* means first book in a series, and the rest of the series is recommended as well
Adult Fantasy/Magical Realism
Dead Until Dark *– Charlaine Harris
Deerskin – Robin McKinley
Graveminder – Melissa Marr
Mogworld – Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw (Also check out his weekly video game review, Zero Punctuation, if you’re into that kind of thing)
Moon Called* – Patricia Briggs
The Dresden Files* – Jim Butcher
Young Adult Fantasy/Magical Realism
A Great and Terrible Beauty * – Libba Bray
Alanna* – Tamora Pierce (Anything she’s written is amazing. You should really check it out)
The Child Thief – Brom (Only for those who are not squeamish. Wasn’t even sure this belongs in Young Adult. Could be Adult. Certainly harrowing and dark enough.)
Croak* – Gina Damico
Eon* – Alison Goodman
Hellbound – Rebecca Goos (It’d be weird if I didn’t recommend my own book, wouldn’t it?)
The Golden Compass* – Philip Pullman
The Lives of Christopher Chant and Charmed Life – Diana Wynne Jones (These are the first two books in a quartet, but I like them the most, and it doesn’t really matter which order you read them in. If you read them both, you’ll figure out why.)
Raised by Wolves* – Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Wicked Lovely* – Melissa Marr
Young Adult Realistic Fiction
Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging* – Louise Rennison
Crank* – Ellen Hopkins
It’s Kind of a Funny Story and Be More Chill – Ned Vizzini (Be More Chill has some Science Fiction elements)
Openly Straight – Bill Konigsberg
Paper Towns – John Green
Speak – Laurie Halse Anderson
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon
The Glass Castle – Jeannette Walls (This one is Nonfiction)
The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas
The House on Mango Street – Sandra Cisneros
The Outsiders – S. E. Hinton
The Perks of Being a Wallflower – Stephen Chbosky (No, I don’t know how to pronounce his last name. “Lobster”? No, that can’t be right…)
Written in the Stars – Aisha Saeed
Science Fiction (Middle Grade, YA, and Adult)
Feed – M. T. Anderson (YA)
John Dies at the End* – David Wong (Adult)
The Host – Stephenie Meyer (YA)
The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins (No asterisk for this one because I literally only recommend the first book in the trilogy; YA)
Unwind – Neal Shusterman (I also recommend this as a standalone; I have not read the other books in the series; YA)
A Wrinkle in Time – Madeleine L’Engle (Also recommended as a standalone, though I have read the rest of the series; MG)
Adult Non-Fiction/Realistic Fiction
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier – Ishmael Beah (NF)
Bossypants – Tina Fey (NF)
Gone Girl – Gillian Flynn (F)
I Am America (And So Can You) – Stephen Colbert (NF? Satire? Satirical F?)
I’m Glad My Mom Died – Jennette McCurdy (NF)
Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden (F)
Salaam Brick Lane – Tarquin Hall (NF)
Shrill – Lindy West (NF)
Sissy – Jacob Tobia (NF)
The Elegance of the Hedgehog – Muriel Barbery (F)
The Five People You Meet in Heaven – Mitch Albom (F)
The Hours – Michael Cunningham (F)
The Things They Carried – Tim O’Brien (F)
Unbroken – Laura Hillenbrand (NF)
When You Are Engulfed in Flames – David Sedaris (NF)
Middle Grade Literature (That you should still totally read!)
Ella Enchanted – Gail Carson Levine (Don’t see the movie. Especially if you’ve read the book.)
George – Alex Gino (I believe there’s at least one sequel to this now?)
The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman (The only book of Gaiman’s I like so far, of the three I’ve read. Coraline and Stardust were the other two.)
The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles – Julie Andrews
The Lightning Thief * – Rick Riordan (Don’t watch the movie for this one either, but the Disney+ series is pretty good)
The Phantom Tollbooth – Norton Juster
There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom – Louis Sachar
To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
Adult Romance Novels (WARNING: Some of the novels in this list are VERY R-Rated)
Beyond the Highland Mist* – Karen Marie Moning
Bittersweet* – Sarina Bowen
Blood Brothers* – Nora Roberts
Bride – Ali Hazelwood
Bringing Down the Duke* – Evie Dunmore
Darkfever* – Karen Marie Moning
Heartbreaker* – Julie Garwood
Just the Sexiest Man Alive* – Julie James
Naked in Death* – “J. D. Robb” (It’s just Nora Roberts, guys. This series has its duds, but there aren’t toooooo many (in my opinion))
Never Seduce a Scot – Maya Banks (I love the click-baity titles and covers for her historical romances. In this book, everyone is Scottish, so the only people seducing Scots would be other Scots; no one seduces anyone, let alone a Scot; no one is ever warned not to seduce a Scot; and no one ever suffers direct negative consequences from seducing a Scot. In other words, if you’re looking for clues about the story, don’t go by the title. Read the synopsis.)
Nightwork – Nora Roberts
Rescue Me* – Lauren Connolly
The Awakening* – Nora Roberts
The Governess Affair* – Courtney Milan
The Kiss Quotient* – Helen Hoang
The Obsession – Nora Roberts
The Witness – Nora Roberts
Yes, I know there is a lot of Nora Roberts on here, but if you consider the sheer volume of books this woman has written, I think you’ll see that I have recommended relatively few of them actually.
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