Rules: In a text post, list ten books that have stayed with you in some way. Don’t take but a few minutes, and don’t think too hard — they don’t have to be the “right” or “great” works, just the ones that have touched you. Tag [ten] friends, including me, so I’ll see your list. Make sure you let your friends know you’ve tagged them.
oh boy
1) American Gods, by Neil Gaiman // I love mythology, I love mythology being twisted and positive and negative aspects of gods being presented, and I love the long, slow reveal of more and more things going wrong. Oh, and also Egyptian deities.
2) Night Watch, by Terry Pratchett // Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett // Lords and Ladies, by Terry Pratchett // I decided to include these together because they're all part of the Discworld series, and I love the whole thing. It's biting and clever and satirical and sarcastic and well-written and beautiful and sometimes terrifying and just fantastic.
3) Sister Light, Sister Dark, by Jane Yolen // Again with the religious motifs, and things slowly but surely and inexorably going wrong, and it's come to mind again recently with the parallels Orphan Black has with it, and I just fucking love this book.
4) Poison, by Chris Wooding // THIS IS A BOOK ABOUT FANTASTICAL CREATURES AND WRITING AND STORIES AND SERIOUSLY WHAT DID YOU EXPECT if you haven't read this book I implore you to go read it as soon as you can, truly.
5) Waking Dream, by Rhiannon Lassiter // This book isn't that good. Straight up. But it's about dreams and it's super interesting, just not all that well-written. Most of the reason it's stayed with me, however, is the following line:
Modesty, yes, modesty. I'm good at that too.
6) Trickster's Choice, by Tamora Pierce // Trickster's Queen, by Tamora Pierce // I fucking love these books. They're grouped together because they're a series, and it's a female protagonist hero being fucked with by a trickster god (again with the mythological elements). They were also the books that made me read more of Tamora Pierce's novels, like the Alanna series or the Wild Magic series and I seriously recommend all of these.
7) Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card // This is the best sci-fi novel I've ever read. That probably isn't saying much, because I don't read much sci-fi, but it's amazing. Like, it actually amazed me. The reveal at the end, the whole thing with Battle School, Bean, Ender, everyone. I loved reading this book.
8) Les Misérables, by Victor Hugo // fuck you I get to include this on the basis that I read the book the size of a brick there is no way it isn't going to stick with me
9) Dr. Franklin's Island, by Ann Halam // This book is seriously great. Granted, I read it when I was younger so the writing probably isn't as good as I'd expect now, but it's fascinating in how the world is built - even in a modern setting, the world is slowly built up - and it incorporates three separate worlds, basically. Also, it's kind of similar to Lord of the Flies but without the male privilege and with some body horror thrown in. (Most if not all of the main characters are female.)
10) The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde // Lost in a Good Book, by Jasper Fforde // The Well of Lost Plots, by Jasper Fforde // This series is sort of like Inkheart with comedy and bureaucracy thrown in, except a ton better than it sounds. Miss Havisham from Great Expectations is a main character, and a sassy badass at that. It's about how books work, and what happens inside them, and there's so much more than that that the number of books in the series (seven) is justified. I put the first three here, but I really recommend the whole series. I love these books, and this author.
