Books have always been a part of my life. From mandatory school readings, to mandatory parental readings, to willingly looking through Indigo stores, getting sucked into a book is one of my favourite experiences.
I'm ranking them based on my enjoyment the first time I've read them, and subsequent re-reads.
How well they hold up, stuff like like.
So, here are my top 10 favourite books!
10. The Adventures of TinTin (Herge)
Okay, this and the next one I’m kind of cheating.
The Adventures of TinTin are a series of comic books focusing on the adventures of courageous Belgian reporter TinTin, taking him to Africa, China, the mob-ridden streets of Chicago, to the jungles of South America, and even the Moon! I love the various cultures and places you visit.
I first got it at Christmas from my cousin Matt, when I was 11, but I wasn’t really interested. Soon though, I was hooked, and looked forward to each time my Mom brought one home from Indigo near her job. Took several years, but I’ve got the whole collection.
Surprisingly, the books are inspired by real world history, just taking fictional characters and countries. It’s the perfect balance for adults and children.
His adventures are varied, from fighting gangs, detective solving mysteries, searching for treasures, going into war torn countries, to fighting smuggling operations.
My personal favourite are: TinTin and the Crab with the Golden Claw; the perfect adventure, drug smugglers, and the first book I got. TinTin and The Black Island; Dealing with counterfeiters in England/Scotland, great action and mystery. TinTin in Tibet; Very different from other works, as it’s TinTin searching for a friend lost in a plane crash in the Himalayas. No bad guys, anything illegal. It’s very simple, but works so well. You feel like you’re with him daring the treacherous mountains. TinTin and the Seven Crystal Balls/Prisoners of the Sun; A two-parter, dealing with archaeologists mysteriously falling into a coma after discovering and excavating Incan ruins. Then one of TinTin’s friends is kidnapped, leading them to the second book. In South America, TinTin travels through the Andes mountains, jungle, rain forests, and discovering a hidden Inca civilisation. All while battling enemies, the elements, the terrain, and dangerous creatures/animals. A cliff hanger I couldn’t wait to continue.
The Adventures of TinTin are very accessible today and hold up, despite being written through the 1930s and up to the 60s. The quality is pretty consistent, so give these short comics a read
9. Calvin and Hobbes (Bill Watterson)
Alright, after this, the rest are truly just one book, on its own.
After a classmate gave a public speech on Calvin and Hobbes in Grade 4, I was intrigued, and after I got my first collection, I was hooked. Following 6-year old Calvin and his imaginary tiger Hobbes (only Calvin can see is “real” and “talks”), it’s hilarious. It speaks to the kid in you. From using your imagination, whether you’re visiting Mars, dealing with evil snowmen, flying on a magic carpet, to being your own superhero. It just transports me back to my childhood. The antics he finds himself in, the battles against school, his fear and hatred of his babysitter Rosalyn, and dealing with monsters in his room at night. These comics perfectly capture what being a kid is like.
It's hard to pick which book collection is my favourite, cause they all follow the newspaper comic strip format, but ones that follow a longer story (such as going on camping trips with his parents, escaping school, or running away from home) there’s no end in laughs. Each new strip brings different scenarios you wish you could go back in time as a kid and recreate. Boy, Calvin sure puts his parents through a lot.
But the sense of wonder, imagination, exploration, being a kid with all the time in the world. Makes you reminisce. I loved reading these with my friends. We’d alternate between reading a strip to each other, and eventually we’d memorise them and they became quotable.
Just grab a book and start reading, you’ll feel wonderful after.
8. American War (Omar El Akkad)
I was going through Chapters one day, picked up the book, read the back of it to get the premise, and was instantly intrigued.
American War deals with a fictional second American Civil War, in the 2070s to the 2090s. This time over the banning of fossil fuels. It follows a young girl, Sarat Chestnut, and her refugee family, as they’re caught in the crossfire between the two sides.
At first I was hoping for a military, action war epic. It’s not that. There’s instances of it, but it’s mainly focusing on the social, economic, and political side. By following one girl and her family, the world feels grounded, and humanized. It’s more realistic, and haunting; with pollution and rising sea levels – Atlanta being a port city – and China being the remaining superpower, followed by the emergence of North Africa and the Middle East coming together, forming an empire.
I almost put the book down and gave up, but soon a major event happened, and I was sucked into it. I binged read it after, and left me thinking of the world of today and the potential future.
The novel does a great job highlighting the wrongs on each side, from collaborators and traitors, to liars and cheats, and the world feels more fleshed out and realised because of it.
I’d love another book set in this world, maybe from a different perspective, and angle. But if you love epic dramas, with tackling a hypothetical question with world changing consequences.
7. The City of Ember (Jeanne DuPrau)
My teacher read this book to us in Grade 6, and I looked forward to each time she read it. It’s not for my age group, but it’s not childlike, very accessible and enjoyable, even if you’re older than the age suggestion.
