The following are books that I’ve found uniquely good for one reason or another; I recommend them in no particular order.

For the most part I limited myself to recommending one book per author, or one series, but if you give the book a try and like it then you’re likely to enjoy the rest of that author’s catalogue.

Click here to skip to Nonfiction.

Fiction

I mostly read science fiction and fantasy, but, as you’ll notice pretty quickly, my tastes aren’t solely confined to those sister genres.

A warning for parents: some of the below books feature strong language, graphic depictions of violence, sexual content, and/or other content that might not be safe to hand to a teenager (or child) without parental vetting. Most don’t, but it still might be worth your time to give a book a skim-through, or check out a parents’ guide website, before handing the book off to a child. I won’t go into detail on objectionable content in my blurbs below (for the most part) since that isn’t the point of this list of recommendations, but I also don’t want to risk anyone getting into a book with content they aren’t comfortable with.

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1984

George Orwell is a seer, and the books he’s written are terrifying when overlaid upon the modern world. 1984 itself isn’t the easiest read, and I wouldn’t claim it’s a book most would choose to read for entertainment, but it’s very challenging and very deep.

A Man Called Ove

A character study of an old, grumpy Swedish man who seems quite dislikable initially, but soon will build a central place in your heart for himself. (Author: Fredrik Backman.)

After Moses

Michael F Kane has crafted some exceptionally deep, thoughtful science fiction in After Moses and its sequels. These books had me tearing through pages at literally any chance I had—while cooking dinner, while on a walk with the kids, while in line at the grocery store, and more. The sci-fi itself manages to feel fresh and interesting without needing to be utterly groundbreaking, and the story weaves in deep ideas, hard moral decisions, and religious pondering all without getting preachy or slow-paced.

That all said, what will really bite into you and never let you go are the characters. The whole crew of the Sparrow is fascinating and engaging—even the characters I initially had little hope for. There is such variety packed into the core cast of five that anyone will be able to instantly connect with an easy favorite, giving time for the other characters to grow on you.

Beyonders

Brandon Mull‘s debut series Fablehaven disappointed me. I loved it initially—but later books got a little too “fairies and unicorns and rainbows” for my taste, and I felt like Seth was unjustly punished by the narrative in the final book. (Yes, he made mistakes that he needed to atone for, but altruistic ambition and a willingness to take personal risks should not be condemned. Those are dangerous but necessary virtues, particularly in boys and men.) As such, I decided to write Mull off as an overhyped author.

Then my family persuaded me to give Beyonders a try, and I found these books so thoroughly excellent that I had to grumpily admit two things: (1), Mull knows what he’s doing and I just didn’t like the choices he made in other books; (2), it still was possible for Middle Grade fantasy to appeal to me.

Also, I’ve intentionally had several Brandon Sanderson books signed by Brandon Mull over the years—and visa versa—and I don’t know why I enjoy this little subversion so much, but it delights me.

The Blacktongue Thief

The Blacktongue Thief is some of the darkest, grimmest fantasy I’ve ever read. Black enough that I’m not sure I’ll ever read anything else by Cristopher Buehlman, or even reread this book. But I can’t deny the effect a single read-through had on me, leading me to put it on this list despite it being pretty far beyond what I usually tolerate in terms of objectionable content. Holy cow, this was an exciting ride in a massively creative, and crushingly depressing, world.

If you like your goblins creepy, inhuman, and unapologetically evil… Wow. Just wow.

Blindsight

Peter Watts is one of the most misanthropic authors I’ve ever had the misfortune to learn about. As well, nearly everything I’ve read of his was miserable, far too obsessed with rolling in the mud and filth of his dismal view of the human condition. If humanity truly were as rotten as Watts appears to believe, I don’t think our ancient ancestors would have ever escaped the first cave they crawled into for shelter, and thus would have suffered ignominious starvation well before even dreaming of sailing the stars.

Blindsight just… works, though. Probably in spite of the above. It’s an utterly depressing view of the future of humanity, but an engrossing read nonetheless, some hard science fiction that takes two or three reads to fully absorb—and it has some of the most deliciously alien aliens I’ve ever read. Seriously, Watts’ aliens feel more other than many Lovecraftian creations, despite having clear inspiration from marine life on Earth.

