I have read many very good books over the years and many mediocre and many more that I can't even recall the main character or city or even a basic plot a week later. I read like a binger eats. It rarely matters what it is, as long as my eyes are full. My hands are in constant stages of aches from being held in claw formation for hours each week, holding books and my ereader. When I am in the tub reading, I sometimes carefully check that my hand is dry so I can highlight an unfamiliar word on a page to get the definition. I only read bound books in the bath because I have a fear of dropping my tablet, So I am just poking the paper like a dingbat.
I have a short list of books I think everyone should read, but really even after 40 years (yes, I was born reading) there is only one series I wish I could forget just so I could read it all over again for the first time. The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud. So let's get that out there first.
In no real order, other series: Harry Potter, Golden Compass (though I will admit The Subtle Knife took two read throughs), Ransom Riggs books about Peculiar Children, a variety of police procedural and forensics books, though those tend to depend on the readers taste and there's a series for everyone. From knitting women who solve murders with their cats to cops with addictions and a penchant for violence yet who pull it out one more time and celebrate the conviction binge drinking in dirty apartments looking at photos of the kids they see far too infrequently. I'll say my favorite series are set in Scandinavia.
Justin Cronin has done an AMAZING job with his Passage series. I have the final book. but can't seem to crack it open because I don't want to be done with it all just yet.
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel is fabulous. I don't like end-of-the-world books, but this is so much more and does the one thing none of the other books I have read in the genre does-it leaves the reader hopeful.
I don't normally like lawyery books, but John Grisham has a handful I really enjoyed. Gray Mountain, Sycamore Row (set after A Time to Kill), Ford County: Stories, A Painted House.
There are more books I have loved and I will share them along the way. Since I do read do much, I plan to work some reviews into this space.
