Favorite Books of All Time Pt. 1
Out of all the books I have read so far in my life, many of them will stay with me forever. Be it because of the story or how I came to love these books. It's always enjoyable to see what everyone's favorite books are so I decided to tell you about mine.
There will be more parts as I have so many favorites and I will always find new favorites. For now I'll start with the first ten.
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Genre: Fantasy
Age Range: Children and older
Page Count: 389 (Harper Collins paperback)
Rating: 4/5
When the movies were coming out I decided to finally get around to reading this book. Teen me had tried reading LOTR but I never managed to read it completely until last year. But I thought maybe since this is shorter I will have it easier reading it. I was right and this way I finally got around to reading LOTR later on.
The Hobbit as a book was adorable, magical, and a bit like a fairytale. As it is a children's book it's not surprising that it feels like a fairytale and it makes this story very enjoyable. There are a few parts that are very slow but it pays off in the end. For someone who had watched the LOTR movies beforehand and knew this world already it was an interesting new view on it. But don't ever expect to get what the movies showed you. The Hobbit movies are entertaining for the most part (I personally think the third one was the worst of them) but there are so many changes and stretched parts, it's not the same.
Artemis Fowl (series) by Eoin Colfer
Genre: Science-Fantasy
Age Range: Middle-grade to Young Adult
Page Count: -
Rating: 4.3/5 (average; Might change upon reread as this rating is older)
This series, if you don't know, starts with the story about a criminal mastermind kid called Artemis Fowl from a family of criminal masterminds. To have their family become rich again Artemis plans to abduct a fairy to extort gold from their people. Artemis as a twelve-year-old criminal mastermind was one brilliant character choice to me as a teen and even today I still love this. It makes his story and development really interesting.
I was about twelve when I got the first one as a birthday present from a friend and when I read it I got sucked into this world immediately. The great mix of Fantasy and Sci-Fi elements built on the Irish mythology versions of elfs, dwarves, and so on just worked so well for me. The characters are entertaining and interesting. It just is a lot of fun reading these books. Even though I haven't gotten around to reading the last one yet.
Can't Get There From Here by Todd Strasser/Morton Rhue
Genre: Contemporary
Age Range: Young Adult
Page Count: 222 (Ravensburger; German edition, as Morton Rhue, paperback)
Rating: 4/5
The German title of this book, "Asphalt Tribe", really captured my attention back when I was a young teen. It's the story of the lives and struggles of homeless teens in New York City. It's beautiful and sad but honest at the same time. If you have ever read a Todd Strasser/Morton Rhue book you know what I'm talking about. It's very much his thing.
Something I have to say about this is that it has quite a few trigger warnings. Substance abuse, prostitution, murder, mentioned pedophilia, abuse, and probably a few more I can't think of right now. Keep that in mind if you decide to read this book!
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
Genre: Fantasy
Age Range: Adult (can be read as an older teen)
Page Count: 288 (Goldmann; German edition, paperback)
Rating: 4/5
This story is about Louis de Pointe du Lac, a plantation owner outside New Orleans in the 18th century, becoming a vampire and telling it to a journalist in the 1970s. He was turned into a vampire by Lestat de Lioncourt with whom he has a fascinating and also quite complicated relationship which is the driving force behind the story of this book. It also plays a bit into the rest of the series but not as strongly since most other books are about Lestat.
I watched the movie before reading the book because I'm not really against doing it this way around. But it doesn't work for everyone which I understand. Story-wise they made only very small changes and left one part out but that one was extremely boring in my opinion in the book. What's really an issue for many and also for me is the character Armand who Louis meets in Paris. In the books he was changed as a teen of about 17 but in the movie he was played by Antonio Banderas who was over 30 when they filmed it. He did a fine job though. Also, the books are quite gay. Basically all of the vampires are somewhat bisexual. It's not as explicit but what you might read as "homerotic subtext" is actually not subtext. Lestat especially mentions in a later book that he has always liked men and women.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Genre: Contemporary (slightly historical fiction by now as it's set in the 90s), coming-of-age
Age Range: Young Adult
Page Count: 232 (Pocket Books, paperback)
Rating: 5/5
Charlie is a teen with mental health problems and this book explores a part of his high school life influenced by these problems, trying to have friends, and just generally fitting in. I guess most native English speakers have either read this or watched the movie already. Again I watched the movie first but since the author himself made the movie the changes made are absolutely appropriate and the story is told beautifully.
What I enjoy about this story is that it's basically just a slice-of-life story but of a time that makes Charlie struggle a lot. It tells us the story of teens in high school who all suffer from their own issues, many of which are mental health related. As someone with depression it is in parts relatable to me. Because of this though this book has a few trigger warnings. Abuse, homophobia, internalized homophobia, teens being horrible, violence, various mental health issues, mentions of rape, and probably a couple more.
