So in an attempt to help get our Crowdsourced list at BookLikes up to 1001 books, as well as with a call for some romance novels, I'm throwing a few more books onto the list.  But much like Jennifer's Books, these probably wouldn't be considered classics of the genre, just some personal favorites.

Surprisingly, I only really listed three romance genre novels in my initial 25 Essential Reads list.  So I'm here to make up for it!  Romantic suspense is my usual go-to genre, so most of these book lean more towards contemporary romantic suspense works.

Of course, after I finished making this new list, I realized that I might have gotten a little out of control, so hopefully there's still space for others to add books they'd like to add.  I've already tried whittling this list down... and I was also still going to make a list for the young adult books I read before I became more obsessed with romance novels.

Auto-Buy Authors

First up are some favorites from my auto-buy authors.  I never had any auto-buy authors until I realized that I was reading these authors and buying their books as they were being published.  Unfortunately, a few of these authors have not published in a few years, which makes me kind of sad.  I have loved and read all of their books available, but if I were to list all of them, we might break 1001 books and keep going forever, so I'm just listing my particular favorites from these authors.

I had already listed Pamela Clare in my first post (see link above), but I listed the book that was the first racy romance novel I'd ever read.  I enjoy all of her books in both her I-Team series, as well as her Colorado High Country series.  I've also listed Dead By Midnight, which was supposed to be a novella, but in truth, is long enough to be a novel of its own.  The above are my favorite of her books.

Julie James was my second established auto-buy author.  I've loved all of her books for the witty banter between the characters, as well as the fairly angst-free, mature way in which most of her characters handle their relationships.  The above two are my favorites, both of the FBI/U.S. Attorney series.

I started reading Cindy Gerard via the library, but ultimately ended up buying all of her books--at least all of her contemporary romantic suspense books.  Some of her older category romance novels I haven't gotten to yet.  I decided to list my favorite book from the three series I've read: Bodyguards, Black Ops, Inc., and One-Eyed Jacks.

To tell the truth, I didn't really care for the first books I read by Laura Griffin, and thought they were pretty mediocre.  But somewhere around the fourth Tracers book, Snapped, I realized that I was really looking forward to the next book, and the next, and then the next.  Now I buy each new installment as they are released.

We don't have to list every book in this series (there are 11 total), but I had to list all of them because I loved all of them and couldn't choose a favorite.  Tara Janzen hasn't written other books, but if she were to do so, I'd totally head straight out to purchase them.  This series isn't the best written, and neither do any of the story lines really make much sense.  But the books were all absurdly fun to read and I ended up loving them in spite of all the chaos.

Other Favorite Authors / Series

Jill Shalvis isn't an auto-buy author, but she is an author I keep on my radar.  Her Lucky Harbor series is, thus far my favorite of all of her books, though the formulas are always the same.  The above three books are the first three books in the series, and to date, my most favorite of her books.

The Mindhunters series by Kylie Brant is one of my favorites, and the above are the three books I liked the most in the whole series.  The rest of the books are enjoyable, even if rather mediocre.

I loved every book in this series and even the novellas.  I couldn't pick just one, so we need not list all of them if we're running out of spots.  My favorites, however, were The Duchess War and The Suffragette Scandal, if we're trying to narrow things down.  The Heiress Effect came a close second, and The Countess Conspiracy brings up the rear.

These are my favorite of Jeannie Lin's books thus far (I've not read all of them yet), but I loved the non-standard characters in this series--both heroines having been sold into servitude in a brothel or as courtesan.  And then there were the mysteries embedded, and the sweet romances included, and the lovely writing.

Other Favorite Novels

And One Last Thing by Molly Harper -- Fun, humorous, breezy, with a layer of self-revelations that made me absolutely happy to read it.

P.S. I Like You by Kasie West -- This book reminded me of You've Got Mail, the Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan movie about two strangers meeting online and falling in love.  Except in this book, two students share a desk in two different hours/classes and leave each other notes.  Along with Kasie West's patent dry sarcasm and wit, this book was lots of fun.

The Search by Nora Roberts -- This was the first Nora Roberts book that I ended up liking.  I'd read others, but this was the first romantic suspense I read of hers, the first of Nora Roberts that got me liking Nora Roberts.  There were also puppers involved in this book, which made things all the more fun.  And I loved the Search and Rescue aspect of the book, even if I felt like the hero was kind of pushy.

