10 Books I Wish Had Sequels

This week's topic for Top Ten Tuesday from The Broke and the Bookish blog is

10 Books I Wish Had Sequels
 
More specifically, they called it, "Top Ten Books I Wish Could Have Had Sequels (they were complete stories but you just could have read more and more about these characters or set in that world)." With nearly every single on of my selections, I was happy with the ending, I merely wish there was some way I could venture back into their worlds for a new story. Here they are:

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1. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

I just finished this audiobook (read by Wil Wheaton) on Sunday night, and I am heart-broken that I have no more adventures in the future or in the OASIS. This book was so much fun with its futuristic nostalgia about the decade I grew up in!

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2. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

This is another read from this summer. It is also another steeped in nostalgia (just not my own). However, it is my curiosity about the Hemlocks and the world they live in that leaves me wanting for more. I love the mystery that surrounds so much of this story, it keeps me dreaming, but those dreams would love Mr. Gaiman to paint another picture.

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3. The Help by Kathryn Stockett 

I don't know what it was about this book. Of course, I have no desire to live in such a time that this book took place in, but when I finished the book I was physically unable to start another fiction book. I was wrapped up in the reality of that world. The only way I could shake free of it was to read a couple of nonfiction books before heading into something new. With a reaction like that, I feel like I would enjoy a second story to keep the world and those characters alive.

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4. A Wrinkle In Time by Madeline L'Engle 

I didn't read this book until I was in college (maybe even later, now that I think of it...). I loved it. Not only do I wish I read it sooner, I wish there was more of it. In fact, thinking about this right now is making me want to re-read it!

****WISH GRANTED!!!****

My blog readers have informed me that I have been living in the dark:  There ARE sequels to A Wrinkle in Time! How happy am I???
Due to this fact, I need a replacement wish and, after reading the responses of other book bloggers this week, I quickly came to realize that I left out another one of my high school favorites. So, without further adieu, I give you:

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4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

For a long time this book has been on my re-read list. It is my best friend's all time favorite book. Back in high school I remember being shocked that I was so enamored with this classic. When we started the book, I was so sure it was going to be torture! By the second assigned reading, I was flying past the class and gobbling it up. That was over twenty years ago and I'm still wanting to step back into that universe!

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5.  The Number Devil by Hans Magnus Enzensberger

Not enough people know about this book. As a math teacher who loved reading, I was always looking for a book like this to share with my students. When I found it, I couldn't believe it. When I finished it, I wished it would just go on and on forever. It is not easy to weave math into a story in a way that could be perceived as fun as well as entertaining. In fact, if you know of any other math stories, please let me know!

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6. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

This definitely is on my list of must re-reads. When I read this book in high school I was excited that we were reading such a cool book. It was so much weirder than anything else we had done and I was enthralled by it. I think I could have stayed in that world, just to learn more about it.


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This is another dangerous and intriguing world introduced to me in my high school English class that I would have enjoyed hanging with for more than one book. I have always had a fascination with survivor stories, so when I put this book here, it also stands for others like Robinson Crusoe and Island of the Blue Dolphins.

8. After the Bomb by Gloria D. Milkowitz

Speaking of survival stories, I might as well give a nod to the one that started it all for me: After the Bomb. I read this book when I was very young. My cousin and I were pen pals and she mailed me this book. I loved it. I still think about it until this day. It was a cold war book, for sure, but I often wonder "what happened next?" A more recent book that did have a sequel that gave me the sense that I did get to extend the life of my childhood favorite was Life As We Knew It.

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9. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Who couldn't use some more of Scout, Atticus and (my favorite) Boo Radley????

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10. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling

No. Seven books were not enough. Sorry Ms. Rowling, I know you are probably done with this world, but I'm not sure we will ever be!


I honestly can not believe how difficult this week's list was for me. It seems I have a tendency to read books that are a part of a series. This is not a lifelong habit, just one I have picked up in th last decade or so. I'd like to thank The Broke and the Bookish for bringing this to my attention. Sometimes I miss the solidity of a singular novel. I suppose (as is evidenced by my recent reading of Ready Player One and The Ocean at the End of the Lane) I have started to realize this on some level!

Which books have pulled you in so deeply in one book that you have just wished there was some way you could crawl back into its world even though your story was complete?