5. The Hunger Games
trilogy by Suzanne Collins
I started this series with a degree
of skepticism, since I didn't believe it could be as good as my friends hyped
it up to be. Though I was pleasantly proven wrong, I was slightly let down by
the end of the trilogy. Despite these opinions, however, the fact remains that
I simply could not put the books down. By three days I had devoured them. The
distorted world Collins created is engrossing, a character in its own right.
And Collins succeeded in capturing the horrors of war, successfully conveying
that where there's violence and lust for power, there can never be a simple,
happy ending.
4. The Pillars of the
Earth by Ken Follett
This historical work of fiction set
in the 12th century is the only book by thriller-writer Follett that
I have read, and it convinced me to someday read the rest of his books. Pillars contains wonderful, multifaceted
characters I hated to love and loved to hate, with a thick plot that is full of
surprises. Pillars is one of those books that you are grateful for being
long. As you speed through the pages, you watch with dread as the number of unread
pages grows smaller and smaller, like sand in the top of an hourglass.
3. The First Man in
Rome by Colleen McCullough
This immense thousand-pager is a
historical fiction novel taking place in the Late Republic of Ancient Rome. It
is an account of the Marian Reform of the Roman army, and Gaius Marius's
conquering of Numidia and the German barbarians. The subject sounds as dry as a
textbook but it is written in beautiful prose, and McCullough breathes life
into the immortal historical figures of Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla.
The scale and detail with which McCullough captures the enigma of Rome is truly
fascinating and unprecedented.
2. Game of Thrones
Series (1-4) by George R. R. Martin
This fantasy series is rife with
adventures typical of its genre—magic, dragons, epic battles, and strange lands
and peoples in a fantastic world. But the series has also been praised for excelling
in what the genre is generally considered to lack—morally-ambiguous plots
driven by complex characters, as well as a compelling power struggle for the
throne. Martin has been called “the
American Tolkien” because every aspect of his series is massive in scope. From the
detailed family trees to the various cultures and religions of his world; from
the complexities of his characters to the rich symbolism of his writing, there
is something for everyone to enjoy in these books (except perhaps readers under
thirteen because of some gore and adult content).
1. The Wave by
Susan Casey
Casey writes this work of
non-fiction with inimitable passion, deep immersion into her subject, and flawless
reporting. The Wave is all about
giant waves of the ocean—their power and size, the mechanics behind them, the
destruction they've caused throughout history, how climate change may affect
their frequency, and, of course, big-wave surfers—the people who face these
behemoths and live to tell the tale. Once I began the book I couldn't put it
down, and soon I became unable to stop myself from spewing facts to my family
and friends--"Did you know the East Coast is geologically long overdue for
a tsunami? Did you know the biggest wave ever ridden is estimated to be nearly
100 feet tall?" Casey writes with a witty tongue-in-cheek style, yet the
reverence she feels for these gigantic walls of water, along with the people
who ride them, is obvious. I highly recommend this book for anyone remotely
interested in the powers contained in our oceans.