The Moonspinners by Mary Stewart -- This was my first Mary Stewart romantic suspense, and between the descriptions of the locale, the atmosphere, and the characters, I ended up loving it!

Mr. Ridley by Delilah Marvelle -- As Whiskey had put it in her descriptions, this book is a bit off the beaten path.  The hero and heroine are rather different than what I'd been used to seeing in historical romance.  There could have been more emphasis on Jemdanee's botanical skills, and the murder mystery, but that didn't deter my enjoyment.

Seduction by Amanda Quick -- I found that Seduction is, thus far, the Amanda Quick book I've read with the most insight and depth.  There's a lot of talk about the inequalities between men and women, and our heroine is so lovely and wonderful that I love her a lot... even if I didn't absolutely love the hero.

I mistakenly titled my list yesterday 25, and I went back and edited that to 20. Even though I don't have reviews for all of the following books, I have read them. I kept the last half geared towards children's books that I grew up reading and loving. I just need to go back and post reviews one day. Sigh. My never ending list of things to do for books grows. 

1. The Color Purple by Alice Walker. My anthropology professor gave me this book to read in undergrad. It blew my mind. She also called Stephen Speilberg a coward for not showing the lesbian aspects from the book. I was all, wait what? And yeah he kind of sucks for cutting. I now want a new "The Color Purple" movie with all of this included. 

2. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. I also read this in another anthropology course that I had taken. This book hits you with everything. It’s set among the Igbo people of Nigeria and shows the effect that colonialism had on the people. I need to read the other books in this trilogy one day. 

3.  The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X. This autobiography shows readers how a boy born Malcolm Little would one day become Malcolm X and one of the leaders of the Nation of Islam who would then go off and form his own branch called Muslim Mosque, Inc. During the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S. in the 1960s Malcolm X rose to prominence in the African American community along with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Malcolm X was initially anti-white and believed that there was no way in the world for African Americans and whites to be able to co-exist. However, after a trip to Mecca he started to change his stance once he realized that many Muslims came in different colors and eventually converted to Sunni. 

4. Coffee Will Make You Black by April Sinclair. I did not grow up in the 1960s in Chicago like the main character Stevie did. However, I did grow up with a close knit family that had some of the same discussions that Stevie's family did about race. I remember hearing about the paper bag test when I was growing up. And I totally eavesdropped all of the time and heard people discussing "good hair". I can also speak to the double-edged sword of being too light or too dark in the black community. Being too light was not great since you were accused of trying to look white, and being too dark was not great since you were told you were too black. The same issue would emerge if you talked correctly since you were told you were trying to sound "white" or putting on airs.

5. Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self by Danielle Evans. This book has a collection of 8 short stories. These are the following: "Virgins," "Snakes," "Harvest," "Someone Ought to Tell Her There's Nowhere to Go," "The King of a Vast Empire," "Jellyfish," "Wherever You Go, There You Are," and "Robert E. Lee is Dead." 

If I have to pick my favorite short story I think I am going to have to go with "Robert E. Lee is Dead." "Robert E. Lee is Dead" is about a teenager named Crystal dealing with being smart and black in the south. Crystal, due to her being friends with one of the more popular girls at her school named Geena finds herself for the first time ever not looking in at what the cool kids so. Due to Geena, Crystal who becomes known as 'CeeCee' ends up straddling two worlds. Being in the honors/gifted classes as well as being popular. When an opportunity emerges for Crystal there is a temporary estrangement from Geena who Crystal starts to realize is on a different path in her life than she is. (5/5 stars).

6. Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang. A great collection of short stories, one of which was turned into a movie, Arrival. "Story of Your Life" (5 stars)-This is the story that Arrival was based on. I really enjoyed more in depth information that we got in the book. And I finally understood a few things that had me wondering from the movie. This set-up makes better sense than the movie version. Only because there's a minor issue with us seeing Amy Adams character teaching others the new alien language, though the book shows that maybe only two characters can read and understand the language. And the story leaves you with a question about divine will and what you would do if you knew you could alter something, and what if you did alter something but things stayed the same, because if something is supposed to happen, won't it still happen? This is definitely a story that will have you thinking about fate, the meaning of life, and just a ton of other thoughts meant for 3 a.m. when you can't sleep.

