My Top 10 Favorite Books (or Book Series)
I want to start by saying that these books aren’t listed in order of preference. It was hard enough to decide upon just 10 books (or book series) to include here. It would have been impossible to truly rank them. These are books that stayed with me in some way after I read them. I may have read them several times over the years, or maybe something about the story/ characters/ themes has influenced my own writing. Regardless, these books are special to me. This does, however, mean that books I’ve read more recently won’t be included. After all, I don’t know yet if the books I read in 2025 will stay with me for very long.
Also, I don’t intend to say much in particular regarding the plots of each book, as I don’t want to spoil the stories. Maybe one day I’ll analyze these books in greater detail.
1) The Percy Jackson and the Olympian series by Rick Riordan
Every year, my elementary school recommended specific books to students, presenting them prominently in the library and giving us information on them. The Lightning Thief was one such book. It seemed interesting, and since I was trying to obtain as many accelerated reader points as possible, I decided to check it out. I greatly enjoyed reading it. The chapter titles made me laugh as a kid, and the characters and story kept me interested. It also sparked my interest in Greek mythology. When the other books were released, I read them as soon as I could. I’m not sure there’s a particular book I enjoy more than the others in the series, so I can’t pick just one book to represent all five. Recently, with the second season of the live action series, I’ve started re-reading the series. It’s still enjoyable.
2) The Warriors series by Erin Hunter
When I first learned about this series, I was excited. I loved cats, so it seemed only natural that I should read a series about cats. I was not, however, prepared for how much I would love the story or how emotional it would make me. This is especially true for the first six books. Some of the deaths haunted me. The characters and story have been very memorable, and details of this series found their way into some of my middle school and high school writing. Again, I’m not sure there’s a particular book in the series that I think stands stronger than the others.
3) The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
I had to read this for school, and since I prefer fantasy stories, I wasn’t expecting much. For some reason, though, I really enjoyed the story. Very specific details stayed with me, and the book has some memorable lines. It’s hard to say much more because, again, I’m not sure what it is that kept me so interested given my typical book preferences. I recently read this book again, and I’m glad I did.
4) The Gregor the Overlander series by Suzanne Collins
I started reading this in elementary school and loved it, though the giant cockroaches made me uncomfortable. It certainly wasn’t a fantasy world I wanted to personally visit. It was an interesting one, though, and it did influence my middle school and high school writing to some extent. Our teacher read us the second book in class, and I still remember how my class responded when we reached one of the cliffhangers. I was intrigued by its portrayal of prophecies, especially given some of the details in the last book. It’s hard to say which of the books was best, though the first, third, and last have stayed with me longer. When I first read the series, though, I was disappointed by the ending. I’m content with it now.
5) The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins
I started reading this series because some of my friends were reading it. It’s not written in my favorite style, but once I adapted, I greatly enjoyed it. I enjoyed this trilogy more as I got older, too, since I was able to more thoroughly analyze details of the characters and story. I think when I finish reading Sunrise on the Reaping, I’ll go back and re-read these books. It’s been a while, and when I re-watched the movies recently, it reminded me of all the book details that hadn’t been included.
6) A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
My mother read the first Wrinkle in Time book to me when I was a child. As such, this is a special series to me. I can’t remember what it was like to read it for the first time. It feels like I’ve just always known the story. It’s such a wild and interesting story, too. I’ve read the other books in the series, but (aside from the last one, which I read most recently) the details of those stories are a little hazier. I’d like to try re-reading them again soon.
7) The Midnight Fox by Betsy Byars
When I was in middle school, I visited the library often during the summer. Unfortunately, it didn’t take me too long to read most of the fantasy books at my grade level, so I decided to give some other books a chance. Much to my surprise, I really liked the books by Betsy Byars, and I especially loved The Midnight Fox. It’s almost impossible to say why exactly the story stuck with me so much, but this, too, influenced my middle school and high school writing. I added a fox with black fur to one of my stories, and her name included Midnight. It also led me to be more interested in foxes when before I was primarily interested in cats.
8) The Giver by Lois Lowry
This book was recommended to me by a family member, so I gave it a read. I enjoyed it more than I expected. The dystopia presented was really interesting to me, and I was fascinated by the way the book utilized its medium to hide an important detail about the world building until the big reveal partway through. It felt unique, and there are some particular scenes that have recently stuck with me. I later read the other books in the series (except the last, which I have yet to finish), and though they are enjoyable, they just don’t feel the same.
9) A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin
I read this book in middle school and loved it immediately. The writing itself was beautiful, and I greatly enjoyed the plot. As mentioned, I love fantasy, and books like this are why. The imaginative setting and magic system kept me interested, as did the way they were entwined with the story. I haven’t read all the Earthsea related books yet, just this one and The Tombs of Atuan, but the others are absolutely on my list.
10) Holes by Louis Sachar
Once again, I enjoyed this book more than I had expected. It was a book we had to read in middle school, but I loved the way the different storylines were woven together. The storylines were all interesting, too. Sometimes, when there are different storylines within a book, one or two are just not nearly as strong and it makes getting through them (and thus the book itself) more difficult.