Call of Cthulhu

I love just about everything HP Lovecraft—his stories can be so creepy and unnerving! It’s no surprise to me that his written words have inspired so many generations of creatives.

And the best part? Pretty much everything Lovecraft is entirely free and fully accessible online!

Chloe’s Kingdom

I wrote a massive review on Chloe’s Kingdom somewhat recently (relative to when I first put all these books up on this page), so I’m having a difficult time distilling my thoughts as I have with other books. Let me attempt to pitch this book with fragmented sentences: Sci-fi heist. Colony space ship. Big twists. Burritos. And a lovable raccoon. (Author: Gregory Michael.)

Congo

Most people know Michael Crichton for Jurassic Park—which was a genuinely excellent book—but I think Congo edges it out for me. Both provide a lot of exciting sci-fi adventures and multiple memorable characters that you want to see succeed, so you can’t go wrong either way, and the same holds true for just about every other Crichton book I’ve read.

The Diamond Throne

David Eddings crafted an enduring masterpiece with both the Elenium and the Tamuli. Both of these trilogies are utterly hilarious—I’d put them up there with Prachett, although it’s a different kind of humor. They are also unlike just about any other fantasy series you’ll read. This is because, throughout the books, the good guys pretty much universally have the upper hand over the bad guys… and yet, a race against time pretty much always guarantees there is an appropriate sense of tension and stakes when needed.

The Dragonbone Chair

There’s a reason so many major fantasy authors—such as GRRM and Brandon Sanderson—cite Tad Williams as a major source of inspiration in their books. When this guy writes epic fantasy, it is epic. Unfortunately, it also falls into the ills that certain other epic fantasy series (such as Wheel of Time) do, which is a little too much word count dedicated to walking from point A to point B with not a lot happening in between. That doesn’t stop me from happily and sincerely recommending this book, though.

Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight

No Dungeons and Dragons–derived book that I’ve ever read will blow your mind or change your world, but that doesn’t stop many from being engaging, well-written stories—maybe not ever S-tier, but pretty consistently B and A, which is worth your time. That said, the first Dragonlance books are up there among the best of genre fantasy in general and, given the number of books Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman have written, a reader who dove deeper than I could get lost for a very long time…

Dune

I don’t even know how to describe Dune. It is both foundational to countless stories that followed it and it reads as fresh and relevant as if it had been written yesterday. It’s a thrilling read that trusts its readers to be able to put the pieces of the world together, to not need to have their hands held. The Atreides, the Harkonnens, the spice… so much of Frank Herbert‘s masterpiece is untouchable, and exists within the cultural conscious even decades after publication.

Just… don’t read the sequels. They kind of ruin it.

Also, I don’t care what Frank Herbert himself says: Paul Atreides is a hero.

Eragon

Christopher Paolini wrote some of the most vanilla bean fantasy of all time when he got to work on his Eragon books—but it’s really good vanilla bean. And sometimes all I want is vanilla bean.

Another advantage of being vanilla? The Eragon books are really good gateway fantasy books for young readers.

Furies of Calderon

Codex Alera is Jim Butcher‘s proof that only quality of writing matters—an author can take “bad ideas” and turn them into truly stunning stories, with enough talent and expertise. In this instance, he took the “bad ideas” of “Pokemon” and “The Lost Roman Legion” and crafted an epic fantasy world with unforgettable characters, dizzyingly high stakes, and some of the most incredible fights you could ever read.

Also, the Canim are one of the best fantasy races invented by a modern author, hands-down.

The Giving Tree

He may look kind of scary, but Shel Silverstein is the one poet I willingly read growing up, and probably the one poet I would enthusiastically endorse as a whole today. (I have my favorite individual poems from other authors, but I don’t enjoy the genre as a whole.)

The Giving Tree isn’t a book of poetry, but it reads a little like poetry. It’s also the shortest book on this list, being a children’s novel that I’d read to a two-year-old (and have)—and also a two-hundred-year-old, for that matter. This story of a tree that gives everything, and a boy that, seemingly, takes everything, is loved and hated in equal measure; I fall into the perspective that it is a beautiful, somewhat haunting, and oddly deep book about sacrifice.

