We all have a few…
Those books* every one in the world has read and discussed and mostly loved, but we’ve neglected to pick up for one reason or another.
Gap Books** I hear mentioned most often: The Harry Potter Series, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Hunger Games Trilogy, The DaVinci Code, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Twilight Saga. (Incidentally, I’ve read all of the above, with the exception of Tolkien’s books and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I have seen those movies, though, so I think I’m good to go.)
I recently checked The Book Thief off my list of Gap Books (I gushed about it HERE), and now it’s become a personal mission to read more of the books my circle of awesome literary friends have read and loved and raved about. Those titles include (but are not limited to):
- The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart (bought it Saturday and already started!)
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
- Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
- The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
*All links lead to Goodreads book pages.
**We recently discussed Gap Books during a YA Confidential Teen Roundtable. Check it out!
Tell Me: What are your Gap Books?
katyupperman.com 
I’ve read all of the above except I’ve only read the first Twilight book and the first of The Millenium trilogy (I think that’s what the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series is called), but I’m trying to get the second book from the library.
Yes, you’re right: It’s the Millenium Trilogy. I think I was so disturbed by the movie adaptation of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, I’ve pretty much blocked knowledge of the remaining two stories from my mind. *shudder*
Thnnikig like that shows an expert’s touch
AFAIC that’s the best answer so far!
I’ve never read The Time Traveler’s Wife or Night Circus or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Just read Ender’s Game, read Graveyard Book last year (adored it!!!!), and Book Thief – be still my heart – amazing. Cool post Katy
Ooh, THE TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE is one I need to read as well. Adding to list now… 🙂
And I can’t wait to start THE GRAVEYARD BOOK. I’ve heard it’s fantastic!
I just finished Insurgent (review coming soon). Next on my list are Cinder, A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, and The Mortal Instrument series by Cassandra Clare.
I haven’t read any of Cassandra Clare’s work… As a YA writer, that’s probably a terrible thing to admit! I’ve got CINDER coming up in my TBR pile. I’ve heard it’s awesome.
ENDER’S GAME<333
Books I think you'd love but (maybe) haven't read yet: THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE, THE THIRTEENTH TALE, DUNE (it's long but it's a political sci-fi and one of my favorite books of *all time*!!!) and THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS (**but only City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass bc in my opinion anything past that is $$$-making only**).
I still need to read: CINDER, UNDER THE NEVER SKY and NIGHT CIRCUS.
My husband just read both DUNE and ENDER’S GAME and loved them both. And yeah… I know THE TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE is right up my alley. 🙂
I’m with you on CINDER and THE NIGHT CIRCUS, though I read UTNS a few months ago and LOVED it. A definite recommend!
THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER is on my TBR list of ‘gap books,’ too! Ones I always suggest to people are THE LAST UNICORN by Peter S Beagle, and HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE by Diana Wynne Jones. 😉
Surely THE LAST UNICORN movie is based on THE LAST UNICORN book, right, Kelley? Because that was one of my very favorite childhood movies. I’ll definitely be checking for the book at my library tomorrow. I haven’t heard of HOWL’S, but I’ll definitely look it up. Thanks for the rec!
Yes! The movie was a favorite of mine growing up, too. The book actually covers a lot more. There are many scenes that weren’t in the movie. 😉
MRS FRISBY AND THE RATS OF NIMH is another one (if you ever saw The Secret of NIMH when you were a kid). The book is actually quite dark in places, and I cried at the ending. But I love it so much.
Ooh, I haven’t read RATS, but I *might* have it in my big box of middle grade books leftover from teaching fifth grade. I’ll have to dig through it to see… Sounds like one I’d definitely enjoy.
Ooh, yeah, The Graveyard Book–I’ll have to make time for that one this summer. I just finally read both Stephanie Perkins books, which were at the top of my “gap books” list…let’s see. I know a lot of people have loved The Wolves of Mercy Falls series, and loving The Scorpio Races as much as I do, I feel pretty dopey for not having read other stuff by Maggie Stiefvater yet. I’m like, weirdly anxious, because I think she’s so fantastic that now there’s PRESSURE for me to love everything else by her.
(And I haven’t read either the LOTR trilogy or the Stieg Larsson books, but it’s because I’ve decided that life’s too short and I just don’t think they’re up my alley. I have read the other classic gap books you mentioned, though.)
I’m excited to hear what you think about Frankie! I really enjoyed that book.
I adore Stephanie Perkins’s books! THE SCORPIO RACES was one of my top-five favorites of last year, and while I enjoyed The Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy, I found SCORPIO to be far, far better. You’ll have to let me know what your opinion is when you get around to reading SHIVER, LINGER, and FOREVER.
And FRANKIE… Loving it so far!
Guilty on all accounts. Haven’t read HARRY POTTER, LOTR, TWILIGHT (although I’ve seen the movies and feel okay there), DAVINCI, or the MILLENIUM TRILOGY. I think I need to feel like an early adopter or something. So I’m set on THG and DIVERGENT because I feel like I’ve discovered the books or something. Haven’t and don’t know if I’ll read FIFTY SHADES (for numerous reasons). 🙂 PERKS is definitely on my list especially since the movie is coming out soon!
