books!

[brandied_plum]

Okay. I've been meaning to do this for ages:

BOOKS I THINK EVERYONE SHOULD READ

• The Secrets of Jin-Shei by Alma Alexander
  A wonderful book that centers on Tai and her circle of jin-shei, sisters of the heart. It begins when Princess Antian, who is to one day be Empress, asks Tai, a seamstress' daughter, to be her jin-shei sister, a decision that ends up changing the course of the empire. I absolutely adore this book and think that everyone should read it at least once.
  
• The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier
  What if there's a world you go to when you die, but you only stay there for as long as there is still someone alive who remembers you, and then you move on? What happens when everyone on earth is dead except for one person? The book switches between following the last person alive on earth and all the people she remembers in the after-life world.
  
• On the Banks of Lethe by James L. Grant
  This is an amazing book that I never wanted to put down when I was reading it. I bought it from the author (the artist of Two Lumps) at A-Kon last year. It is a great book about (from the back cover) "memory, betrayal, trust, two pennies and a dead man." I was captivated from the first line all the way through to the final pages, which left me speechless.
  
• I Never Promised You a Rose Garden by Joanne Greenberg
  A wonderful book that explores mental illness from the patient's point of view, as Deborah struggles to return to the world of sanity and mental health, with the help of a caring doctor. From Deborah's struggles with her illness to her family's reactions to it, it is simply an amazing book.
  
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
  Another book that examines mental disabilities, this book follows autistic teenager Christopher Boone as he tries to find out who killed his neighbor's poodle.
  
• Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore
  Oh, sure, the four famous gospels tell us all about Jesus' birth (with a little bit about his childhood) and his teachings and crucifixion as an adult, but what happened in those "missing" years in between? Enter Levi, who is called Biff, Christ's childhood pal. While Joshua (aka Jesus) is traveling the world during those formative years, figuring out what he's meant to do, Biff is there with him, and now he's writing his own gospel about the experience.
  
• The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
  Henry De Tamble is a librarian with "chrono displacement" disorder: without warning, he'll end up somewhere in the past or future. His wife, Clare, first met him when he was in his thirties and she was six, but he first met her when he was in his late twenties and she was in her early twenties. Confused yet? It's a wonderfully written story that is a science-fiction-love-story-character-study all wrapped up into one.
  
• My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
  I've already written about this book here, so I won't re-iterate myself here.

Of course, this list is by no means complete. For example, I didn't include books that you would generally read for literature classes. These are just books that I absolutely love, that are incredibly well-written and have a great story, and that I think everyone should read at least once in their life.