Young Writers Society

1) Jane Eyre- Charlotte Bronte - i can't describe how much this book means to me, it was the book that made me fall in love with literature. I've read it so many times and every time i find some detail that i'd missed before. I love the style of writing, the story, the characters, and everything else.

2) Harry Potter- J.K. Rowling - I've read this series at least 8 times. I love it so much, it was the first ever book series that i really got into, I can read it over and over again and never get bored. The storyline, characters and everything about the book i just love.

3) Th Vampire Diaries- L.J. Smith - This book series is incredibly unappreciated. Everyone's heard of the TV series, but not many people have read the books. These books were written way before Twilight and many of the ideas in Twilight are based on things written in these books.

4) The Mortal Instruments- Cassandra Clare - I love this series, it has great characters and is written in a really good way. There are lots of plot twists which keep it interesting, i just love it.

5) Pride and Prejudice- Jane Austen - an absolute classic. When i originally read this book i actually found it quite boring, however, when i finished it i found myself missing the characters and i felt like i knew them all personally. It's quite a gentle book, which slowly seeps into you and you're hooked, without even realising. If that makes sense? Jane Austen was an amazing writer and i love her writing style.

1. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
This novel is one of the strongest humor novels we'll ever see. Dunces made me laugh. The character of Ignatius is one of the best. A truly well written novel.

2. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
I had high expectations for this book, and I was disappointed as it managed to go above and beyond. This is a true science fiction book. I had so much fun reading this. The metaphors and imagery is expressed through Bradbury's words. Though many of my fellow piers found this book boring, I found this book great and entertaining.

3. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
This is a hard book to explain. It exploits racial issues in a time where racism was big. A well told coming of age book. I read this book in 6th grade and have to revisit it this year in Advanced 9th grade English. I'm actually excited.

4. 11/22/63 by Stephen King
When most people hear the name Stephen King, they think of Cujo, Misery, The Shining, The Green Mile. I personally think of Stand By Me, but I also think of one of his lesser known works, 11/22/63. More of a suspense Sci-Fi novel, it held me on through out the 846 pages. A great suspense novel about a teacher who travels back in time to stop JFK's assassination and help a student is triumphant and exciting. If you do want to read this, you won't be disappointed.

5. Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
This book needs no explanation. The book is crude, hilarious, and just mean. Vonnegut talks about subjects that you won't hear in another book. I'm just immature when I read this book.

Okay, so it is definitely too hard to choose THE top 5 best books I've ever read, but here are, in no particular order, five OF my favorite books (of which there are many):

The Book Thief, Markus Zusak. Death tells the story of a young German girl during World War II. If you haven't read this, I can tell you that you've definitely seen WWII this way. Did Hitler even realize what he was doing to his own people? Like the people he was supposedly trying to help? And then seeing the people who were trying to help the Jews...and seeing the Jews marched through German towns on their way to concentration camps...and... I just finished reading this book for the first time today, and it was devastating. But so beautiful, so well-done.

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, Fannie Flagg. This story is told in the form of scenes and newspaper articles spanning from the early 1900s to the mid-1980s in the Southern United States. Definitely way different from the movie--not that I don't like the movie, but the book is infinitely more complex and interesting; it follows a multitude of characters. Plus it's actually about a lesbian love story rather than a platonic friendship, which the movie writers forwent even though they had apparently originally planned to stay true to Idgie and Ruth's real relationship. It's fun and it's beautiful and also it includes some good Southern recipes at the end and...go read it. Right now.

(Darn it. I started a new book after finishing The Book Thief, but now I really want to go read Fried Green Tomatoes instead.)

Life of Pi, Yann Martel. A fantastic and whimsical spiritual book. The MC practices three different religions quite devoutly, so naturally there are some really good insights into faith. Which story do you prefer: the one with the animals, or the one without?

The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. A pilot crash-lands in the desert and is stunned when a little boy appears out of nowhere and asks, "Please...draw me a sheep." Short but another whimsical spiritual book. I read it on my silence retreat, along with Life of Pi.

Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell. You've got to take this one with a grain of salt, since most of the Southerners are these kind, generous people...who own slaves...who are happy with their subservient position.

But it's an amazing piece of historical fiction, and despite Scarlett's many horrible qualities, I admire her. Yes: she is two-faced, manipulative, cruel, proud, selfish, stubborn, and arrogant...but she's not afraid to do the things that need to be done, and since I'm a total coward I can't help but admire her for that.

Honorable mentions (of which there are many more): The Harry Potter series, the Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Pride & Prejudice, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Animal Farm...I give up. There are too many.

Top Five Worst Books I've Read (just for comparison):



Top Five Best Books I've Read:

5. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

-Complicated and truthful.

4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

-Fierce and intimate.

3. The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

-Beautiful.

2. Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz

-Fiery and powerful.

1. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

-Vivid and heart-wrenching.

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

The Lord of the Flies by William Golding

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

Anne of Green Gables (the series) by L. M. Montgomery

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett


And many many more! But these are the ones that have affected me the most/I keep reading and re-reading. An interesting selection though... Whining, blood, and age-old girliness. xD

Skin by Ted Dekker

Cujo by Stephen King

William Shakespeare's The Tempest

J.K Rowling's Harry Potter Series

Horns by Joe Hill

.

1. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
2. The Fablehaven series By Brandon Mull
3. The Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan
4. Dr. Bird's Advice for Sad Poets by Evan Roskos
5. And probably Ender's game or Ender's shadow by Orson Scott Card
Really though, any with three asterisks on this list are my favorites. I had to pick five though. >.>

1. It by Stephen King
2. The Silence of The Lambs by Thomas Harris
3. The Orange Girl by Jostein Gaarder
4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
5. The Book With No Name by Anonymous

(in no particular order, it's just the ones that crossed my mind)

1. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
2. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
3. Beloved by Toni Morrison
4. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
5. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Trying to handpick five books and list them in a top five list is quite hard. Here's an attempt though.

5. The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger - Stephen King

4. Don Quixote - Cervantes

3. Ready Player One - Ernest Cline

2. Solaris - Stanislaw Lem

1. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer

A few honorable mentions:



I'll throw in my least liked books as well. I try to avoid bad books, so this list is pretty much filled with disappointments. Except for number one. That's all hate.

In no particular order:

Absalom, Absalom! - William Faulkner

Pale Fire - Vladimir Nabokov

The Divine Comedy - Dante Alighieri

Hamlet - William Shakespeare

The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera

Absalom, Absalom! and The Divine Comedy are the only two that I can say are cemented in my "Top 5," considering I do not really have a top 5.

1-5.) All 130 "Boxcar Children" novels. I've read them all five times and I honestly can't decide on my top 5.

A close second would be the entire "Hardy Boys Series."

Yeesh, this is a tricky one. Not really in order, but my top five are:

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. Set in World War Two, it's the story of two young women, one a pilot, the other, well (spoilers :0 ). It's heartbreaking and beautiful. Stunning writing and the characters are so real it's devastating. Plus an unreliable narrator, which is always fun

Goliath by Scott Westerfeld. I love the whole trilogy but this one's my favourite. It's been one of my absolute favourite books since I was thirteen, so I'm way past being able to have any objectivity about it.

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater. I adore all her books, and the entirety of The Raven Cycle is amazing, this one's my favourite (so far. Book 4 is still yet to be published). Plot, characters, writing - it's all completely amazing. Completely original and I get shivers reading it.

This is where it gets tricky... those three are definites, but the rest of my top five changes a bit. Hmm...

I have to mention the Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy, because I've basically grown up reading it, and it's been a part of my life for so long that it's got a really special place in my heart. Sounds sappy, but finishing the series last year was a really emotional thing for me. So they are on the top five (not a single book, but pfft).

I think I have to include Life in Outer Space by Melissa Keil, because it's the book I go to when I'm not feeling so crash hot, and I need something to cheer me up. It's nothing deep and meaningful, but it makes me happy without fail. It's geeky and cute, and I think it rounds out my top five quite nicely.