My Top 5 Books and Book Series Recommendations

Books, books, books! The one thing I can never get enough of. One thing that always bothers me after finishing a book is finding a new one to read. It's a common problem so to help you find a new book to read, here's a list of my favorite books and book series.

1. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

"The world is not a wish granting factory."

Inspiring, this book follows the story of Hazel Grace, a 16-year-old who suffers thyroid cancer that spread through her lungs making it difficult for her to breathe. As a recommendation from her doctor and request from her mother, she attends a cancer patient support group where she meets 17-year-old Augustus Waters whose lost his leg to osteosarcoma. The two eventually become friends. After sharing interests, Hazel tells him about her love for An Imperial Affliction, her favorite book, which ends with a cliffhanger. To find out how the story ends, they take a trip to Amsterdam to meet Peter Van Houten. That's all I can say because if I say more, I'd be spoiling the tear-jerking ending. If you've watched the film, I recommend you read the book because the experience of watching it is different from the experience of reading it.

2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

"We accept the love we think we deserve."

Set in the 90s, this book follows the story of Charlie, a 15-year-old boy who writes about his life to an unknown receiver. He tells about his experience in his first year in high school. He meets and befriends two seniors named Patrick and Sam. Together they help him survive high school and maybe his life too. It is revealed that his aunt who he loved a lot died in an accident when he was a child causing him to blame himself for her death. Now I don't want to explain it any further because the experience of reading this book is life changing that I could not express my love for it with words. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is truly a book you won't forget. Feels alert.

3. The Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan

“Seaweed Brain.”

From that troll author Rick Riordan comes a book series that has been my favorite for a long time. Percy Jackson is a half-god half-human (or half-blood) 12-year-old (he ages up to 16 in the fifth book) who suffers ADHD and Dyslexia which is a common trait for other half-bloods simply because their minds are hardwired for Greek and the ADHD helps them in battle. He is the son of the Greek god Poseidon and mortal Sally Jackson who is gifted with many abilities that improve in each book like breathing underwater, talking to horses, controlling water, and talking to fish. Once he finds out that he is a half-blood, he is brought to a place where Greek demigods stay. As demigods, they do quests for the Olympians (because ancient rules forbid the gods from interfering). Together with his friends Annabeth (*cough* Percabeth *cough*) and Grover, they take on the many dangerous quests together. This is one of my absolute favorites, if you’re that type of fan who likes shipping characters, then this is a book you might like. After the Percy Jackson Series, is the Heroes of Olympus series which also follows the story of Percy Jackson but with new main characters. But be warned, once you read books from Rick Riordan, you should expect cliff-hangers.

4. Remember Me Series by Christopher Pike

“But I wasn’t a bad girl. I don’t want to be forgotten. I want people to remember me.”

Oh this is a good one. This is the story of a girl named Shari Cooper. Her best friend Jo has a fascination with the paranormal. When Shari picks her up to go to Beth’s party, she finds a couple of papers with a short story written by Peter Nichols, their friend who’s already dead. The name of the character is Ann which is Shari’s middle name so she is convinced it has something to do with her. During Beth’s party, Jo decides to start a game that she claims as a way of talking to spirits. Shari later finds out that her boyfriend is cheating on her and goes out to the balcony for some fresh air when she wakes up on her bed in her bedroom. She goes down to eat with her family when she notices that she can’t pull a chair and that her parents are ignoring her. She was dead. She remembers that she fell off and believes that her death wasn’t a suicide. She was chased into the cemetery by an unknown creature when she bumps into Peter Nichols. This is my favorite book from Christopher Pike and I hope that you’d enjoy it too.

5. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

“She never looked nice, she looked like art and art wasn’t supposed to look nice, it was supposed to make you feel something.”

This book is one of my favorites, it was the book that made me cry the hardest. Set in the 80’s it follows the story of Eleanor and Park. One day a new student steps into the bus. Park couldn’t care less about her but when she had no other place to sit and he felt bad for her, he finally let her sit beside him. Park hated her at first, Eleanor hated him as well but as the story goes on, the two become closer. From reading comic books together to listening to mix tapes together, they enjoyed their time together on the bus. But even more is revealed about Eleanor, she lives with her abusive step father in a small house which she shares with her big family, she is also bullied for her physical appearance. This is one of the best love stories I’ve ever read. What I really love about Park is his acceptance for her. He loved everything about her, he loved her even if she was imperfect because all he saw was her and to him all of her imperfections were perfect. The ending was really sad so… feels alert.

So those were my top 5 favorite books and book series. I hope you found something interesting. Enjoy! ;)

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