Ooooh, this one’s a toughy. Can I choose a series of 13 books?
also @spectroscopy, if you want some fiction recommendations I'm yo gal!
I always loved John Flanagan’s
Ranger’s Apprentice Series. My older sister found the series and used to sneak it home from the secondary section of the library for me, because apparently back in the olden days year 5s found the word ‘apprentice’ too complex.
I will always have the guilty pleasure of picking up one of those books and enjoying it like it was the first time I read it. In my opinion, while many children’s books can be described as magic, this series of 13 (and still counting!) is definitely some sort of sorcery.
Actually, good ol’ JF was the author to first introduce little year 5 me into the world of historical fiction and, later, fantasy and epic fantasy, which are now some of my favourite genres (both to read and write), idols being authors like Brandon Sanderson, J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert Jordan and Patrick Rothfuss (let’s not talk about Patrick rn…
fuck you, patrick. you screwed me over.).
HOWEVER//
I finished reading
'Turtles All the Way Down' by John Green just a couple weeks ago, and that book is fast overtaking my love of many other old favourites. (Soon to be my new 'favourite book of all time'??) Definitely a deep and thoughtful read for anyone interested in a different kind of twist to the usual generic ‘boy and girl were childhood friends and they actually like each other and are happy ever after isn’t that funny’.