7. Dune by Frank Herbert. I first read Dune back in high school. I was in my junior year of high school and it was the last week of school before Summer vacation. I don't know about any other people here but the last week of school in my small town meant that we had nothing to do but watch really bad movies or just read quietly to ourselves before the next period. So during my science teacher's class I got bored and started to examine the bookshelves he had in class. He had books just jam cracked in his shelves. I remember reaching out and wondering what this book at the time was and saw the title Dune. My science teacher at the time saw me studying the book and reading the book jacket and came over and told me "That there will open your mind". I of course being 16 rolled my eyes back at him. He told me to enjoy and read it while in class that week but he was going to start packing up the books on Thursday. I remember shrugging and saying okay and I started to read...and my mind was opened.

I fell head long into a book that was pretty much like Star Wars but with even more machinations going on. Things that the movie depicted that never made sense to me were now fully explained. I understood the Bene Gesserits. Felt for young Paul Atreides and wondered at the strength of Lady Jessica and Chani. For all else I can say about this book I say that is is truly a study of a strong group of women at its core.

8. Old Man's War by John Scalzi. Have you ever just read a book that was so good that you pinch yourself a few times to make sure it's real? That was the feeling I had the entire time I was reading Old Man's War. There were some minor quibbles I had while reading the book but they were not enough for me rate this book below five stars.We begin with one of the best opening lines in a book I have read in some time.

"I did two things on my seventy-fifth birthday. I visited my wife's grave. Then I joined the army."

9. Watchmen by Alan Moore. I like to pretend the movie didn't happen. This graphic novel is a Hugo Award winning extravaganza though. So many messages it is showing and still say it has one of the best endings ever.

10. The Diaries of Adam and Eve by Mark Twain. I know that Twain is known for other works, but I honestly dislike most of his other writings except for this one. 

"Wheresoever she was, there was Eden”

 

11. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg. Seriously you guys! Two kids who go and live in a museum! I was so in love with this book and so happy when my mom brought it home for me. I spent the whole day reading and re-reading about Claudia and Jamie. 

12. Island of the Blue Dolphin by Scott O'Dell. I am still mad my mom took this book from me one day when she thought I was done with it and donated it to our church. I used to have to hide my favorite books after that because though my mom loved to read. She didn't get that you donated your most loved. This book follows Karana who lives on the Island of the Blue Dolphin alone and manages to survive.

13. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George. I remember getting this book around winter time and insisting that my brother and cousin help me build an igloo in the backyard. I wanted to be just like Julie and have wolves all around me. Of course living in Central PA there were not a lot of wolves around, but I pretended. Our igloo didn't melt until late that Spring. I remember my father thinking it was hilarious we managed to get it built. I also recall this book was the first one I had read that showed a depiction of rape. I was so confused about it and then managed to put two and two together. Such a gripping book and I wish that I had read the sequel to this one.

14. Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective by Donald J. Sobol. I was so obsessed with this series! My mom and dad ended up buying me a ton of books in this series. I couldn't help but loving the mysteries and kept guessing wrong and having to read in the back how Encyclopedia had solved things.

15. Superfudge by Judy Blume. Seriously this series cracked me up and made me feel really bad for Peter dealing with the mess from his younger brother. You should start with Tales from a Fourth Grade Nothing first though. 

16. Are You There God? It's Me Margaret by Judy Blume. Come on people, you know what scene I want to talk about right? My friends and I all did that whole bust thing and it didn't work.

17. Iggie's House by Judy Blume. Reading about how Winnie went to go out and know the new neighbors, the Garbers, who moved into her best friend's Iggie's former home. 

18. Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Clearly. I loved these books and spent many a rainy day inside reading about Ramona. I think my favorite though is Ramona and her Mother.

19. The Berenstain Bears New Baby by Stan Berenstain and Jan Berenstain. I loved these books so much and still resist the urge to buy them and bring them home to read. Also I totally read these books before mailing off to my nephew the other week :-)

20. So I grew up in the 80s and my first foray with Nancy Drew was the Nancy Drew Files Series. At one point I had all of these books. Secrets Can Kill is the first book in the series by Carolyn Keene.

Well if everyone else is going to add on, here I go. Keeping with Moonlight's extra criteria of making sure that these are books we read, here are 20 books that I think are going to be classics someday or could be already. I also picked books that I did not see on the list so far. Forgive me if they are there and I just overlooked them. 

1. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Seriously this book blew my mind. Also I will forever loathe the fact that a bunch of authors put out books with the word "girl" and tried to mimic Flynn. Stop it.

2. The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood. We get Atwood telling us about Penelope, the wife of Odysseus. You get a new perspective on these characters and how messed up the The Odyssey was when you focus on the women in the story.

3. Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat. I honestly don't know that much about Haiti as a country or a culture. Reading this book let me glimpse upon the inner workings of a family that had only women left to usher in the new generation. The character of Sophie will break your heart again and again throughout this book. Told in the first person in four parts, we follow Sophie from the age of 12 until she I think based on the timeline of the story is 20 possibly 21.

4. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. Maya Angelou was not just a poet and writer. She was an artist with words. Just the way that she write things evokes memories of a place and time I have never been to in my life.

5. For colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf by Ntozake Shange. I have to say that I loved this play. It was a bit weird to read the stage directions along with the poetry that was being said by these characters, but it was quite easy to read and follow. For colored girls is considered a choreopoem (i.e. there are monologues that also include dance and music) with seven women in different colors speaking to the audience. The seven women are the lady in red, lady in orange, lady in yellow, lady in green, lady in blue, lady in brown, and lady in purple. Some of the poems really spoke to me a lot and the play tackles so many different subjects such as rape, abortion, domestic violence. 

6. The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman. So I have to say that I found this book to be from top to bottom absolutely wonderful. Potential readers should realize going in that this is a steampunk science fiction book taking a look at John Milton's Paradise Lost, Inferno, and also C.S. Lewis's The Chronicle of Narnia series. I read both Paradise Lost and Inferno in high school.

7. Night by Elie Wiesel. 

Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed....Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.

 

8. A Wind in the Door by Madeline L'Engle. So this series is one of the books that I love reading again and again. Reading as a kid is definitely different than one reads a child. To me when I was a child, it seemed highly plausible that one could travel within one's brother and heal them. As an adult, it took a little more getting use to.

9. Joyland by Stephen King. Man when Stephen King is "on" he is "on". I loved everything about this book. I am not going to lie, you have to get past the first few chapters because things kind of drag. When the main character goes back to his time before returning to college and his experiences at Joyland (amusement park in North Carolina) the book really starts to hum at that point. I see this in King's top ten works someday and yes will go down as a horror classic. 

10. A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. I think in school I may have possibly read one of the first scenes from this play and that was it. Reading the entire play in one sitting was fantastic. Tennessee Williams doesn't just focus on the characters, he focuses on the music being played in the scenes, how the music changes based on what characters are saying, how they should look, how set pieces should look, etc. This was like getting a behind the scene notes on how a play is written. 

11. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. This book has left me thinking over certain themes for days. I think the best thing I can say about any book is that I can't stop thinking about it. "The Bluest Eye" was so hard to read in parts that I honestly was surprised when I got to the ending because even though it was hard to read, I wanted it to keep going and going. I wanted to read my happy ending damn it, and sadly there was no happy ending at all, just reality. 

12. Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery. When I first started reading the Anne of Green Gables series I was a pre-teen. I had never left my hometown at that point, and knew that Canada lay north. I imagined that Canada was just the Niagara Falls because that's all I ever saw about it on television. To read a story about an orphaned girl that comes to live with a brother and sister and slowly worms her way into the hearts of them and her neighbors living on Prince Edward Island in the 1900s. Book #3 in the series is still my favorite.

13. Dawn by Octavia Butler. This book focuses on race, consent, rape, and so many other things it can make your head spin. I know heard this is going to be turned into a tv series by Amazon.

14. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck. I cared about this family that started off so poor, but the father (Wang Lung) who keeps his faith in the land (or Good Earth) is able to become a wealthy landowner over time. This of course leaves to a rift with him and his faithful wife (O-lan). 

15. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. This is a collection of essays that Coates wrote to his son about his experiences growing up black in America and his thoughts of a lot of the police violence that surrounds being a black teen in America. And he describes how scared many black parents are when raising their children and doing what they can to ensure that they "get" how things are in this world. He segues back and forth into many pivotal points during the U.S.'s history (Civil War, Civil Rights, 9/11). This will make you uncomfortable. This will make you think. This will make you realize that in a hundred thousand different ways in America we do our best to tell everyone the American dream is for you, but than we hard pause and say it's not for you (if you are black, if you are Muslim, if you are Asian, if you are Hispanic) if you don't fit what the America true ideal is which is to be white and Christian.

16. Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. 

First Suggestion: Be a full person.
Second Suggestion: Do it together.
Third Suggestion: Teach her that the idea of "gender roles" is absolute nonsense.
Fourth Suggestion: Beware the danger of what I call Feminism Lite.
Fifth Suggestion: Teach Chizalum to read. 
Sixth Suggestion: Teach her to question language.
Seventh Suggestion: Never speak of marriage as an achievement.
Eighth Suggestion: Teach her to reject likability. 
Ninth Suggestion: Give Chizalum a sense of identity.
Tenth Suggestion: Be deliberate about how you engage with her and her appearance.
Eleventh Suggestion: Teach her to question our culture's selective use of biology as "reasons" for social norms. 
Twelfth Suggestion: Talk to her about sex, and start early.
Thirteenth Suggestion: Romance will happen, so be on board.
Fourteenth Suggestion: In teaching her about oppression, be careful not to turn the oppressed into saints.
Fifteenth Suggestion: Teach her about difference.

17. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. I read this book back in 2003. I remember buying the hardcover from a random book shop in D.C. (can't recall the name of the store) and started to read this book while on a bus heading back from the Pentagon metro stop. Within an hour I was in tears and just read it until I finished it sometime before dawn. This book grabbed me back when I was 23 and it still grabbed me more than a decade and a half later at 38. Sebold wrote this book in response to being raped and she takes all of that pain and anger and wrote something that I believe will eventually be considered a classic. That said there are some nits here and there in the book that don't work, she has the main character at one point inhabit someone's body and I don't even want to discuss it anymore cause it was weird and off-putting. The only really false step I got while reading this.

18. If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin. If Beale Street Could Talk is sublime. For those who saw the movie, not everything in the novel stays the same, there are some scenes that I assume were cut for time. I thought that the way this ended was pretty perfect though.

19. We Should All be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I loved how Adichie breaks down stereotypes between what is expected of boys and girls and then what is expected between men and women. She provides insights into what she has seen and experienced as a woman that makes no bones about being a feminist. She gets a bit into race, but does not deep dive on that. This is a very good essay if you want to just dip your toe into Adiche's writing.

20. Kristy's Great Idea by Ann M. Martin. The book that launched a series that had me reading it until I got in my mid-teens. All of my friends loved these books and we could not wait until the super adventure books came out as well. I see these books being read and re-read by a new generation when I am a little old lady sitting on my front porch.

Okay, so here's my sort of contribution to Moonlight's call for 25 essential books.  I'm a little late, but better late than never, right?  I'd love to say that I've been busy with a lot of family stuff, but that's only half true.  While we had a couple days of shopping and helping with wedding prep, to be honest, I DID also spend a few hours drowned in a mobile game that I shouldn't have started playing.  I've read only 30% of my BL-opoly book, when I could have had it done two days ago, really.

Mobile games are time-wasting pits... but I regret nothing.

But never mind all of that.  We're moving forward now and trying very hard not to keep going back to the mobile game.  I've got a book to finish, and some reviews to write and post.

And also, here's my personal essential reading list!

In truth, these are probably not all that essential on a global level, and is more a personal canon type of list.  The list itself didn't really take long to come up with, but like everyone else, I had a little trouble whittling my first draft down to a more manageable 25 books.  There were so many other books I wanted to include, but my list would probably go on forever.  Thus is life.

In addition, I went back to a previously written post that was similar to this one, a Top Ten Tuesday topic requesting your Top Ten Gateway Books or Authors--a topic that focused on books that made an impact in our reading lives.  So some of the books in this list are repeats from the other one, and I've even rewritten some of my little explanations as well.

Stealing TeaStitchRead's format, I'm dividing my list into different categories, such as the 'Childhood Years,' the 'Older Years', the 'Post-College Years', and so on.  Basically, these lists follow my reading journey from young to present day.  And while I know that we're trying not to list too many books from those mainstream "greatest books of such and such" lists, I couldn't help but add a few.

So let's move on to the list!

