Top 5 Thursday #3

Story of my life.

So…I love reading.

I know, this revelation is utterly SHOCKING. “LB,” you say, “You can’t possibly love reading as much as you say you do.”

Lies.

I eat, breathe and sleep books. I devour books like there is no tomorrow. I’ve been known to spend hours, sometimes days, just reading. My personal record as of now is 9 books in a single week.

Without waxing poetic on how the combination of 26 letters sets my heart atwitter, here are…

LB’s Top 5 Books

(Of All Time)

1 The Harry Potter Series

 But, "LB," you say, "That's not a single book; that's a series!" Why, yes indeed, it is a series, but it's in my top 5 because JK Rowling. I basically grew up with this series. The first book appeared while I was in sixth grade, which started my 13-year love affair with JK Rowling.

I mean, c'mon, they're filled with magic; witches and wizards; ghosts; spells and whimsical shenanigans. I don't care if these books are meant for children, they're delightful.

Also, the more you read them, the more you realize JK Rowling clearly thought about things in advance. Elements that appear in the sixth and seventh books have origins in the very first books, which is just fantastic planning.

JK Rowling for all the awards!

2) The Outlander Series

I know what you're thinking. Another series?

 

Yes, because I can.

 

My mother begged me to read this series for years. And she tried to sell it HARD. "LB, it's about a time-traveling nurse, Scotland, a hot Scottish guy and lots of sexytimes." Despite that hard sell, I avoided these books for a while. Partly because each book is at least 900 pages and partly because I didn't want to give my mother the satisfaction of finally taking her advice.

Well, I gave her the satisfaction and I devoured the seven book series in two months. Now I'm impatiently waiting for the eight book to be released.

3) False Memory

I own every Dean Koontz I can get my hands on. My love of him is (again) my mother's fault. "Here, read this book it's good!" she says as she thrusts a copy of "Intensity" in my face. Ten years and 65 books later it's basically a full blown obsession.

But "False Memory" is not only in my top 5 books of all time, but my top 5 Dean Koontz books. 

The main character finds herself paralyzed by crippling fear and finds herself thrust into a plot that is the very definition of psychological thriller. Without spoiling it, it's twists and turns are similar to "Fight Club"; you realize subtle clues leading to the big twist the more you re-read it. 

4) Insomnia

 Yes, Stephen King.

My grandmother owned almost every Stephen King book published and when she died, her collection got passed on to her daughter-in-law...my mother. I feel maybe she's due some credit for my superior reading taste.

Hm...

Anyway, this is one of the few books I'll re-read every now and then because it's so stupendously awesome. It's about an old man, recently suffering insomnia after the loss of his wife. Things then begin to get strange and King-ish when the old man starts seeing other people's auras...and the tiny bald men cutting the strings floating from their heads.

YES.

Go read it.

5) The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer

So...I'm a nerd and when I'm at Barnes and Nobles (which is really, really, really frequently), I often make a stop into the Science and Medicine section just to take a glance at what nerdy science books they have to offer. This is how I ended up buying "The Woman with a Worm in Her Head" and "The Disappearing Spoon"; both of which I enjoyed immensely. 

But this book ranks highly above both of them.

It's exactly what is proclaims in the title: the biography of the worst disease to plague humanity. It gives an understanding of how cancer develops and what science is doing to better understand how and why. It's extremely insightful and I'm half tempted to read it again simply because of all the facts within it's pages.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some books to read.