Taking place in the mysterious underground city of Ember, there is no sun. Only massive lightbulbs, protecting the endless darkness surrounding the residents. And resources and running low, and the generators powering the lights are becoming unstable.
Following two teenagers, Lina and Doon, you follow their adventures through the city, and their attempts at dealing with the crisis. They soon come together and try to figure out how to solve the crisis and save their city. The revelation at the end was amazing, discover it for yourself.
Part mystery, adventure, suspense, and drama, The City of Ember presents a unique take on the post-apocalyptic genre, and though it’s meant for young teenagers/older kids, the writing and presentation are very mature.
Now I can pretty much get through the book in a matter of days, but I enjoy it every time. The description and setting of the city means it fully comes alive in your mind, and you feel like you’re walking those dirty streets, wondering when the lights will go out and darkness remain.
Not as high on my list because of the age group now I’m older, but still a simple, but deep novel to get into.
6. Misery (Stephen King)
I’m not a big fan of Stephen King, but the few books of his I own, I absolutely love. He is the King of Horror, the Master of Suspense.
Misery is one of his best works.
Novelist Paul Sheldon, after surviving a car crash, is held hostage by his rescuer, his “number one fan” Annie Wilkes, at her secluded farmhouse in the Colorado Rockies.
Basically it’s just these two characters, and staying in one location adds to the isolation, and claustrophobia.
Annie forces Paul to write a new novel that brings her favourite character pack to life. The premise and setting is simple and grounded, but a great ride to go on, one that’s easy to create a picture in your head. Annie slowly gets crazier and more violent towards Paul, and as he gets better, he tries thinking of new ways to escape, or handle Annie.
As the days turn to weeks, then months, the tension and suspense continue to rise. When it first starts off with him bed ridden, you feel trapped, and even as he gains access to a wheelchair, Annie is still determined to keep Paul at her place, without anyone knowing. You’re kept on your toes, always thinking if Paul is going to escape.
The tension that builds up, and ultimately bursts in the climax is so satisfying.
This is one of King’s most accessible books, and not crazy long. It gets rid down to things, and keeps you there, and with a great, well-paced ending – something I feel he struggles with in many of his books – I definitely recommend this for a suspense, psychological thriller.
5. Parasite (Darcy Coates)
This is basically John Carpenters The Thing.
In futuristic space, an alien parasite is discovered and it quickly overruns outposts and settlements.
It absorbs human skin, perfectly mimicking the person, so it’s very difficult to tell who’s human and who’s infected. They take different forms, either as just a human, just their black mass, or combining the two. Picturing it is really gross and you just stand frozen in terror at the sight of that form.
It has 5 sections, with each having a different perspective. The first two are pretty quick, and show how contact with the organism began, how it starts spreading, being a suspense horror. The third chapter looks into the parasites’ strengths and weakness, how it behaves. It quickly turns into a bloodbath in this chapter, and the main characters perspective shows how that weakness is exploited.
The fourth section is my personal favourite. A small group of people are trapped on their outpost, and must not only battles the creatures stalking them, but the decay of the station. It’s a long section, that is just nerve raking, tension filled. Suspenseful throughout, you feel trapped there on that station with those characters, the feeling of hopelessness surrounding you as fighting these creatures is very difficult. You dread walking and turning every corner, entering every room, because you don’t know when or where the creatures will attack.
The final section deals with humanity slowly figuring out how to determine who’s human and not. It follows the efforts of a group of ordinary citizens volunteering for a suicide mission that can help turn the tide. It’s also a long section, and is more action packed, but still horror filled, as you imagine how everything went down on the now destroyed colony.
Having different sections was smart, showing how the infection spreads, with each section feeling different on its own, and the build up to each is different, and how it’s told means you’re never relaxed reading this.
A great sci-fi horror that keeps you alert at all times.
4. Cell (Stephen King)
Boy, suspense horror books seem to be my favourite. I guess imagining the horror is easier to handle then seeing it on the screen.
Stephen King delivers another scary apocalyptic book, set in modern times. A pulse, sent through cellphones, turns anyone using one at the time – and there are plenty of them – into mindless, aggressive zombie-like creatures.
It pretty much starts off with a bang, and doesn’t let go. The pacing of the book is very good, knowing when to ease up a bit on the tension brake, and when to go full suspense and terror.
The “phoners” as they’re known, are the best part of the book. They evolve. From just mindlessly attacking themselves and other non-infected people, they start to get stronger. They can telepathically communicate with the characters, even while they’re dreaming, their psychic powers forcing them against their will to do whatever they want.
You feel the world slowly end, that these phoners are becoming the dominant species, and there’s nothing they can do. You feel like you have no privacy, especially in your mind. Your thoughts aren’t just yours; you can’t hide anywhere. Seeing the evolution of the phoners was scary, because there’s nothing scarier than an evolving enemy. It’s their world, we just live in it.
The characters, while not being very deep, are serviceable for the story. Seeing the journey they go on was an experience I love reliving with each read through.
