I was going through my blog this morning and realized that I had never shared my favourite books. I've shared books I have read but nothing more. I'm appalled at myself to say the least. So without further ado, let me share to you my favourite books of all time and space and so on and so forth.
Note: These are not going to be in any particular order, they're all awesome.
1. Avalon: Web of Magic by Rachel Roberts
We're going to start with the one I always bring up to people. My poor friends hear me rant about it a lot and I'm so sorrynotsorry about that. Hehe.
Avalon Web of Magic is a children's series that originally came out in 2001. It's a twelve book series along with a companion three-part graphic novel. It's about three teenage girls who become friends through trying to save magical creatures from a poison that is scouring their home world: Aldenmoor. It's all about activism and protecting the planet while teaching great lessons about friendship while also being practically the best magical-girl book series to ever be written. I have cried more than once over this series and am so in love with it is almost sad.
Confession: I have a fan letter that I have written for the author, but sadly she is completely disconnected from any social media and there is no email on the website for Avalon. So it remains on my computer, waiting for the day that I might be able to send it. It's quite sad, really.
When it was first released, the books looked like this:
Somehow, eleven year old Kenra was attracted to that chaotic cover and risked checking it out at the library. Only ten of the twelve books were published in the old covers before they stopped it. In 2007 a new publishing company adopted the series and released the entire series with brand new covers and in-book illustrations. Did I also mention that I am so obsessed I am now collecting the old covers and any other merchandise I can find? Seriously guys, I'm not kidding when I say that I am
obsessed.
2. The Unicorn Chronicles by Bruce Coville
I love unicorns.
No, seriously. I
loooooooove unicorns. I was taken out of the womb thinking about unicorns, or so I like to think.
And if you looooooove unicorns, then you'll loooooove these books. Actually, you'll probably love Bruce Coville because he is the master and commander of all books about unicorns. This man is a mad genius and he is the second author that I want to meet. (I have three authors on my list in total).
My sister introduced this series to me when I was probably eight or nine, I can't remember. Back then, they had different covers too. Wanna see?
This four-part series is about a young girl named Cara who gets sent to the world of Unicorns - called Luster - by her grandmother after a mysterious man starts pursuing her. She discovers that her grandmother is deeply connected to Luster which means that Cara is now a part of it too. She goes on a grand adventure with her unicorn friend Lightfoot and her beast-friend the Dimblethum and the small cat-monkey creature Squijim (He's my personal favourite).
The first book,
Into the Land of the Unicorns was originally written in 1994 and followed by
Song of the Wanderer in 1999. THEN, the third book was not released until 2008. THAT'S NINE YEARS PEOPLE! I had to wait until I was in junior high to finish the stupid series. Bruce Coville actually has a written apology in both the third and fourth book about how long it took for him to finish the series. At least the ending was worth it, because it is soooo good. Like I said, Bruce Coville is a mad genius.
Here's a funny story about this series. The fourth book,
The Last Hunt was only released in hardback and then publications stopped. Which means that there are now only a limited amount of books for the fourth and final book. I did not know that and so I'd watch and wait for the paperback to come out, occasionally checking on Amazon to see if anything new had popped up. I finally forgot and gave up for a good chunk of time and when I remembered and looked again I was shocked to see the the final book was now over $100 on any place you went to buy it. Sometimes I found it for even $200. For about two years I dug through book stores, thrift stores and scoured every book-selling website to try and find my book. TWO YEARS PEOPLE. I even emailed Bruce Coville to see if he had any hopeful advice, turns out he's just as sad as me about the whole ordeal. I curse you Scholastic for doing this to my mad-genius author.
One fateful day, after a trip with friends to Salt Lake (specifically Barnes and Noble and Build-a-Bear...we know our priorities) I decided to check once again to see if any books were available and my heart jumped and then proceeded to plummet and beat out of control when I found a used copy for the all time low price of $20 FREAKIN' DOLLARS. I almost bought it right then and there on the train back home to Ogden. I resisted and waited until I got home to proceed to scream at my mom that I finally found one. My mom remained calm throughout the entire screamfest until she finally told me to just go and buy it (after I checked my banking account to make sure I was financially stable...which was literally the last thing on my mind). When it arrived in the mail, I was pulling out to go to work, so I grabbed it from the mail man and took it with me to work. I ripped it open in front of my two managers (both very manly men, by the way) and they proceeded to tease me the rest of the day about my 'unicorn' book. I did not care one inkling though.
3. Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck
This four-part series was suggested to me by a friend of mine, and I am so so glad she did because it is now my heart and soul. This series is about Kelsey who gets a job at a circus tending the animals. A white tiger is at the circus and Kelsey becomes close friends with it. One day a strange Indian man (let me clarify; Indian meaning from India) shows up and offers Kelsey a job helping to transport the Tiger - named Ren - from the circus to India. Kelsey takes the job not knowing that Ren is a 300 year old prince cursed to remain in the form of a tiger. It's a die-hard romance and I ate up these books so freaking fast.
Colleen Houck is the third and final author that I hope to meet someday. She originally wrote this as an ebook, but it became so popular that Splinter Publishing published the series in physical copies. Colleen went from trying to self-publish to being incredibly popular, how inspiring is that? Plus, this series is set in India, a country that has a special place in my heart.
I have never resonated more deeply to any character than Kelsey in any other book series. She makes movie references (I'm convinced that she's a Trekkie) throughout the entire series and has a strong sense of willpower. It made the series all the more special to me to have a character that I could relate to on such a deep level.
Supposedly, Colleen Houck is writing a fifth book as a special surprise (even though the series has concluded), but its very top secret and there are no news as to when it will be released. I am
so excited about it. There are also rumors of a movie, but who knows when or even if it will happen.
4. The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
J.R.R. Tolkien would be included as my fourth dream author to meet, but due to being born in a different era than him, that won't be possible in this life. Plus, from the research I've done on Tolkien, I get the feeling he wouldn't like me very much. Which is really understandable when you think of how differently our generations were raised.
I don't think its necessary to explain this series to you, but I will anyway. This six-part (seven including the hobbit) is about how small people save the world!!! That's about it in a nutshell.
In all seriousness, this series is a masterpiece. Tolkien built the most incredible world and created such beautiful languages. Tolkien studied and taught Philology: the study of language in historical texts, which was how he was able to create such intricately beautiful languages like Sindarin, Khuzdul and Rohirric (which is really only denting the surface of Middle Earth's languages.) Many of these unique speeches are loosely based off of languages from our own times. Finnish, Irish, Swedish, they are all inspiration for some of the languages we hear in Middle Earth.
This series is about war and peace, mercy or cruelty, hope or despair, light and dark, good and evil. It is the most epic fantasy series of its time and even beyond. I'd go so far as to say its still the most epic series of
our time. Elves, dwarves, orcs, hobbits, Mumakil, Valar, Maiar and Eru Ilivuatar are just a small amount of the creatures and entities in this series. Tolkien built a history about this world that is so in-depth, so detailed and refined that there is no other world like it. This series is the reason why I
want to still believe in magic. This series is the reason why I want to write and study and work hard even though I know I will never get to be as good as Tolkien. This series is the reason why we have six amazing films that allow us to
see the wonders of Middle Earth. This series is the reason why I have a crush on rugged men, to be honest. I mean Aragorn is and always will be my imaginary boyfriend, as is Samwise Gamgee. I'd take either one.
Someday I'll strike up the courage to read
The Silmarillion. Its the equivalent of our Bible, it's heavy stuff and a lot of information that flies over your head, but it has some great stuff in it too, like the history of Galadriel (another favourite of mine) and we get more into the Valar and the Maiar and Melkor the biggest baddest villain of all Arda (even badder than Sauron, who was his servant...gives you an idea of how bad this baddy was).
5. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
I read this after seeing the Ghibli film of this. My mom had told me that it was a
weird book. Instantly I knew that I had to read this book. It's about a unassuming lady name Sophie who is suddenly cursed by the evil Witch of the Waste to take on the form of an old lady. Sophie decides to leave home and hobbles away and takes on the job of being the cleaning lady to the mysterious Wizard Howl and his magical moving castle. Sophie begins to uncover the mysteries behind Howl and the magic tied to him and a fire demon named Calcifer.
There is a dash of everything in this book. Humor, romance, adventure, magic, and mystery. It's such a great book and the film is completely different from the film, yet it doesn't bother me because they are both still really really good. This book isn't very long and can be read by itself even though there are two more books featuring Sophie and Howl. Its simple but hilarious and endearing. I love it so much.
I would include books like Percy Jackson and Harry Potter but there is nothing I could say that hasn't already been said, but just know that those two series are equally precious to my heart.
Runner Ups:
Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
Gallagher Girls by Ally Carter
Dragonlance by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
...and so many more that I won't mention.
If you have any suggestions for books that I should read, put that suggestion in the comments below because I will always read new books.
