My Favorite Books

I blogged about my favorite TV shows, so now it’s time to do books. (I guess that means I’ll do a favorite movies entry soon?)

Here are my favorite books, in order:

• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
  I am wary of trying to describe this book because I am lousy at summing things up in a succinct manner and I know whatever description I come up with won’t even come close to doing the book justice. Suffice to say that Zusak is one of my favorite authors; he’s immensely talented and a storyteller that is great with words and language. The Book Thief is one of the few books I have read that totally and completely changed my life. Not in an earth-shattering my-entire-lifestyle-is-now-going-to-change kind of way, but it definitely has impacted on the way I look at things now.
• Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen
  Dessen is one of my favorite authors; Someone Like You is by far and away my favorite book of hers. The tagline to the book is “Anyone who’s had a best friend – or a first love – will understand,” and it’s so true. The story of Halley and Scarlett’s friendship and Halley and Macon’s relationship is written perfectly, and every time I read the book I can connect so well to the story that I always want to cry. The tagline is so true; I’ve had both a best friend and a first love and every line in Someone Like You resonates deeply in my heart.
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
  It’s no secret that I’m a huge Alice in Wonderland fan; I love both Carroll’s books and the Disney movie. What I love most about the books is how every time I reread it, I discover something new in the story, whether it be a different reading of a character or a new interpretation of the text. It’s such a simple story, but it’s also incredibly complex. I’ve always envied Alice and her adventures in Wonderland and when I was little I wish I always wished to be able to step through a looking glass and see what was on the other side myself!
• The Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde
  I love how Fforde plays around with language and words and literature. He does this amazing job at setting up this alternate!reality as well as a book!reality and my favorite parts of the series are when Thursday bookjumps into the BookWorld. He brings famous characters in literature such as Edward Rochester (Jane Eyre) and Miss Havisham (Great Expectations) to life and manages to make them his own characters, adding dimensions and layers to them that make them lead characters in their own right. It’s a great series and a must-read for any book lover.
• His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman
  While The Golden Compass is my favorite, I do like the other books in the trilogy as well. Pullman does such a great job of dealing with so many concepts and overarching storylines and a fantastical, alternate reality. I’m not really a huge fan of this genre but I really liked Pullman’s writing. The characters are so vivid, the worlds so real, the forces of good and evil so strong and powerful… it’s just brilliant, really.

Tags: books, friday five