From My Bookshelf -- Jordan's Favourites

From My Bookshelf – Jordan’s Favourites: Volume 1

If you’ve been following our blog at all, you might remember a “From My Bookshelf” post written by Lisa. Since I’ve accepted some of the responsibility of this blog, I thought providing a list of my favourite books would be an appropriate way to start.

Ellen Hopkins – Identical, Glass, Burned, Impulse

à The first thing you’ll notice when you pick up an Ellen Hopkins book is her unique writing style. Her books don’t read like normal novels – they’re really a bunch of short poems telling a story. This didn’t appeal to me at all at first, but after reading a few pages, I’d forgotten about the once-distracting layout and could not put the book down. Hopkins uses her teen characters to explore many controversial subjects: drug use (Glass), abuse (Identical) and teen suicide (Impulse). While her books are clearly aimed at teens (you can find them here in the Young Adult section), I find them compelling and

John Grisham – A Time to Kill, Bleachers, A Painted House, The Innocent Man

à When anyone asks me what my favourite book is, I answer A Time to Kill by John Grisham immediately. If you haven’t read it, read it. I don’t want to give a summary of the book, because I don’t feel as though I could possibly do it justice, but I will say read it, read it, read it! Other favourites include Bleachers and A Painted House which are two of Grisham’s novels that surprisingly do not involve a court room. The Innocent Man, Grisham’s non-fiction book, was also excellent.

Janet Evanovich – One for the Money, Two for the Dough, etc.

à Meet Stephanie Plum: a middle aged woman living with her hamster, who doesn’t care much for her personal appearance and is a definite klutz… and a bounty hunter? Yep. You might have noticed that I enjoy books with a law and justice theme. This series falls into that theme, but unlike my previous choices, Janet Evanovich’s books have a quite hilarious tone. Evanovich now has sixteen titles in this series, and while I will admit I’m not quite caught up with the escapades of Stephanie Plum, I certainly intend to finish reading the series… someday.

Jeannette Walls – The Glass Castle

I haven’t read a whole lot of non-fiction books, and when I do, it’s usually something from the 364.1523 section. For those of you who don’t speak Dewey, that’s the true crime section. (I know, surprise, surprise…) One day, when I was browsing the Chapters website, I saw this book and ordered it. I loved it! Now, this book holds an esteemed position on my shelf of favourites.

And there you have it, my current favourite books. Feel free to comment – you could leave the titles of your favourite books so I could check them out, or let me know what you thought of the titles above!