Childhood Years

1.  Charlotte's Web by E.B. White -- As far as I can remember, Charlotte's Web was the very first chapter book I read as a child, my first favorite book, and the first chapter book I owned.  It was pretty much the only chapter book I owned for the longest time.  This is probably the one book I've read and reread more times than I can remember.

2.  The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner -- Previously, I think I'd tell people that the Nancy Drew books were the first mystery books, and one of the first series, I'd read as a child.  But the truth is, I honestly believe that that honor goes to The Boxcar Children books.  I know I owned at least four or five of them (none in the right order, which would be blasphemy for me these days); in fact, after a bit of a search through my shelves, I still own four books in this series.  I've never finished the series, but I recall enjoying them a lot!

3.  Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder -- Laura Ingalls was a popular author with a popular book series (and television adaptation to the series), introduced to myself and my classmates when I was in elementary school.  I absolutely loved these books, devouring one book after another, and became highly obsessed with all of them.  As my best friend likes to describe, the books give you a warm, tingly feeling, with the cozy family settings, the new exploration of moving from one locale to another, and the sweetly adorable stages of young love.  Of all the books, my very favorite one was the first, Little House in the Big Woods, which I know I've read at least three or four times.

4.  The Dollhouse Murders by Betty Ren Wright -- This book was one of the first haunted house books I read as a child, and was in fact probably THE first haunted house book I read.  While I'd read other creepy, scary stories before, such as Goosebumps, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, or even some Christopher Pike, this was actually the singular ghost story that scared me enough to get me keeping lights on at night when I was a child.  Also, for a few years after reading this book, I'd say I went into my first attempts at writing my own haunted house mystery... which never came to fruition, but I was persistent for years until after high school and realized that I'd rather read books than write them.

5.  Sideways Stories From Wayside School by Louis Sachar -- This was an interestingly strange book that I had a lot of fun reading.  Nothing in this entire book made any sense, but in a way, it also made a lot of sense.  From the missing 13th floor that may or may not end up taking you to another dimension, to the teacher's cowbell, the elevator that only went up and the elevator that only went down (and were never used again after that first use), and the stinky kid who always wore a raincoat, the absurd humor made for some wonderful laughs.  I'm a little impressed that I even remember much about this book, but I suppose that's what comes of a book that leaves a lasting impression.  Also, this was a book that actually belonged to my brother, and I sort of stole it from him for a long time before he finally had to ask for it back...  =P

6.  Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein -- I read and reread the poems in this collection as a child, and carried this huge tome around wherever I went for a long time.  Do I remember any of the poems?  Not really.  But I loved them in the way that these were fun poems, simple and sweet, and I never felt like they tried too hard to be meaningful in any cryptic fashion.  I'm a person who doesn't really "get" poetry.  Silverstein is probably the one and only poet I've ever loved.

The illustrations were also super cute!

Adolescent Years

7.  Phantoms by Dean Koontz -- I first read this book in high school after having watched the movie (I was in a "Ben Affleck is so cute!" phase).  I ended up loving the book, even though I felt like the writing had much to be desired--and also, the book somehow felt much more preachy and dragged out than the movie.  This propelled me into reading more Dean Koontz books, none of which ever really lived up to how much I loved Phantoms.  After I finished reading Phantoms, I was scared of the dark hallway in our home for days, and couldn't walk down the hall without turning all the lights.  I even started imagining that I was hearing creepy sounds around the house while I was reading this book.  Not a lot of books I've read ever gave me that feeling, but then again, I don't read a lot of scary books...

8.  The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan -- I'll have to be honest and admit that I don't remember why The Hundred Secret Senses was my favorite Amy Tan book.  The truth is, Amy Tan was one of my first favorite authors, but I honestly feel like the reason was because she was one of the first diverse authors I'd ever read.  Amy Tan is a Chinese-American writer whose early books really related to me, because she meshed together Chinese-born mothers living in America, with their American-born daughters, depicting their differences and their interactions.  I loved her books because I felt like she was telling relationships similar to the relationship I had with my own mother at times.

While I will fully admit that The Joy Luck Club was probably her best and most popular, it wasn't really my favorite if only because I felt like there were too many story lines going on.  The message behind it was no different than the rest of her books, though.

