How can I possibly be expected to handle work on a day like this?: Top 10 Books To Play Hooky With

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke And The Bookish and was created by Jamie at The Perpetual Page Turner.

Ferris Bueller

Books To Play Hooky With

Every time I think about playing hooky, I’m reminded of one of the greatest films to come out of the 80s – Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. And I think of his most epic day of skipping school and how if I have to pick 10 books that are worth playing hooky for they better be pretty damn good and something that I would put my seal of approval on. And so, it was a process but I narrowed my choices down to Top Ten Books I’d Play Hooky With.

1. Daughter Of Smoke And Bone by Laini  Taylor

Daughter Of Smoke And Bone by Laini Taylor Book Cover

Daughter Of Smoke And Bone

Why?: I like to read books that are luscious, by this I mean when you read it, you want to roll the words around in your mouth because they read like they would taste delicious. I know, I know that makes me sound like a total weirdo. BUT, Daughter Of Smoke And Bone is epic, luscious and written in a style that makes me fall for words all over again.

2. Divergent by Veronica Roth

Divergent, Veronica Roth, Book Cover

Divergent

Why?: There are those of us out there who like thrills. We want our skip days to be filled with adrenaline. Okay, I got this kind of weird rush when reading about Triss and the factions and her growing romance with Four. Yo, Divergent. WORTH SKIPPING FOR!

3. Anna And The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna And The French Kiss Stephanie Perkins Book Cover

Anna And The French Kiss

Why?: Maybe during your skip day, you’d rather do something like sigh and swoon and make out with good looking people? Yes? Me too. Hence Anna And The French Kiss. I fell completely for St. Clair, and I think if you’re in the sun searching for swoonytimes, you will too.

4. The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian Sherman Alexie Book Cover

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian

Why?: Okay, so I also really like to laugh a lot. AND OMG I LOVE PICTURES IN BOOKS. And y’all, The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian is filled with laughter and pictures and okay, some parts are sad, but overall it is a wicked AWESOME read.

5. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John  Green and David Levithan

Will Grayson, Will Grayson John Green David Levithan Book Cover

Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Why?: If I had to choose a fictional character to ditch work with, without a doubt it would be Tiny Cooper. Y’all I can’t even explain how awesome he is. We’d work on a musical about his life and walk around being bad asses. It would be the greatest thing ever.

6. Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

Poison Study, Maria V Snyder, Book Cover, Green

Poison Study

Why?: This book, Poison Study, is full of the BOOM BOOM in your heart, if ya know what I mean. Seriously, never have I wanted a character to hatefuck another character so much as I wanted Valek and Yelena to get it on. OH MY GOD. Sigh. JUST SIGH AND BOOM IS ALL.

7. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Vampire Academy, Richelle Mead, Book Cover

Vampire Academy

Why?: Oh, illicit almost affairs. WHAT. Do y’all like more drama? Entanglements? Vampires that don’t motherfuckin’ sparkle? Fanning yourself after A HEATED GLANCE? Hop aboard the VA train. I swear, it is legit.

8. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Before I fall, Lauren Oliver, Book Cover, Sam Kingston

Before I Fall

Why?: Yo, Bill Murray has got nothing on Samantha Kingston. And okay, some of us like having a good sob now and then to get the emotions out so we can get on with our days. AND OH MY GOD YOU WILL GET YOUR EMOTIONS OUT while reading Before I Fall.

9. Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Graceling by Kristin Cashore Book Cover

Graceling

Why?:  Katsa is the mother fricken deal. So are the Seven Kingdoms which is one of the most awesome pieces of worldbuilding I’ve seen in YA. Seriously. Plus, ahhhh the sex positivity in the books.

10. Blood Red Road by Moira Young

Blood Red Road, Book Cover, Moira Young

Blood Red Road

Why?: Maybe you would like to ditch with a book that reminds you vaguely of a movie you saw about kids killing each other in the arena or want to read a book written in present tense with Amazon-esque characters and set in kind of a desert? YES? YES? Dude then ditch your dayjob and hit the beach with Blood Red Road.

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April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.
About April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

Comments

  1. April, all of the books you’ve listed are books that I either LOVE or plan to read soon. I am currently reading THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN for school (so I don’t have to play hooky with it!) and it’s amazing. Funny and heartwrenching and intelligent and wow. And YAY or ANNA, VA, and BEFORE I FALL!

  2. I’d totally play hooky with books. In fact I might have done so. A number of times. Ahem.

  3. Your first 3 and your last 2 are definitely books I would play Hooky for. In fact I’m pretty sure I HAVE with at least 2 of them…

  4. Your description for Poison Study really made me laugh! I’ve been meaning to read Graceling after seeing so many positive reviews, and I’ve got a different Sherman Alexie already waiting for me on my shelves. Good to know they can make an afternoon fly by! 🙂 Thanks for sharing your list!

    • Aww, I just love making people laugh. It’s something I work hard at.

      Oh my god, you need to read Graceling and Sherman Alexie is spot-on awesome no matter what the book.

  5. Excellent list! I loved books 1 & 2 especially and Vampire Academy is a favorite. It is one of those books where after reading the first one you just have to read the rest immediately. I could see myself spending a whole day on a VA readathon (and then going on with Bloodlines and Golden Lily).