Harry Potter (series) by J.K. Rowling
Genre: Fantasy
Age Range: Middle-Grade to Young Adult
Page Count: -
Rating: 4.4/5 (average; might change upon proper reread)
This is a story I definitely don't have to explain to people anymore. Harry is so ingrained into our general popculture knowledge that everyone has a slight idea what it's about. What's more interesting to me and maybe even to you is how someone came to love this series. It has its issues but these books still have a place in the hearts of many. For me, I had just learned how to read when the first book came out in German. But I think I only read it after the second one was already out as well. I found the book(s) in my grandparents' shelf and it looked interesting. The old German covers show the chessboard scene and it was a strange but fascinating thing for kid me to see chess figures that were taller than humans. It was plain magical.
So, I grew up with these books. It was one of the first series my dad, my sister, and I all three read and could talk about together and even still today my dad and I exchange stuff about this story. There is so much in these books that touched my heart, made me laugh and made me cry. Growing up together with a book character was just such a great experience.
Die Wilden Hühner (series; eng.: "The Wild Chicks") by Cornelia Funke
Genre: Contemporary
Age Range: Middle-Grade to Young Adult
Page Count: -
Rating: in need for a reread to rate them
This series talks about the adventures of a small girl gang (not meant in a criminal or otherwise negative sense whatsoever. But the German word "Bande" isn't easy to translate into a more neutral word) from a small town. One of them, Sprotte, has a grandma who owns chickens and since she loves them they name themselves after the chickens. This is a series that goes from middle-grade to young adult seamlessly as we again grow up with the characters.
We have, as mentioned, Sprotte (actually Charlotte), whose mom is a taxi driver and who regularly has to help out her mean and grumpy grandma in her garden. Then there is Frida who many people nowadays would probably call a SJW. She's Sprotte's best friend and is part of the Terre des Homme charity. She has two brothers and always has to look after the youngest one. The next girl in the group is Trude who is a bigger girl and very insecure because of that. Her parents are divorced (to be honest, I can't remember if they were already at the beginning of the series or not) and her father seems to feel bad about it so he constantly gives her presents. The last girl in the group is Melanie who uses most of her time to take care of her looks as she is quite vain. Later on a fifth girl becomes part of their gang, Wilma, who works as the spy for the group, hates boys more than Sprotte does at the beginning of the series, has a very controlling mother, and uses a water pistol.
The story talks a lot about the fight between the girls and a gang of boys but also about love later on, as well as general teen angst stuff and in one book they even have to rescue a bunch of actual chickens. There are three movies made in German. One is based on the third book, another on the fifth, and the third movie wasn't based on any of the books so I love to ignore it sometimes.
The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice
Genre: Fantasy
Age Range: Adult (can be read as an older teen)
Page Count: 560 (Ballantine Books, Mass Market Paperback)
Rating: 4/5
As mentioned before, the books after Interview with the Vampire are mostly about Lestat. This is the second book in the series written in Lestat's POV and telling us his story of becoming a vampire up until the 1980s. It's a great story about our favorite bratty vampire rockstar prince. He's an ass but we still love him. He thinks very highly of himself but it's entertaining to read about. A huge factor in the first few books is the struggle between what the vampires are and if it has a sense in the wider scheme of things, especially as Lestat grew up as a Catholic in France. So we'll have talks about the meaning of existence and if there is a god or not.
Also, Lestat is a messy bisexual. That should tell you enough about him.
QualityLand by Marc-Uwe Kling
Genre: Satire
Age Range: Adult (can be read by older teens as you need to know certain things to understand it)
Page Count: 384 (Ullstein Buchverlage, hardcover)
Rating: 5/5
Again a German book and this time it is a story said some time in the future in a country called QualityLand because everything has to have great quality and everything has to be the best. This goes as far as adjectives being used always in their superlative form. It's a satire on the development of humankind and technology, how far this could go. It's not our in English as far as I know but the author's one series ("The Kangaroo Chronicles" is the first book) has the first book out in English and I totally recommend that one.
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Genre: Fantasy, slight Horror
Age Range: Young Adult
Page Count: 312 (Harper Collins, paperback)
Rating: 4/5
A beautiful, magical story about a boy growing up in a cemetery raised by ghosts. You can really feel Neil Gaiman's idea of taking The Jungle Book and making it creepy and it's so much fun. Definitely one of those books I didn't ever thought of existing but when I read it it just felt so right. Gaiman's writing style is beautiful, simple but it pulls you on with every word. This isn't a book necessarily for children but it makes you feel a bit like a child again.
