Home       About Me       Review Archive

Monday, March 25, 2013

Top Ten Books I Recommend The Most

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's theme is...

Top Ten Books I Recommend The Most

For people who like dystopians:

The Hunger Games
by Suzanne Collins

Goodreads

The Hunger Games is probably my #1 most recommended book in recent years, due to the popularity of the movie. Because of this, it is also my #1 most lent out book from my personal library. Can't even remember at this point how many of my family/friends/coworkers have read my copies of The Hunger Games Trilogy! It's a sure crowd pleaser, too - they've all loved it! At this point though, pretty much everyone I know has read it, so it's not one I get to recommend to new readers very often anymore.


Divergent
by Veronica Roth

Goodreads | My Review

If The Hunger Games is the top book that I recommend to people who haven't read any dystopian fiction before, then Divergent is my top recommendation to those who've read and loved The Hunger Games. I'm not sure I liked it as much as The Hunger Games, but Divergent is still a pretty dang amazing read - endlessly fascinating world building that I could delve into forever and a thrilling plot make for an addicting, unputdownable book.


Across the Universe
by Beth Revis

Goodreads | My Review

Across the Universe is one that I recommend to people who are either turned off by sci fi or are curious about trying it out, but are afraid it won't be their thing (The Host by Stephenie Meyer is another good one). Because let me tell you, I didn't think I would be into sci fi before I read Across the Universe. Beth Revis is the master of world building and surprise twists that will leave you gasping! Short chapters that end in mini cliffhangers will ensure you will fly through this one. It is just plain FUN.


Blood Red Road
by Moira Young

Goodreads | My Review

I was completely blown away by this debut and was completely floored by the sheer talent of its author, Moira Young. Some people may be turned off by the stream of consciousness writing style with no quotation marks, but I recommend Blood Red Road to people who are willing to take a chance on an unconventional writing style and are rewarded handsomely for their efforts. The bull-headed and fiercely loyal heroine and the SWOONY romance is absolutely NOT to be missed.


For people who like paranormal:

Clockwork Angel
by Cassandra Clare

Goodreads | My Review

Now, I am a big fan of Cassandra Clare's original series, The Mortal Instruments, but it was the prequel series, The Infernal Devices, that REALLY blew me away. It had everything I loved about The Mortal Instruments - namely, a wonderful cast of characters and fantastic humour - with the added benefit of the inclusion of steampunk and a Victorian London setting!
(side note: I haven't read Clockwork Princess as I am still waiting impatiently for it to arrive in the mail so PLEASE no spoilers!)


Daughter of Smoke and Bone
by Laini Taylor

Goodreads | My Review

Having never been particularly impressed with any angel books, it was with some trepidation that I entered into Daughter of Smoke and Bone. As it turns out, my fears were completely unfounded - Laini Taylor has crafted entirely original and INSANELY creative angel/demon mythology in Daughter of Smoke and Bone that left me breathless and utterly MESMERIZED. This, combined with her stellar writing skills, means that Daughter of Smoke and Bone is not one you want to pass up.


For people who like contemporary:

Anna and the French Kiss
by Stephanie Perkins


So I don't read a lot of contemporary so Anna and the French Kiss is my go to recommendation for anyone looking for a cute, contemporary romance. I mean, even I loved it and I don't even do contemporary or romance, and certainly NOT contemporary romance. But I can almost guarantee that you will be swept up in the lives of these loveable characters and fun dialogue! Also, I feel like I need to stress that you should NOT judge this one by its terrible cover, title, and blurb.


For people who like GOOD writing:

The Monstrumologist
by Rick Yancey

Goodreads | My Review

Never have you come across a book that has a combination of terrifying monsters and absolutely exquisite writing quite like The Monstrumologist. Rick Yancey is a literary genius. Certain passages left me awed and breathless, they were so well written and horribly horrifying. I'm not going to lie though, The Monstrumologist challenged me: I read it with a dictionary at the ready. But for me, it was worth it.


The Knife of Never Letting Go
by Patrick Ness

Goodreads | My Review

The Knife of Never Letting Go is the best book I have ever read, after Harry Potter. Patrick Ness proves to be a true master of writing, with a boundless imagination and the capacity to break your heart with a few well written sentences. He is an incredibly emotional writer. One scene in particular truly hit me hard: I had to stop reading and did not continue, nor read anything else, for several days before I had calmed down. Still, I could not recommend this one more.


And finally:

Harry Potter
by J.K. Rowling


Well, obviously.

54 comments :

  1. That's a great list Aylee!!!
    I think I'm always recommending Melina Marchetta's stuff. Always, always.
    Other than that I don't know. The Bard Academy books probably :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't think I've heard of the monstromologist I definitely have to check that one out! So many of my favorites here

    Marissa @ Rae Gun Ramblings

    ReplyDelete
  3. Daughter of Smoke & Bone was an amazing book!

    Thanks for sharing you recommendations! :)
    Roxy @ Story Envy

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great list! I'm adding The Monstrumologist and The Knife of Never Letting Go to my TBR list.

