Top Ten Amazing Books You Have to Read

And I own that, proudly.

Really, it’s genetic. My grandfather loved reading. My mom and my aunts love reading. My sister and I love reading. And, I can very proudly say, my nephew loves reading (Seriously, I spoil this kid by randomly sending him books…and he likes it).

I rarely got into any trouble in middle or high school (I may have been a bit of a teacher’s pet), but I do remember getting in trouble because I would hide books under my desk to read during class (Jane Austen is way more interesting than calculus…just saying). 

My mom likes to complain (or brag, I’m not really sure) that when she would ground me to my room for misbehaving (read: talking back), she’d totally forget about me. Because it wasn’t much of a punishment. I’d grab a book, curl up on my bed, and disappear for hours.

Needless to say, I love books. It’s my favorite past-time. Some people watch television in their free time, some play sports, some play musical instruments, some play video games…I read. It’s my thing. Reading lets me escape and travel to a different place or a different time. I get to see the world through someone else’s eyes for a little while. 

So, today, I’m breaking down my top ten must-read books.

Now let me explain something. This list is not going to be full of any esoteric, spiritual, political, or high-brow tomes. The books on this list are ones that I enjoyed simply for the sake of enjoyment. Some made me laugh, some made me cry, some made me think…but none of them made me re-think my entire life’s choices. If those are the kinds of books you’re expecting…well you don’t know me very well.

10. The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory(available at Barnes & Nobles)

            History, scandal, romance, intrigue, drama…this books got it all. They don’t call Philippa Gregory the queen of historical fiction for nothing. To date she’s written over 20 novels and her Plantagenet and Tudor novels are probably her best known works. The series starts with The Lady of the Two Rivers, a fictional novel based during the time of King Henry VI, and continues through England’s royal history to The Other Queen, based on the story of Mary Queen of Scots.

            The Other Boleyn Girl was the first novel in the series I read and, even after reading most of the others, it’s still my favorite. The novel centers around the court of King Henry VIII, a king famed for his six wives. It’s told through the point-of-view of Mary Boleyn, the younger sister of Henry’s second wife, Anne, who was remembered in history for being accused of high treason and beheaded.

            Gregory incorporated a ton of research into this novel, detailing the rich history of Queen Anne’s rise and fall in the English Court. She also tied in rumors and speculation that were never substantiated, but made for a seriously entertaining read.

9. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch and Jeffrey Zaslow (available at Amazon)

            This book is probably as close to esoteric as this list gets. It does at times make the reader question the meaning of life…but, truly, it’s just a great story.

            Randy Pausch was a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University (among other things). In 2006, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. A year later, his prognosis was terminal. He delivered his final lecture on September 18, 2007, a lecture he titled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”. 

            This book is based on that “Last Lecture”. 

            One of the most touching things I found about this book was Pausch’s motivation for delivering this lecture. It gave him a chance to impart his wisdom and the lessons he’d learned in life on other’s while he still had time. But it wasn’t just for the 400 students and colleagues that attended, or the thousands who watched it stream online. This lecture, and the book he wrote after, left behind a legacy for his children.

            In the book, Pausch shares stories from his childhood and adult life. And let me tell you, this guy led an interesting life (seriously, this guy’s childhood dream was to be a Walt Disney Imagineer…and he did it). His stories are amazing and so are the lessons he left behind.

            “The Last Lecture” is just one of those books you can’t be disappointed in.

8. The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town by John Grisham (available at Barnes & Noble)

            John Grisham has long been revered for his legal thrillers. But this isn’t a legal thriller…at least not a fictional one.

            The Innocent Man, Grisham’s only nonfiction work to date, is the true crime story about Ron Williamson, a man who was convicted of rape and murder in Ada, Oklahoma in 1988. He spent 11 years on death row…for crimes he didn’t commit. 

Grisham invites readers into Williamson’s life, his failure to achieve his dreams of becoming a professional baseball player and the subsequent shortcomings that caused him to be considered a person of interest in the rape and murder of a local cocktail waitress. His account of the shoddy investigation, flimsy witness statements, and forced confessions make for a truly astounding (and, honestly, worrisome) look into the legal system of a small town in the 80’s.

