My Favourite Books

Well, this seems familiar. A history of my experience with a subject, and then a list of my favourite items from that subject. Last time it was video games, this time it’s books. Next time it’ll be movies, and after that I may do TV shows. I think I’ll do a separate blog from this for graphic novels/manga.

My reading history is a lot harder to pin down than my gaming history, as I was younger when I started reading, beyond the reaches of my memory. I do have some memories, such as being distraught when I couldn’t find a favourite book. It was about construction vehicles, I think, and I’m pretty sure it made sounds. Perhaps my parents got sick of the sounds and decided to throw it away. If that happened, it was a mistake on their part. I made them take me to a bookstore and we looked for a good while. The funny thing was I couldn’t actually read at the time, so I just looked at the pictures. Toddlers will be toddlers. My next oldest memory of reading was in kindergarten. I asked my teacher to read me a Mickey Mouse story. I believe it was the scene in Fantasia(?) where the brooms start dancing. I was let down that day, as she never did read it. It makes sense, she was a teacher who had stuff to do and a classroom full of 4 and 5 year olds to look after, but I was still disappointed. My next memory is from the first grade, where I got in trouble for reading. We where doing a station rotation thing in groups, but when we changed stations I wanted to keep reading. So one of my group-mates told the teacher, and I got in trouble. Whenever I think of that teacher, I know that she would have been better off teaching high schoolers than a bunch of six year-olds. She was a harsh woman. The next memory is from the  second grade. That was one of my favourite years from my entire time in school, as I had a great teacher. Anyway, I got in trouble quite a bit for lap-reading when she was teaching, so that was fun. Also from that year was the first series I really got into, called ‘The Secrets of Droon’. It was about some kids who found a door to a fantasy world where they went on many an adventure. After that it was just plain reading.

When I was in the third grade, I read two major things. One was a series, ‘Spirit Animals’, which I read several times over the years. The other was my first reading of Tolkiens ‘The Hobbit’. That was a life-changing moment, truly. It instilled a love of fantasy into me, which I already had to a degree. I’ve read it many a time since, but that first reading will always be the best. Since then I have attempted to read LOTR, but the second half of Two Towers is just too dull for me. Skip forward several years, and I’m on an island in Canada. Bored out of my mind as fishing was too tedious, I dared a kid there to read a very thick book I found called ‘Eragon’. He declined, so as a joke I started reading it. I read it in a day or two, which is no easy task with how long it is. They had the next book, so I read that. Then I picked up the next book they had, ‘Inheritance’. If you know anything about the Inheritance Cycle, you know that it is four books, not three. So much to my disappointment, I got spoilers and no book three (Brisingr). We get back to my hometown a few days later, and I immediately go to the library, but they don't have it either (they had an audiobook, but I hate those so I didn’t get it). I decided to check out one of the youth kindles they have, hoping it was on there. Luckily, it was. So I reread the first two books, and then read the final two books in the series. This series, the Inheritance Cycle, became my most reread series ever. Just a few weeks a go I finished my fifth or sixth reread of the series. I have read it so many times that I have lost count. Since then, I have read many books on the World Wars, especially the First World War and its aftermath, as that is main subject of interest. Recently I read perhaps the most difficult book I have ever read, ‘Schindler’s List’. It’s hard to read for reasons that should be obvious.

That is my reading history finished, so I suppose it is time for my list of favourites.

The basic order is this:

1. The Hobbit. This book has stuck with me ever since I first read it, and has a permanent spot at the top of this list. I may like other books more, but this is simply tradition to me, so here at the top it stays. I’ll probably read it again soon.

2. The entire Inheritance Cycle. I love all the books, but I must say my favourite favourite is either Brisingr or Inheritance. I also count ‘Tales from Alagaësia’ and ‘Murtagh’ in this, even though they are technically outside of the Cycle. Christopher Paolini is tied with Tolkien as my favourite author as well.

3. Jurassic Park. The book is great, and so is the movie (it’ll be on my favourite movie blog, no doubt), but the book is simply better. The simple fact that Muldoon survives is my reasoning for this. The entire book is a work of art.

4. The Two Towers. Despite my dislike of the second half, the first half more than makes up for it. Helms Deep and the March of the Ents are  amazing scenes that cannot be beaten. Tolkiens ability to write amazing battles makes sense, with his service in the First World War providing first hand experience.

Honourable Mentions:

• Schindler’s List. Such a depressing book, I cannot truly say I enjoyed reading it. It is an amazing book, and I really liked it, but the depression it caused in me means I cannot put it on my list of favourites.

•Animal Farm. Quite an amusing book, the parallels to Stalinism provide a great look into George Orwell’s ideology. For a fun fact on this book, Conservipedia lists it as one of the ‘Best Conservative Books’. Makes sense that they don’t say that the author was a socialist, that would be embarrassing for them.

•Several graphic novels and manga series. I won’t put them here, as I’ll have a separate blog for them. However, I love the genres so much that I have to put them here.

I’m not going to put any books that might make the list, as I don’t know what I will read in the future. I hope you enjoyed this extra long ramble. I think I’ll go work on that movie blog now. Until next time, have a good time. Farewell for now.

-FlojnirGrey52262

5/22/2025