The Best Novels I've Read

The Best Novels I Have Read

Introduction:

For the past three years I have been an aspiring author and avid reader. The following books are from varying genres, varying publish dates and varying popularity. I have made the list in descending order in terms of greatness; that's not to say that the books at the top of the list are bad. All the books that have made my list, I would highly recommend that you give them a chance, whether you think the book or author is overrated or too unknown for you. I have searched and I am still searching. It's my goal to kindle a desire in reading that I have never had until three years ago. Please enjoy my list.

(This list is a work in progress; eventually I'll add pictures and better descriptions of the books, as well as new books.)

69. Roadwork by Richard Bachman (Stephen King)

68. The Running Man by Stephen King
 

67. Firestarter by Stephen King

Thus far, Firestarter—out of the seventeen Stephen King books that I’ve read—has been the most non-SK book; it reads more like a Michael Crichton book, not just in content, but in the way he writes. It’s a straight-forward on-the-run-from-badguys premise.

66. The Willows by Algernon Blackwood

It's H.P. Lovecraft meets with H.G. Wells. It's about two men on an island and one of the men thinks the trees are moving--as in the act of covering ground. Are they? And if they are moving, then what are they? It's a hard book to read because of the vocabulary is really old English, but it's a fairly quick read.

65. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

64. The Dead Zone by Stephen King

This book is Firestarter’s twin brother—assuming that Firestarter is a female; I make this allusion for a few reasons. Firstly, they’re back to back; secondly, in King’s early career, they were both (in a sense) anti-war books, and politically charged in general.

The Dead Zone is anti-climactic and the ending is odd . . . but I think it’s a good sort of odd.

63. The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells

Frankenstein is to resurrecting the dead as The Island of Dr. Moreau is to genetically splicing, or chimeras. A guy is the only survivor of a shipwreck and ends up on an island in which a doctor is genetically modifying animals and turning them into humanoids; it's a very odd book but a classic in science fiction.

62. The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov

Asimov is the Godfather of science fiction, and this book is the first entry in his robot series. It’s a science fiction detective story. Some of his writing is very vague; but I think it’s because he was explaining things that he did not completely understand himself. However, the dialogue is where Asimov excels at, and the plot twists.

61. Cujo by Stephen King

60. The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower by Stephen King

The best way to describe The Dark Tower VII compared to the rest of the series is by saying it's a bitter cup to swallow. For the entire series, Roland and his ka-tet (Eddie, Susannah, Jake and Oy--along with Father Callahan from 'salem's Lot) have been traveling toward the Dark Tower. And now their destination is finally reached.

59. World War Z by Max Brooks

WWZ is a very a novel of loosely connected short stories about different scenarios; it’s overrated, too. But, as a zombie fan, beggars can’t be choosers . . . and until a good zombie book comes out, this’ll do, this’ll do.

58. Fevre Dream by George R. R. Martin

57. Let The Right One In by John Ajvide Lindquist

56. At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft

55. Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix by J.K. Rowling

The reason for it to be so low on the list is the fact that Order of the Pheonix is about one-hundred pages over-bloated. But, it still has its moments.

54. Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King

Hearts in Atlantis is a compilation of short stories that are loosely connected. Low Men in Yellow Coats is the best of the short stories--and the first one; it's also the short story that the Anthony Hopkins adaptation is based off from. Low Men is also one of the best of the Dark Tower "connection" books.

53. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

52. Watchmen by Alan Moore

51. The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

50. 11/22/63 by Stephen King

49. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

48. The Wind Through the Keyhole (a Dark Tower story) by Stephen King
 

47. 1984 by George Orwell

46. Baltimore, or the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire by Mike Mignola

If you love Guillermo del Toro, you'll love this book. It's one of the first books I've ever read and it got me into reading.

45. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

44. 'salem's Lot by Stephen King

43. On The Beach by Nevil Shute

It's the post-apocalyptic book that your girlfriend or wife or sister would like; and likely she'd like it more than you.

42. A Door into Summer by Robert A. Heinlein

41. Carrie by Stephen King

40. Child of God by Cormac McCarthy

39. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

38. The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King

37. Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin

This is the first book that I felt a feverish sweat upon my face when the intensity starts kicking in to
toward the middle of the book. It's one of the most terryfing books I've ever read (and as you can see, there's quite a few Stephen King books on my list).

36. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

35. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

34. The Long Walk by Richard Bachman (Stephen King)

33. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

32. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

31. Outer Dark by Cormac McCarthy

30. The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah by Stephen King

One of the most riskiest books of any franchise due to a certain character . . .

29. The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King

28. No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

27. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

26. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

25. The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury

24. The Thief of Always by Clive Barker

23. The Shining by Stephen King

22. A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

21. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

20. The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands by Stephen King

This third entry in the series is when things start getting bizarre in terms of genre and pacing. If you read the entire franchise back to back, the beginning of this book will likely feel odd and out of place. And then when things start to make sense, the pacing shifts again and now you're back in 1999 in the perspective of Jake--who died in the first novel. The first half of this novel is about Jake trying to come back to Mid-World from New York. Essentially, due to an event from Drawing of the Three, Jake is reborn in another world. And both Roland and Jake know it.

The best way to describe this novel is "genre bending."

19. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

18. Danse Macabre by Stephen King
A companion piece to "On Writing." Do you want to write/film horror, science fiction, or fantasy? Don't think about it until you read Danse Macabre. It'll expand your mind a great deal.

17. On Writing by Stephen King

If you want to be a writer, then this is the must-read book; and it should be your "guideline" to your mentality in daily writing and long-term writing.

16. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

This was the turnaround point in the HP series; this was when the series really got dark. And for that, this deserves to be as high on the list for its pivotal role in the series as a dark catalyst.

15. Swan Song by Robert McCammon

This is the novel that rivals Stephen King's The Stand as the greatest post-apocalyptic horror epic. A lot of people verteran horror readers will say Swan Song has more "heart" than The Stand, and I would agree to a point. In truth, there are more gut-wrenching moments in Swan Song than there are in The Stand. This book is for those who want to read a post-apocalyptic with a supernatural twist and it's a little bit shorter than The Stand. It's highly recommending for those who enjoy the horror genre or the post-apocalyptic genre.

14. Night Shift by Stephen King

13. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows by J.K. Rowling

12. The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger by Stephen King

11. It by Stephen King

It is a very strange metaphor for sex; like the saying “doing it”; it’s also about a shape shifting clown that kills children. Everyone knows the story because Pennywise the clown (from the bad movie) is really the mascot for spooky clowns, right? But, Stephen King’s It is really a deep, spooky, epic of oddity.

10. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

9. A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin

8. The Lord of the Flies by William Golding

7. The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker

6. The Stand by Stephen King

5. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Road is the greatest, simplest Post-Apocalypse story ever written. There's no plot, other than following the road. But it's the story that makes it emotional and powerful. If drinking a stale can of Coke (or was it Pepsi?) is one of the best moments in the boy's life, you know that this world is bleak. I dare you not to cry by the end of this book.

4. Boy's Life by Robert McCammon

One of the most bizarre books ever. It's Wonder Years meets a murder mystery meets adult versions of disney cartoons meets J.J. Abrams' Super 8. It's hard to put a label on this book in terms of genre. It's about a boy and father who witness a truck being pushed into deep lake; the father--who's a milk man--rushes into the lake and he sees that a man is inside, but the man is already dead. The boy sees a cloaked figure off the side of the lake in a shaded area. And from there on, it's about the father's nightmares of the man in the truck, it's about the boy's friends, the boy's bullies, a monster in the river in a community of African Americans feed an animal to every so often (but does it really exist?), it's about music, movies, death, rabid monkeys and dinosaurs and love-triangles and a dead dog that's really alive but should be dead (think Frankenweenie), it's about criminal legends and tales of heroes; it's about a boy's life. Simple enough.

3. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
In my opinion, this is the best book in the franchise because it is the darkest and it's the shortest (that's not to say I don't like long novels--but this novel cuts out all the fat and hits the nail on the head). It's a shame that the film strayed so far from what made this book so endearing.

