My Top 15 Books and Series

You know you're a strange duck when you have a favorite book list like mine and your friends' lists look more like something plucked off a Harlequin shelf.

Perhaps I'm not strange, just have different, more broad tastes. Hmm ... 

I love sci-fi, young adult (or YA), history, historical fiction and mystery books. 

About half of the books on my Top 15 list I first read in high school, thanks to some of the best English teachers. 

The other half I picked up in college and after college. 

So, on this rainy morning, I give you my humble list of my favorites, a few of which include series of books. 

1. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

This book fascinated me from the start with its strange tone and being set in a future where books are banned and burned if found in a home. 

2. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Another strange novel set in the distant future where people are created in test tubes and everything is just completely different from what we know. I've always wondered what Feelies must be like (movies where you can feel what's happening). 

3. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

This book is the epitome of one of my favorite eras in American history, the Roaring 20's. The characters are vivid and I enjoy how the main character's narrative actually seems to make Jay Gatsby the main character. A very rich novel indeed. (Plus, it's written by a Minnesota native!)

4. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

After we read The Great Gatsby in high school, we moved on to the following decade, the Dirty 30's, with which I was also obsessed as my grandma told me many stories about growing up during the Depression. Again, another pivotal novel about a desperate time in American history.

5. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

I randomly discovered this Pulitzer Prize winning novel in my high school library and was absolutely riveted by Ms. Buck's story telling abilities. I had never been interested in the history of the Chinese people, but she made it worth learning. 

6. Staggerford by Jon Hassler

Another Minnesota native's book caught my attention with a gripping story, despite it seeming very boring at the beginning. The main character is endearing, despite his outward appearance and the secondary characters are so vivid, it's like I was transported to Staggerford even though the book is set in the 1970s. 

7. Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone series

I discovered Sue Grafton's writing in ninth grade, again, randomly in my high school library. "H is for Homicide" was the only copy of one of her novels on the shelf and I thought, why not? It remains my favorite book in the series and she's still going, with Y and Z left. 

8. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

I was not particularly into Jane Austen in high school -- I never could finish "Emma" -- but "Pride and Prejudice" was on my required reading list in college and I fell in love with it. Despite the constant run-on sentences, Elizabeth Bennet is pretty bad-ass for defying the era's restrictions and rules for women. 

9. J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series

Although the Harry Potter books began while I was in high school, I shamefully admit I did not jump on the bandwagon until I saw the first Harry Potter movie. I was hooked. I literally holed up in my bedroom over Christmas break in 2001-02 and read the first and second books in the series while listening to the soundtrack from the first movie. Don't judge me. 

10. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

My fifth-grade teacher read the seven-novel series to our class, but I never read the books myself until college. In my third summer, I made it my mission to read the series and it was well worth it. 

11. 1776 by David McCullough

I love history and particularly love McCullough's writing. He makes it easy to read, rather than daunting, and his rendition of America's Revolutionary War is riveting. His biographies are also worth a try, but start with "1776" it's a little less imposing with its 386 pages compared to say, "John Adams" and its 751 pages. 

12. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire

Having been obsessed with "The Wizard of Oz" as a child, you can imagine my glee at finding a book that delves deeper into the story of Oz itself. Granted, it's by a completely different author and tells the story of the Wicked Witch, Elphaba, but it is exciting all the same. I always knew she wasn't as bad as everyone made her out to be. 

13. The Peculiar Children series by Ransom Riggs

This man is brilliant. I'm ticked I didn't think of it before! He uses old photographs around which he bases his stories. He creates an amazing and spectacularly vivid world in which "peculiar" children and adults exist only in hiding and are hunted by horrid, mysterious foes. The trilogy is just a great read. I get chills thinking about how awesome it is. 

14. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

This World War II novel is amazing, simply put. It tells a fictional story based on real life events of women who smuggled downed allied pilots out of Occupied France into Spain so they could return to action. I often cried throughout this book. To me, that's the mark of an awesome author -- to write something so vividly it causes such raw and powerful emotion. 

15. Peony by Pearl S. Buck

Yes. I have two books by Ms. Buck on my list. Peony is the main character, a Chinese girl who is a servant in a Jewish home in her home country. The intricacies of Buck's storytelling are again fascinating in this novel, first published in  1948.

What are your favorite books? I'd love to know because I'm always looking for a great new novel, biography or non-fiction book to read! I'm willing to try anything.
Leave some suggestions in a comment on this blog and I'll post a list. Then I'll read those books and write reviews! That should be fun.
Whoever suggests the book I like most will be in for a surprise!
Can't wait to hear from you.