
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. For the rules see her blog.
The topic this week is One-Word Reviews for the Last Ten Books I Read. I thought this would difficult because how can you sum up a book with just one word? You can’t, because there is so much more to say about a book. On the other hand, it’s good to try to define what a book is about – but not in just one word! There are so many layers and complications, sub-plots and twists and turns to a book to even try to sum it up in one sentence, let alone in one word!
Anyway, I’m not happy with the words I’ve chosen for these books – they fall far short … totally inadequate.
I’ve linked the book to my posts where I’ve written them for a more detailed account. I’m aiming to write reviews for the other three books.
- The Homecoming by Anna Enquist -heart-wrenching
- The Drowned City by K L Maitland – dark
- The Honourable Schoolboy by John Le Carré – spies
- Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo – tragic
- A Room With a View by E M Forster – satirical
- Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad – horrific
- Moonlight and the Pearler’s Daughter by Lizzie Pook – perilous
- My Evil Mother: a short story by Margaret Atwood – quirky
- Holy Island by L J Ross – disappointing
- Cécile is Dead by Georges Simenon – greed










I thought this was a fun activity though I had a hard time limiting myself to just one word (and sort of failed at it a few times.) One Word Reviews
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I was very tempted to use more words!
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This would be a fun activity for our book club
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I think it could produce a lot of discussion.
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I came to the same conclusion you did – that the one word I chose was completely inadequate. So I’m twisting the topic to give me a more satisfying result
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I’ve read your post and agree – a few more words are definitely needed, much more satisfying.
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I think “horrific” is a good descriptor for Heart of Darkness! Its been forever since I read it but I remember disliking it vehemently haha
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Me too – it’s not a book you can ‘like’, or ‘enjoy’!
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One word to describe a book is so hard. Definitely agree with the ones that I have read though.
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Definitely a hard exercise!
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I think you still did rather well and your words does set the tone for your books perfectly! Satirical for Room with a View is a good description!
Elza Reads
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Thanks, Mareli!
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Fun!
That’s a one word comment, in case you were wondering 🙂
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Well said, Rose.
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🙂
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Great one-word reviews. I haven’t read any of these books, but I’m intrigued by Margaret Atwood’s short story
Here is my TTT: https://herseriallife.com/one-word-reviews-last-ten-books-read/
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I enjoyed Margaret Atwood’s short story – I hope you will too if you do read it.
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I give you a lot of credit for doing this, Margaret. There is no way that I would be able to sum up books I’ve read with just one word. I really like the way you’ve gotten right to the heart of the books!
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Thank you Margot – it certainly made me think!
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I loved My Evil Mother!
My post: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-one-word-reviews-for-the-last-ten-books-i-read/
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Yes, it’s great isn’t it! There’s a real skill in writing a satisfying short story, so many fall short and leave me thinking, ‘is that it?’ at the end, but not this one.
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For me, an inability to capsulate a book in one word is a good thing.
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Haha – I like that Deb 🙂
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I found this difficult too – one word just isn’t enough! I think you’ve done well with the words you’ve chosen, though. KJ Maitland’s books are certainly dark!
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Thanks, Helen – K J Maitland’s books are so hard to sum up! But they are certainly dark!
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Quirky. I love that word. I can think of books I would use that for. It makes me interested in this one.
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Quirky is a useful word, I think!
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I definitely found it hard to narrow my thoughts down to just one word for each book!
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2022/05/03/top-ten-tuesday-366/
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It was hard, harder than I thought it would be.
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Same!
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