The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien

One Sentence Summary:
A Hobbit meets a wizard and some dwarfs, they go on an adventure and he finds a magic ring.

Review:
I first read this when I was 10-12ish and then I re-read it when the movies were coming out in 2001. I liked it best when I read it as a child. The tone and language of The Hobbit is much easier to read than that of the Lord Of The Ring Trilogy which makes it accessible to everybody. It is a grand adventure that draws the reader in and doesn't let go until well after that last page has been turned. I recommend this book for everyone and I advise everyone take the opportunity to read it out loud to any children in your lives.

9/10
10/10 Middle School - especially boys. 

Notable Quotes:

“May the hair on your toes never fall out”

If you enjoyed this and are young I recommend:

Percy Jackson & The Olympians - Rick Riordan
Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman
Inheritance Cycle - Christopher Paolini

If you enjoyed this and are an adult I recommend:

(continue with) the Lord of the Ring Trilogy - J. R. R. Tolken
Wayfarer Redemption - Sarah Douglass

A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

One Sentence Summary:

A thirty-year-old man lives with his mother and feels misunderstood by the world.

Review:

My mom bought this book for me when I was in high school and not doing very well at life. I was sad all the time and found life hard, like getting out of bed was a challenge every single day let alone functioning as a human. I am not going to say that this book cured me of my depression because it didn't but it really did help, a lot. This book is hilarious, it pokes fun at life and helped me realize that life is not a tragedy it is a comedy. Once you look at life as a comedy it becomes much easier to live. You really should hate the antagonist but you can't help but love him (or at least not wish him death...most of the time) even though he is a total ass. This novel is so well written it caused me to change my outlook on life, but not everyone would like the style of the book. It is very self-deprecating and whiny  which I normally would hate but because it is framed in humour I loved it.

8/10

Notable Quotes:

“Is my paranoia getting completely out of hand, or are you mongoloids really talking about me?”

“I mingle with my peers or no one, and since I have no peers, I mingle with no one.”

If you enjoyed this try:

Catcher in the Rye - J D Salinger (Dunces has been called Rye for a new generation... I don't really see it but you can read it yourself and make up your own mind)
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal - Christopher Moore
Good Omens - Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

The Kingkiller Chronicle - Patrick Rothfuss

The Name of the Wind

This was a penetrating work of fantasy and I loved it. Rothfuss is a brilliant writer and the voice he gives to Kvothe is very accessible even though Kvothe has had many more adventures than one lifetime allows. Basically Rothfuss creates a world you don't want to leave and characters you want to be friends with in real life. I don't want to say any more so go read the book and find out for yourself.

9/10

If you enjoyed this you should read:

The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch
A Song of Ice and Fire Series - George R R Martin
The Shannara Series - Terry Brooks

Life of Pi - Yann Martel

I enjoyed Life of Pi, it was well written and the story was one of those you can not put it down until you finish the book. I loved the way that Martel used the boy to explore east meets west spiritualism and the way that we shape our own destiny. I never thought that I would find a book about a ship wrecked boy this gripping, especially one featuring so many zoo animals. I don't want to give away the ending but I will say it made me cry.

I admit I goggled for this quote but if you like this quote you will like this book so read it:

“The world isn't just the way it is. It is how we understand it, no? And in understanding something, we bring something to it, no? Doesn't that make life a story?”

7/10
9/10 coming of age story - High School

Bonus quote:
“If you stumble about believability, what are you living for? Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer. What is your problem with hard to believe?” 

If you enjoyed Life of Pi you may also like:

The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
The Island of the Day Before - Umberto Eco

Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts

I enjoyed this story but didn't love the writing style. It felt very whiny to me, "oh, woe is me, my life sucks." Well with the shit you pulled you deserve your life to suck. I think if I had gone into it not knowing that it was the authors real life story I would have enjoyed it much more and been less frustrated with the tone of the protagonist.   But that said, the story it self was great, the descriptions and details were plentiful and Roberts was successful in creating a vibrant India that is sure to go onto the travel wish list of anyone who reads his work. My biggest peeve with the book was the writing style, it read like a well edited teenagers story, so full of similes and glaring metaphors that I wanted to reach into the and smack the author.  The reason this "style" of writing bothered me so much in this case was because of how much focus had been put on the brilliance of the author, I am sorry if you are a brilliant author I expect your writing to be better than those who write for Harlequin (and as we all know I do like me some trash).