___
Disclaimer: This isn't a sponsored post. I wasn't paid or asked to promote anything.
There will be more parts as I have so many favorites and I will always find new favorites. For now I'll start with the first ten.
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Genre: Fantasy
Age Range: Children and older
Page Count: 389 (Harper Collins paperback)
Rating: 4/5
When the movies were coming out I decided to finally get around to reading this book. Teen me had tried reading LOTR but I never managed to read it completely until last year. But I thought maybe since this is shorter I will have it easier reading it. I was right and this way I finally got around to reading LOTR later on.
The Hobbit as a book was adorable, magical, and a bit like a fairytale. As it is a children's book it's not surprising that it feels like a fairytale and it makes this story very enjoyable. There are a few parts that are very slow but it pays off in the end. For someone who had watched the LOTR movies beforehand and knew this world already it was an interesting new view on it. But don't ever expect to get what the movies showed you. The Hobbit movies are entertaining for the most part (I personally think the third one was the worst of them) but there are so many changes and stretched parts, it's not the same.
Artemis Fowl (series) by Eoin Colfer
Genre: Science-Fantasy
Age Range: Middle-grade to Young Adult
Page Count: -
Rating: 4.3/5 (average; Might change upon reread as this rating is older)
This series, if you don't know, starts with the story about a criminal mastermind kid called Artemis Fowl from a family of criminal masterminds. To have their family become rich again Artemis plans to abduct a fairy to extort gold from their people. Artemis as a twelve-year-old criminal mastermind was one brilliant character choice to me as a teen and even today I still love this. It makes his story and development really interesting.
I was about twelve when I got the first one as a birthday present from a friend and when I read it I got sucked into this world immediately. The great mix of Fantasy and Sci-Fi elements built on the Irish mythology versions of elfs, dwarves, and so on just worked so well for me. The characters are entertaining and interesting. It just is a lot of fun reading these books. Even though I haven't gotten around to reading the last one yet.
Can't Get There From Here by Todd Strasser/Morton Rhue
Genre: Contemporary
Age Range: Young Adult
Page Count: 222 (Ravensburger; German edition, as Morton Rhue, paperback)
Rating: 4/5
The German title of this book, "Asphalt Tribe", really captured my attention back when I was a young teen. It's the story of the lives and struggles of homeless teens in New York City. It's beautiful and sad but honest at the same time. If you have ever read a Todd Strasser/Morton Rhue book you know what I'm talking about. It's very much his thing.
Something I have to say about this is that it has quite a few trigger warnings. Substance abuse, prostitution, murder, mentioned pedophilia, abuse, and probably a few more I can't think of right now. Keep that in mind if you decide to read this book!
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
Genre: Fantasy
Age Range: Adult (can be read as an older teen)
Page Count: 288 (Goldmann; German edition, paperback)
Rating: 4/5
This story is about Louis de Pointe du Lac, a plantation owner outside New Orleans in the 18th century, becoming a vampire and telling it to a journalist in the 1970s. He was turned into a vampire by Lestat de Lioncourt with whom he has a fascinating and also quite complicated relationship which is the driving force behind the story of this book. It also plays a bit into the rest of the series but not as strongly since most other books are about Lestat.
I watched the movie before reading the book because I'm not really against doing it this way around. But it doesn't work for everyone which I understand. Story-wise they made only very small changes and left one part out but that one was extremely boring in my opinion in the book. What's really an issue for many and also for me is the character Armand who Louis meets in Paris. In the books he was changed as a teen of about 17 but in the movie he was played by Antonio Banderas who was over 30 when they filmed it. He did a fine job though. Also, the books are quite gay. Basically all of the vampires are somewhat bisexual. It's not as explicit but what you might read as "homerotic subtext" is actually not subtext. Lestat especially mentions in a later book that he has always liked men and women.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Genre: Contemporary (slightly historical fiction by now as it's set in the 90s), coming-of-age
Age Range: Young Adult
Page Count: 232 (Pocket Books, paperback)
Rating: 5/5
Charlie is a teen with mental health problems and this book explores a part of his high school life influenced by these problems, trying to have friends, and just generally fitting in. I guess most native English speakers have either read this or watched the movie already. Again I watched the movie first but since the author himself made the movie the changes made are absolutely appropriate and the story is told beautifully.
What I enjoy about this story is that it's basically just a slice-of-life story but of a time that makes Charlie struggle a lot. It tells us the story of teens in high school who all suffer from their own issues, many of which are mental health related. As someone with depression it is in parts relatable to me. Because of this though this book has a few trigger warnings. Abuse, homophobia, internalized homophobia, teens being horrible, violence, various mental health issues, mentions of rape, and probably a couple more.
