Top 10 Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme from the ladies over at The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's theme is Top 10 books that we read before we started blogging about books.

 

Wow! That is a difficult challenge. I have only been blogging for a little over a year. Yeah, I know, I totally missed my Blogoversary, but what can I do. I never had a house warming party either and I've been in the house a little over two years. But I digress.

 

Anyway, I have read so many good books over the years, as well as comics, graphic novels and manga. It is so difficult to attempt to encapsulate all that reading time in one Top 10 list. However, I rose to the challenge. So, here you have it in no particular order...

 

 

1. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon - I've said it before, a Scotsman in a kilt. This is my favorite romance of all time. Jaimie melts my heart.
2. The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien - This is the series that made me the Sci/Fi Fantasy book loving geek I am today. Actually, it was The Hobbit, but these books were hard on its heals and I like the LotR better than the Hobbit. I mean, come on! Aragorn??? Hello!
3. Moonheart by Charles DeLint - This was probably my first foray into the celt / contemporary cross over. Charles DeLint's earlier books were very heavily based in Celtic mythology. He started branching out into other mythologies, but he is probably better known for his contribution to Urban fantasy with Borderlands and his newer fantasy is based a lot in Native American mythos. He is wonderful at blending the ancient world with the new world.
4. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett - One of the funniest books I've ever read about Armageddon.
5. Nevermore by Kelly Creagh - Varen and Poe. I believe it would be impossible to cram anymore goth angst into the pages of any other book. I can't rave enough about this book. Still waiting on word of book 3. Don't leave me hanging, Kelly!
6. The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot - This is the book that really got me started reading young adult on a regular basis. Michael, while not tormented and angst-ridden, is just my type of geek. And you know they say geeks make the best boyfriends. This series had me on the floor so often and it made way for the Georgia Nicolson Diaries by Louise Rennison and the Kelly Ann Diaries by Liz Rettig.
7. Summers at Castle Auburn by Sharon Shinn - This is a fantasy book I read quite a while ago, but it is one I keep coming back to again and again. It is the story of a girl who is half noble. She is brought to the castle every summer to learn to be a lady. She is pretty wild and independent, but matures over the years. She is actually a very strong character as she stands up for what she believes is right and will suffer the consequences her actions bring.
8. Enchantment by Orson Scott Card - This is a beautifully retold fairy tale in a modern setting. It is a Russian retelling of Sleeping Beauty.
9. Magician by Raymond Feist - This is book one in the Midkemia cycle which is now up to book about a bajillion. I am woefully behind on these books, will probably never catch up, so I stopped buying them unless I find a real good bargain. It is an epic fantasy set in a world where magic prevails and creatures from another world are intent on taking over this one.
10. Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks - I picked up this book because the Brothers Hildebrandt did the cover illustration and I really love their work. Of course, they are more famous for painting the Star Wars poster and all their Lord of the Rings illustrations. The Shannara series is one of the earlier epic fantasy series I've read and while it has been compared to and accused of being a Tolkien copy, I do not find it to be so myself. Tolkien set the standard by which all other epic fantasies with elves, dwarves and magic will be judged. But Terry Brook's world is so rich and there are so many tales to read. Again, woefully behind, which I am trying to rectify, if I could only figure out which was the last book of his I read.

  

And, of course I cheat. I thought I would mention by favorite comics / graphic novels as well.

1. Sandman by Neil Gaiman - Thanks to hubby for bringing this one to my attention. You might not be able to get more tortured and angst-ridden than the King of Dreams.
2. Hellboy by Mike Mignola - The agent of the Apocalypse working with BPRD to protect mankind. I'm sure you've all seen the movies.
3. Flaming Carrot by Bob Burden - Flaming Carrot is perhaps one of the weirdest comics I have ever read and perhaps one of the best. Flaming Carrot went all super hero vigilante after reading something like 500 comics in one night. Now he wears a flaming carrot head mask and wears scuba flippers in case he needs to swim. He travels via pogo stick. I had really hoped he'd make an appearance in Mystery Men, the movie, but sadly, I did not see him. Ut!
4. The Tick by Ben Edlund - Spoon! Another zany super hero. The Tick is bigger than life. Too bad his brain is not. Still, The Tick and his faithful sidekick, Arthur, fight evil doers where ever they may be.
5. Madman by Mike Allred - Frank Einstein is an interesting super hero. Weapon of choice...yoyo. He wears a while onesie as his body has been sewn together kind of like a patch work quilt. He battles aliens from other worlds and beatniks. His previous life is a mystery.
6. Books of Magic by Neil Gaiman - Now I'm not implying anything, but Timothy Hunter, who happens to be a wizard, just happens to look an awful lot like one Harry Potter, sans lightning bolt scar. Timothy Hunter would be the most powerful wizard in the world and this is the story about how he starts that journey.
7. Usagi Yojimbo by Stan Sakai - How can it get any better than a ronin, a masterless samurai, with bunny ears? This series is brilliant!
8. Bone by Jeff Smith - Meet the Bone cousins: Fone Bone, the compassionate cousin, Phoney Bone, the schemer, and Smiley Bone, the idiot. They get run out of Boneville, thanks to Phoney Bone which starts them on a journey that will have them battling rat creatures, running in a cow race and facing off against the King of the Locusts. The meet many friends along the way, like Thorn. This is a critically acclaimed series which has also been used as educational material for younger readers.
9. Ranma ½ by Rumiko Takahashi - This was the Japanese first comic series I picked up when I started reading comics and I couldn't stop laughing. I mean, a boy who changes into a girl when doused with cold water and he can only change back by being doused with hot water? It's girl meets boy is girl in this story of martial mayhem. The cast of characters are many and one more colorful than the next.
10. Shade the Changing Man by Peter Milligan - From Amazon: Shade has come to Earth from his home planet, Meta, to suppress Earth's bubbling insanity, which has created an "area of madness" between it and Meta. Unfortunately, Shade finds himself in the body of an about-to-be executed serial killer, Troy Grenzer, and then in the company of Kathy George, the daughter of Grenzer's last victims. Shade and Kathy take off on the run across an America where everyday fantasies and obsessions are taking physical form. They throw themselves headlong into the heart of Shade's mission to control this madness.

 

So, that will do it. There are so many books left off the list, like Jane Austen and Richard Bach, from my metaphysical stage, or great manga titles like Fruits Basket or Fullmetal Alchemist, but I really did have to limit the titles.