I love to read!

Ever since I can remember, I've always loved to read. I used to read ALL the time, and would always win awards at school for reading the most books when we'd have a read-a-thon. But I'm also a pretty simple gal. I'm not into super deep or hard to understand books. I'm not much of a 'classics' lover. I always loved Shakespeare's stories, yet I couldn't understand them at all without someone interpreting what the hell was going on. So I don't claim to be a book 'snob' or a literary giant or super intelligent and well read. I just love to read. And here are some of my favorite books and series of all time. In no particular order...

The Hunger Games Trilogy Suzanne Collins

Now when this first came out, I had no idea. I was a fan of a different young adult series, and people kept comparing the two (which I still don't understand since they're NOTHING alike) but I kept hearing about it, and honestly the synopsis turned me off. I don't normally like post-apocalyptic settings or futuristic worlds.

But curiosity got the better of me, so I finally bought the books and read them. I was pretty instantly hooked because the main character, Katniss, was someone I could relate to, even if her life is incredibly different than mine. But her personality where she's a little awkward and not super outgoing and just kind of likes to hang with her friend and chill out. But of course her world is pretty awful, and they have the Hunger Games where every kid from 13-17 (or maybe 18?) is put into a reaping bowl and two names are chosen to fight other kids to the death. What the hell? What kind of 'game' is this?

But Katniss isn't super worried about being picked, she's more worried for her little sister. Cue, the sister being chosen, of course. And a fun thing that you can do, that pretty much never happens, is someone else can volunteer to take your place. So this is what Katniss does. To save her sister, she volunteers. And well of course LOTS of crazy shit happens. It's a love story, it's a battle, it's about friendship, and politics and deception and lies and family, etc. I won't give it away, and even if the movies are fairly good, the books are better. Give them a shot if you're interested. I didn't expect to like them, but I did.

The Harry Potter Series JK Rowling

This was a book series that I LONG rebelled against. Now, I loved magic and I loved fantasy stories, but I just thought this sounded really stupid. Plus the characters at the start were eleven years old. In my head, that was too young to be interesting to me, so I wouldn't read this or watch the movies. But I have to admit, by the time the Deathly Hallows came out at the movies, the trailer looked SO cool. I started to think perhaps I was being too hard on this series. And everyone was all grown up now.

So one day, I decided to go the library and check out all seven books. And some of these books are like 800 pages long, but I was confident I could read them all in the allotted library time. I read the first book, cover to cover, in about 3 hours. Then moved on to the next. And kept going. I was absolutely hooked, and I didn't care they were children at the start. They were still funny and exciting and engaging. Plus there were some great adult characters, and good mysteries. I was HOOKED. Obsessed, hooked. I immediately had to watch all eight movies after reading the books. And now my life revolves around his obsession.

But Harry Potter is one of those series that just sticks with you. The characters are likable and relatable, even set inside an imaginary universe. There are life lessons to be learned here, and even if I was an adult, the coming of age story of these kids, really made me feel like I was living my youth all over again. And where I had metaphorical monsters to battle, they had real ones. And it was so easy to get lost in their world. I highly, highly recommend these books if you're not scared of HUGE volumes. Each book gets longer and longer. But it's SO worth it. And no, the movies aren't as good. Not bad, but you miss a TON of stuff if you never read the books. I will always love this series, I'm just sad I was so stubborn and didn't discover it until a few years ago.

The Twilight Saga Stephenie Meyer

Okay, okay, make fun of me all you want. I really liked the Twilight novels! And this was a series I was hooked on right from the get go, because I was coming off my utter obsession with Buffy and vampires and werewolves, etc. So this was right up my alley. And I had a reading partner that I was reading the books with, and we'd spend all day reading, then talk about it all night long. Trust me, that makes it even more fun.

But on the surface, this is a pretty basic and somewhat predictable and hokey teen romance. I won't proclaim it amazing writing, nor a masterpiece. But it was fun. I liked it. I didn't agree on what Stephenie Meyer's idea of vampire was, but what can you do? I just went with it. And honestly, I was Team Jacob. I wasn't a huge Edward fan. Mostly because I'm not a big fan of the controlling, stalkery undead boyfriend, which was something Angel did to Buffy and I hated it then too. But that didn't deter my enjoyment of Twilight (or Buffy). I just like romance and supernatural stuff. And this series delivered. I will admit, it veered off into a territory I disliked in the last book, but as a whole, this is a guilty pleasure. But I won't recommend it , unless you seriously like vampire love stories a lot. Which I do. But this is my "I'm embarrassed to admit I like it..." book series, but there you go. I liked it. The movies however, are really bad, due to Kristen Stewart sucking a lot.

The Fever Series Karen Marie Moning

Woo-hoo, my first ADULT book series! Yes, I do sometimes venture out of the kids section at the library. This series was recommend to me by a friend, and oh my, THIS is some intricate and unbelievably fun writing! This is fantasy, featuring faeries and is set in Ireland. But these fairies are not always cute and friendly. There are many types and breeds and this story can be incredibly dark. The premise begins when the main character's sister is murdered in Dublin and her sister travels there to try and unravel the mystery of who killed her. It takes very, very sharp turns into a dark underworld, and she meets an impossible, yet incredibly desirable man name Jericho Barrons. Is he what he seems, or much, much more? Is he good or bad?

You really just have to read this series to find out. I will warn you, these are ADULT books, so don't expect Twilight love scenes where it says, "They kissed deeply and fell on the bed..." Then cue the next morning with feathers everywhere and no explanation. This is graphic. But it's porn with an amazing plot. I hesitate to even mention the whole Fifty Shades thing (since that's not on my list) but the sex here is just as graphic, and sometimes pretty intense. It's just these books are SO freaking good and have an actual story, no one gushes over the porn like in Fifty Shades, because those books had no other interesting parts.

But the Fever Series will leave you breathless and continuously turning the pages. I was so desperate for the last book, I ran to Barnes and Noble the day it came out and snatched that puppy up because the cliffhanger of the book before it, was unbearable. So even if you find my other selections juvenile, you'll love these, if you like the fantasy genre.

The Mists of Avalon Marion Zimmer Bradley

This is an incredibly big book, like 800 pages or so, but it's SO worth the read. It is a part of a series, yet the series is a bit disjointed and each book can be read as a stand alone. And this particular book was the first one I read, and by far, the best. It's set in medieval times, and features King Arthur and Merlin and all that. But this book is primarily about the women of the era and their lives. The wars and the men and the knights are secondary in this book.

It's also fantasy, deals heavily with old magic, and pagan religion. I worried that it would be a difficult read, since I'm a simpleton and sometimes period pieces are too hard for me to read. But this was surprisingly easy and well done and not at all difficult.

I was transported back in time and I thoroughly became invested in the characters and what happened to them. There is a movie (made for TV mini series, I believe) and that was good too, but doesn't even begin to give justice to the book. Give this a go if you're into old stories and magical things.

Those are my top picks, but oh my, I've read SO much more. Unfortunately a lot of books aren't that engaging or good. I may at some point do a list of books I DON'T recommend, so you won't waste your time.