My Favorite Books Over the Years.
For those of you who have not already assumed, I am a voracious reader. I have been this way for decades. For me, there is nothing quite as rewarding as burying myself in a good book. With the advent of the Amazon Kindle e-reader, it has been easier than ever for me to get my requisite fix.
My all-time favorite book series is, of course, Harry Potter. When I was a child, my parents would read these novels aloud to my younger sister and I before bed. Eventually, I started to peruse them myself, and even made sure to pre-order the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, before it was even released. Roughly a year ago, I re-read these novels as an adult, and got more out of them than I had ever expected or anticipated. I loved the experience so much that I decided to replace my aging and tattered hardcover Potter books with a brand-new boxed set. I even went online and ordered a plastic replica of Harry’s wand, with my initials emblazoned onto it.
Lately I have been enjoying the Inspector Gamache books by Louise Penny. These are clever and intellectual detective novels. A short while ago, I finished reading book 4 of 20. In this latest work, a woman is murdered when an unknown assailant forces a giant statue to fall on her. Louise is a very prolific, gifted, and imaginative novelist, in my humble opinion.
Of course, this blog would not be complete without me talking about both Dan Brown and Orson Scott Card. Whenever I discover an author whose works I enjoy, I try to collect and read every work by them. I first discovered Mr. Brown in middle school, when his famous Da Vinci Code was released. I then proceeded to read everything else by him. When I was in high school, one of my very best friends gave me a copy of Mr. Card’s well-known classic Ender’s Game. Needless to say, as of today, I have read basically every book written by Orson.
I first discovered John Grisham when my parents, who are both lawyers, recommended his captivating legal thriller The Firm. I enjoyed this book so much that I eventually went on to see the film adaptation starring Tom Cruise.
In addition to all these books, when I was in high school at Foothill Tech in Ventura, we read many classical and intellectual novels—too many, in fact, to be presented here on this blog post.
The books I have mentioned today are only a tiny fraction of all the novels that I have read during my thirty-three years of life. Each time I find a new author that I like, excitement courses me like electricity through a Tesla coil.
The ultimate conclusion that I have reached during this time is that reading the works of others will always serve to make one an even better writer.