Top Ten Tuesday: Books for My Younger Self

Top Ten Tuesday: Books for My Younger Self

by Leelynn @ Sometimes Leelynn Reads

I haven’t done a Top Ten Tuesday in so long! Looks like it was back in March before the pandemic had us all quarantining so, if that gives you any indication of how long it’s been… well there you go.

Thank Sammie @ The Bookwyrm’s Den for getting me back into this, because if it wasn’t for her letting me know what kind of weekly memes I could get back into again, I probably wouldn’t have remembered a lot of them!

This week’s prompt is “Books for My Younger Self” and as I was talking about this with Sammie earlier this week – like yesterday clearly – about how we possibly have done something similar to this in the past, and even though I haven’t been doing this meme as long as she has, I feel like we have done this before. And actually Jana did mention that this was basically a repeat of what was done back in April, but since I wasn’t here, it looks like I get to do it for the first time!

Now, rather than giving books that my younger self read, I am going to put books on here that I wish were available to me when I was younger, because there are definitely a lot of books that I wish were around when I was growing up. I’m so glad that they are here now and I don’t think I’d ever change that for the world, but I definitely would have been super glad as a young girl growing up in Hawaii having the opportunity to read these.

If you didn’t think that I would have Legendborn on this list, you would be sorely mistaken! I don’t know how many favorite books you can have in a year, and honestly I don’t give a damn what that number is, but THIS is one of my all time favorite books that I read this year, and it will be one of my all time favorite books ever! If you don’t know, now you know. It’s freaking amazing! I can’t even handle it. You gotta read it. I just got my copy over the weekend – one of my copies because I ordered two – and I am so freaking happy that it’s finally in my hands!

This was another book that I wish with all my heart was available when I was growing up. This was so beautiful, I loved how intricate this story was, and Jordan’s writing was just absolutely amazing. Another author that I wish was around but I’m so glad is around right now while I can dedicate my time to reading such amazing books!

This book is seriously making me laugh so freaking much. Not because it’s super funny or anything, but because Morgan sounds like a younger, more abrasive and no-shit-taker version of me, at least what I would have wanted to be when I was in high school. We share a lot of similarities, and my heart has been hurting for her as I go through this story. I hope to sit down and write a review on this soon.

Not only do I freaking adore Pintip Dunn, but this was such an amazing book about learning about love, falling in love again, and all in all being proud to be who you are no matter what anyone else says. It was just absolutely amazing and I know I said that over and over again but that’s just it. I adore this book so much and I wish it was around when I was growing up because I would have been even more proud to be my Asian self.

This was another book that made me feel so proud to be who I am, but also made me think about how there are so many things about all of my cultures that I don’t completely know about solely because it’s not something that my family actively practices. I am kind of bummed about it because of course, this is something that I would want to do, and I would want to know as much as I can about the traditions and practices that we do, but also just being able to understand what I’m missing out on, if that makes sense?

I think I would have gotten into historical fiction a lot earlier if this book was out in the world. Seriously, do you know how irritating it is to look up historical fiction novels and only see books taking place in Europe? Don’t get me wrong, Europe as a whole can be pretty cool, but damn can we switch it up a bit? And not always talk about WWII either? I just need a damn break! This book also made me super excited to get more into Korean history as well because that was something that was never offered to me growing up either. Thank goodness for K-Drama period pieces, right?

Look how beautiful they are! Look how they are the main characters of this fantasy contemporary novel! Look how they aren’t in competition with one another and they love each other like sisters! Just look at the beauty that is this novel! Finally there are Black girls in the forefront, and finally we don’t have to see girls in competition with one another solely for drama. I stan so hard.

This is another book where I felt like I was reading about myself, or at least a version of me that I would have loved to meet. I may not have been as brave as Liz and happy with myself at some point or another, but I wish I could have been growing up. I really, really, really loved this book so damn much and I honestly cried while reading it. I still need to write a review somehow because I just could not come to terms with what I wanted to write but I just have so much love for this novel.

This hasn’t come out yet, but I am so freaking excited for this! Do you know how rare it is to see a fat Black girl on a cover and her being the main protagonist in a love story? It’s hella rare. This book cover alone makes me feel okay to be fat, makes me want to do my hair like hers especially because it’s been so long since I’ve had braids done and honestly I thought that I didn’t look good with braids. It’s just so me! I want to be able to be the main person in my story, and be able to love whoever I want!

I needed way more diverse witch novels when I was growing up. Do you know how irritating it was to only see skinny white girls as good witches, and everyone else as “evil” or “dark” witches? Get over yourselfffff. I can’t wait to see this one and see the kind of diverse witches that we have in store here. Huge shout out to Dhonielle Clayton for editing this anthology and bringing it to the world!

And I finally got to the end of the list! I forgot how long it takes to get to 10 books sometimes. Wow, let’s try to be more prepared for next week! So what about you? Are there any books that are out now, or coming out soon, that you wish were around when you were growing up? Or books similar to that book? Let’s talk about it!

Stay thirsty friends.

38 thoughts on “Top Ten Tuesday: Books for My Younger Self”

    1. I love that sentiment, Susan! Yes, I feel like some people may forget about that especially now since there are so many more books out where we can feel seen and it’s not as minimal as before – not perfect and not extensive, but certainly not as little as it was in the past. Happy TTT as well!

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  11. Fab post, Leelynn! I totally agree with what you said. There are so many diverse books available now that I wish had been available when I was younger, too. A lot of these are on my TBR but I absolutely loved The Silence of Bones and ah, if only that existed when I was younger 💙

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  17. This is a great list! I agree I wish I had more books like this growing up, but really happy for kids nowadays. I’m planning on reading A Song Below Water and Legendborn soon

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