Top Ten Tuesdays #36: Inspiration

Top 10 Inspirational Book Quotes
Things Books Have Inspired Me to Do

Top Ten Tuesdays are hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, where we make lists of our top ten books based on that week’s prompt… and then we stalk other people’s answers to add a million books to our TBR. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Links go to Goodreads or my review.

Since I recently posted a list with some of my favorite quotes, I decided to repurpose another post I had planned for May. Oddly enough, the topic is kind of similar! I’ll be doing a spin-off of today’s TTT with another kind of bookish inspiration…

Today’s List: Ten Things that Books Motivated Me to Do

Do you ever finish a book and just feel really… inspired? Whether it’s to travel to a new place, take up a hobby, or learn more about something, I’ve found that certain books have motivated and inspired me to do something different. Today’s list features ten different things that certain books have gotten me in the mood for!

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver inspired me to start my book blog { Goodreads / Review }

This was the first young adult book I read when I decided to get back into reading. I had joined a book club but was reading adult fiction and memoirs (clearly I didn’t stick with that group for long…). I missed YA, because that was my go-to for so long. I read Before I Fall and loved it so much. I had pretty much no one to share my excitement with and had been wanting to start a blog for a while, but I wasn’t sure what to blog about. It suddenly hit me: blog about books!

Can’t Look Away by Donna Cooner made me appreciate my sister more { Goodreads / Review }

This story really messed me up! I didn’t expect to be so emotionally connected to it, but I really was impacted. The main character and her sister didn’t really get along… and then her sister passed away in an accident. It made me appreciate my little sister and motivated me to try to get along a little better with her. It’s hard to relate to someone 10 years younger than you, but I always want to make sure she feels loved and appreciated by me.

Nowhere But Home by Liza Palmer got me in the mood for adult fiction { Goodreads / Review }

Hannah’s adult fiction reviews have put a lot more books on my radar to expand my horizons away from YA, and I love that! I finally read Nowhere But Home randomly during jury duty and loved every second. I couldn’t find enough books to add to my TBR under the adult fiction umbrella. Her blog has been a great source for me to find those books and I have quite a few I plan to read immediately. It’s nice to get out of YA every once in a while! (Any recs under this category, especially if you read this book, are greatly appreciated!)

Just One Day by Gayle Forman gave me a serious case of wanderlust { Goodreads / Review }

I loved this book so much. My biggest takeaway was that I need to get the HELL out of the United States… and quick! I’ve never left the US and the farthest I’ve traveled was a 2 hour plane ride away. After finishing this one, and Just One Year, I started looking into group trips to travel Europe. Chris and I are seriously considering this within the next year or two. Even without a major trip overseas, we started planning some real vacations for the next two years. We haven’t gone away in a while and this book motivated me to change that and plan a trip or two.

Landline by Rainbow Rowell reminded me that relationships aren’t perfect { Goodreads / Review }

I love my boyfriend, but we’re not perfect. We don’t fight that often, to be honest, but it’s really easy to get caught up in the daily drama and stress more than we should. This book reminded me that relationships are definitely not perfect and that people are rarely perfect for each other. I love this quote, which really sums everything up: “Nobody’s lives just fit together. Fitting together is something you work at. It’s something you make happen – because you love each other.”

The Start of Me and You by Emery Lord motivated me to write quotes down { Goodreads / Review }

Perhaps this one is less ground-breaking than the others I’ve listed so far, but it’s important to note! I love reading reviews where the blogger highlights some quotes from the book. I do that sometimes, but it’s usually when I have my Kindle available to highlight things. I don’t often mark pages in physical copies (another thing I plan to change!). This book was so full of adorable quotes about friendship and love that I realized that I really should keep a quote journal. My new Foxy Dori has a journal just for that!

Boomerang by Noelle August got me back into the idea of new adult { Goodreads / Review }

I previously read some books that were considered “new adult” without really knowing what it was. I just noticed they had more sexytimes than YA and a lot more angst, too. (Looking at you, Beautiful Disaster…) I saw some great reviews for Boomerang over the summer and promptly added it to my TBR. I do like reading about the sexytimes in new adult but the drama factor can seriously piss me off. This book was hilarious and steamy – everything I could ask for in a new adult book! Now I’ll happily add NA to my TBR… as long as the concept reads more like a rom-com than a drama.

All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill motivated me to keep trying audiobooks { Goodreads / Review }

I tried out audiobooks with We Were Liars and Lies My Girlfriend Told Me, but the narrators majorly impacted the books, in a bad way, for me. I was hesitant to keep trying them after these experiences but I’m so glad I did! I listened to All Our Yesterdays and was REALLY impressed (not only with the story, but with the audio narrator). I probably owe my love for audiobooks to this book, because it kept me going with them and I was more willing to keep trying. I was kind of feeling a “three strikes and you’re out” philosophy with audiobooks, so I’m very glad the third book was a winner!

The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han made me love binge-reading series { Goodreads }

I read this one back during college at some point, when I was home for the summer. I remember we lost power from some freak storm and I was trying to hard to make my Kindle’s battery last so I could finish the series! I completely devoured this trilogy and moved immediately on to the Summer Boys series by Hailey Abbott. (Maybe the real take-away here is that I love reading books about summer?)  I realized how fun it could be to just get totally lost in a series and its world. I’m sorry to say that I don’t binge-read series nearly as much anymore, but I hope to pick it up again soon.

The Harry Potter series by JK Rowling motivated me to try rereading books { Goodreads / Review }

I used to be adamantly against the idea of rereading. I didn’t understand why you’d want to spend time reading something you’ve already read. You remember everything from the first time you read it and then it’s boring, right? — Very, very wrong. I always knew that Harry Potter would likely be the one exception to my rereading rule. I knew it’s a world I could always love and revisit. After finishing my audio reread of The Sorcerer’s Stone, I knew that rereading this series AND other books would be something I could get on board with. Why not revisit old favorites? I barely remember what happened in the last book I read, let alone something I read 5-10 years ago. Now, rereading is something I definitely plan to do more of. I even joined the challenge.

What things have books inspired you to do?

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