Of all the Gap Books you haven’t read, HARRY POTTER pains me the most (by far!). It is such an amazing, amazing series, Kari. PLEASE find time to read it someday soon. You teach middle school English for crying out loud!
We’ll have to compare notes on WALLFLOWER once we’ve both read it. Seeing as how Emma Watson signed on for the movie, I can’t imagine NOT loving the book. 🙂
I know, it’s bad. This summer I’ll make time… I hope. 🙂 yes, let’s compare notes after WALLFLOWER!
Great subject for a post! I have to deliberately schedule time to read books I’ve missed over the years. There is always something new enticing me. Top of my list is Jane Eyre. I’ve started it multiple times, and never been able to get past the beginning. I’ve also not read The Book Thief! Need to get on that. Right now I’m reading The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater and The Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff and Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton because they are all coming to my library for an event to promote their short story collection The Curiosities, and I haven’t read any of their books! (There’s always something to be read…)
Ooh, that sounds like an awesome event! THE SCORPIO RACES was one of my top-five favorites of last year (so, so good!) and THE BOOK THIEF rocked my world in the best possible way.
I remember reading Jane Eyre ages ago, but I’d like to give it another read one of these days. I don’t recall much about the story, but it’s one of those classics everyone should probably have under their belt (painful or not!).
The ones on this list I haven’t read are: Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia (I only read the first book ages ago), the 4th Twilight book (I was all set with the first 3, ha), Ender’s Game and The Graveyard Book. I’d like to eventually read the rest of the Narnia books, Ender’s Game & Graveyard Book. I’ll get to it one of these days. 🙂
Sounds like we have a similar Gap Book list, Ghenet! And you made a wise choice in skipping the final Twilight Saga book. It ruined the entire series for me. *shudder*
OK now that Kari came clean, it´s safe for me to say (again ´cause I already told you :D) that I have not read Harry Potter yet. No. I haven´t. But I will.
Other books that I need to read are some French classics such as The Three Musketeers (Alexandre Dumas) and others which I know I most probably will enjoy but haven´t gotten around to it yet.
Otherwise, I haven´t read LINGER, SHIVER…nor any of Cassandra Clare´s books…
There are more of course but I´m trying to not write a novel in your comments as I sometimes do 😀
Oh, you HARRY POTTER neglecters! It hurts my heart… Really!
I haven’t read Cassandra Clare either, Elodie, though I feel like I need to remedy that soon. She’s such a YA icon!
I have a daunting list of Gap books on my to-read list. I will put a good plug in for Ender’s Game above though. Loved that one! So did my kids. It’s a classic.
I don’t think I’ve heard a negative word about ENDER’S GAME. My husband recently read it and loved it, and he’s not even a kid lit kind of guy!
I haven’t read any Dickens. English major fail.
Yikes. I haven’t either. I’m not sure his style is for me. It seems very… heavy.
The Book Thief, The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo, Ender’s Game, The Great Gatsby, and The Catcher in the Rye are the ones I’m thinking of right now. I guess I’ll throw in 50 Shades, as well, but I did check out the sample of the first book on my Kindle, and I think that was more than enough.
I read bits of 50 Shades ages ago when it was free online (and the characters were called Edward and Bella) and yeah… Definitely not for me. Please read THE BOOK THIEF soon, Steph. It is gorgeous!
Oh gravy…The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo nearly ended my life. I was bored, traumatized, then bored again. Nothing could convince me to read it again!
I love reading about other people’s gap books! I need to read Perks of Being a Wallflower too! I can’t believe I’ve made it to the ripe old age of 30ish without reading it yet!
I recently scratched The Great Gatsby off of my gap books list and I want to go back and time and smack my American Literature teacher for making us read the incredibly boring and overly hyped Scarlet Letter instead of Gatsby.
I think I win for longest comment ever. I’m going now. Great post!
We’ll have to compare notes on PERKS once we’ve both read it, Tameka. I have a feeling I’ll love it. 🙂
And yeah… I’m so glad I watched the two our DRAGON TATTOO movie as opposed to spending hours and hours with the book. That story disturbed me more than I care to admit. Pretty sure I never would have made it through a reading. *shudder*
The first that comes to mind: Twilight. I just never got around to it and then everyone started bashing it and saying how bad it was, so I figured it was OK to skip it. I’ve watched most of the movies, though.
I was on-board with TWILIGHT and its sequels (obvious flaws and all) until the fourth book. That story… Yikes. It ruined the entire series for me. And I find the movies painful (to put it mildly).
I’ve never read Pride and Prejudice and it makes me feel like a total fraud.
If you’re a fraud, I’m a fraud. 😉
I’m almost embarrassed to admit I haven’t read Harry Potter. I promise I will… someday. Since it’s been so long, I’m just gonna wait until my kids read HP age–which isn’t too far off.
There are too many others to mention, but The Chronicles of Narnia is one I’d really want to read too, but haven’t.
Waiting for your kiddos is not a bad idea, actually. I’m so excited for the day I get to share those stories with my girlie. She’s a little young yet (almost five), but she knows who Harry is, and she’s looking forward to the day she’s “big enough” to read his story with me. 🙂