A Whole Lot Of Books

Aren't books such wonderful things?

They're just a stack of words printed on a stack of paper, but they can open up worlds within our imagination that give us a taste of wonder, and adventure, and freedom that we can't always have in our own lives. They can make us fall in love with characters that aren't even real. They can break our hearts, or fill them up with hope. They teach us lessons about the world around us, the people around us, and even ourselves, that you simply can't learn anywhere else.

And people dare to say that magic isn't real.... *rolls eyes*

As an author, I find it's always important to go back to the books. They're inspiring, really; they show me places I've never seen, introduce me to people I've never met and, ultimately, let me know that it's possible to do the things I long to do.

A few particular books, however, have really shone above the rest for me, and I thought it'd be fun to make a little list to share.

Let's start with the ones that really got me into taking writing seriously:

1. Virals series - Kathy & Brendan Reichs

This is probably the first series I ever became truly obsessed over. I found the first couple of books in the library, but quickly realised it was something I had to have a copy of, myself, and soon enough the entire series was perched on the growing bookshelf at home.

Written by Kathy Reichs, the famous author of the Bones series (yes, the same one that got turned into the equally famous crime tv show), and her son, Brendan, the Virals series is about four insanely intelligent teenagers who's DNA has been altered by a virus intended for canines, giving them extraordinary, wolf-like abilities. They use these abilities to solve murders and other mystery cases, unearth ancient treasure, and escape from criminals and the government, alike. All round, it's a fantastic, edge-of-your-seat read, and the way it's written really pulls you in.

This writing style, and the character development present, has definitely been a huge source of inspiration with my own writing, and let's be honest, it's just a great read :D

2. Medoran Chronicles - Lynette Noni

Akarne was probably one of the first books I ever bought straight from a bookstore, without checking it out in a library, first, to see if it was any good. I saw the cover, and thought to myself 'this is inviting'. And let me tell you, it was one of the best purchases of my life. The complete collection is now sitting high and mighty on the bookshelf, at home, as my all-time favourite series ever :)

Written by Australian author, Lynette Noni (*squeals in Australian delight!*), the series is about a girl, Alexandra Jennings, who finds herself opening a door to a wondrous new world, where there are people with gifts (powers), incredibly advanced technology, and crazy "elves" that want her for reasons that keep everyone guessing. At one point, there may or may not be dragons, which on it's own, is a huge selling point for me. It's filled to the brim with amazing world-building, and loveable characters, and I could honestly go on and on about how brilliant this series is. If you haven't read it yet, I strongly recommend to fix that as soon as possible! Go, my lovelies, purchase or borrow the first book, you won't regret it!

It's definitely the characters that I've taken the most inspiration from, in my own writing, trying my best to achieve that "I love this fictional stranger!" feeling that I get from literally everyone I meet in Noni's books (sometimes, even the bad guys, too...).

So, those two are my favourite series of all time, and definitely my main sources of writing inspiration, but I've been building my collection up over recent years, and so I'll show you a few others that I've really enjoyed along the way:

3. Aurora Cycle - Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Honestly this is beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. It makes me laugh. It makes me cry. It makes me scream. And then laugh some more, because it's goshdarn hilarious. I love it. I can't get enough of the characters, and the plot with all it's twists and turns drives me up the wall with reader's glee. I cannot wait for the next book to come out, because I really need to know what happens! (You just know a book is good when it drives you crazy but you love it anyway.)

4. Alex Rider - Anthony Horowitz

Though I have not yet read all of these, I do now officially own them all, and intend on diving deeply into Alex's adventures. I don't normally stray too far from the fantasy/sci-fi genres of books, but after seeing the movie 'Stormbreaker' based from the first book in this series, I simply had to read it, and it's been great so far! I'm not up to book five, and there's been so much exciting action, and the plots take you for a real spin! Also I want to know where to get some of Alex's cool spy gear, that stuff really needs to be shared...

5. Keeper of the Lost Cities - Shannon Messenger

I was introduced to this series very recently (by my lovely friends on Wattpad) and haven't read them all, yet. But I'm already in love with everything about it, and have since acquired (or am in the process of acquiring) all the books in the series. In fact, I have carved out a special place on my shelf just to fit them all :) I can't thank the people who recommended this series to me, enough, even though I'm now drowning in an ocean full of ships I can't easily pick from (though I'll admit I'm currently leaning a little further towards Keefe....)

It's been a brilliant read, so far, and I'm super excited to see what's going to happen next!

6. The Catalyst - Helena Coggan

This book is most unusual. But no less brilliant because of it. Written by another young, Australian author, the plotline and characters are all incredibly complex, and take you around turns and twists that you never see coming, but tie in very cleverly at the end. There is a second book to the series too, called The Reaction, but I have yet to read that one (I haven't been able to get a hold of it D:).

7. Spirit Animals - Brandon Mull + many others

Though initiated/planned by famous American author, Brandon Mull, every single book in this series is written by a different author, and it's absolutely fantastic to see the same lovable characters written in slightly different writing styles. With an epic plot, and amazing characters (some of whom are extremely powerful spirit animals!) I simply couldn't not buy these books, and now all of the first series, a good half of the second, as well as the prequel and sequel and side-story extras, are also sitting on my now extremely-cluttered bookshelf. There may or may not also be a bird or two present in the series, but I promise that has nothing to do with my bias towards it! Okay, okay... Very Little to do with my biased towards it!

So, I realise now that this blog was meant to be about the books I love and how they inspired me as an author, but I think it may have just ended with me obsessing over a whole lot of great books.... Oh well. Books are great! There's a lot to obsess over.

If you've read the same books and series that I've mentioned above, I'd love to have a discussion with you about why you enjoy them! And if you haven't but you're intrigued by one or more, then I definitely recommend to give them a good go whenever you get the chance.

Happy reading everyone!