Bookies Part I

It's a rainy, stormy, tornado-y afternoon in the Tennessee Valley. The kind of day that's so dark, you have to turn on the end table lamps to be able to see anything, which happen to be some of my favorite days. It's times like these that I most enjoy curling up on the couch with a good book. You all know how much I love to read, as I am always talking about a book I've read or one I'm about to read. People are constantly asking me about my favorite books and for recommendations, so I've decided to create an official list of Book Superlatives! Just like in high school! It's going to be great. Here we go!

Let's do this in installments so it won't be quite so overwhelming. I've read a lot of books and there are many categories.

BEST LOVE STORY (note this is different from Best Romance)

Winner - Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen. I know this is cliche, but cliches become cliches for a reason, and the reason for this one is that P&P is simply the most perfect love story every written. Now, we all know that Jane Austen was a prude, and she used the words 'propriety' and 'decorum' far too frequently, but the heart of the matter is that the love between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet is perfect in its imperfection. Also, the dynamics of the Bennet family are absolutely hilarious, if you can fully grasp her diction enough to understand it. This book is the go-to read for the sappy romantic. Also, I must implore everyone reading this to see the movie version featuring Kiera Knightley, if you haven't already. Matthew MacFadyen's Darcy is flawless.

1st Runner Up - Outlander, Diana Gabaldon. Some would argue that this should go in the romance category, because it certainly has its fair share of steaminess, but Jamie and Clare go beyond all of that, I think. I love their conversations more than anything, and Jamie's balance of macho manliness, sensitivity, stubbornness, and vulnerability. He is the perfect man. This really is a well-rounded novel. It has elements of science fiction, as well as excellent historical fiction on the Scottish Highlands, which is an area of our world history that we don't hear about every day. 

2nd Runner Up - One Day, David Nicholls. I realize that book doesn't really fit in with the other, timeless, epic love stories. For one thing, it is very contemporary. It just came out last year. I think I loved it so much because I drew some serious real life parallels from it. It's about these two best friends who are so obviously made for each other, but, for one reason or another, they don't act on it. The ending is both beautiful and heartbreaking. I don't think I even realized how much I cared about these characters until the last few chapters when I could barely read the page through uncontrollable sobs. 

BEST SUSPENSE/MYSTERY/THRILLER

Winner - The Millenium Trilogy, Stieg Larsson. These books are all the rage right now, and even old news for those of us who knew how great they were from the very beginning, but there are still too many people who haven't read them, and it cannot stand! Stieg Larsson is a freaking mastermind, and Lisbeth Salander is the greatest fictional character created in this generation of novels. The imagery in these books in incredible. I know very little about Stockholm, but I feel like I've lived there after reading this trilogy. Each book is better than the last, and I haven't met a person yet who read them and wasn't amazed. Again, you need to see the movies. All three have been made into Swedish movies, and they are simply marvelous. The subtitles are not an issue, and I have all three if you would like to borrow. The American version is coming out later this year, but it won't hold a candle to the Swedish. Noomi Rapace is the perfect Lisbeth.

1st Runner-Up - The Eight, Katherine Neville. I came across this book one day while browsing idly in Joseph-Beth's, and it knocked my socks off. It sort of reminds me of The Da Vinci Code. The storyline revolves around....wait for it....the game of chess. I realize that sounds nerdy, but don't let that deter you. This is a smart, epic mystery novel with an almost entirely female cast. It bounces back and forth between the 1970's and the French Revolution, and they intertwine in a surprising way. I love it because I've read it twice now, and it is so complex that I still don't fully understand what happened. That's a good sign.

2nd Runner-Up - The Robert Langdon novels, Dan Brown. Who didn't see this one coming, right? One caveat: I would like to exclude The Lost Symbol from this. I didn't really care for it. I learned a few fun facts, but I feel like the ending was kind of wishy washy. The majority of the praise here, I think, goes to Angels and Demons, which simply had a better storyline. The ending was rock solid and believable, whereas The Da Vinci Code had that "Jesus had a daughter" thing going on as it's climax, which is fine, but I think I'm a little too strong in my Christianity to really fall for it. Anywho, both books get props for how smart they are. I learned so much about so much from reading them, and I appreciate how much research Brown put into each one. The movies kind of tarnished my view of these books. I think without the movies clouding my vision, they would have ranked higher.

This is going to take forever....Part Deux Coming soon!