I'll be the first to admit that, looking back, Amy Tan was probably such a favorite because she was different than the mainstream, mostly Caucasian authors (or dead white men) you're introduced to during school years.  Truth is, Amy Tan isn't the best writer, and sometimes tended towards boring or overly wordy.  I actually haven't read another Amy Tan book since her first four books, The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen God's Wife, The Hundred Secret Senses, and The Bonesetter's Daughter, and her memoir, which was a collection of essays, speeches, and some anecdotes of her life.

9.  Jurassic Park / The Lost World by Michael Crichton -- Michael Crichton was an author I learned about through my brothers, as well as those infamously popular, and classic, dinosaur movies that were much more exciting than the books, but made much less sense.  In fact, I even recall The Lost World being my favorite of the two books, and feeling a bit disgruntled when I realized that the movie adaptation did not do the book any justice, because it just completely missed the point of the book.  Or at least that's how it felt to me.  Crichton had a hand in writing the screenplay for the first movie, but I'm not sure if he had any input into the script for the second movie.

10.  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain -- Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not exactly a reader of classics.  There have been very few that I've actually enjoyed in my life, and during my high school years, classic literature was required reading, which in turn made classic literature into books that I had to read rather than books that I wanted to read.  Of all the classics I'd ever read, I recall Huck Finn being my favorite.

11.  Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine -- I first fell in love with fairy tale retellings through Ella Enchanted, the movie.  And so true to form, I followed by reading the book it was based off of and found that I loved it just as much.  Both the movie and the book had all the right elements of cute, romance, humor, and a spunky, strong heroine who saves herself and saves the day!  Yay!

12.  Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale -- Despite not being the first fairy tale retelling, nor even the first Shannon Hale book I read, Book of a Thousand Days ended up becoming my most favorite fairy tale retelling to date.  I've reread it twice, listened to the audio twice, and have loved the telling each time.  Dashti is one of the strongest, most level-headed, and resourceful heroines in a fairy tale retelling I've come across.  And I have no doubt that I could read this book again and again and still love it!

13.  A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks -- While I will probably never read another Nick Sparks book again, I DO remember that I really liked this one when I read it in high school.  It was a hit book, with a hit movie, it was the first book I'd ever read with a depressing love story, and one of the first books that ever made me cry.  And at the time I absolutely loved it!  These days I don't read books with sad or depressing stories.  I've sworn never to reread this book, if only because I know my tastes these days, and I don't want to lose that feeling of love I had for this book after that first experience.

I was never able to enjoy another Nick Sparks book if only because, even back then, I preferred not to read anything depressing if I could help it.  And it took a while for me to realize that Nick Sparks novels always followed a specific formula as sad love stories, with depressing endings, and dead main characters.  A Walk to Remember was probably one of few exceptions, as it was a book that had been recommended to me by friends because of how popular the movie had gotten.

14.  The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield -- This was probably my very first foray into Gothic, if we don't count my attempt at reading Dracula when I was in middle school (because I never actually finished reading Dracula back then--I have since remedied this by listening to the stellar full cast audio book and loved it).  But at the time, I didn't know that there was such a genre as Gothic.  Nonetheless, this was a twisty book with a wonderfully moody atmosphere, and so many convoluted plot twists that I somehow ended up loving it a lot.

15.  Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling -- These books are probably on a lot of people's list, and so my list is no exception.  Harry Potter came later in my reading journey than it did for most other readers.  I didn't read the books until after watching that first movie and finding it quite enjoyable; this was during high school.  One book after another, I became obsessed with the series, the world, the characters...  Harry Potter was my first fandom, and aside from anime, my first fanfiction writings, none of which I ever posted, but they exist somewhere.

Of the series, my favorite book was The Prisoner of Azkaban.

Post-College Years

16.  The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins -- It wasn't until after college that I was able to start reading as religiously as I did before college.  The Hunger Games happened to serve as a multi-functional gateway in my reading journey.  The Hunger Games is not my favorite book, and the series itself wasn't the best.  But this book started me into a love affair with Young Adult literature, a desire to read more dystopian books/series, and helped me discover book communities such as Goodreads.  I was so interested in finding more similar books that after a lot of extensive Google searching, I stumbled upon Goodreads, which allowed me to find so many more books to read.

My TBR ended up becoming immensely increased afterwards and has never really gotten under control since.