2. A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin
Let me begin by saying that this is a landmark in dark fantasy. A Game of Thrones and Clash of Kings--no matter how intense you think they are--is nothing compared to A Storm of Swords. You could say that the entire series is one long novel and that this part of that really long novel is when the rope really starts to get tight with tension. It takes about two hundred pages or so until the pacing picks up . . . and then you won't want to stop. I guarentee you that.

1. The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass by Stephen King

Wizard and Glass is not a conventional entry in a series. We completely take a rest from our journey to the dark tower, and we listen to Roland of Gilead tell a story of his youth. Are we getting closer to the dark tower when he tells his tale which takes up about seventy percent of the novel? No, but perhaps we're getting closer to his redemption.

It's hard to put a finger on why this book is so good; perhaps it's because at the beginning they killed a villainous train AI by telling it dead baby jokes; or perhaps it's the pause in the quest that we've been earning for. Also, aside from the first book in the series, Wizard and Glass is the best written--there's a Cormac McCarthy poetic feel to it.

Ways to Improve The Walking Dead (Season Three)

I would like to say they need to bring Frank Darabont (Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Mist) back as lead Producer, and occasional director (wouldn't it be nice to see him direct the first episode of every season?); but it's unrealistic to hope for such things, because it must have been a pretty good reason for him to leave. Maybe he disagreed with them trying to stretch the season into twelve episodes instead of six episodes, like season one. That doesn't necessarily matter whether he disagreed with it or not (which he probably did), but what matters is that I* disagree with it (I wanted to say fans, but I can't speak for them, I can only speak for me), because stretching out a season also means a lesser budget for each episode (and less zombies for you hardcore zombie fans), and it usually will mean the season will be slower--unless, of course, a lot of ground is traveled within the twelve episodes--but with The Walking Dead (Season 2), that's not the case because they've stayed on the farm for the entire season and the first half of the season was incredibly slow paced. So, the point is: yes, stretching out six episodes to twleve episodes has its flaws, but we don't know if it's the reason Frank left the show.

Wiith that being said, these are some things that could help the show:

1. Writing

During Comic-Con 2011, Joe Hill (while promoting his own Graphic Novel series called Locke & Key) talked about his and his father Stephen King's interest in writing for the third season of The Walking Dead. And if Glen Mazzara wants to at least fill halfway into Frank Darabont's shoes, he needs to take the father and son up on their interest in writing for the show. Not only would it be ideal in writing Rick and Carl's relationship better, but it's because Joe Hill is experienced in writing graphic novels, and therefore he has a respect and insight for The Walking Dead's source material: a graphic novel. Also, The Walking Dead, being a Western with zombies, is right up Stephen King's alley. And I'm referring to The Dark Tower series which effortlessly blends the Western genre with horror, science fiction, fantasy, crime, mystery, etc.. I don't care if they need to give Stephen King his biggest paycheck yet, but they need to get him any way they can. And besides, the writers during this season definitely know how to create tension (a very, very slow burning tension I might add), but they riddled The Walking Dead with too many soap opera elements. It's become a soap opera with zombies; and not the other way around.

If the same group of writers write Season 3 with the same slow pace, I don't care how nicely it wraps up at the end--or how grand the finale is--I won't be satisfied, and that's that. It's not even necessarily about how many zombies are in the show, it's about a vibe. Frank got it (The Mist wasn't a zombie movie, but it had a zombie vibe--and a sort of Survival Horror that Season 2 of The Walking Dead doesn't even come close to having); and Glen, he doesn't understand it (or if he does, he doesn't understand how to obtain that Survival Horror vibe).

2. Chandler Riggs

The way Tom Hardy trained for The Dark Knight Rises, that's how the Producers of The Walking Dead needs to treat Chandler Riggs, the boy who plays Carl. I think all the fans of the show feel the same way; a lot of his dialogue is too forced; he tries to talk in a deeper voice than he has (and therefore hinders his acting ability); he doesn't know how to realistically act in front of Rick and Lori. Part of the problem is the writers of the show giving him lines that they should have realized that Chandler couldn't deliver.

