Book Recommendations

Here's a post for book recommendations (making, asking, whatever).  It's permanently linked from the lefthand sidebar of the site as "Review/Recommend" (under the "Explore the Site" navigation section), so you can find it again easily even after it ceases to be a recent post.

A few of my own to start things off:

Cecil Castellucci's The Plain Janes and its sequel Janes In Love are wonderful graphic novels about teen friendship, romance and discovering your creative side.

Diane Duane's So You Want to Be a Wizard and all the other books in the series are probably my favourite young adult fantasy novels of all time.  Mature, humane, action-packed and superbly written.

Finally, two book that were important to me in high school:

• Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, one of the greatest anti-war novels ever from an absolutely unique writer.
• Nonfiction recommendation: Joseph Campbell's The Hero With a Thousand Faces.  A great book on the fundamental similarities of world mythology and their modern equivalents in comics, movies and television. Changed my perspective on a lot of things.

This doesn't mean don't talk about books you've enjoyed or would recommend to others in any other posts (please keep doing as you're doing, all the comments are great!), but several of you have mentioned that a more permanent place for recommending books would be nice, so here it is. :)

Teen readers and TPLers, post your recommends here as well!

Alan H is a web librarian at Toronto Public Library.  He reads all over the place.

Comments

[sam]

Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and all the other books are my favourite novels.

[Tasfia]

wow... "so u want to be a wizard" sounds pretty cool to me...

reminds me of "wizard's first rule" by Terry Goodkind... :D

[Toni Rose]

I personally like Meg Cabot's books. But I'll try (Hero with 1000 faces).

[x_asdf]

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon

[Shel]

I recommend John Green's novels, namely Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, and Paper Towns.

[Mary]

Well i have alot. Umm i'd say anything by sherryln kenyon but she's adult romance so i guess not. Um Oh The Uglies was an intresting series that should be check out

[Mary]

Also anything by Gordon korman. Who is a halirous author who writes amazing books. Defintely a author to keep in mind. All his books are great and funny there's even one in the booklist called Juvie three which i really liked and recommend to all

[Mary]

And last but not least Eoin Colfer Artemis fowl series. i loved these series. it was amazing and a rea page turner. all the books were filled with action packed, suspense and adventure. truly something you should check out if you like adventure, suspense, and action. all by a smart teenager boy

[Devi]

I personally recommend a book called 'Snowed In' by Rachel Hawthhorne. Those teens who love reading Romance book will surely aodore this one. If you are looking for a romance novel then this one is the one to go to! ;)

[Devi]

Oh and any books by Rachel Hawthhorne are always romance novels. So if you like romance books look for a book by this author

[Devi]

Righnow i started reading a book called 'Twisted' by Laurie Halse Andreson. any books by this author is A W S O M E. I personally adore her books. One of my favourite author. And so far this book is so good!!!

[Cindu]

i would recommend anything written by Neil Gaiman. He writes with such unique plots and characters that anyone that reads any of his books are amazed!

[Cindu]

i would also recommend the Midshipwizard series. This series is like a cross between Harry Potter and the Adventures of Jacky Faber. It is really a great series to read, filled with magic, adventure, and DRAGONS :)

[Cindu]

Another series i would recommend are the Guardians of Time series by Marianne Curley. It is really really good. Basically, it is about a prophecy and of time travelling to correct the invasions of the order of chaos. Wierd huh, the ORDER of CHAOS. This is a really good series and everyone should read this.

[Cindu]

Another series i would recommend are the Guardians of Time series by Marianne Curley. It is really really good. Basically, it is about a prophecy and of time travelling to correct the invasions of the order of chaos. Wierd huh, the ORDER of CHAOS. This is a really good series and everyone should read this.

[Cindu]

However, there is one series that completely rocks! It is called the Darkest Powers series and it is written by Kelly Armstrong. It is really cool. It is about a girl who discovers that she can see ghosts, but is sent to an asylum for shizophrenia. However, she discovers that she is a necromancer, and with the help of the other kids with powers there, she escapes. The first book leaves us with a GIANT cliffhanger, but the second book makes up for it. Everyone, i mean everyone, should read this book.

[Cindu]

there is also a series for those who like the twilight series but thought them to be a bit simple. It is called the House of night series and it is written by P.C. and Kristin Cast. It is really for those who like magic, ancient goddesses and unique and interesting plot twists.

[Cindu]

however, for me the only series that will remain completely in my heart forever is Harry Potter. Those who haven't read it, READ IT!!!!! Don't be turned off by the pages, there is a reason why it is so famous! Though i didn't like the ending, (wanted more death, i know, i know, it's emo) it is a really fascinating read, and everyone should read it.
P.s. those who don't read it because they think witchcraft = hell, should really reseach modern day Wicca and Witchcraft, and compare it to their religion, see what you like.
p.p.s i don't mean that your religion is bad, i just like the meanings behind wicca better, so forgive me please for being prejudiced.

[Jenny]

i have one of the series of "So you want to be a wizard"

[Gunjan]

The Hero with a Thousand Faces is a great book. I used it to write an essay in grade 9. It helped a lot. There is so much analysis of mythology and its relations to the modern world.

[Stephanie]

I'm really getting into anthology graphic novels. So currently I've been reading the Flight series and Out of Picture series. They're both amazing- stories and art.

[Daniela]

I love books that are based on history, espically about the holocaust. A time of Angels by kate hoffin is great and the diary of anne frank is a classic. Book based on black hisoty are my favourties espically the Black Boy

[Alan H.]

Daniela: You might enjoy "Briar Rose" by Jane Yolen, an unusual intertwining of the Sleeping Beauty story with a Holocaust setting.

[Oshin]

"The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini, is an amazingly well-written and touching novel. I loved it, and though it is a heavy read, I would definitely reccomend this to anyone and everyone-this is one book that everyone must have read once in their lifetime.

[D]

I agree with the first post, Pride and Prejudice is definetely a great book. So is Twilight actually. :B. For those who've read the Oddysey for school, try The Penelopiad. It's a terrific satire of the Oddysey.