Going Postal

Going Postal was my introduction to Terry Prachett‘s Discworld, which resulted in me doing my best to hunt down the rest of the series. (I have yet to read all of them.) Fantasy has rarely made me laugh so consistently—although the aggressively British humor of these books sometimes leaves me scratching my head more than anything else, I must admit.

The Great Divorce

Most people would probably categorize this under “religious reading,” but I’m splitting my book recommendations into fiction and nonfiction, and CS Lewis himself has made it pretty clear that this book is not at all how he imagines heaven actually being, so here it goes. The Narnia books would be a better read for most people, but no work of fiction has ever given me such grand—dare I say, divine—feelings and briefest of gargantuan perspectives as The Great Divorce.

The Screwtape Letters are pretty excellent as well.

Gregor the Overlander

More excellent middle-grade reading, although I haven’t revisited this series to see if it pretty much exclusively can be enjoyed by those of middle school years or if it appeals to adults equally well. Regardless, I remember Suzanne Collins‘ work very positively.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

JK Rowling‘s wildly successful series needs no introduction. Long story short, while I don’t enjoy it on reread as much as other stories on this list, it’s still really good, and it’s incredible introductory fantasy.

The Hobbit

I have a wicked confession to make: I have never read The Lord of the Rings. I’ve attempted on multiple occasions and have yet to finish The Fellowship of the Rings.

I still have a deep, abiding respect for JRR Tolkien, however—who, by all accounts, was an even better man than author (which is quite high praise). His book that has clicked for me is one of his more humble works; I reread it most years. In fact, The Hobbit is the first book I remember reading to my eldest daughter. She was an infant at the time, so who knows what good it did her, but apparently my wife would hide outside the bedroom to hear me read, and that ultimately led to me reading to my wife every night for quite a long time.

Homeland

Much of what I said about Dragonlance applies to RA Salvatore‘s Drizz’t Do’Urden books. Just dang good reads that belong on nearly any fantasy-lover’s shelf.

I Am Not a Serial Killer

Hands-down the best book Dan Wells is known for, and I’ve heard the film adaptation is pretty good—I Am Not a Serial Killer is about a teenager coming to grips with his own sociopathy while also trying to protect his home from a literal monster. I found the first three books of this series darkly gripping, but I wish I had stopped reading after that point.

Malice

Malice, the first book of John Gwynne‘s The Faithful and the Fallen, is my ideal grimdark story. It’s also excellent epic fantasy in a very traditional vein (“farm boy” becomes the chosen hero who must save everyone), makes excellent use of giants as a fantasy race—and everyone is a viking, sort of, which is tons of fun.

The Princess Bride

The Princess Bride is one of those extremely rare instances where the movie and the book are equally good, though for entirely separate reasons. In the book, you get a whole lot more… stuff that I’m so glad was not included in the movie, else it would have become a slog, but that works really well in written form, and greatly fleshes out the world and characters. This is another book I endeavor to read once a year, although if I’m only going to read one of the two I prioritize The Hobbit.

Fun fact: William Goldman wrote the book The Princess Bride and then wrote the screenplay himself. (He also wrote Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid—I liked The Princess Bride much more.)

Promise of Blood

To write Promise of Blood, I think author Brian McClellan asked himself what a world might need to be like for Sanderson’s Dalinar (The Way of Kings) to be a king-killing revolutionary—with a blackpowder rifle. The story sort of writes itself at that point.

Despite some clear character inspirations, Promise of Blood is truly its own beast, however, and makes me wish that black powder fantasy was a much larger genre than it is.

Rowan of Rin

Emily Rodda is probably better-known for her avalanche of Deltora books, but I liked the one Rowan of Rin book that I read better than all the Deltora books. (That’s not a knock on Deltora, though—they were still excellent reading for me in middle school.) Something just felt so much more… personal about Rowan. I can almost say it’s a similar feeling to what I get from The Hobbit, where true heroism comes from people who seem to care about simple, good home life the most.

Sahara

I must admit: this is the only Clive Cussler novel I’ve read, at least at the time of writing this page. But it’s a damn good book. If you want a read in the vein of Indiana Jones or Uncharted (and that, let’s be real, probably inspired those two series), without the magic, then Dirk Pitt is exactly where you want to go.

Sea of Trolls

This might be my most-reread childhood book. Bards, berserkers, trolls—Olaf One-Brow, somehow both terrible and noble. Probably one of the most foundational books I read as a youth, although I didn’t like the sequels nearly as much. (Author: Nancy Farmer.)

