Favorite books or series?

What is your favorite fiction book or series? What did you like about it? What perspective was it written in? Would you or have you read it a second, third, fourth, etc time? Because you liked it; have you read other books by the author? Who (age, gender, worldview) would you recommend it to? What year did you read it and how old were you? Alot of questions I know, but all things to consider. I’d like you to post your top ten below.

As you will read I answer some of the questions I asked above. Some authors creativity and writing compel me to collect their work, some series are worthy of reading twice, while other books I like the first but the overall series is unsatisfying or the authors other work are not of interest to me. So I’ll explain each as we go below.

My top 15 favorite reads:

1. 

2.

3.

4. 

5. 

6.

7.

8. 

9.

10.

11.

12. 

13. 

14.

15.

1. My top pick, Thirteen Days to Midnight, rose to its number one position within the first few chapters. What drew me in (the writing and intriguing characters) continued through the entire book, it remains the king of my list today and I anticipate its movie, should it actually happen. I’d picked up a book, Atherton, by Patrick Carman and enjoyed it. The series was good enough that it got me interested in his other books. I now own a copy of each book he has written, though I haven’t read them all as of yet. He’s an author that I ‘collect.’ Do you have an author like that, one you buy their next book just because you know it will be good. You’ll also see that another one of his series is in my top 15 list, I think he’s an excellent author. One I hope to meet someday. I expect that when I actually read the other books of his on my shelf; more will likely appear here. Although I haven’t started the series, I have the second book in Floors on its way to me via Amazon now. Just an example of my expectations for Patrick Carman.

2. My second selection is Jurassic Park and The Lost World. How I wish there had been more books in this series, yet the only other book by Michael Crichton I own is Congo. The language in his books is a major turnoff for me so I don’t delve readily into his work. I grew up loving dinosaurs, but had to wait until I was older to read the books and see the movie. You will find influences from Jurassic Park in the third book of The Quest for Truth; Unleash. Perhaps you’ll even find a shout out to MC and JP in the book. Look for the Easter Egg within.

3. This Present Darkness was a fantastic read in the aspect that it made me think and in a lot of ways inspired me into writing HowlSage. The battle between the spiritual is relevant right now. Even this very second that you read these words. Around you the fight goes on. What an absolutely frightening thought, at least if you aren’t a Christian. As a Believer you can rest assured in the peace of our Savior. The invisible realm is real and their is a battle for the souls of man. So this book really speaks to me. I imagine outside my house something dark lurking, but Angels interceding on my behalf.

4. The Harry Potter series was actually the first book series that I read just because I wanted to. And the first I finished. I started when book 6 had just come out. There was a reason for my delay in purchasing them, but that will be saved for a later post. While this series for many remains controversial, I don’t subscribe to the, ‘throw the HP books on the bonfire’ mantra. I don’t think Harry is a very good hero and I’ll share that in a future post as well. But Harry Potter was well written and took us into an amazing world that I hadn’t imagined before. While this truly fictional, it again aloud my imagination to run. A world hidden within out world. Most of all what I got from reading this series was inspiration to write my own book. J.K. Rowling’s one in a million to be published story is inspiring. As is the power of the series to reinvigorate young readers. But most of all I set out to write a series that could be a fun, exciting adventure, without a hero who has to lie, cheat and steal his way to the end. I wanted a series with a hero i deserving of the title.

5. The Magnificent 12 series literally makes me laugh out loud at times. There is this Gollum character (not like The Lord of the Rings) and whenever we hear from it I laugh hard. It’s called a gollum, but it’s a mud clone of the main character. It’s hilarious. The third book is on the way to me right now via my trusty Amazon. A fun series I am enjoying, a bit out there. But fun and funny!

6. City of Ember books are a read again for me. They made me think of the future. They made me ponder, ‘what if we didn’t have that anymore’ and the world of Ember was highly engaging. Its one of the few series I have invested in reading a second time. Enjoying People of Sparks right now for the second round. The series shoes the basics of human nature and reveals what we take for granted. It also shows the power of hiding knowledge from future generation, which is a frightening idea.