King, in this story, warns us of the dangers of cellphones and our reliance on it. Makes you think what would happen if they became deadly, and we couldn’t use them anymore?
3. Halo: The Fall of Reach (Eric Nylund)
Halo is my favourite game series. The game alludes to a massive battle that took place just before the first game, setting the stage for the trilogy.
This book explains and shows just that.
It starts with the journey of the Spartan program, and the main character of the series, John-117, known as the Master Chief. Going into the training and augmentation of the Spartans into super soldiers was riveting. It added so much to the world of the games, making it deeper and enjoyable.
You see a more human side of the Master Chief, and the origins side of the book is very mature and sophisticated for a video game book.
Once you get into the war and action side of the book, the battle with the alien alliance of the Covenant, you’re in for a ride.
The climax battle for the planet of Reach, is my favourite climax of any book. The language and writing make it so descriptive, and I clearly paint a picture of a massive space battle. It’s tense and nerve raking, time is running out for the Spartans, the tide of battle quickly turning.
It ends on a sombre note, as the battle is lost, and only the Master Chief remains. He escapes onto a ship and does a blind jump into space, leading directly into the events of the first game. This book is never boring, and the world building and setting are only enhanced in ways the games probably couldn’t do at the time.
A must own for any Halo fan.
2. World War Z (Max Brooks)
The movie is nothing like the book. I read this back in 2012, and I was enthralled by it. This is the best zombie apocalypse book ever.
It was so good, I retold it to my friend at school, either on lunch, or during breaks.
It does a very unique form of storytelling. You follow a U.N. reporter/historian, interviewing people who survived World War Z, the ten year struggle against the zombie menace.
It’s done in an interview style, but chronological that it doesn’t jump around the timeline much, so you’re not confused. This grounded the book and setting, and most importantly, it actually takes place around the world.
It doesn’t just follow a city, or country. You hear from people in the States, Canada, Africa, China, Germany, France, South America, it is worldwide. You hear from the doctor who loomed into patient zero, to how the disease spread, the tipping point, how humanity was on the edge of extinction, and the methods of fighting back and reclaiming Earth.
World War Z does follow a few people multiple times, but overall it’s an anthology of stories. It expands on the world by the type of people interviewed. From political and military leaders, to simple soldiers, to ordinary citizens, they tell and show you what the world was like during this dark time. Sometime it’s more action packed, or more of an epic war style, while other are more horror and disaster. Seeing how people handled and survived through the zombie apocalypse, and how the breakdown of society, it feels eerily plausible.
The book also looks into the social, political, religious, economic, cultural, and environmental changes that have occurred as a result of the war. How different countries handled the crisis, how they changed, either for better or worse. How damaging humans are to each other, more so than the real zombie threat. How the world as a whole changed. Giving this worldwide view is the single greatest reason this book is incredible.
I would love a video game, or television show that followed this books storytelling structure and style.
1. To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
In Grade 8, my marks were bad. So my parents took away my video games and made me read books. One of them I got for Christmas was To Kill a Mockingbird. I had to read a chapter every day and re-tell it to my parents.
But quickly I was reading two, three chapters a day. I couldn’t help myself.
I’m sure you’ve all read this book and know why I couldn’t stop reading it. The drama, coming of age, and loss of innocence with Scout, Jem, and Dill during the depression in the American South cements this book as one of the greatest of all time.
Yes, the use of the ‘N’ word is uncomfortable, but that’s the point. To highlight the racism still prevalent in today’s society.
Though the book is still lighthearted, following the children during their summer days in a small town, with not much to do, the book wisely balances between smart and serious, and playful and innocent.
The journey these kids go through, in bite sized stories, all circle back to the books main theme and message.
The climax of the book, the courtroom battle with Atticus Finch defending Tom Robinson, was amazing. And it’s all because the book is told from the perspective of Scout, a child’s perspective. It’s not using difficult language, but this perspective makes it sadder as the story of the book continues.
I’ve lost track as to how many times I’ve read this book. It’s still as beautiful and breathtaking to read. In Grade 9, I asked my teacher if I could read this book for our semesters project. She said no, and during parent teacher interview, explained we’d be reading it the following year. She was happy I wanted to read it, but sad to deny me it temporarily. Grade. 10 came, and I had the same teacher! So once it was time to read the book, I simply brought my own to school and read through it in a matter of days. Classmates came to me asking for help on assignments surrounding the book, and it felt great acing every quiz, test, and the essay assignment.
And the movie, starring Gregory Peck, is just as good, highly recommend it.
There’s lots of controversy surrounding the usage of this book in school, but you either keep this book because it’s still relevant, or find another one that’s even better at conveying its message.
In conclusion, this book reinvigorated my love of reading, after a few years of never opening a book unless I had to. I get so excited going through Chapters and getting new books for Christmas, what new journeys I’ll go on.
And there's my list. What are some of your favourite books? Comment down below!
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