The Shining

Everything I’ve learned about Stephen King suggests to me that he’s rotten to the core, but whatever pact he inked with the devil resulted in him being able to write some entertaining books. Or maybe it’s the cocaine. Regardless, of the King books I’ve read, I think The Shining was my favorite, and I think it’s generally worth a read.

Son of the Black Sword

I’m forcing myself to stop retyping this Larry Correia book blurb. First I wanted my recommended selection to be Monster Hunter: Alpha… but I loved the Grimnoir Chronicles so much… At last, I decided that Son of the Black Sword was at least an equal to the others, although comparing the three to each other is in some ways like comparing apples to oranges to… lembas bread. Yes, Son of the Black Sword is epic fantasy that gives you all the epic scope, world building, and political division you could ask for out of the genre, yet reads nearly as quickly as any of Correia’s other high-octane novels, which is a massively impressive feat. (It also has the advantage of nearly entirely cutting out the searing of Correia’s other novels.)

But Alpha is my favorite Monster Hunter International book, and, I think, works exceptionally well as a standalone. But Grimnoir Chronicles has Sully, one of my top favorite fictional characters of all time, along with such delightful alternate history world building, so even now I’m wondering if I should reconsider. Decisions, decisions…

Speaker for the Dead

Everyone knows about Orson Scott Card‘s Ender’s Game, which is a truly tremendous novel, but I prefer the books that come after. Speaker for the Dead comes first out of these, although it didn’t bend my mind to the extent that Children of the Mind did.

The Stranger Times

Be warned: reading The Stranger Times has been known to cause hernias from prolonged laughter. Caimh McDonnell is a dangerous man in this regard.

Theft of Fire

Theft of Fire is one of the best books I’ve ever read, an excellent example of hard science fiction, and the book that persuaded me that independent publishing was the future (for readers and authors). (Author: Devon Eriksen.)

Warbreaker

I’ve given my general thoughts on modern Sanderson in a previous blog post—a fall from grace (which he still has time to correct) does not discredit his previous, excellent work, which ranges from dozens of captivating novels to dozens of hours of free writing lectures on his YouTube Channel. If anything, I hope an outpouring of support for his older work (coupled with a general indifference toward his modern work) will help him wake up.

But that distracts from Warbreaker itself. Is this Sanderson’s objectively best novel? Probably not—I’d argue The Way of Kings is. But it’s my personal favorite Sanderson novel, with my favorite world and magic system, as well as several of my favorite characters. (Also, like the Rithmatist, it’s a true stand-alone gem that, regrettably, I don’t believe will ever get a follow-up or spin-off.)

Watership Down

Watership Down is the The Hobbit of the “small creature on a big adventure” flavor of stories. Which, even among fans of Watership Down, The Hobbit, and other “small creature on a big adventure” stories (such as Redwall), I think I’m the only person to whom that really strikes true, but it’s how I feel nonetheless. In any case, Richard Adams hit a true home run for all ages here.

Nonfiction

12 Rules for Life

I found this a deeply thoughtful read, although I’m not sure I understood everything Jordan Peterson was trying to say. It’s a very, very dense read, after all.

Being Mortal

Atul Gawande‘s novel Being Mortal is an eye-opening account about meaning in mortal life and finding peace with mortality, as well as a stilling revelation about how modern medicine is able to cause far more harm than good when pursued blindly.

The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ

The Book of Mormon is an additional testament of the life and divinity of Jesus Christ. It is a true book, and following the precepts taught in this book will bring anyone to happiness.

Man’s Search for Meaning

How can a man who survived the horrors of the Holocaust still have such hope and faith in the human condition? I don’t fully grasp Man’s Search for Meaning, and if it takes going through the horrors that Viktor Frankl survived to fully “get” it, then I hope I never do. But this book has still brought a great deal of light to my heart and mind.

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion

The Righteous Mind was written by Jonathan Haidt, a self-described liberal (at least at the time of writing this book); it is perhaps the first time in my life where I was able to read about conservative values from a liberal perspective and genuinely believe that those conservative values were both fully understood and fairly represented. It gave me a lot of hope that political and religious divides could be bridged.