Harry Potter (series) by J.K. Rowling
Genre: Fantasy
Age Range: Middle-Grade to Young Adult
Page Count: -
Rating: 4.4/5 (average; might change upon proper reread)
This is a story I definitely don't have to explain to people anymore. Harry is so ingrained into our general popculture knowledge that everyone has a slight idea what it's about. What's more interesting to me and maybe even to you is how someone came to love this series. It has its issues but these books still have a place in the hearts of many. For me, I had just learned how to read when the first book came out in German. But I think I only read it after the second one was already out as well. I found the book(s) in my grandparents' shelf and it looked interesting. The old German covers show the chessboard scene and it was a strange but fascinating thing for kid me to see chess figures that were taller than humans. It was plain magical.
So, I grew up with these books. It was one of the first series my dad, my sister, and I all three read and could talk about together and even still today my dad and I exchange stuff about this story. There is so much in these books that touched my heart, made me laugh and made me cry. Growing up together with a book character was just such a great experience.
Die Wilden Hühner (series; eng.: "The Wild Chicks") by Cornelia Funke
Genre: Contemporary
Age Range: Middle-Grade to Young Adult
Page Count: -
Rating: in need for a reread to rate them
This series talks about the adventures of a small girl gang (not meant in a criminal or otherwise negative sense whatsoever. But the German word "Bande" isn't easy to translate into a more neutral word) from a small town. One of them, Sprotte, has a grandma who owns chickens and since she loves them they name themselves after the chickens. This is a series that goes from middle-grade to young adult seamlessly as we again grow up with the characters.
We have, as mentioned, Sprotte (actually Charlotte), whose mom is a taxi driver and who regularly has to help out her mean and grumpy grandma in her garden. Then there is Frida who many people nowadays would probably call a SJW. She's Sprotte's best friend and is part of the Terre des Homme charity. She has two brothers and always has to look after the youngest one. The next girl in the group is Trude who is a bigger girl and very insecure because of that. Her parents are divorced (to be honest, I can't remember if they were already at the beginning of the series or not) and her father seems to feel bad about it so he constantly gives her presents. The last girl in the group is Melanie who uses most of her time to take care of her looks as she is quite vain. Later on a fifth girl becomes part of their gang, Wilma, who works as the spy for the group, hates boys more than Sprotte does at the beginning of the series, has a very controlling mother, and uses a water pistol.
The story talks a lot about the fight between the girls and a gang of boys but also about love later on, as well as general teen angst stuff and in one book they even have to rescue a bunch of actual chickens. There are three movies made in German. One is based on the third book, another on the fifth, and the third movie wasn't based on any of the books so I love to ignore it sometimes.
The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice
Genre: Fantasy
Age Range: Adult (can be read as an older teen)
Page Count: 560 (Ballantine Books, Mass Market Paperback)
Rating: 4/5
As mentioned before, the books after Interview with the Vampire are mostly about Lestat. This is the second book in the series written in Lestat's POV and telling us his story of becoming a vampire up until the 1980s. It's a great story about our favorite bratty vampire rockstar prince. He's an ass but we still love him. He thinks very highly of himself but it's entertaining to read about. A huge factor in the first few books is the struggle between what the vampires are and if it has a sense in the wider scheme of things, especially as Lestat grew up as a Catholic in France. So we'll have talks about the meaning of existence and if there is a god or not.
Also, Lestat is a messy bisexual. That should tell you enough about him.
QualityLand by Marc-Uwe Kling
Genre: Satire
Age Range: Adult (can be read by older teens as you need to know certain things to understand it)
Page Count: 384 (Ullstein Buchverlage, hardcover)
Rating: 5/5
Again a German book and this time it is a story said some time in the future in a country called QualityLand because everything has to have great quality and everything has to be the best. This goes as far as adjectives being used always in their superlative form. It's a satire on the development of humankind and technology, how far this could go. It's not our in English as far as I know but the author's one series ("The Kangaroo Chronicles" is the first book) has the first book out in English and I totally recommend that one.
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Genre: Fantasy, slight Horror
Age Range: Young Adult
Page Count: 312 (Harper Collins, paperback)
Rating: 4/5
A beautiful, magical story about a boy growing up in a cemetery raised by ghosts. You can really feel Neil Gaiman's idea of taking The Jungle Book and making it creepy and it's so much fun. Definitely one of those books I didn't ever thought of existing but when I read it it just felt so right. Gaiman's writing style is beautiful, simple but it pulls you on with every word. This isn't a book necessarily for children but it makes you feel a bit like a child again.
___
Disclaimer: This isn't a sponsored post. I wasn't paid or asked to promote anything.
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