The Stranger Things Phenomenon: Eleven Books We Heard About By Word-of-Mouth
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Stranger Things is officially back and for the first time ever we’re going to put down our books so we can binge the entire season this weekend.
Stranger Things is a phenomenon for so many reasons. It wasn’t one of those shows that had a million ads and billboards promoting the first season. It became popular mostly by word-of-mouth and then caught on like crazy.
That got us thinking about books of course! We all have those books we didn’t hear about because of an Instagram account, or an ad, or a movie. Some of the best books we hear about through friends and family and then we can’t help but pass them on. Sharing is caring, people!
What are some of the best books that we heard about by word-of-mouth? We asked a few members from Team Underlined and here are our picks!
“The Golden Compass! Heard about it originally from my great aunt who printed out 40 pages of reviews and secondary material for me to convince me to read it. And then I still didn’t for several years. Now I recommend it to EVERYONE!”
“Little Monsters. I am not a huge fan of books that keep you up all night. Too spooky? Not for me. But when your book BFF tells you there’s something you have to read, how can you say no? This dark, scary thriller is so compulsively readable I stayed up way past midnight to get to that twist ending. Thought the Demogorgon in Stranger Things was scary? Then you haven’t met teenage girls.”
“Definitely City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. My friend wouldn’t let me leave the bookstore until I bought it. Fantasy with lots of vampires and werewolves (ala Twilight) = Yes please. Then I got my sisters and all of my high school friends hooked too.”
“I heard about Warm Bodies from a few friends but assumed I wouldn’t be into it, since it’s about zombies and I don’t read many paranormal stories. I’m so glad I trusted them and read it anyway. It’s funny, moving, and weirdly profound. I instantly passed my copy along to someone else and have recommended it countless times since.”
“The Jackaby Series by William Ritter. My roommate told me this was like Sherlock Holmes with fantasy and feminism—which was all I needed to hear to start reading these right away! They are fun, quirky, mysterious, and charming reads that are perfect to enjoy with a cup of tea. I have now lent my copies to at least five kindred spirits in my life.”
“I was a library lurker in grade school. I was there during breaks, during lunch, and during recess. So when my librarian told me to read something, I took it seriously. And then one day she said three words: Diana Wynne Jones. I went on to read her amazing Chrestomanci series and her hilarious comic fantasy Dark Lord of Derkholm (about a businessman from our world who forces people in a fantasy world to assume stereotypical fantasy roles like evil enchantress and dark lord so he can run tours for rich real-world people). Everything she writes is fantastic, and I would never have known about her if not for my librarian.”
“My best friend introduced me to Tamora Pierce back when I was 12. I remember seeing the tattered paperbacks on her bookshelf and hearing her talk about how magical they were, so one day I started reading Alanna: the First Adventure, and have been a Tamora Pierce fan ever since! Seventeen years later, I’m part of the team working on Tamora’s newest book—Tempests and Slaughter—which is an absolute dream come true.”
“My colleague told me about Beware that Girl by Teresa Toten. I tend to love really dark books so I knew this would be right in my wheelhouse. I was so upset when I finished it because she was on vacation at the time and I couldn’t talk to her about it. I ended up just telling everyone else about it instead.”
“I’ve always been a huge fan of Peter Pan so my friend told me that I absolutely HAD to read Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson, I knew I was going to love it. What I didn’t know is that I would end up reading it again and again. It makes me weep every time. Now I tell everyone and their mothers that they need to read it too. I’ve literally told random moms.”
“When I first started working here, my boss gave me a couple books that I had to read, including Words in Deep Blue. I absolutely fell in love with it and was raving about it to my sisters. My older sister almost never reads YA books, but I told her she just absolutely HAD to read this one. Obviously she loved it too, because it’s perfect, and now she asks me all the time to bring home more YA books from work.”
“The Night Circus. I don’t normally love magical realism, but my friend whom I trust with book recs promised me that the time traveling and the mystery and the complicated love interests in this book were worth it. Not only was it worth it but I read the whole thing in one day and couldn’t stop gushing about to everyone around me. It became the book I always recommended to people regardless of their favorite genre.”
-Kristin, School and Library Marketing
What is your favorite book that you heard about by word-of-mouth? Tag us @GetUnderlined
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