While I have certainly slowed down as life has gotten fuller, I have been a book lover since I was a kiddo. From the weird board books I fell in love with to the Encyclopedia Brown mysteries I tore through before I started reading more adult books, I loved to read. Heck, I still think fondly of the book fairs and read-a-thons of my youth.
There’s magic in books that you don’t find in movies or any other medium. An exercise of the imagination, guided by an author. It’s as if they are guiding you into these worlds they have built and inviting you to engage with and experience them.
The following is a list of books that I have read and which really stuck with me over the years. I guarantee there are books I have left out, or books that I loved, but which just didn’t make this list, but these are SOME of the books I have loved and which impacted me.
The Shining – Stephen King
I love Stephen King to pieces but this is my favorite book of his and is just a great, scary book. Capturing the collapse of a family, and implosion of a man, as they are trapped in a haunted hotel.
So. Good.
Life of Pi – Yann Martel
Such a beautiful, surprising book. The movie was lovely, but the book is pure magic. The story of a boy whose family owned a zoo and is selling it when the family decides to move. Scary, heartbreaking, and really lovely, it’s an amazing book.
His Dark Materials (series)- Phillip Pullman
This is a brilliant series and among my absolute favorite books. The story of a young girl discovering who she is and her role in a series of worlds she could never have dreamed of. If you are anti-Harry Potter or just want another great fantasy series, these are outstanding books.
Harry Potter (series) – JK Rowling
Rowling is a monster. Her books are still beautiful and deserve better than to be deleted from existence. Read them understanding their author is trash, but there is a reason they became so beloved in the first place.
Skin – Kathe Koja
Koja remains a vibrant voice in literature but this was one of her early books and has a beautiful viciousness and intensity that fans of extreme horror won’t resist.
Resume with Monsters – William Browning Spencer
Take the mythos monstrosities of Lovecraft and blend them with the banal world of corporate life and you have this great, creepy book that adds a dash of the absurd to things.
Song of Solomon – Toni Morrison
A guest professor taught this novel to a lit class I had and her passion echoed the intensity and beauty of this astounding book. One of the best books I have ever read. A story of discovery, legacy, and the search for who we are. Its legendary status is earned.
The Damnation Game– Clive Barker
I have love Barker since he hit the scene and this early novel is nasty in the best ways and tells an epic story of a man trying desperately to avoid the demons he has made a pact with.
At the Moutains of Madness – HP Lovecraft
You see a theme, right? Lovecraft’s best, in my eyes. The mythos is married with an epic tale of alternate history and a horrifying revelation that shatters the mind. The short fiction is the best place to start but this is the best place to get the full scope of his power as an author.
Carrion Comfort – Robert McCammon
Another epic story, this time about mind vampires, with great characters, heartbreaking turns, and an unforgettable set piece that has always stuck with me.
The Lord of the Rings (series) – JRR Tolkien
Everyone knows the books but, as epic as they are, there is a lot that was left out. A little dry, but a great series that deserves to be read, especially if you only know it from the movies.
The Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
To see the other side of the coin to what His Dark Materials offers, you have this surprisingly dark series about children who play key roles in a strange world of danger and magic.
Silver Scream – various
An absolute banger of a horror anthology with work from the legends of the time. These stories all revolve around the movies and it is full of outright bangers. (Bonus here is to track down the Book of the Dead 1 and 2 – which are zombie anthos).
The Martian Chronicles – Ray Bradbury
Bradbury wrote a lot of great books but this connected anthology is fantastic. Stories about Mankind’s disastrous conquest of mars and a mix of a lot of genres. Great, great book.
The Day of the Triffids – John Wyndham
Another fave sci-fi novel, this one about plants that come to earth from a space event, and which take over the world and push humans to the brink of extinction. It may sound ridiculous but it’s chilling and inspired one of my fave sci-fi movies of old.
There are obviously lots and lots more books, but this is a great place to start with some big titles and a few I’d wager you have not heard of before. No matter what, finding the books that YOU love is what matters, and what means the most. What inspires you?
…c…