3. Peer Pressure from AMC's Other Shows

I think this is a very subtle, almost impossible to prove theory, but it makes sense. Mad Men thrives off from its relationship drama; Breaking Bad thrives from its intense dialogue and emotional cliff hangers; The Killing thrives (well, it does have a second season) from being a mystery: therefore most of the audience, who are primarily women, who watch the show are pleased, because they want to be fooled over and over and over again. The formula is simple:

the killer who they thought was the killer wasn't the killer so there's another killer = The Killing (S2)

And The Walking Dead looks to its counterparts and . . . it tries to be like them, instead of being what it should be. Look at it this way, Rubicon (a fantistic, compelling show with rich characters, an innovative plot, and was exactly what it needed to be) got cancelled after one season, and the release date on the DVD/Blu-Ray? Your guess is as good as mine. This is what happens to shows that don't comform to the norm: they are assassinated. Maybe it's fear that is holding The Walking Dead back from being what it truly needs to be. In the entire second season of The Walking Dead, there are only two episodes that I thought were pure genius and fit the zombie "vibe." Only two out of twelve. So much of the first half of the second season was trying to build soap opera elements instead of zombie folklore/Survival Horror elements. The fall of Rubicon might have been an element in Season 2's inability to take risks. Although, like I said, it's hard to prove.

4. Location, Location, Location

Season One was half-urban, half-woods. But, really, they weren't in the city for that long. Besides, it was a very short season: only six episodes. Either way, it didn't show enough of either location where you got sick and tired. The writers changed it up per episode. Season Two, on the other hand, will have a unifying effect on most of the fans of the series: GET OFF THE FARM; WE'RE SICK OF IT! The funny thing is, at the end of the season, I almost want them to stay. But it took the writers of the show way too long for this emotional epiphany that was induced when we find out that Hershel is more of a Rambo than we originally had thought (but they should have shown that earlier in the season).

With that being said, it's time to get off the farm. And when I say get off the farm, I mean: if I see as much as one barn in Season 3--uh, let's just say, I might get a bad migrane and puke out blood. Season 3 needs to be almost completely urban because Season 2 has used up the rural setting to the point of depletion; Season 2 is to rural settings as Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood is to oil.

I'm not a fan of the graphic novel series, but I think the escaped prisoner story arc could be interesting. And then I keep hearing something about a character called The Governor. Either way, Season 3 needs a setting that we won't get sick of, and it needs to have quicker pacing. We already know the characters, so we don't need an entire episode of character "A" stuck in location "B" and having him talk to imaginary friend "C"--we just need the show going back to its zombie roots using a good location to its utmost usage.

And weather. Maybe some snow wouldn't be such a bad thing.

5. This and That

Essentially Season Three could be something compelling. And in all honestly, the second season of most TV shows are usually kind of weak, because it's the "in-between" season. Almost always Season's three and four are really when it picks up. So hopefully The Walking Dead follows that trend. But it can't if it continues the way it's going. Even cinematic elements like cinematography have sort of sat in the back seat this season. There were really none of the "awe" moments that the first season had; and back to the my third point, if The Walking Dead should take tips from any show, it should be Breaking Bad in terms of the cinematography.

Last but not least, if Frank can't come back to direct the first episode of next season, why don't they try to find another A-List director? David Fincher, anyone? Or maybe someone completely qualified but unlikely, like Christopher Nolan's brother Jonathon? Jonathon has shown interest in television with Person of Interest. So is it that unrealistic that they would be able to have Nolan co-write and direct the pilot episode? Not at all. In all honesty, I'd love to see Zach Snyder direct the first episode for Season Three, too. I mean, Dawn of the Dead (2004) has been the only good zombie film in the last couple decades (28 Days Later doesn't have zombies in it, so it doesn't count, remember? They're infected with rage; they're not dead and you can kill them in ways other than damage to the brain--ergo, not zombies--but it's still a great film); in fact, the remake of Dawn of the Dead has been the greatest zombie movie since the original Dawn of the Dead . . . that's three decades!

6. In Conclusion: What They Should Do From Now On

If they can't get Frank back, they need to find a special guest director for episode one (some other good ideas: David Cronenburg, Neill Blomkamp, Guillermo del Toro, heck, even Eli Roth if they make sure he doesn't add a million F*** bombs in the script).

And Stephen King is a must-have on the writing staff. He's the most successful horror writer of All Time; they need to have him. Pay the man and his son whatever they ask for (which probably won't be that much) and have them work on the story for Season Three.