A few times recently, I have placed a book I have read “Into my top ten” after reviewing them.  I’ve been thinking that over, trying to figure out just what those top ten are.

To be completely honest, until just recently I have not been an avid reader.  It is not that I didn’t enjoy reading… I just didn’t have time.  When I was younger I used to always read before I went to bed, but in later years that just seemed to dwindle away.  Yes, I did still read, but it would take months for me to finish a book.

Now that I am reading again, I am discovering great new writers to challenge my older classics, although my top spots are still pretty firm.

So the books in my list are a mix of things I read when I was in high school and college, and those I’ve read in the last year.  My top ten list of novels I’ve ever read:

10. Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison – This is “so not my style”, but this book resonated with me.  This is a case of being forced to read something for a college course, and having it haunt you for a long time.

9. The P.U.R.E, Claire Gillian – I don’t think it was so much the story in this one.  Mysteries, as a rule, bore me, but the writing was so dern awesome I was drawn in.  I have notes typed all over my copy.  Really good.

8. Eragon, Christopher Paolini – Okay, don’t laugh.  I really enjoyed this book for the sheer fun of storytelling.  I read it before I started beta-reading and dissecting novels, and I’m glad I did, because I’m sure I would look at it differently if I read it today.  Despite a talking dragon, which I usually gag over, this was a great light-hearted read for me.

7. Dragons Lance Series – I can’t pick out just one.  I always bought them in boxes sets.  I ate these for lunch daily.  It’s probably not good that I can’t remember what any of them were about, but I would finish a book, and scramble for another.  I always got a kick out of the character with no fear and no common sense that always got into trouble.  Great fun.

6. The Glass Man, Jocelyn Adams – Yeah, I have two at #6.  I kept switching these back and forth for different reasons, so I’m giving them both the #6 slot.  Great action – and one of the best villians I’ve read in a long time.  I’d love to see a novel just about him.

6. Crux, Julie Reece – See my recent review.  The only thing better than a good action movie is a good action book with characters you can relate to.

4. Dragon Riders of Pern, Mercedes Lackey – What’s better than dragons?  Dragons on other planets!  What an awesome concept.

3. The Great Hunt, Robert Jordan – The second in the Wheel of Time series, and the first RJ book I ever read.  I was immediately hooked on his style.

2. Mists of Avalon – I had to read this in college, and I couldn’t put it down.  I’m a King Arthur junkie, but this was the first time (for me) to see the story from the women’s perspective. It blew me away.

1. Vertical Run by Joseph R. Garber – This is a book that would have been a great Bruce Willis movie in the Die Hard Era.  This guy goes to work one day and his boss tries to kill him.  So he runs downstairs and the mailman tries to kill him, and then his neighbor and on and on.  He ends up trapped in a building, running from people.  The fun comes in the form of him being a former special agent of some kind, so he knows how to take all these people out.  Unfortunately, some of these hunters are people he cares about.  A huge thrill ride, despite one stupid element in the final action scene.  I’ve never read anything this intense, and I LOVED it.

So what’s the greatest novel you’ve ever read?

Related articles

• Christopher Paolini Talks with Peter Orullian Parts 1-3 (writingtipsforbetterwriting.wordpress.com)
• Toni Morrison talks to Google about creativity (mercurynews.com)
• Stand-out Author: Mercedes Lackey (sonderbooks.com)
• Bookworm – February 2013 (readwatchgeek.wordpress.com)
• Dragons Were Meant to be Cool. (fusteratedreader.wordpress.com)