7. Skeleton Creek series is a must read and watch for me. A Watch? That’s right the series has both video and text. Videos that will at times make you jump if you watch them in the dark, which I recommend. What I loved most was how Patrick Carman mixed media. Not only was their a video component, but within the book itself there were graphical elements, like notes taped in and sketches. The books are quick to read and ideal to get a reluctant reader started. This series like Thirteen Days to Midnight was one I read because I liked the authors other works and one I have read again.

8. The Dopple Ganger Chronicles has been a great series so far. With 3 more books to come I am excitedly anticipating their release. These books are graphic novels in a sense. With no uniformity from page to page, you might be reading a single word on one page, a full page of text on the next, a comic strip after that, and a single two page image spread after that. The book is visually stunning and full color inside, must reads in my opinion. Author G.P. Taylor calls them ‘illustranovellas’. I like them!

9. I must mention The Miller Brothers are friends of mine before you read this review, but I want to attest it is all true. The Codebearers is a series I couldn’t get enough of. Hunter Brown is a great character and a real hero, does he stumble and struggle, of course. But that’s the point. He’s an honest example of who kids (myself as well) can look to and learn from. I truly hope we get more reads from The Codebearers series. I have continued to collect and read any other releases that The Miller Brothers put out, including their latest Mech Mice: Genesis Strike.

10. Again I want to note that Donita K. Paul is a friend and again all is true. The Dragon Keeper Chronicles was one of my first Christian fiction series that I ever read. I remember that she was signing in the Focus on the Family bookstore and I walked across just so I could meet a real live author. Little did I know her charming personality and cool gel pens would cause me to walk out of there with all four of her books in the series (DragonLight was not out yet.) Donita built an exciting world that I felt a part of. The characters felt like friends before I ever finished the first book, DragonSpell. Donita is another author that I have been sure to purchase all of their books.

11. The Spiderwick Chronicles was a good series that had originality and took established mystical things and gave them new definitions or images. It also revealed a world we didn’t know existed. No I do not believe they do exist, but it was fun to have a hidden world revealed to us. An easy to read series with fantastic art, I was sad when it was over. Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles was okay, but didn’t deliver the continuation I desired and therefore didn’t make my list as part of this post.

12. Valley of Secrets was a book I bought for no other reason than that I thought the cover looked cool. I had no idea what I was getting into until I started to read. Soon I found a story that I really enjoyed. One that was heartfelt and relevant. One that I’d read again.

13. Eragon is a book that I liked, but although I have read the other three (not quite all of Inheritance) books in the series, I only recommend the first. While Christopher Paolini indeed created a deep colorful world, much of it felt borrowed to me. The second book Eldest dragged on and on, Brisingr got unnecessarily gory I thought for a young readers book, and well I stopped reading Inheritance because not only did much of it feel forced but it was getting needlessly graphic. It was actually the first book since college that I stopped reading and haven’t picked back up. And I have suffered some not so good novels just for the sake of finishing. I am not one to stop a book, I have to complete it or it nags at me. Inheritance is back on the shelf sitting. Again I did and do like Eragon, Christopher was very talented to have written it at such a young age. For that he gets my praise.

14. With Every Drop of Blood was a book I read in middle school, but because I needed to for a report. While I was interested and always have been in the Civil War, this book was very good. While separated by more then a hundred and thirty when I read it years it was about two boys not far from my age. The extraordinary struggle they went through and overcame was an encouragement to me and I learned about history in the process.

15. Congo was a great book. I enjoyed traveling deep into dark jungles and uncovering a mystery that…well I suppose could be true. Could there be a hidden city deep in an African jungle, of course and I plan to write a story about one soon. But with that said Congo was a page turner for me. As I mentioned above I loved Jurassic Park and The Lost World, but my love for Michael Crichton’s other works hasn’t happened. I read Pirate Latitudes, the unfinished book they discovered in his files after he passed and really didn’t enjoy it. Of course Pirates of the Caribbean might have influenced my expectations for a pirate book. I must mention again the language in these books is a turn off for me, but the story is exciting.

I hope you have enjoyed my list and will share yours below. What do you think about my picks? Do you agree with any of them? Do you disagree?

About these ads