Blog Tour: Tens List with Bisi Leyton

About the author:

Bisi Leyton was born in East London in 1978. She grew up in London, Nigeria and the States, listening to the stories life and love from aunts, cousins and big sisters.
She lives in London, but has worked around Europe including France, Germany, Ireland, Belgium and the Czech Republic. She has a fondness for reading graphic novels.

You can haunt Bisi Leyton at-
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Tens List

My top ten books

This list is going to be righteous mix of books because I’m really picky about what I read and also can love a book for ages. The books I’ve listed either inspired to me to keep reading or to start writing, so you’re going to find some classics in here, but I hope you’ll surprised and even a little baffled.

Let’s go

Number Ten
Gulliver’s travels – Swift’s novel was a chore to read in high school, but I read it again a few years ago and discovered it was amazing. I found the satire rich and the writing very natural and surprisingly modern.

Number Nine
Matlida – Roald Dahl’s middle grade novel was one of the first books that kick started me into reading again.

Number Eight
Civil War by Mark Millar – I am a lover of graphic novels and this one was good as it dealt with very adult and timely issues. Following on from the Patriot Act, it explored the extent to which freedom could be limited for the ‘greater’ good.  It did cop out at the end as the writer didn’t seem to take a side, but I suppose he wanted to leave it to reader to choose.

Number Seven
First Among Equals by Jeffery Archer. It is not a secret I am a huge Jeffery Archer fan. I liked this book because it gave an insight into what it took to become prime minster of Britain. I do not know what drew me to this book, but once I read it I was hooked on Archer.

Number Six
Kane and Abel / The Prodigal Daughter / Shall We Tell the President by Jeffery Archer. The books were one of the first I read that had a strong female lead who wasn’t super powered.  Instead, she used her intelligence and cunning to get what she needed and she succeeded.

Number Five
A Twist in the Tale by Jeffry Archer. Okay, this will be the last Archer book I promise. In this book of short stories, each tale ended with a twist no one saw coming. Trust me even now you’d be surprised.

Number Four
The Lorax by Dr Seuss (or Dr Seuss in general). He was an amazing writer and I’m surprised at the level of thinking he pitched to young readers. Even as adults I struggle to live up to his moral code.

Number Three
Sweet Valley High Series – I do not think these are the best written novel, but I loved the books growing up because they were pretty much all that were available at my middle school and high school in Nigeria. All cool the girls read them and I managed to read a few I borrowed from friends.
I soon felt the stories were limited with quite a few cultural gaps, so I started writing fan fiction where I felt the series left off.

Number Two
1000 Years of Annoying the French – It was humorous overview of British History. I needed a book like this as I’m a British citizen, but I lived overseas as a teenager and never learned our history, properly.  I’m sure if I had learnt British history, it wouldn’t have been this funny.

Number One
Enid Blyton’s the Far Away Tree . This was the first novel I read. I should read it again. I remember reading this late into the night, laughing at some of weird but very offensive parts of the book.

Wistieria (Wisteria, 1) by Bisi Leyton, August 15, 2012.

Sixteen year old Wisteria Kuti has two options—track the infected around the Isle of Smythe or leave the only known safe haven and face a world infested with flesh eating biters. But even with well-armed trackers, things go wrong and Wisteria ends up alone facing certain death, until she is rescued by the mysterious Bach. Uninfected, Bach is able to survive among the hordes of living dead.
Eighteen year old Bach, from a race known as The Family, has no interest in human affairs. He was sent here to complete his Great Walk and return home as a man—as a Sen Son. The Family regard humans as Dirt People, but Bach is drawn to this Terran girl, whom he has never seen before, but somehow knows.
Hunted by flesh eaters, cannibals, and the mysterious blood thirsty group called Red Phoenix, Wisteria and Bach make their way back to the Isle of Smythe, a community built on secrets and lies.