I couldn’t put this book down. Grisham is a master of thrillers, fiction or nonfiction.

7. Angels & Demons by Dan Brown (available at Amazon)

            This book definitely has a place in the mainstream…but that doesn’t mean it isn’t awesome. In fact, it’s proof that it is.

            If you live under rock and haven’t heard of Angels & Demons, let me give you a little background. 

            Angels & Demons is the first in a series of books Brown wrote centered around the fictional character Robert Langdon. Langdon, a professor of symbology at Harvard University, receives an early morning phone call summoning him to a scientific research institute after a physicist, Leonardo Vetra, is murdered and branded with a strange symbol. Langdon’s search to discover why Vetra was murdered leads him on a scavenger hunt around Rome where he has to solve riddles and decipher codes.

            Brown weaves an incredible tale based on historical accounts and some really interesting conspiracies. Part of the reason I loved this book was trying to solve the clues right alongside the protagonist (Side note: I didn’t solve any of the clues before they were revealed in this book…but I did in Brown’s follow up novel, The Da Vinci Code). He created a really great character to lead the charge throughout this series. Langdon is quirky enough to be charming and humble enough to not be annoying.

            I found this novel seriously entertaining and I learned a few things they didn’t teach me in high school history (Plus, who doesn’t love a good conspiracy theory?)

6. Tuesday’s with Morrie by Mitch Albom (available at Amazon)

            So this book may fall a little towards that esoteric spectrum, but it’s become such a classic that I think it really goes beyond that.

            Sit back and think for a moment…who in your life had a profound effect on you? Who taught you life lessons that you carry with you everyday?

            For me, it was my grandfather. For Mitch Albom, it was his college professor, Morrie Schwartz.

            After college, Albom went on to become a renowned sports writer and lost track of his favorite professor. In the last months of Morrie’s life, he got a second chance to reconnect with the older man. With Morrie’s health failing and knowing that his time with the man who had already taught him so much coming to an end, Albom rekindled their college tradition and met with him in his study every Tuesday. These meetings turned into a final class for Albom: lessons on how to live.

            My introduction to this book came at the end of my junior year in high school when Mr. Bertner, my English teacher, gifted every member our class with a copy inscribed with a note. The premise of the book is wonderful and the lessons we can all learn from Morrie are a true gift. The true gift in this book for me, however, is in the memories it brings about the lessons I learned from the smartest man I ever knew.

5. Bitter is the New Black by Jen Lancaster (available at Amazon)

            I’ve heard that others have described this book and others written by Lancaster as “chick-lit” or a “guilty pleasure”. Not for me. This book was joyfully entertaining, but it also brought me inspiration.

            In the post-9/11 recession, Lancaster and her husband both lose their jobs and go from living the high-life in their penthouse loft to being evicted from an apartment in the ghetto. She finds herself struggling to make ends meet, wading through the process of unemployment security, selling her car to pay their rent, and applying to every job she can find only to be shot down. Through the downward spiral her life takes, she starts to question her past decisions and realize that, maybe, she had it coming.

            I loved Lancaster’s writing style. She’s pithy, funny, and has no problem calling herself out for the snobby attitude and elitist outlook that led to her downfall. Reading her books feels like sitting down with a friend and a few glasses of wine for a good gossip-sesh. But she also inspired.

            When I first read this book, I was a broke-a$$ college student working a full-time job that I hated to support myself through school. I struggled to buy groceries and pay rent at the same time. I wish I could say that all changed after I got that expensive piece of paper they call a diploma, but it didn’t. Finding a job after college, especially a job I actually wanted, proved to be a lot more difficult than my professors made it seem. I came so close to giving up on my dreams and resigning myself to a career I didn’t want. But I had learned something from Lancaster. It doesn’t matter how bad things get or how low you fall, it’s never to let to start again.

4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (available at Barnes & Noble)

            Jane Eyre was my gateway drug to classic literature. It was one of the books on my school’s summer reading list the summer before my sophomore year. When we came back to school that year and started discussing the books we’d had to read, most of my classmates trashed this book and complained about how it was boring and hard to read. I remember thinking, “Did we read the same book???” 

