Oh wow, best books I've ever read.. wow. The Harry Potter series, for one, although I'll only count that as one, since it's really just seven parts of one big story. JKR really makes you feel like you're a part of the magic world. The imagery is so good, I had no problems visualizing even before the movies came out, and, the fifth book where we got 800 pages of CAPSLOCK HARRY notwithstanding, she made Harry a hero worth rooting for - you really felt for him, really rooted for him, because you knew that this was a good kid who deserved for good things to happen for him.
I also enjoyed the first three books of the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy books. Again, counting as one, since that series is really five parts of one big story. The books are hysterical, and like the Potter books, the imagery is fantastic and you have no problems visualizing what's going on as you read. Douglas Adams, in my opinion, lost his momentum about halfway through the third book, and that's why the fourth and fifth books in this series aren't on here, they just aren't nearly as enjoyable as the first two.
One last best book.. I'm going to have to go with To Kill A Mockingbird. It was required reading in 10th grade, but it's really stuck with me all this time. To see the South through the eyes of a child who was raised by a wonderful man who had his head on right, well, it was interesting. Atticus Finch is one of my favorite literary characters of all time, because he represents everything I wish all people were - he's compassionate, he's nonjudgmental, believes in fair justice - what's not to like?
Now onto worst books. I know I'm going to get skewered for this, but I just can NOT get into The Lord Of The Rings trilogy. I have tried so, SO many times to read these books - my most successful venture came in.. I don't know, junior or senior year, I managed to get all the way through Fellowship and halfway through the Two Towers, but these books simply cannot hold my interest. It's not the length of the books that's the problem, good Lord, I made it through the Potter series, and the Twilight series for that matter, and I'm not even entirely convinced it's the content, since lots of people love these books - not to mention, I loved the movies. It's not even Tolkien that's the problem, I read The Hobbit and loved it. Maybe it's just me.
Another book I didn't like was The Grapes Of Wrath, which was required reading in 11th grade that I tried, SO HARD to like, but that book, again, did not hold my interest worth a damn. I barely passed the unit on it, because due to my lack of interest in the book, I was subsequently disinterested in the projects and tests over it.
Finally, I severely disliked Mirror Mirror by Gregory Maguire. I read it because Gregory Maguire wrote Wicked, which I loved, so I decided to read his subsequent books. This was a mistake. I finished it, because I have this thing about finishing books I start (except in the LotR trilogy, apparently, since I've tried so many times), but I remember always looking for a reason, any reason, to get up and do something else. Apparently holding my interest is my big thing in reading, since both of my previous disliked books failed to hold my interest, and so did this one. It lacked the charm and appeal of Wicked, which was a disappointment to me since Maguire wrote Wicked so well, I assumed his other books would be good, too. Guess that's what I get for assuming.
You'll notice that Twilight was neither on my best list, nor my worst list. That's because the Twilight series is far from the best series I've ever read, but it's also far from the worst. The books held my interest, and although it was apparent that Stephenie Meyer was having a love affair with her thesaurus through the entire series, and Lord did she love her purple prose, I still found the books enjoyable. I wanted to reach through the pages and bitchslap Bella more than just a few times through the course of Eclipse, and Edward through the entire series, for that matter, but I knew what I was getting into when I opened these books, I knew I wasn't gonna be getting THE BEST BOOKS EVAR ZOMG~~~. However, these books had many, many flaws (Edward, for one, I severely disliked his treatment of Bella, particularly in the third book - and Bella being okay with him being so controlling of her "because he loves me omg!" - that was ridiculous. Also, Emily being okay with being disfigured because Sam fursploded too close to her was way too close to "I'm sorry I made you hit me baby!" for my liking.) These are not books I'm going to let Alexis read until I've had the "this is a healthy relationship, this is not" talk with her and I'm certain she understands the difference, and understands that the Edward/Bella romance is a pretty good example of an unhealthy relationship. But they entertained me, and, Eclipse notwithstanding, didn't make me want to bash my own face in, and they held my interest, so that is why they are not on either list.
Crossposting this to Facebook, sorry if you see this twice.
2 white horses | try and catch me now





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