6.5/10 (Adventure / Travelogue)

If you enjoyed this (I will assume it was because India is awesome) you may also enjoy:

A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mystry
Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
Untouchable - Mulk Raj Anand (this is more historical and made me very upset when I read it but is brilliant)

Pillars of the Earth / World Without End - Ken Follett

9/10

Pillars of the Earth 

This epic (I am pretty sure it is long enough to be called an epic) was so well written I found myself rereading the physical descriptions of buildings, town, spaces and people over and over to visualize it just as Ken Follett had intended it to be imagined because it just felt right. I didn't read this book until after its counterpart had been released in paperback in 2008ish. Follett did an amazing job of painting the characters in such a way that you, as a reader, get drawn into the cultural politics of the twelfth century. I also enjoyed the way he developed the characters through greed and desire to point to the hypocrisy of power and religion. It takes an amazing story teller to make you feel sympathy for the "bad guys" and Follett does this better than almost anyone (except for William I hate him, he gets no sympathy), the way he crafts his characters makes it difficult to finish the book because you feel like you have made new friends and don't want to say goodbye to them.

8.5/10 (Historical Fiction 12th century)

World Without End 

This second book takes up two hundred years after the first one and is even better in my opinion. I loved it! I was going to take a break from historical fiction after The Pillars of the Earth but then I didn't and was I ever glad I didn't - this book was amazing. The characters were great as I have come to expect from Follett but this had even more unexpected events which made it into a real page turner. It seems that Follett has done an even better job of touching on historical events to add a layer of authenticity in this novel than he did in the first one (and I was impressed with the first one as well).

9/10 (Historical Fiction 14th century)

If you enjoyed these books try:

The Cousin's Was Series - Phillipa Gregory 

Game of Thrones Series - George R R Martin

The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco 

The Circle Trilogy - Nora Roberts

4.5/10
7/10

Morrigan's Cross (Book 1)

The first novel in this trilogy does a pretty good job of catching your interest and making you want to know more about the characters as they cross time and worlds. The premise of the story is that the gods (Celtic goddess Morrigan to be specific) have called forth a group of six to battle the darkest daemons (Vampires) and to keep them from taking over the worlds. The six, as we would expect from Nora, begin pairing off into couples. The couple in this first book is an 11th century sorcerer and a modern era witch from New York. They overcome their trials and predictable become stronger together.

3/10 (Romance / Fantasy)
6/10 

Dance Of The Gods (Book 2)

This second book in the trilogy was the wittiest with the couple it focuses on playing off each other like a pair of comedians. Unfortunately it was not as "well written" as the first book in the trilogy, but it did have a much more entertaining couple. The couple in question is a daemon hunter from Chicago and a shape shifting lord from the world of Geall, a parallel land to ours. The banter between them was priceless at times.

4/10 (for the witty banter this gets a higher rating than the first)
8/10

Valley of Silence (Book 3) 

This was the best book in the trilogy in my opinion. I really enjoyed the characters of the scholar and vampire and the way they related to one another. Also this novel was set in Geall and everyone was gearing up for the big battle (which was at the very end of the book making the conclusion "where are they now" a little to short for my liking). Getting to learn more about the pedophile vampire queen disturbed me and made me root even more for the circle of six. I also like the dragons. 

6/10 (but you really have to read them all to like this one)

8/10

If you enjoyed this trilogy you may also enjoy:

The Wynette Texas Series - Susan Elizabeth Philips (if you most enjoyed the banter between the characters)

The Key Trilogy - Nora Roberts (if you liked everything about this series)

The Wayfarer Redemption Series - Sara Douglass (if you like the fantasy aspect of it but crave better writing)