When people ask me what my favorite book is, it's really hard to pick. A list is far easier. I have found though that that books that I feel drawn to time and time again are the books with wonderfully developed characters. I love a great story...but I also love a simple tale with a super great character or two.
That being said, here are my 10 favorite fiction books. Or I guess 10 of my most loved fiction books...i tried to cover at least a couple different genres. (Also I didn't include any series.)
1. The Secret Garden - Francis Hodgson Burnett
Mary is an orphan who goes to live with her uncle in his giant castle/house/mansion. There may or may not be a secret garden involved. This is really just a magical story. So magical that I used to act in out in my backyard when I was young. The movie is also pretty decent, but you really must just read the book.
2. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Fitzgerald writes so beautifully that I don't think I would care what he wrote about. I think most of us had to read this in high school, but in case you didn't, I won't ruin the story for you. All you need to know is that there is a man named Gatsby who throws some pretty rad parties. If you're really into symbolism and allegory, then this one is for you...and if you're not, then read it anyway.
3. Holes - Louis Sachar
I would like to meet one person who hates this book (or movie.) First of all, the main character is named Stanley Yelnats. STANLEY YELNATS. That's hilarious. Then, he goes to jail for being falsely accused of stealing a pair of celebrity athletic shoes and then blames it on his "no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather." Also hilarious. And the characters and interweaving story-lines are undeniably awesome. I'm just assuming everyone's read this one...
4. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
Don't roll your eyes at me. Just give it another chance ok?
And I only say that because I have never met another person who actually liked this book besides my ninth grade English teacher. If you are also a fan then we should totally high-five.
5. The Fault In Our Stars - John Green
Hazel and Augustus are teens who meet in a cancer patient support group. The rest is history. If you hate reading stories that are so wonderful that they change your heart forever, then just skip this one.
6. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith
This book follows the childhood of Francie Nolan, a young girl living in a run down apartment in Brooklyn with her hardworking mother and alcoholic father. I fell so in love with Francie and her ability to make something beautiful out of a terrible situation, that I have read this story pretty much every year since I first picked it up. This is a story filled with hope.
7. Silent to the Bone - E. L. Konigsburg
Conner and Branwell are best friends. Branwell loses his ability to speak when his baby sister is injured and falls into a coma. When he is accused of shaking and dropping the baby by the au pair, Vivian, but has no way of telling his side of the story to the police, Conner steps in to try to uncover what really happened to baby Nikki.
8. Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut
So basically this guy, Jonah, is writing a book about the day the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. He ends up on a writing assignment on the island of San Lorenzo where he also runs into someone who has information on a father of the atomic bomb...and he also meets this chick and finds out about something that could destroy the entire planet. That is my terrible description of a book that is too crazy to describe. Basically, I read this because a friend who loved Vonnegut gave it to me as a gift. I read it in one sitting and then recommended it to half of my friends.
9. The Pact - Jodi Picoult
So the cover of this book shows a young couple sitting together from behind with the words "a love story" above their heads. Maybe Jodi Picoult was afraid that no one would buy her book unless they had mistaken it for a Nicolas Sparks novel. Maybe she really likes tricking kind people who are just looking for a good love story. I don't know...but that cover could not be more deceiving. The Pact is about Chris and Emily who have been neighbors their whole lives and now they are teenagers and they are in love. (Ok so it's a little bit of a love story.) Emily dies tragically from a gunshot wound. According to Chris, the two young lovers had a suicide pact, but it mostly looks like Chris killed her and he finds himself on trial for murder. Only Chris knows what really happened that night and Ms. Picoult makes sure we don't find out the whole story until the very end.
10. The Giver - Lois Lowry
I'm always in the mood for a good dystopian tale. Jonah lives in a perfect world where every last detail in is control. When children in his community turn twelve, they are assigned their role in society. Jonah is chosen specially to be trained by the Giver, the only man who knows the truth about the community. This book was eventually part of a three book series, but I actually only ever read the first. I'm sure all three were good, but I really liked the way this first one ended and I never got around to the other two.
and five that didn't make it, but I can't leave out:
11. 13 Reasons Why - Jay Asher
12. The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield
13. The Boxcar Children - Gertrude Chandler Warner
14. The Bell Jar - Sylvie Plath
15. The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver
What are your favorite books? I'm seriously asking, because I'm going to read them.
The Mark of The Lion Series and Redeeming Love all by Francine Rivers. The Maze Runner by James Dashner. The Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld. Hind's Feet on High Places by Hanna Hurnard. The Shack by W. P. Young. Yep.
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