The Stephanie Plum Series - Janet Evanovitch

one sentence summary:

Stephanie Plum is sort of incompetent and a bounty hunter, it is highly entertaining to read about her misadventures.

Review:

Evanovitch writes in a fast passed hard hitting style full of pun and innuendo. Her characters are unforgettable and the misadventures she comes up with are laugh out loud hilarious. They do get repetitive but these are not novels read for furthering the intellect  they are read with the knowledge that they are brain candy, real cotton candy reads. I recommend them to anyone who is looking for some no-brainer type reading. 

6/10

7/10

If you enjoy this series check out Stephanie Bond, Sue Grafton, and Lisa Lutz

Snow Child - Eowyn Ivey

one sentence summary:

A homesteading couple's desire for a family coincides the difficulty of the homesteading life to create a beautiful story.

review:

The prose and character development in this novel were amazing, it really made me want to read more by Ivey, but this is her first novel, so I will have to wait. The story is beautiful, it touches on everything from loss to neighbour relationships to the more general friendship. It is centred around a fairy tale, about a girl who, even by the end of the book, you aren't sure about... is she real or a mass delusion (fairy tale). The main couple are wonderfully developed and I loved them both from the start. Ivey is amazing at drawing you in through the beauty of her words. The language of the novel calms the plot, but I didn't mind it because every page is beautiful. 

7/10

I actually can not think of anything comparable to this novel, if you have any ideas comment please.

Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe

One Sentence Summary:
The classic story of a shipwrecked man and his will to survive.
Review:
This is a real classic that everyone should read. The writing is beautiful and the story line moves along at such a pace that you will not get bogged down in the slightly archaic language. The story is about far more than just a man surviving it is about the morals of an era. It speaks of the darker side of colonialism, religious conversion/ethics, economic systems and the more general culture of the time. It can be read as a historical study as well as a timeless story. I recommend anyone interested in colonial history read this novel.
8/10

I recommend you read these next:
The Voyage of the Beagle - Darwin

Heart of Darkness - Conrad

The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

One Sentence Summary:
Follow a woman as she falls deeper and deeper into depression and possibly insanity.
Review:
A really well written look at the way humans (women in particular) can hate themselves and think they are completely useless. This is a real love it or hate it novel, it seems that the younger you are the better you relate to the angst of the main character. The writing is pretty decent but the only really strong aspect is the descent of the mental state of the lead character. I found it a really interesting read and I really appreciated that it was there to help me come to terms with some of my own feelings. I recommend this to anyone who suffers from depression or has daily dealings with a mentally unstable person.
8/10

If you enjoyed this read:
She's Come Undone - Wally Lamb
Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk

Lord of the Rings - J R R Tolkien

one sentence summary:
One ring to rule them all... destroy the ring or die.

review:
Ok, I know this review is probably going to annoy some people but Lord of the Rings is not for everybody, in fact I would say only die hard fantasy fans should even attempt reading it. There are descriptions of scenery that literally last tens of pages and Tolkien was really good at writing himself into a corner and then just making shit up to get out of it. I dare say he did not start with a story board, if he had the series would not be nearly as rambling as it is. The writing is beautiful but long winded and the characters are realistic but at the same time they all have a bit of that holier-than-tho feel to them. If you really enjoyed reading The Hobbit I do not unequivocally recommend you tackle this because it is so different from the adventure of The Hobbit. It is however well worth reading f you are a fan of high fantasy (though Tolkien is not the genius of the genre he is so often made out to be).
6/10

if you enjoyed this google "epic fantasy series" read the resulting suggestiong

Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

one sentence summary:
a woman has an affair
review:
for once my hatred of the characters did not transfer to hatred of the novel, actually I loved it and I loved to hate the characters in it. I loved their pettiness and their, well their humanity I guess is how you would say it. A fascinating look at an era of elitism written about with such brilliance that you fell as though you have travelled back in time and are living in high society. I recommend any one with any interest in history check this novel out, but read it in small parts, in my experience reading it all in one go makes the characters completely deplorable, in small doses they are very human (like that relative everyone tries to avoid at family gatherings).
8/10

memorable quotes:
"If you look for perfection, you'll never be content."

