(Top)

Book Recommendations

14 Mar 2025 • 10 Jul 2025

Heads up!

Reading is perhaps my favorite hobby besides games. When you really focus and immerse yourself in a good book, it can be quite fun and rewarding.

This is a list of books I've liked since my younger years. The list contains all types of fictional works - novels, comics, graphic novels, magazines, etc. Order is somewhat arbitrary. I may provide a few useful links, wherever I can. I've also included a few reviews (in as they were condition) I've written over the years.

I'd really like some recommendations. You can mail them Here .

Navigation

Books besides Top Favorites that rank pretty high on my list will have a * symbol next to their title.

Favorites

n. Name extra
1 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
2 The Journey of Shuna
  • Hayao Miyazaki
  • watercolor graphic novel / adventure / love
  • The book that taught me what it really means to be brave and true.
  • Mail me if you enjoyed it as well. We should be in touch.
3 Where the Sidewalk Ends
  • Shel Silverstein
  • poems and drawings
  • Hilarious, humorous, witty, twisted, allegorical, utilitarian, existential, wise, realist, wildly imaginative, just plain Awesome! One of the best books ever.
4 The Black Island (Tintin #7)
  • Hergé
  • graphic novel
  • It's Tintin what else do you want me to say, just read it already.
    This was probably my first full length graphic novel/comic that I ever read around age 11-12. I was huge into the TV series at the time and when I found a real Tintin Comic in a stack of old/used books my father had bought for me, suffice to say I read the hell out of it. How could I not, Tintin is one of the best series of Comics and Animated TV Series available for boys. The opening and ending music of the show is burned in my head. The comic itself is cool, however my review reflects my interest in the series as a whole. I recommend reading comics and watching the TV show as well. Its a great show to watch with your younger brothers or your kids.
5 Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King
  • William Joyce
  • fantasy / adventure
  • I've never read a book so alive with sense of wonder, imagination and adventure.
    The book is certainly not perfect. The overall story is pretty simple, but the way it is told is where the true magic lies. It is rare when a book captures my imagination to such an extent that I find something truly exciting in virtually each and every line.
6 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
  • C.S. Lewis
  • high fantasy
  • I recommend reading original/first editions of the Chronicles of Narnia with illustrations by Pauline Baynes. More importantly read them in the order they were written/published.
  • e-book source
7 Have It Your Way, Charlie Brown
  • Charles M. Schulz
  • humour, comics
  • Deep Philosophical Stuff

Story Books

n. Name extra
1 Fantastic Mr. Fox *
  • Roald Dahl
  • animals / adventure
  • I was expecting somewhat greater amount of conflict towards the end, regardless as advertised that Mr. Fox was FANTASTIC indeed, not unlike the book itself!
2 Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH *
  • Robert C. O'Brien
  • animals / scifi
3 James and the Giant Peach *
  • Roald Dahl
  • adventure
4 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory *
  • Roald Dahl
  • chocolates
  • I'll always love this book and its characters, Charlie and Mr. Wonka in particular. Btw, Roald Dhal during his high school years, along with his classmates, was a chocolate tester for the Cadbury Company and that served as inspiration for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
5 The Children at Green Meadows *
  • Enid Blyton
  • animals / siblings / adversity
6 The Book of Dragons
  • Edith Nesbit
  • fantasy
  • Style of humor I've never experienced before.

    'The Princess and the gardener's boy were playing in the backyard. "What will you do when you grow up, Princess?" asked the gardener's boy. "I should like to marry you, Tom," said the princess. "Would you mind?" "No" said the gardener's boy. "I shouldn't mind much. I'll marry you if you like-if I have time."
    For the gardener's boy meant, as soon as he was grown up, to be a general and a poet and a Prime Minister and an admiral and a civil engineer. Meanwhile, he was top of all his classes at school, and tip-top of the geography class.'

    --Man I need to read more of 19th century fantasy/story books

Fantasy / High Fantasy

n. Name extra
1 The Lightning Thief *
  • Rick Riordan
  • fantasy / adventure / greek mythology
  • A pen that turns into a hecking sword! What more could you possibly want from life?
2 Bridge to Terabithia *
  • Katherine Paterson
  • fantasy / adventure
3 The Princess and the Goblin
  • George MacDonald
  • fantasy / adventure
  • Realizes the fantasy that every young boy has
4 Jeremy Thatcher Dragon Hatcher
  • Bruce Coville
  • fantasy
5 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
  • J.K. Rowling
  • fantasy
  • The book is pretty good though I'm honestly surprised as to how they could've possibly managed to transform this book into the first harry potter movie.
6 The Accidental Apprentice (Wilderlore #1)
  • Amanda Foody
  • fantasy / adventure
  • The accidental apprentice by Amanda Foody is a book where Pokemon like beasts meets How to train your dragon like story meets Harry Potter like world-building.
    That's a pretty convincing sales pitch. There were a few moments when the transition felt abrupt. The book overall was really good, It made me really want fantasy animals as pets.
7 Percy Jackson and the Olympians #2-5
  • The Sea of Monsters
  • The Titan's Curse
  • The Battle of the Labyrinth
  • The Last Olympian
  • Rick Riordan
  • fantasy / adventure / greek mythology

Science Fiction

n. Name extra
1 Alan Mendelsohn, the Boy from Mars
  • Daniel Pinkwater
  • weird scifi / fantasy
  • I picked it up because of the phrase "Boy from Mars" expecting a classic juvenile scifi adventure. It wasn't. Written from First Person Perspective of 'Leonard Neeble' a bratty middle school kid who has migrated to a new Neighborhood and doesn't get along with anyone. His parents are stupid, his classmates in the new school are dumb, his teachers are also...
    Enter one Alan Mendelsohn, who starts a riot at school by telling all students in person that he is from MARS. And the bus riding adventures begin.
    Kookiest book if I ever read one. 4 stars just for its complete uniqueness and writing style. The book was constantly throwing curve pitches at me. And I was thoroughly amused. At the start I thought the characters were boring, I was wrong, their 'boringness' was wielded is such way that the reading experience was elevated into pure entertainment.

Mystery

n. Name extra
1 The Mystery of the Aztec Warrior (Hardy Boys)
  • Franklin W. Dixon
  • mystery

Historical Fiction

n. Name extra
1 The Sign of the Beaver *
  • Elizabeth George Speare
  • historical fiction / friendship / survival
  • Its fundamentally about two boys who grow into a friendship during the span of the book. It is set in the Maine wilderness, when people were establishing new settlements in Maine. Matt a 12 year old boy is left alone in a small shed in the forest, his father has left in order to return with his pregnant wife and Matt's sister, for the time being Matt must look after himself, their small house and a clearing behind the shed where Matt and his father planted corn. He must also fish, hunt, live alone, teach a Native boy how to read and eventually become good friends with him despite initial hesitation on both their parts, learn about the forest and native ways of life from his friend, even fight bears! Fair share of adventure for a 12 year old. Its about survival, self-reliance, and friendship when you least expect it.

Romance

n. Name extra
1 All the Light We Cannot See *
  • Anthony Doerr
  • historical fiction / war / love
2 Annarasumanara
  • Il-kwon Ha
  • graphic novel / romance / magic
  • Charming as hell!

Further Exploration