Pretties
by Scott Westerfeld
★ Top 25 book of 2005 · #18 on Best Books of 2005
Now a surgically transformed pretty, sixteen-year-old Tally is gorgeous and programmed to think only happy thoughts. Still, she is troubled by tangled memories of the Smoke, a hidden colony of runaway uglies.
Best for: Teens continuing a dystopian series about beauty, control, and rebellious memories
Pretties is #18 on BookWard's Best Books of 2005, out of 52 2005 books that cleared our data bar.
What Pretties is about
Tally is sixteen and has finally had the surgery she always wanted, turning her into a gorgeous "pretty." Pretties are programmed to think only happy thoughts, which should make life easy. But Tally is plagued by tangled memories of the Smoke, a rebel colony of "ugly" runaways who hide from the Special Circumstances authorities. Those memories refuse to settle, and they keep pulling at the life she was supposed to enjoy. The book explores how identity and memory hold up against a world built to keep everyone pleased.
Pretties on the Best Books of 2005
Pretties came out in 2005. Of the 52 books first published in 2005 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #18 on our Best Books of 2005 list.
Why it made the list: 347 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.9 out of 5 (33 ratings). The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
Nearby on the 2005 list
- The Game Neil Strauss, #16
- Old Man’s War John Scalzi, #17
- It's in His Kiss Julia Quinn, #19
- Creating Black Americans Nell Irvin Painter, #20
See all Best Books of 2005 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 2004 Best Books of 2006.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 280 want to read it, 12 are reading it now and 55 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 3.9 out of 5 from 33 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 69 | 55% |
| Reader love | 52 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 46 | 20% |
Questions about Pretties
When was Pretties published?
Pretties by Scott Westerfeld was first published in 2005.
Was Pretties one of the best books of 2005?
Pretties is #18 on BookWard's Best Books of 2005, out of 52 2005 books that cleared our data bar. 347 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.9 out of 5 (33 ratings).
Why is Pretties on the Best Books of 2005 list?
347 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.9 out of 5 (33 ratings).
More of the best books of 2005
- The Lightning Thief Rick Riordan, #1
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince J. K. Rowling, #2
- The Glass Castle Jeannette Walls, #3
- Looking for Alaska John Green, #4
- Eldest Christopher Paolini, #5
- Freakonomics Steven D. Levitt, #6
See the full Best Books of 2005, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
Find your own best books
Add what you have read, rate it, and BookWard will recommend what to read next.
Free while in beta. No credit card needed.