    I was surprised not to see Harry Potter on your list. I’d have skipped school to read Deathly Hallows but thankfully it was released on a Saturday so I was able to read it over the weekend and go to class on Monday (where we spent the first 20 minutes of class talking about the book b/c the teacher was a big fan too).

    • Oh man, A VA readathon would be epic, those books are so awesome.

      I didn’t add Harry Potter for some odd reason, I don’t even know why because I loved those books hard and definitely would stay up past midnight reading them.

  6. Great list! I love this!

  7. BUELLER!! *Giggles and runs to find her VHS copy*

    But really! I love your list 🙂 I have much of the same, and I really need to read Graceling.

  8. I totally agree with Before I Fall, Anna, VA, Graceling, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, WG WG, and well, maybe all of them! Fantastic choices, April!

  9. YES to like 1/2 your list – and only half because I haven’t read the others. I’m going to go read the summaries and possibly add every single one of them to my TBR list. 🙂 Love all of your whys.

  10. Excellent Choices. Divergent, Poison Study and VA! There is all kinds of awesomeness in that list!
    My Top Ten

    Happy Reading!
    Amanda @ Sisters Unedited

  11. Sigh. So many good books! I hunk we should have a blogger hooky day like senior skip day where all the bloggers just stay at home and read these books. That would be awesome.
    Graceling is such a good hooky book, right? I love that shizz. And yes totally to VA and Anna. I almost had those on my list too!!

  12. Smoke & Bone, hellz yes. Also Graceling because of the butt-kicking female that throws bows better than men. I just read Anna and the French Kiss last week. It was cute. And I’ve had Blood Red Road starting me down for like months or something. This is a pretty doggone good list. But you had me at Smoke & Bone. Freaking awesome book, that one.

  13. Ferris Bueller’s Day off was one of my favourite movies!! Divergent is the only one I’ve read on your list, but good looking selection! New follower!

  14. I love your list, April! I considered putting my list together like yours, and if I had, a majority of these books would have been on my list as well. Will Grayson, Will Grayson, Anna and the French Kiss, and Divergent are great suggestions!

  15. Haha, I love the Ferris Bueller reference!

  16. YES TO EVERYTHING ON THIS LIST. Even the ones I haven’t read, I totally agree with you on. I especially approve of Vampire Academy being on this list. I swear, not enough people know of the awesomeness of this series which is a damn shame.

    And BLOOD RED ROAD. I’d totally ditch my day job to go be an Amazon-esque warrior.

  17. YESSS. There are a couple of them on here that I haven’t read, but I plan on reading soon! And the ones I did read were all super close to being on my Top Ten Tuesday! 🙂

    Thanks for checking out my TTT!
    -Lexi, the Literature Lion

  18. Great books! A few of those are on my TBR list … 🙂

    Anna and the French Kiss was a great book … now I feel like reading it again!

  19. What a fantastic list! The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian has now been added to The List.
    And now, thanks, Bueller. Bueller. is running through my head 🙂
    Would love for you to stop by and check out my Top Ten.

  20. I LOVED Blood Red Road and Daughter of Smoke and Bone so I second that. VA was pretty good as well was Graceling.

    Awww man I was so glad to see Ferris Bueller here 😀 Excellent movie and great music, yep I’m a real child of the 80’s. That was one of my favorite movies when I was a lot younger. Recently bought the movie on DVD and I think it is about time to do a recap.

    Wonderful list and + for adding reasons, April.

  21. Great list! I completely understand about luscious reads. Some books make me appreciate words more than I already do. I really can’t wait to read Anna and the French Kiss! I’ve heard nothing but good things. There just aren’t enough hooky days… Thanks for stopping by 🙂

  22. Divergent and Graceling are some of my all-time favorites! Definitely putting all these others on my TBR list …. which is now officially 1 million books long!

  23. OMG i miss my HS days…i use to play hooky all the time. Faking sick was soo easy lol

  24. Okay so I want to find the proper person to shake angrily while I scream “Why? Why have I not really heard much about the Study series before today?” Suddenly I feel like it’s been mentioned 3 times in 5 minutes, and I suddenly MUST read it. Sounds amazing. And also yes to all of that. Drooling a bit now.

  25. Yeah! Great list. Every one of those are on my to-read list (have not read a one of them)!!!
    Loved Ferris Bueller’s Day Off! Now I’m a teacher and still dream of playing hooky!!!!

    Thanks for stopping by!!!

  26. This is a fabulous list! From Divergent to Anna and the French Kiss to Absolutely True Diary, great choices for hooky! I need to read Daughter of Smoke and Bone and Blood Red Road soon.

    Jennifer @ Feminist Fairy Tale Reviews
    http://feministfairytalereviews.blogspot.com/2012/03/top-ten-tuesday-19-books-id-play-hooky.html

  27. Incredible list. Totally agree, except that I need to play hooky to read VA & Poison Study.

  28. Clearly, I need to read more books 😛
    I still super need to read Will Grayson, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and Blood Red Road. I know, I’m terrible.
    I can totally get behind Divergent, though! That counts for something, right? Right?

  29. Graceling <33333

  30. So many of those books are on my TBR pile! I’m excited to see that they’re good. I can’t wait to read them.

  31. Great list! Lots of my favorites are on your list. I’m going to have to go read Blood Red Road now after your comments.