InsaneJournal

Top 5 picspam #4: Books (part 1)
Hey, check out what I TOTALLY HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN, REALLY.

As requested by werewolf: top five books.

Now, if you know me AT ALL, you know how ABSOLUTELY EVIL DAYNA IS for requesting this one. So this is part one of two. Part one is top 5 books. Which is actually top ten books. DEAL WITH IT. Part two, which will be going up shortly, is top 5 book serieses, which is actually only five (amazing!).

So, without further ado ...

In alphabetical order by author's surname, because numbering these would be IMPOSSIBLE.

The Secrets of Jin-Shei by Alma Alexander Words just ... cannot describe how absolutely beautiful this book is. The world is so incredibly thought-out and fully realized, and you almost feel as though you are there. My heart breaks every time I read this, and I cry throughout a good portion of the end of the book. You learn about nine very different girls who are leading very different, but interconnected, lives, and how the decisions of one affect the others.

The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier This book flips back and forth between the "real world," where a virus has killed off the entire human population except for one scientist in Antarctica, and "The City," where people go after they die. People only remain in The City for as long as there is still someone left alive who can remember them. It is an amazing book, and I definitely highly recommend it.

World War Z by Max Brooks If you have to ask why I would like this book, then you clearly don't know me at all. Putting aside the fact that zombies = BRANDI WILL LOVE IT, it is an amazing book. It is written very matter-of-factly: the zombie apocalypse has occurred, humanity has survived, and a reporter has traveled around the world, interviewing survivors to put together a history of the war, how it started, how we fought back, how we won. He almost has you believing it's a non-fiction book.

The Cradle Will Fall by Mary Higgins Clark This was the first Mary Higgins Clark book that I read, and it remains my favorite. It doesn't matter that I've read it many times and that I already know how it ends, it's still a great read. Unlike many murder mysteries (and, indeed, unlike many of Clark's other mysteries), you know from the start who the murderer is, the intrigue is in the fact that the protagonist doesn't know who it is, and neither the protagonist nor the reader knows the why or the exact how until the end.

On the Banks of Lethe by James L. Grant The author draws cats. But he's also an amazing mystery writer, and this is essentially what this book is: a mystery wrapped in an enigma etc etc etc. For the vast majority of the book, you don't really have a clue what's exactly going on, but that makes it fun and intriguing and nearly impossible to put down.

Atonement by Ian McEwan I just finished reading this book the other day, and I love it so very very much. I'd already seen the movie, so I went in a bit spoiled, but it didn't matter. The language and imagery were so lush and vivid and beautiful that I felt transported. If you've seen the movie, you should read the book. If you haven't seen the movie, you should read the book and then watch the movie.

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore Mmmm, sacrelicious. We all know the story of Jesus. Born of the virgin Mary, got followers, preached, died on the cross, came back as a zombie three days later, Christians go to heaven because of him. But nobody really knows what happened in the years between when he was ten and showing off at the temple and when he was thirty-two or whatever and gathering followers everywhere he went. This book fills in that gaping hole in his history. LOOK, A SEAGULL!

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger I cried through a lot of this book. The ending kills me every time. I just ... ugh! I love the book so much. I can't even describe it. You should just read it.

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult Another one that made me cry at the end. And more than that, it made me think and debate with myself and try to imagine myself in the same situation as any of the characters in the book, and there really is just no perfect answer to anything, which I think makes the book all the more spectacular.

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman What do you get when you combine Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman? PURE AMAZING AWESOMENESS, THAT'S WHAT. It's just as sacrelicious as Lamb is, and I just want my own pocket Aziraphale & Crowley.

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