Books are one of the greatest treasures of mankind. Over the years they have become significantly more abundant, and easier to acquire, and now, almost everyone has their favorites, holding a special place on their shelves. Whether someone enjoys reading, is a voracious reader, or does not personally like getting lost in a book, anyone can be inspired and can appreciate the power writing has over the human population, as a whole. With the wave of new genres and fictitious writing in the last few hundred years, comes a whole new realm of imagination and awe. Such allows children to grow up in a world filled with wonder, and books that bring one back to those incredible nostalgic moments are always a serendipitous find. Below are my own personal favorites, read again and again in fascination; each holds its own spot on my shelf.

Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider is a heart wrenching story about a special strain of tuberculosis affecting many of the teenage population. The main character, Lane, is afflicted by this epidemic and sent to a boarding school, Latham House, that would simultaneously keep him away from the unaffected population, to keep the incurable strain away from healthy citizens, and to try to cure him. Then he meets Sadie for the second time, and his outlook on Latham House and his afflictions is completely changed. Optimism is introduced back into his sickly life, and love is both lost and found. The story allows for reminiscence as it is the type that you can find pieces of yourself in, all whilst reading it.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik is a nostalgic book filled with intrigue and a fairytale-like quality that adds to the overall nature and theme of the book. Agnieszka is a young girl living in a quiet valley, plagued by a dark force deemed The Wood. Its influence isn’t entirely known, and Agnieszka’s world and nonchalant acceptance of The Wood changes when a lord called The Dragon, a wizard, takes her away to his tower when certain elements align, making Agnieszka a very important piece in her kingdom, and in the fight for human-kind, against The Wood.

IT by Stephen King is a popular horror book telling a tale of seven unlikely friends, and their fight against the most evil force in their world. It is IT; a fear consuming monster, who preys on the children of Derry, taking their souls and, at the same time, their lives. IT takes the form of a demented clown, but in reality is something much, much more sinister. The adults of Derry disregard the telltale signs, every 27 years. Each scene is as complex and intriguing as the next, filling the reader with spine-tingling trepidation that makes one question the shadows in their own home, and take long side glances at sewers and glistening red balloons. The book twists and turns in one of the most complicated plot lines, creating a mesmerizing story of bravery, friendship and love unseen in many other books.

The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski is a fantasy book about a ravaged man deemed The Witcher. As a Witcher, it is Geralt’s job to hunt and kill the monsters that plague his world, usually for a price. While he seeks them he learns that not everything said to be incurable is as it seems, and that not everything said to be evil is as dark as they say, but that sometimes, on occasion, things as exactly as they have been described and exactly as they seem. It is clear to see why a video game was made, based off the series, as it is the type of world one might want to see, and experience for their self. Geralt’s story is the type to whisk one along, into a fairytale world of politics, purity, and promiscuity

The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury is a gem of a book. It tells a twisted story of a man tossed away by his unwelcoming society. Most recently, he was fired from a circus, as people began to fear him, and what he had to show. He has tattoos. The tattoos move, change, and tell stories of the future and of the dark possibilities that mankind could delve into. The book has a semblance of a plot line, telling the stories of each tattoo, as an onlooker gazes upon the man’s sleeping form, but it also seems like a collection of short stories; knotted fiction, that tells of the evil that lies as a possibility in every human being, the darkness that we must all carry as the human race.