So today’s blogfest assignment is to name our top 5 books of all time. Like many of you, this is simply an impossible task for me. So I had to take out non-fiction books and all the classics and narrowed it down to my top 5 YA series since that’s what I’m writing myself.
1) 
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling – this is me being a nerd in line on the opening day of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal’s Islands of Adventure. We stood in line 6 hours to get in and it was well worth it:-) I still haven’t forgiven my husband when last November he got to attend a red carpet event there as part of the hoopla surrounding the last movie DVD release. He met most of the stars but was unable to smuggle me in (he works for our local Fox news). Anyways, I’m too embarrassed to tell you how many HP shirts I own, but let’s just say plenty to wear a different one for each day of the week:-)
2) 
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis – this is my daughters and I standing next to the sword of the White Witch from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe featured at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.( Can you tell I’m paranoid about using any pics other than my own after that post by Roni Loren?) I actually didn’t read this series until I was nineteen years old and got hired to work at a Christian bookstore. It was a very small mom-and-pop shop so one of the benefits of working there was we could read when it was slow so we could be better equipped to recommend books to customers. The first thing I picked up was this and immediately purchased the whole series. Yep, the downside of working there was spending my whole paycheck before I was out the door! So glad my daughters have gotten to enjoy these books though, and my students!
3) 
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares. I enjoyed this series and movies so much that I started my own Sisterhood of the Traveling _____ (jacket, bracelet, necklace, ring. . . depends on the year). These are my 4 besties I met at college and we pass our journal and item of the year through the mail and then meet up once a year for a reunion. Three of us are spread across Florida, one is in Tennessee, and another in California.
4) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins . . . I first heard about this one at RWA Nationals in Orlando during July of 2010. What I heard is it was the most violent YA book ever written in contemporary fiction so of course I ran out and bought it, lol. I’m glad I waited to read books 1 & 2 until then b/c I only had to wait a month for book 3. Own just 2 shirts for this one, and a key chain:-)
5) The Internal Devices series by Cassandra Clare. This is the prequel to the #1 New York Times bestselling Mortal Instruments Series. To be honest, I’m kind of getting burned out on that series (#5 came out this year), but I love this prequel. Here’s the summary from the first book: When sixteen-year-old orphan Tessa Gray’s older brother suddenly vanishes, her search for him leads her into Victorian-era London’s dangerous supernatural underworld, and when she discovers that she herself is a Downworlder, she must learn to trust the demon-killing Shadowhunters if she ever wants to learn to control her powers and find her brother.
*I’ve told you mine . . . now tell me yours:-) If you’d like to join this blogfest hosted by my publisher, Curiosity Quills, you can sign up at Sharon Bayliss’s blog.
Luv all of them except the last. Because I haven’t read it! Lol!
Great book choices! I love how you have your own real life Sisterhood of the Traveling _____.
One of my all time favorite books is Chocolat. I also love The Thirteenth Tale. Memoirs of a Geisha would have to be in the list too. I’m with you on Hunger Games. Once more terrific read is The Pretties series by Scott Westerfeld.
I, too, love “The Thirteenth Tale”!
And to start your own Sisterhood? Very cool!
I’ve read all of them except Sisterhood. They are all fantastic novels. Great choices. Love the pics
I just brought the hunger games so glad to hear you liked them, makes me keen to read them even more
Impossible to name just one! Chronicles of Narnia is a good choice.
We have a few of the same favorites. My friends and I also have a Sisterhood of the Traveling Necklace. 6 friends from gradeschool each have a birthstone on the necklace and whoever moves away or “needs” it receives it through the mail. I currently have it:)
Ohmigosh, Gwen! I Love, lOve, loVe this idea:-)
The only ones on your list I’ve read are the Narnia books. My mother and I discovered them together when I was maybe 9-10 years old, and they were bedtime reading all the way through the series. They’re among the very few fantasy books I’ve ever read.
I think my all-time favorite 5 books are The Decameron, by Giovanni Boccaccio, The Tao Te Ching, by Lao-Tzu, Demian, by Hermann Hesse, The Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri, and The First Circle, by Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn.
Oooooo. A few of them here I have not read. I don’t think I wouls reach for the “pants” one, but the supernatural one sounds fun.
All these books are awesome… and I’ve read them all… okay for Cassandra Clare’s, I’m only up to book 2 and I’m struggling with how slow it goes at times, but I love all the others.
Gone with the Wind (oldie but goodie), Twilight series (BEFORE it was overdone to death and was just BOOKS!), Celestra series by Addison Moore (my new FAVE!), Cassandra Clare series of (Mortal Instruments & Infernal Devices) and another new YA series by Jaime Reed “Living Violet” and “Burning Emerald”
Oh, man. At least I can pick five because I can never pick one. To Kill a Mockingbird, Three Times Lucky, the Harry Potters, Wonder, and The Underneath. I’ll go with those for now.
Lovely list, I’ve never read the Sisterhood…have seen it eye me from the shelf at the bookstore, but never brought it home. I’ll have to rethink that.
Ahoy matey! I finally have a chance to visit you from over at Rebels of the 512 — thanks for the comments on my bookshelf!
I’ve read a lot of C.S. Lewis books, and while I remember enjoying the Narnia series when I was a kid, I definitely think the Screwtape Letters are more my speed as an adult. I also find it kind of funny that people don’t see the Christian themes in Narnia, which makes me wonder if Lewis’ methods were effective, or if we’ve just become blind to religious imagery in general?
There are Christian themes in soooo many things, including HP. That’s why I thought it was hilarious when certain denominations were so against it!
Cool choices. LOVE how the castle’s behind you while you’re reading
Hunger Games definitely goes on my top 5. 
Fantastic list is fantastic. Love all of those!
Another HP fan! Yippee!!! I love HP and I know you do too. We should visit HP World together and get our geek on… or at least share a butterbeer.
Only if it’s a frozen one:-) And I want another chocolate frog and cauldron cake!!
Solid choices. I remember reading Chronicles of Narnia for the first time. Did you ever read his sci-fi series?
Awesome choices!!! You have great taste. : )