Top Ten Tuesday - Favorite Top Ten Tuesday Topics Done in the Past Five Years

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Here at We Live and Breathe Books, two of us choose five books each week. This Top Ten Tuesday marks the five year anniversary of Top Ten Tuesday! Even though We Live and Breathe Books hasn't participated the for that long, we'd like to congratulate The Broke and the Bookish for coming up with such an awesome meme! In honor of the anniversary, this week's topic is...

Favorite Top Ten Tuesday topics done in the past five years!

Kiersten's Picks

1. Books that made you cry - If you read my Top Ten Tuesday post for this topic (aka the week of Top Five Tuesday), then you know that all my favorite books give me the feels, and the feels give me the cries. I liked this topic because it made me reminisce on some of my favorite books and some books that just ripped me apart.
2. Debuts I'm excited for - This is a great topic because it really gets me thinking about the debuts coming up in the year. I think talking about upcoming debuts is a great way to spread the word about new authors whose books may not be that well known. Most anticipated 2015 debuts was also our first Top Ten Tuesday post on WLABB!
3. Gateway books/authors in my reading journey - While I didn't do this topic, it means a lot to me to think about books and authors that sort of got me to where I am now. When I was in middle school and high school, I wasn't a reader - I was very much overwhelmed by all my assigned reading and kind of burnt out. But when The Hunger Games movie came out, I loved it so much that I actually (reluctantly) read the books because I needed to know what happened. It still kind of amazes me that the series was a gateway to me becoming an avid reader and eventually becoming a blogger.
4. Worlds I'd never want to live in - As a huge fan of dystopians, I love this topic! I always think about how much it must suck to live in some of the worlds in books I read, and it's funny to think of them battling to be the worst for a Top Ten post.
5. Fictional crushes - Fictional crushes are the best - there's a reason people talk about book boyfriends and all that! Some characters are just so swoon worthy, even when you just know you wouldn't actually like them in real life (I know I definitely would have written off some of my fictional crushes after a first impression), but reading them and finding out more about them makes them bearable. I didn't do any picks for our fictional crushes post, but it's still a really fun topic!

Marlon's Picks

1. Things I Dislike When It Comes to Romance in Books - Romance can be insufferably weird in books. We discussed a bunch of these in our post here. Romance can be so crucial not only to the characters involved in the romance but the direction and drive of the story and what it means for the people reading it. That said, it's right to get realistic romances in books. It's something I've come to immediately think about, especially when millions of people think 50 Shades of Grey is a nice romance. 
2. Books You Loved and Never Wrote a Review For - There's so many books I absolutely adore that I just find impossible to write a review for, don't think the review would do the book justice, or simply don't want to write one for. Not to say I haven't tried . . . and failed miserably. I should do this one at some point . . .
3. Favorite Heroines in Books - This one (which we've done here) holds a special place in my heart primarily because it makes me so damn happy that, at least in YA, there is this trend that is not apparent in most other pieces of art: female leads. I entered literature through Percy Jackson, Artemis Fowl, Harry Potter, and the Tapestry series. These are incredible books that all have some of the most incredible female/femme characters I've ever had the pleasure to read, but the books, don't center on these characters. Very soon after, however, I noticed more and more books had started flooding the shelves without the "hero" as the lead, but instead a heroine. Heroines are important, they are everything!
4. Favorite Secondary Characters - I really like BrokeandBookish's (read it here if you haven't already), it's pretty spot on! One of my favorite parts of book are the secondary characters, because they're often not given a lot in the overall word-count, and so everything they do or say defines them, hard. Most books can have wonderful plots, a thrilling villain, a protag with just the right traits for the incredible universe that's been built . . . but then the secondary characters fall flat. What makes a book really astounding to read is, as when all of the characters, not just the protag, are realistic. 
5. Books I had Very Strong Emotions About - to be honest if I did this all of my picks would be The Magicians by Lev Grossman. Many emotions. Anyway, some books really just flush you with emotions that can be life-changing or simply make you throw things. Either way, isn't that the point of books? 

What have been your favorite topics?

Let us know in the comments!