilbo Baggins, as told in The Hobbit.

In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.

Cue everyone’s shock and horror that I have not read this series. I’ve watched the first movie! And I read The Hobbit! High fantasy is just rarely a genre I reach for, so I haven’t gotten to this series yet.

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will be busier still.

By her brother’s graveside, Liesel’s life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Gravedigger’s Handbook, left behind there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordian-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor’s wife’s library, wherever there are books to be found.

But these are dangerous times. When Liesel’s foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel’s world is both opened up, and closed down.

In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.

People LOVE this book. I just know its going to make me cry and I haven’t had the time to deal with that.

Louisa May Alcott shares the innocence of girlhood in this classic coming of age story about four sisters–Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy.

In picturesque nineteenth-century New England, tomboyish Jo, beautiful Meg, fragile Beth, and romantic Amy are responsible for keeping a home while their father is off to war. At the same time, they must come to terms with their individual personalities–and make the transition from girlhood to womanhood. It can all be quite a challenge. But the March sisters, however different, are nurtured by their wise and beloved Marmee, bound by their love for each other and the feminine strength they share. Readers of all ages have fallen instantly in love with these Little Women. Their story transcends time–making this novel endure as a classic piece of American literature that has captivated generations of readers with their charm, innocence, and wistful insights.

This is a super famous book,  and the only book by a woman in the most popular list. I watched the newest movie and loved it, but haven’t gotten around to thee book yet.

Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor.

Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker’s Guide (“A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have”) and a galaxy-full of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox—the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod’s girlfriend (formally Tricia McMillan), whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years.

This is one of my dad’s favorite books, and I need to read this at some point. This is the only sci-fi book on this list!

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Least Popular

Goodreads doesn’t even have a description for this book, thats how niche it is. Its about the history of queer actors in American theater. 

Season One revealed the intricate pieces of the latest saga in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now learn new secrets of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. in this keepsake volume. In the wake of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s collapse, Agent Coulson and his team must work even harder to protect the world against the threats it doesn’t even know exist. Starring Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker and Elizabeth Henstridge, along with a star-studded list of guests, Season Two is a whirlwind of betrayal and heroism. This collection will put fans on the inside with exclusive interviews, detailed production art and never-before-seen photography. The creators of the hit show reveal all!

I love these behind-the-scenes books, but this is a pretty random one to be the least popular.

This book is an amazing collection of poems written by members of the nerdfighter community, because poetry increases awesome. Profits of this book go to the Foundation to Decrease World Suck.

The nerdfighter community is a community that has sprung up around the vlogbrothers youtube channel. The community aims to increase the amount of awesome in the world and decrease the amount of suck. The foundation to decrease world suck, was created by the vlogbrothers- Hank Green and John Green. Each year in December, during the project for awesome, Hank, John and the nerdfighter community choose charities that will receive money from the Foundation to Decrease World Suck. These are always worthy causes. To find out more about the Foundation please visit www.fightworldsuck.org

With how popular nerdfighteria is, I’m surprised this has so few ratings.

Is the new girl in town all she appears?

She needs a new start…

Not a new man.

Kaitlin Carmody is a woman with a past—one she’d like to forget. A string of bad choices led to a fresh start in the small town of Starlight, so when her boss shows signs of serious illness, she’s determined to help him the best she can. But Finn Samuelson, her boss’s handsome, headstrong son, is certain Kaitlin is taking advantage of his father and running his family’s bank into the ground. When attraction overcomes reason, Finn must decide if Kaitlin is really a threat to his family…or its salvation.

I got this book as a gift from my aunt who does PR. I’ll review it at some point.  

This inaugural volume in the Graphic Medicine series establishes the principles of graphic medicine and begins to map the field. The volume combines scholarly essays by members of the editorial team with previously unpublished visual narratives by Ian Williams and MK Czerwiec, and it includes arresting visual work from a wide range of graphic medicine practitioners. The book’s first section, featuring essays by Scott Smith and Susan Squier, argues that as a new area of scholarship, research on graphic medicine has the potential to challenge the conventional boundaries of academic disciplines, raise questions about their foundations, and reinvigorate literary scholarship—and the notion of the literary text—for a broader audience. The second section, incorporating essays by Michael Green and Kimberly Myers, demonstrates that graphic medicine narratives can engage members of the health professions with literary and visual representations and symbolic practices that offer patients, family members, physicians, and other caregivers new ways to experience and work with the complex challenges of the medical experience. The final section, by Ian Williams and MK Czerwiec, focuses on the practice of creating graphic narratives, iconography, drawing as a social practice, and the nature of comics as visual rhetoric. A conclusion (in comics form) testifies to the diverse and growing graphic medicine community. Two valuable bibliographies guide readers to comics and scholarly works relevant to the field.

This is a pretty niche topic – graphic medicine – so I’m not surprised there aren’t many ratings to be honest.