This week’s theme over at ThatArtsyReaderGirl for Top Ten Tuesday is hidden gems, and taking a cue from Read At Home Mom, I looked inwards at our shelves. We have so many gems, and many of them can be classified as hidden gems too.. but here are some of them (not ten, but a baker’s dozen..) from our bookshelves.

as pictured from left to right in the photo:

note: links to reviews on my site or Goodreads links to the books are italicized and/or in bold

note2: while you are here, check out the giveaway on my blog (sidebar has the link – US only)

1. Mangoes and Bananas by Nathan Kumar Scott and T.Balaji (2006): a gem of a picture book which combines folk tales and folk art charmingly. You can read my full review of the book here.
2. Two Toreadors from Vasukovka Village by V.Nestayko (1970): this is a book I purchased years ago at a book exhibition. While I cannot vouch for how much was lost in translation into English, I can surely vouch for how much I (and my teenage son today) loved reading this book!
3. Roald Dahl’s ‘The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar‘: while I am not sure if this qualifies as hidden, I don’t see or hear as much of this Roald Dahl book as others, so it found its way here. This was a gift from a friend years ago, one who knew I loved reading, and hence more of a treasure.
4. Just like the above book, Salman Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories is one of his lesser mentioned books, and loved by our in-house book-readers
5. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, not really a ‘hidden’ gem maybe, but definitely treasured in my bookshelf
6. Margaret and the Moth Tree – This was a book I got as an ARC and fell in love with, and one of the first books my DD loved and read over and over again!
7. The Darling Buds of May – I first watched the TV series based on this years ago and loved all the darling buds of May so much that when I saw this book at a used book store years later, I just had to add it to my bookshelf.
8. Don’t Shoot the White Swans – Another book exhibition buy, this is a collection of brilliant short stories that strike a chord unfailingly each and every time.
9. The 13 Clocks – This is my son’s pick to add to this list of hidden gems (I still have to read this though I bought it for him on a whim)
10. The Age of Fable (and The Age of Chivalry) from Bulfinch Mythology – This collection was one of my buys from an earlier BOMC membership. A friend from my daily local train commute to work later remarked on how wonderful it was that I had this collection and he said it was like finding a rare gem!
11. To Sir, With Love by E.R.Braithwaite – a book that awed me, wowed me, vowed me (made me vow that I would grow up to be someone like this wonderful teacher), bombarded me with emotions. And I now wonder why I never reviewed it here on my blog.
12. Tamil Pulp Fiction – Vol 1 (!) – this was truly a gem – I picked it because of memories of Tamil novels, or rather of their distinctive covers, lying around at home when I was growing up (my mom and my grandmoms and my aunts all read these books). As a child, I did not learn to read Tamil (due to various reasons) and as an adult, I do read Tamil, but at the level of someone just progressed from the alphabet stage. But I still enjoyed those stories – thanks to my grandmoms who would tell the tales they read (my maternal grandmom loved the mysteries), and I decided I need to read those books (or similar) that they read. I am so glad for this English translation!! I am not done with all the stories included here but have truly enjoyed the few stories included in the collection – pulp fiction in all its glory!
13. Song for Papa Crow – a sweet, sweet book….