    Jessica @ Literary, etc

    ReplyDelete
  5. I haven't heard of The Monstrumologist either, but I'm now looking forward to reading it!

    This is a great list! Thanks for sharing it!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I've been reading a lot of books recommended by you and they have all been very good, thank you! Some of my all-time favs are on this list, so I would like to recommend Kim Harrisons The Hollows series to you, I think you would really enjoy them :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aww, no THANK YOU! Both for the compliment and the rec - I really appreciate it!

      Delete
  7. I love that you put Harry Potter as your last entry and with the new awesome cover to boot.:)So, it's a yes from me for HP, Knife, Anna, and Hunger Games. #3,4,6 and 8 are already on my wish list. And I like Infernal devices more than TMI too. A friend just lent me Clockwork Prince copy, so I'm hoping I'll get a chance to have a go at it soon. :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I just had to! haha, I hope you like Clockwork Prince!!

      Delete
  8. This is an amazing list of recommendations! Love that you have the Monstrumologist and The Knife of Never Letting Go on here. And of course HP :-) Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I actually can't believe I haven't read Divergent yet. I did try to order it but OF COURSE my internet went down. I love your 'Well, obviously'! If I get around to renewing my school library membership I'll read Knife definitely. Oh and I've been wondering for a while now, what's steam punk? I'm so *smart*, not. I'd also add Slated by Teri Terry and Partials (duh) by Dan Wells.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow, I'm surprised there's someone left who hasn't read Divergent, as well! (Just teasing (:). I would love to hear what you thought of Chaos Walking! I still recall your glowing review for Partials!!

      Delete
  10. Recommend Harry Potter to all the people :) Love it!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Well, Harry obviously :-) I spent years trying to convince one of my friends to read HP - especially b/c she's an elementary school librarian. She resisted because she hates fantasy and partly because she's very conservative religiously. I'm willing to bet her husband is opposed to HP on theory even if she isn't b/c he has some crazy weird opinions about things. She finally read the first book and thought it was just okay. I think it's the fantasy aspect she objects to. Now that she has a little boy, I'm hoping she'll read them to him some day. I told her that you have to get to the 3rd book before making an opinion.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Huh, crazy! Thanks for sharing, Alison! I really do hope she at least makes the books available to her child in case he likes fantasy more! I do agree that it is probably too soon to tell until you make it to the third.

      Delete
  12. The Knife of Never Letting Go was wonderful and I've been wanting to read Rick Yancey's series for the longest time, I'm not sure why it's taken me so long to get around to it. And of course, Harry Potter. :) Great list!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, it would be a long investment to make maybe! I know I didn't exactly fly through The Monstrumologist series.

      Delete
  13. This is a list so full of awesome! I don't think I need to recommend Harry any more. Pretty much everyone who can read has read Harry already. But I DO recommend Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys a lot, The Book Thief, of course, Code Name Verity, The Scorpio Races and the Newsflesh trilogy by Mira Grant.
    Just recently, I've added In the Shadow of Blackbirds to my list and I'll be talking about it to anyone willing to listen.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, you would be surprised! There are some late bloomers to HP, surprisingly, and it's great getting to see their first reaction upon reading the series. I need to read all of your recommendations except Code Name Verity. The rest are definitely on my tbr!

      Delete
  14. I LOVE Divergent, Hunger Games and Anna and the French Kiss! I would definitely recommend them :)
    Top Ten Books I Recommend
    Review: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

    ReplyDelete
  15. Harry Potter, of course :D I also really like Divergent. THG was good. I didn't like Anna and the French kiss, but I can't wait to read Blood red road, Daughter of smoke and bone & Across the Universe. Great list Aylee!

    TT-
    Mel@thedailyprophecy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh course! :) I hope you love Blood Red Road!

      Delete
  16. Oh Harry Potter. Of course! It's worth recommending though.

    I need to read most of these...I'm so bad with series. I am curious about The Knife of Never Letting Go, and even more now that you said you love it so much.

    I actually love contemporary and have yet to read Anna and the French Kiss though it WILL happen.

    -Lauren

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's okay - it can be hard to keep up!! I really hope you love Knife and Anna as much as I did, Lauren!

      Delete
  17. haha I was starting to wonder where HP was when I didn't see it on top but your comment about it at the bottom had me giggling :) A big YES to Harry Potter (obviously)as well as Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Hunger Games, Divergent & The Host! I already own Blood Red Road & Clockwork Angel...which I need to get into SOON. Oh and Across the Universe is sitting on top of the wishlist and I just added The Knife of Never Letting Go to the reading list :D

    Amazing list, thanks for sharing Aylee ♥

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Heehee, of course! I'm so sneaky. So glad we're in agreement on these! I think you'd really like Blood Red Road and Clockwork Angel and the rest, too, because we seem to have a similar taste in books!

