Books Without Romance/ Top 5 Wednesday

Books Without Romance/ Top 5 Wednesday- July 5th


This Top 5 Wednesday is simple, pick out five books that have little to no romance in them. Romance that is not mentioned or that is hardly mentioned at all throughout the book.

Top 5 Wednesday is a group created by Lainey of Ginger Reads Lainey on Booktube. It is now hosted by Sam of Thoughts on Tomes on Booktube. Here is a link to the group on Goodreads if you are interested in joining:

5. The Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black and Ton DiTerlizzi- This is a middle-grade series about three siblings Mallory, Jared and Simon who find out about a world of faeries in their relatives house while living there. It is a fascinating series that I totally recommend reading. There are not any romantic relationships touched on in the series at all. It is just about the story of these children and what they learn and deal with faeries. 

4. The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton- The Outsiders is a story about a teen gang of greasers that are rivals against a group of socials. It tells of the struggles of our narrator Ponyboy and the right and wrong done in society. There is plenty of violence in this novel between the gangs but there is very little romance at all. Ponyboy's brother Sodapop has a girlfriend but this is only ever mentioned in the novel and we never actually see her. This is really the story of Ponyboy and his group of family and friends who are growing up in a society that may never think of them as equals. Ponyboy is intelligent and has great character but because he is a greaser many do not see these qualities. If you are looking for a great novel about teens with little to no romance I would recommend this book.

3. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee- Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is another book that I would recommend to all of you that does not have any romance in it at all. This is the story of Scout's childhood, who has a father Atticus Finch that is a lawyer that has high moral standards. She is growing up during the Depression. Her father is defending a black man in the town who has been wrongly accused. It deals with love and hatred, kindness and cruelty, innocence and experience. We see this story through the eyes of a young woman looking back on her time as a child. There is no romance mentioned in the novel and really we focus on a story that has become considered one of the best in American literature and I can see why. Simply this is a love story not romantic love but love of one's family, friends, and neighbors. This is a beautiful novel that again I cannot help but fully recommend to everyone.

2. Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple- Where'd you Go, Bernadette is a novel about a woman named Bernadette who goes missing on a family trip to the Antarctica. Throughout the novel we follow around her daughter, Bee who is collecting emails, documents, and other types of correspondence of her mother's to try and find her beloved mother. We learn about Bernadette through these messages and about why she would have went missing. This is a great example of an epistolary novel (a novel written in letters and other types of correspondence) that I really enjoyed reading years ago. It is another love story but of a family, with mother, daughter, and father. Over the course of the novel we learn more and more about the family and Bernadette. There is no romance really mentioned in the book we just learn about the family and what has happened to Bernadette to make her leave. Also it is one of the funniest books I have ever read.
Here's the book trailer of the book made by the amazing author Maria Semple. I have to read more of her books she is so funny:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H4g6Ks3p-k

1. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams- Arthur Dent and his friend Ford Prefect, who is the researcher for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, hitchhike across the galaxy after the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway. They travel along with other travelers, Zaphod Beeblebrox, his girlfriend Trillian, who was formally from Earth herself, and Marvin a paranoid, brilliant, and depressed robot. This is the first in a humorous science fiction series. In this book no romance is even mentioned. Trillian is dating Zaphod so she can see the universe. That's her ultimate goal in the relationship and nothing romantic is even mentioned among them. Arthur did at least have feelings for Trillian on Earth but again this is barely even mentioned. The book really focuses on the crazy adventures of our travelers and what they see as they traverse the universe in the Heart of Gold spaceship.