17.  Stardust by Neil Gaiman -- Stardust was the very first book I ever reviewed on a public forum, even if it was an extremely short, two paragraph review with little detail.  But it was a review nonetheless, and it got me started, and I began writing reviews randomly, which eventually lead to some serious book blogging via BookLikes, meeting other book bloggers, and then creating a personal book blog at Blogspot to call home.

18.  The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater -- The Raven Boys doesn't cover any milestones for me in my reading journey, but it was most definitely one of my most favorite Young Adult novels.  What DOES make The Raven Boys so special was that I hadn't fan-girl-ed any main hero character for a long time since I fan-girl-ed Fred Weasley in the Harry Potter series, or since I fan-girl-ed some anime characters during the years I watched anime religiously.

I totally fell in love with Gansey, and most important, I fell in love with the entire set of characters in this entire book (as well as the entire series).  I went into The Raven Boys not expecting much, after a bout of YA books that seemed to repeat ideas and plot devices, and ended up finding a special world, a magical writing, and Blue and her boys.

19.  The Distance Between Us by Kasie West -- After I started reading YA books, this was probably the first contemporary young adult romance that I loved.  I remember absolutely loving the dry sarcasm of the main character, Caymen, and enjoying The Distance Between Us as a light-hearted, warm and fuzzy young romance--nothing angsty, nothing complicated.  It was just simply a fluffy love story with a witty, sarcastic main character.  And I liked it in it's simplicity and wit.

20.  Extreme Exposure by Pamela Clare -- While this isn't my favorite of Pamela Clare's romantic suspense or contemporary romance novels, this was my first foray into the genre of romantic suspense, and probably the first ever more racy romance novel that I truly enjoyed.  I'm a hopeless romantic and I like crime thrillers and mysteries, and it seemed that romantic suspense combined these elements into a package I could love.

Extreme Exposure was heavy on the romance and the suspense and the sex scenes, and after starting this book, I found that I loved all of it, proceeding forward to read the rest of Pamela Clare's books.  Today, Pamela Clare is one of the few auto-buy authors in my personal canon, not only because her books hold a special place for me, but they are definitely well-written with a sense of heart that I love, even in spite of her tendency to drop exposition fairies everywhere and get a little to schmaltzy.

21.  The Luckiest Lady in London by Sherry Thomas -- This was my first historical romance, which is an interesting milestone for me, if only because I'd never really read a lot of historical before.  I think I'd read a historical romance when I was in high school and just couldn't get into it.  But after reading a young adult high fantasy by Sherry Thomas, I decided I'd try to give her historical romance books a go, as recommended by some other readers online, and ended up really liking The Luckiest Lady in London, even if it's not my favorite.  But it got me started and I now read historical as if I've always read them.

22.  Butterfly Swords by Jeannie Lin -- Butterfly Swords isn't the best of Jeannie Lin's books, but it certainly was the first historical romance written in a setting NOT England, that I read.  I certainly looked forward to it as a Chinese historical romance.  And upon finishing it, I found that it greatly reminded me of the wuxia story television adaptations I used to watch when I was a kid.  That feeling of nostalgia was there and made me love the book all the more, despite the rather standard romance being told.  Coupled with Jeannie Lin's beautiful writing, I decided that I would absolutely continue to read more books written by her.

23.  Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography by Neil Patrick Harris -- This was the very first audio book I listened to without first having read the print version.  And this was the first nonfiction book I'd read since college textbooks and medical journal articles.  This book was tons of fun, and NPH is one of those narrators you could absolutely listen to over and over again, just because he's an absolutely charming person.  And also, the format of his autobiography is just super unique, though I suspect it would have been much more fun in print, even if I absolutely enjoyed listening to the audio book.

24.  And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie -- This was my first Agatha Christie book.  And allow me to just reiterate my very short review on this book:  MIND.  BLOWN.  After reading this book, I started wondering why I'd never read Agatha Christie before.  I must have lived under a rock for a long time, because there's no other reason.

25.  The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling) -- In truth, the entire Cormoran Strike series is phenomenal, but when I had read the first book, The Cuckoo's Calling, I wasn't really all that impressed, even if the characters were well-written, and the story was great.  The mystery and story felt rather standard, to be honest.  But this second book in the series, The Silkworm, truly stood out in its genius, even in spite of all the grotesque happenings.