            An orphan with no family and a begrudging benefactress, Jane Eyre finds herself a student at a charity institute where she eventually becomes a teacher. But her life is lonely and unsatisfying, leading her to apply for a position as a governess. She finds herself falling in love with her mysterious employer, Mr. Rochester, who is tortured by his own secrets. When a happy-ending for Jane seems close at hand, Rochester’s secrets come to light to rip it away.

            I absolutely loved this book. Brontë created a truly human character with faults and failings, a character that was far from perfect, and relatable even hundreds of years later. She entwined mystery into Jane’s tale, keeping the reader engaged. And, best of all, she gave Jane’s story an ending that was more realistic and less fairytale. Reading this book led me to search out similar volumes and fall in love with classics.

3. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling(available at Amazon)

            Yes, I did just go an 18^th-century classic to the wizarding world of Harry Potter. But, seriously, how awesome is this series?

            I’m not going to go into a detailed synopsis of Harry’s adventures because, for real, it’s Harry Potter. If you haven’t at least heard of this series than you must live under a rock in the middle of Antarctica, completely cut off from society…in which case I doubt you would be reading this anyway. 

            I was 11 the first time I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. We were driving back from a family vacation, I was bored, and my older sister had just finished it. Y’all, I devoured the book for the next six hours. It captivated me. I couldn’t wait to read The Chamber of Secrets (but, because I’m the younger sibling, I had to wait for my sister to finish it first). I anxiously awaited every new release (and yes, I preordered them all).         

            I’ve toyed around with fictional writing myself and it ain’t easy. The fact that J.K. Rowling dreamed up this amazing world and translated it to paper…I’m in awe of her creative genius. And her forethought writing…bow down to the queen. Seriously, if you read this series, finished book 7, and never touched them again, do yourself a favor and re-read the series. There are so many little clues she hides in the earlier books regarding events in the later books. Truly, the woman is a master.

2. A Dog’s Purpose by Bruce W. Cameron (available at Target)

            This is one of those books that sits at the top of my list not only because it’s well written and the plot draws you in, but because it was one of those books that came into my life when I needed it. My sister loaned me her copy to read a few days after I lost my sweet fur baby, Ava. It gave me so much hope to think that her story wasn’t done, that her time with me had been just one life of many, and she would go on to help others who needed her.

            A Dog’s Purpose is the journey of one dog, who is reincarnated through multiple lives and learns the purpose of its own existence through the love and companionship he brings to the humans he meets. It’s happy, it’s sad, it’s heartwarming. One of the greatest things about this book is the story behind how Cameron created it. Do yourself a favor, and read the authors note (all I’ll say is I wasn’t the first fur mama to find comfort in this story).

            Cameron even went on to write a sequel, A Dog’s Journey, where the pup’s journey continues until his purpose in life is truly and finally fulfilled. The second book is just as incredible as the first.

            So if you’re a fur mama or fur daddy, or just love animals, then you need to read this book.

1. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen (available at Barnes & Noble)

            I love, love, love, love, love this book. Absolutely, hands down, my all-time favorite novel. I own a hardback copy and a digital copy on my Kindle app. If I tried to sit down and count the number of times I’ve re-read this book, well, it would take a while. I’m not much for romance novels y’all (no Nicholas Sparks for me, thanks), but something about the timeless love story of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy just makes my cynical heart flutter.

            The story circles around the Bennet family of Longbourn estate, a family with five daughters and little to recommend those daughters to eligible marriages. Into their society enters the wealthy Mr. Bingley and his wealthier friend Mr. Darcy. While Mr. Bingley’s kind nature and obvious admiration of Elizabeth’s older sister endears him to the family, Mr. Darcy’s scornful pride offends them and Elizabeth vows to dislike him. It would seem, however, that Mr. Darcy can’t help but to be intrigued by the spirited Elizabeth.

            Sigh…it’s such an amazing novel. Jane Austen penned many wonderful books in her time, but this one will always have a special place of honor on my bookshelf. Read it…you won’t regret it.