      Delete
  18. I love your list:

    I've read some of them but still need to get to:

    1. Divergent (have on audio)
    2. Across the Universe (have on audio)
    3. Blood Red Road (own on Kindle)
    4. Clockwork Angel
    5. The Monstrumologist
    6. The Knife of Never Letting Go (own on Kindle)

    Can you put this list in the order I should read them #1 being first #6 being last?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's pretty good that you at least have access to almost all of these already! It's pretty hard to tell you what you should be reading first and what you should be reading last, as it should really be up to your taste and reading schedule.

      I will say though that numbers #1, #3, and #5 are incomplete series so far, so you may want to get to those later depending if you don't like to wait in between books. I believe they will all be complete by this year's end though.

      Numbers #5 and #6 are long books (both in page length and complexity) and will take you longer to read than the other ones.

      For me, audiobooks ares always good for fitting in when I have review copies to read and don't have time to read anything else just for me, so maybe those ones first?

      This is tough, Gina! I would honestly recommend all of them, but it's tough to say which would be best to read first.

      Delete
    2. Well, I guess I didn't express myself the way I wanted this to come across. I guess what I really wanted to know is out of those 6 books, put them in order of YOUR MOST favorite on down. That way I'd know which one YOU thought was best, 2nd best etc. I would chose to read them in THAT order because you've given me great recommendations in the past and I totally trust your assessment of the books..

      Delete
    3. Aw, I feel the same about you! I still need to read Plain Kate and Please Ignore Vera Dietz though. But I am currently reading Shadow and Bone, yay!

      Alright, so in order from my favourite to least (but still really good) favourite:
      The Knife of Never Letting Go
      Blood Red Road
      Divergent
      Clockwork Angel
      Across the Universe
      The Monstrumologist

      Delete
    4. Well, so far so good, I think I have accumulated every one of these book. I just finished off the list with picking up The Monstrumologist today for $1.99 on kindle deal. Now I really need to carve out the time later in the year to read these griping reads.

      Delete
    5. Nice!! I admire your sales-grabbing abilities. You're always in the ball.

      Delete
  19. I see so many of my favourites! Clearly you have good taste in books. ;) Divergent and Clockwork Angel and Anna and the French Kiss... you make me want to re-read them all again!

    ReplyDelete
  20. I haven`t read the Knife of Never Letting Go, but I have been DYING to. It`s up there on my TBR. You have convinced me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh good! I hope you end up loving it as much as I did!

      Delete
  21. The Hunger Games! Divergent! I've only read the first book of both series but I loved what I read. I still need to check out The Knife of Never Letting Go and The Monstrumologist based on your recommendations, Aylee.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow, I had no idea that you've only read the first Hunger Games book! That's surprising. Though I assume your plan is to maybe get to them as the movies are released.

      Delete
  22. You know, Across the Universe has been on my shelf for-freaking-ever, but you make me want to drop everything and go read it! I agree with lots of these - Anna! Harry! Great list Aylee.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think you'll find that it's worth the read! Well, hopefully anyways :)

      Delete
  23. I need to try Divergent. I own it even.

    I recommend Hunger Games too :)

    ReplyDelete
  24. When I started reading down your list, I thought 'OMG is she not going to have Harry Potter on her list?!' lol
    I've heard several people say they don't like contemporary romance but they loved Anna and the French Kiss. It's just one of those books that has wide appeal, I think. Great list!

    ~Marie @ Ramblings of a Daydreamer

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha, that would be surprising if I forgot to add it! I do think that is why so many people love Anna!

      Delete
  25. Ha ha ... yes, obviously. LOVE Harry Potter. In fact, I'm listening to the second book as I write this! And I love Anna and the French Kiss. I just bought it for a read-along starting next week and can't wait to reread it!

    Great list, Aylee!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You can listen to audiobooks and write blog comments at the same time? Talk about multi tasking! I would love to reread Anna.

      Delete
  26. I recommend The Hunger Games a lot too! Apparently I really need to read Blood Red Road and The Knife of Never Letting Go soon (I even own ebooks of both of these. Just need to find some time to devote to them.). I haven't read The Monstrumologist, but I am definitely interested in Yancey's forthcoming book The 5th Wave. And Harry Potter forever and always. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, I really do hope you fn the time! I do think you'd really love them. I also can't wait for The 5th Wave!!

      Delete
  27. LOL! I love how you ended your list! I also love that you included the new cover. You like it? I do like it a lot. I'm really looking forward to seeing the rest of the series. I hope they progress in maturity like the books themselves. The first one seems so innocent yet holds so much promise. Oops, tangent :)

    I still need to read The Knife of Never Letting Go and The Monstrumologist, both of which I own, and both of which I've been meaning to read solely because of your high praise. *sigh* someday. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do, I love the new cover! And I am very much excited to see the progression of the new covers. I know the original US covers gradually became darker, as well, so I assume that's what will happen with these new ones, too.

      Aww, Small! I do hope you can make the time someday, though I totally understand if that day is not anytime soon!!

      Delete