"All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

"Rummaging in our souls, we often dig up something that ought to have lain there unnoticed. "

The Plague - Albert Camus

one sentence summary
A horrifying look at humanity as the world around it ends
review
This is a beautifully written, disturbing novel that focuses on the choices humans will make when backed into a corner. It shows a bleak world and the beauty that can peek through in our actions. The prose are beautiful and it shows the lengths people will go to to keep the status-quo as well as their ability to change (a bit of a contradiction).  I highly recommend pretty well everyone read this novel (it is short too so that's nice) you will learn something from it.
8/10

memorable quotes
"The truth is that everyone is bored, and devotes himself to cultivating habits."

"I have no idea what's awaiting me, or what will happen when this all ends. For the moment I know this: there are sick people and they need curing."

"I know that man is capable of great deeds. But if he isn't capable of great emotion, well, he leaves me cold."

Gulliver's Travels - Jonathon Swift

One Sentence Summary:
A man travels the world and has quite an adventure.
Review:
This hilarious biting commentary overflows with wit. It is a very historical novel, you must remember when reading it that it was written at a time when people (First Nations) were literally exhibited at world fairs where people paid money to gawk at them. The writing is a pleasure to read (written back in the day when reading required an actual education and the English language was spoken properly) and the story is highly entertaining. Gulliver is developed into a character who you can't help but love and hate and love to hate, the story centres around his many misadventures. It is a short and hilarious parody of the human complex, everyone should read it probably, at least the smart people.
7/10

memorable quotes:
"Every man desires to live long, but no man wishes to be old"

"Judges... are picked out from the most dextrous lawyers, who are grown old or lazy, and having been biased all their lives against truth or equity, are under such a fatal necessity of favoring fraud, perjury and oppression, that I have known several of them to refuse a large bribe from the side where justice lay, rather than injure the faculty by doing any thing unbecoming their nature in office."

If you enjoyed this check out any of the authors on this list:
Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steele, John Arbuthnot, Delarivier Manley, John Gay (playwright), Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding.

All Satirical authors from the same generation. 

The Complete Works - William Shakespeare

One Sentence Summary:

the world is but a stage (where terrible, terrible things happen) and the people merely players (running the gauntlet from "oh my gosh what a sweet heart" to "holy hell can I please jump in and kill him myself")

Review:

Shakespeare is one of a kind, everyone should have some contact with at least some of his work at some point in their lives (out side of those tortuous high school English class read throughs). I will not go into to much detail but I will say 80% of his work is beautiful but the other 20% is a bit difficult to get through. My favourite play to read is A Midsummer Night's Dream, my favourite play to see well done is Hamlet, my favourite play to see awkwardly done is As You Like It (also really good done well, or read but hilarious when done by a high school group who isn't quite sure about much of anything it has a particular charm). The sonnets are all beautiful and meaningful (well mostly, some are rather contrived and confusing). I enjoy most Shakespeare. 

10/10 - 4/10

For memorable quotes Google "Shakespeare quotes"
Shakespeare is a one of a kind so I have no suggestions for further reading 

War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

One sentence summary:
"If everyone fought for their own convictions there would be no war." Review:
I read this the summer I was 17, a lot of it went over my head but it was a beautiful read. This novel is one of the ones that most people like me read because they are supposed to read it and through reading it come to a different understanding of the world (over my teenage summers I tackled one big work a year, The Complete Works of Shakespeare  Les Miserable, Moby Dick, War and Peace, Don Quixote  and a collection of philosophical studies). This was well worth reading, the writing was not as difficult as I thought it would be, the story has ups and downs as well as well thought out characters and relationships. I highly recommend that anyone who is a "reader" read this work, I do not recommend it to anyone else as it would be far to intimidating.

If you enjoyed this you should read the other "classic reads"

"We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom."

Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman

one sentence summary:
A man goes on an adventure...or maybe insane..."I mean, maybe I am crazy. I mean, maybe. But is this is all there is, then I don't want to be sane. "
Review:
The prose and style of this novel is not easily forgotten. Originally a radio drama this was adapted to novel by the original writer as he added in things that he had been forced to edit out of his original story for the radio audience. This novel has imagery that you leave you shaking your heads and you will probably never look at a rat the same way again. It is said that this is a modern version of Alice in Wonderland, it does have a lot of the fantastical elements and a similarly disjointed plot progression. Funny in a subtle, British way this novel will keep you turning the pages and wondering why you hadn't read it earlier. It is one of the most fantasy - fantasy novels I have ever read, that is to say that is feel like fantasy, tastes like fantasy and you will remember it n your day dreams. Such a great story. I recommend it to anyone who thinks theey might enjoy a gritty, dark fantasy novel.
8.5/10

Best Quotes (well some of them...the whole book is a best quote in my opinion):
"He had noticed that events were cowards: they didn't occur singly, but instead they would run in packs and leap out at him all at once."

