Best Books I’ve Read — And The Worst

The best book I’ve read?

Honestly, it’s impossible to settle for just one. So how about I make a list of great books that have earned my highest recommendation. And if none of these are for you, that’s alright. There are plenty others you may enjoy.

Best Classic Science Fiction: 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke, a fantastic novel that explores the evolution of man and technology aided by an unknown alien monolith.

Best Modern Science Fiction: The Martian by Andy Weir, a novel about a scientist stranded on the planet Mars and does everything he can to stay alive until rescue while using realistic scientific methods that seem plausible enough to ensure survivability on Mars.

Best Fantasy Books: A tie between Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. No explaination needed for these books and why I enjoy them. I’ll even add Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher book series too because I enjoyed the video games and only now started reading the books, to which I’m enjoying as well.

Best Classic Book: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, a classic novel about two men trying to find work and earn a living during the Great Depression era of the United States, but it also contains a certain ending that had me like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38tfhSYGIVs

Other Classic Book Favorites Include:

-20,000 Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne

-To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

-Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Best Fiction Book Featuring Dinosaurs: Raptor Red by paleontologist Robert Bakker, an interesting novel that follows in the perspective an Utahraptor (a larger cousin of the famous Velociraptor) and its prehistoric environment.

Best Star Wars Book: The Thrawn Trilogy novel series by writer Timothy Zahn for expanding the Star Wars universe after the events of Return of the Jedi (pre-Disney mind you) and adding likeable new characters such as Mara Jade Skywalker and Grand Admiral Thrawn. I’ll also throw Star Wars: Thrawn into the mix too for helping reintroduce Thrawn in the new Disney Canon.

Best Horror Book: Watchers by Dean Koontz, a chilling story about a man who encounters two genetically engineered creatures that escaped from a lab: a golden retriever with enhanced intelligence and a monstrosity known as the Outsider that seeks to kill the dog.

Best Horror Collection: A collection of horror stories written by the master and inventor of cosmic horror himself H.P. Lovecraft. If you’re curious which of his stories you’d want to try out I recommend reading either The Call of Cthulhu, The Shadow Over Innsmouth, The Rats in the Walls, and Pickman’s Model.

Best Zombie Apocalypse Book: World War Z by Max Brooks, son of the legendary comedian/filmaker Mel Brooks. This is an excellence fictional, biographical book of a world that was once ravaged by zombies as a unknown journalist travels around the world interviewing the many survivors and shares their horrific tales of survival. Just don't ask me about the film adaptation.

Best Epic Poem: Dante's Inferno by Dante Alighieri, an interesting take of a man's descent into Hell, and one of the many inspirations behind my Sins of the Father stories.

Best Short Story: A Sound of Thunder by my favorite science fiction writer Ray Bradbury, an interesting tale about a company that uses time travel as a means of sporting entertainment, and it is with this story that it introduced me to the concept of the Butterfly Effect.

Best Novella: Who Goes There? by John Campbell, this novella served as the inspiration for John Carpenter’s The Thing.

Best Western Book: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurty. The life and troubles of ranchers of the Old West. Be warned, this novel is extremely long (at least 100 chapters total).

Best Book You Probably Haven’t Heard Of: Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie, a great book about life on an Indian Reservation.

Best Young Adult Novel Series: The A Series of Unfortunate Events books by Lemony Snicket. Three miserable orphans being hunted by greedy man named Count Olaf.

Best Nostalgic Books: Holes by Louis Sachar and Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli. I mean who hasn’t read these books when they were young?

Best Non-Fictions (that I recommend you should read): Tears of Rage: From Grieving Father to Crusader for Justice: The Untold Story of the Adam Walsh Case by John Walsh and Susan Schindehette, Man-Eaters of Tsavo by John Patterson, and The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Stephen L. Brusatte

The truly worst book that I’ve ever had the displeasure of reading is definitely Twilight by Stephenie Myer. Never have I read something so disinteresting, so bland, and so moronic in my entire life. What’s worse is that it spawned a horrible film series and a even more horrible rip-off series called 50 Shades of Gray.