It’s been some time since I did a Top 10 Tuesday post! Happy Tuesday everyone! I hope you’re all enjoying what you’re reading or doing.
Top Ten Tuesday is an original blog meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and is currently being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s given topic is Books with Colours in the Titles.
So let us start the list!
The Red-Haired Woman by Orhan Pamuk
I just red The Red-Haired Woman as part of my April 2020 Asian Literature Month. This was my second venture into the works of Orhan Pamuk who has that canny ability of painting a vivid picture of Turkey with his masterstrokes. This is a poignant tale about relationships, and in particular, father and son relationships.
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The list wouldn’t be complete without Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s powerful depiction of the Biafran War, that has swept her home nation in the late 1960s. It is a thought provoking tale about the evils of war and the various influences of the West in the affairs of other nations. You may click here for my full review of the book.
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Alice Walker’s The Color Purple is a very powerful tale about the struggles of black women in the Deep South in the 1930s. Walker’s moving piece earned several encomiums, winning both the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction and the National Book Awards in 1983. Quite a rare literary feat.
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Noble Laureate in Literature Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye is another powerful and concise tale about the struggles of black women. It is the moving story of Pecola who perceived that having blue eyes is the best representative of whiteness which was, then, a standard for the highest form of beauty. You may click here for my full review of the book.
The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie
Ah. The Queen of Suspense and one of my all-time favorite writers. In over eighty published works, it is quite rare to find a title with a color in Agatha Christie’s works. Apart from The Mystery of the Blue Train, I think The Man in the Brown Suit (I haven’t read this yet) is the only other book with a color on its title. The Mystery of the Blue Train is pretty similar to The Murder on the Orient Express, another mystery masterpiece in Christie’s lengthy bibliography.
The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis
Nearly every reader is familiar with C.S. Lewis because he masterminded the fantasy book series The Chronicles of Narnia. The fourth of the seven books in the series is The Silver Chair where the readers again meet Eustace Scrubb from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Scrubb and his classmate Jill Pole were sent by Aslan to Narnia in order to solve the mystery of Prince Rillian’s disappearance. Prince Rillian is the son of Prince Caspian.
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Pulitzer Prize in Fiction winner The Goldfinch was my introduction to the world of Donna Tartt’s prose. It is the story about a boy and a painting, the titular The Goldfinch. It is a vivid coming-of-age story that really overwhelmed me because of its length. I was in awe of Tartt’s “artsy” writing which was more vividly displayed in The Secret History. I loved the book because it was a distinct experience. Maybe I should start writing my own review of the book one of these days?
White Oleander by Janet Fitch
I’ve read Janet Fitch’s White Oleander back when I was still in high school, which is about fourteen years ago. Back then, I just started making reading my hobby. Despite the years that have passed, I do remember that White Oleander is the story of a young girl, an orphan who was passed on from one family to another (I think, sorry if I am wrong, my memory is rather rusty). Since I read it in the years when I was just developing my literary emotions, I can’t remember how I felt about the book.
A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle
Sherlock Holmes, without a doubt, is easily one of the most recognizable literary characters in history. The brain child of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Holmes’ mind-blowing, and, at times eccentric manner of solving crimes riveted many a reader. The hero of many detective works, his adventures begun in A Study of Scarlet. Over a century after the book’s publication, Holmes remains one of the pillars of detective and mystery fiction.
The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
The Amber Spyglass is the third and last installment in Philip Pullman’s widely popular Hiss Dark Materials Trilogy. Lyra’s story and adventures finally comes full circle in The Amber Spyglass. To be honest, I wasn’t a fan of the trilogy although I did like how it started in The Golden Compass. You may click here for my full review of the book.
Other books with colors in their titles:
- The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
- The Golden House by Salman Rushdie
- The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
- Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
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Two Little Girls in Blue by Mary Higgins Clark
The Pine-Scented Chronicles 
That’s such a fun thing to do Carll. I could only think of two books with colour in the title. The Green Fool by Patrick Kavanagh and The Green Road by Anne Enright. But of course I had forgotten The Colour Purple, Goldfinch, and A Study in Scarlet. I haven’t read the others.
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Nice touch putting the color in the titles. I’ve seen some of these mentioned in other lists but it’s always fun to see what combinations people come up with. Didn’t Orhan Pamuk also write a book called My Name Is Red, or is that the same one?
An obvious one I don’t think I’ve seen yet is The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. There are also all the color Fairy Books by Andrew Lang (Red Fairy Book, Blue Fairy Book, etc. ) but that would be too easy.
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Yes, Pamuk wrote My Name is Red but I haven’t read it yet. I do have a copy of A Scarlet Letter but I haven’t read it yet. I only included books I’ve read 🙂
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