"You've a good heart. Sometimes that's enough to see you safe wherever you go. But mostly, it's not."

"I have always felt that violence was the last refuge of the incompetent, and empty threats the last sanctuary of the terminally inept."

"Richard did not believe in angels, he never had. He was damned if he was going to start now. Still, it was much easier not to believe in something when it was not actually looking directly at you and saying your name."

if you enjoyed this check out other dark fantasy by:

China Miéville
Terry Pratchett

Sergei Vasilievich Lukyanenko

His Dark Materials Series - Philip Pullman

one sentence summary:
A little girls has to save the world.
Review:
This series was not originally intended to be for children and you can see the authors level of caring decrees toward the end of the series as I imagine the pressure from his published etc increased demanding a kid friendly book .Yes the third book reads like it was written by typewriter monkeys  and mot assuredly not the author who wrote the brilliance of the first. That said the first and second novels are well worth reading. The characters are strong and will stay with you. The premise is darkly wonderful and the settings are so well described you can feel the cold in your bones etc.I recommend this to everyone (at least book 1, not so much book 3)
8/10
10/10 but only if an adult is reading it out loud to the child - otherwise Grade 7 and up would be good

If you enjoyed this you should read

The Oz Series

The Columbus Affair - Steve Berry

One Sentence Summary
A disgraced reporter is tasked with finding a lost treasure that could change the world.
Review
A stand alone novel by an author best known for his series this almost lives up to the standards Berry set himself (with the Cotton Malone Series). Written in his typical "fly by the seat of your pants" action filled style  it is almost as good as Indiana Jones. My only complaint about the writing was that Berry sometimes got into a loop where he would use the same word like 6 times in one paragraph...dude, it's call a thesaurus... use one. The characters were all wonderfully flawed and the action was great. A driven story that will keep you turning the pages. I recommend this to anyone who likes the thriller/action/adventure/mystery genre.
6/10

if you enjoyed this check out
James Rollins
Douglass Preston
Will Adams

1984 - George Orwell

one sentence summary
Boy meets girl, girl changes boy, boy gets in trouble, The End
review
A great look at a dystopian future, showing how society can break itself in a matter of generations. A shifting social norm leads to a nearly unrecognizable England. The perfect book to read during your angsty teenage years to further disenchant you from the rest of the world. The plot was brilliant and the characters were so well developed that they will stay with you for years after reading it. This novel is not about those small ideas though, character and plot have so little to do with the message of the story you can completely ignore them and still take more away from this than almost any other book you have ever read. This book is about humanity and what little hope there is for it. Set on the precipice where politics, psychology and sociology meet this will take you for such a loop that you will change the way you view the world (at least temporarily).
I think everyone should read this.
10/10 because everyone should read it (the writing is not particularly phenomenal, good but not great)

If you enjoyed this check out:
The Time Machine - H G Wells
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
Lord of the Flies - William Goulding

Sookie Stackhouse Series - Charlaine Harris

one Sentence Summary:

Sookie is psychic and meets many other paranormal beings over the course of her long adventure. 

Review:

This series started out strong, lost ground when the TV series started (around book 7-8 i think) but started being better again as the hub bub over the show faded. The character of Sookie is very flawed and if you hate her in the first book don't bother reading any further because she doesn't get any smarter (I found it endearing). I enjoy the politics of the vampires and other supernatural creatures that Harris has dreamed up. I also found Harris' descriptive ability to be above average for the paranormal romance genre.  I recommend it for anyone who enjoys this sort of cotton-candy-read. 

6/10

8/10 (but I would suggest the first one to anyone who likes romance)

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Series - Douglas Adams

one sentence summary:
A rather average human is plucked off earth and goes on an intergalactic adventure
Review:
This is a hilarious romp through the galaxy, Science Fiction for the comic in us all. The plot is out of this world (and nearly non-existence at times), but that won't stop you from enjoying every minute of it. This is a modern classic and everyone should read it. The writing is flowing, descriptive and incredibly creative. The characters are all really well done and the worlds are so brilliantly created that you want to see them in real life for yourself. I recommend this to anyone with a sense of humour. Adams is an author whose name can be listed along side Pratchett, Fforde and Sharpe for brilliantly hilarious Brits.
8/10