23 Book Recommendations to Celebrate 23 Years

My favourite books to date and the impact they’ve had on my life

This past Valentine’s Day, I turned 23. To celebrate, I wanted to reflect on my most memorable and favourite books so far. This list includes children’s books, young adult (YA) fiction, and adult fiction and non-fiction. At first, I thought 23 would be a lot. But as I compiled the list, it was hard to decide what to keep and what to cut.

As I thought about all the books, I couldn’t help but think about my mother. She spent my birthday in the hospital, recovering from a surgery she had on January 22nd. I haven’t been able to do much since she went into the hospital, except reading. She is the reason I love to read; she kindled my passion for books. I have her to thank for this coping mechanism, this escape, and this love.

Without further ado, here are my favourite and most memorable books thus far.

Children’s Books

From kindergarten to middle school, these are my most memorable reads.

1. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

This book is a classic. Goodnight Moon is like a hug. To this day, it lives on my shelf, and whenever I feel down or anxious, I pull it out and flip through the pages. It’s brightly illustrated, lyrical, and a must-read for children. It also creates a nightly ritual of either reading the book or saying goodnight. And there’s no arguing against the importance of a bedtime routine.

Goodnight stars, goodnight air, goodnight noises everywhere

2. Cars and Trucks and Things That Go by Richard Scarry

Where’s Goldbug?

Cars and Trucks and Things That Go was a household favourite. As my mom read, my brother and I would race to find Goldbug. I don’t know if we listened to the story as much as we searched for Goldbug and looked at the illustrations. I’ll always remember Dingo Dog and Officer Flossy putting on snow chains and the watermelon truck. Writing this article makes me want to look for this book.

3. Fox in Socks by Dr Seuss

All Dr Seuss is beloved, but Fox in Socks was my favourite. I remember that our Doberman ate the Fox in Socks school book my brother brought home, and our mom gave them my copy to replace it. The book she bought to replace ours was not the same size as all the other Dr Seuss books on my shelf; it was much bigger. I don’t know why this memory sticks out so much to me, our Doberman ate many things, but it does. Every time I think about Dr Seuss, I think about the bigger Fox in Socks (and my fear of the Cat in the Hat, which I attribute to Mike Meyers).

Some honourable mentions:

• Green Eggs and Ham
• One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish
• Hop on Pop

4. A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

I remember my mom reading this to me, but I don’t remember many details. I know the main character is orphaned and loses her social standing, living in the boarding school’s attic and working as a servant. I credit A Little Princess for igniting my love for historical fiction and, more specifically, the Victorian era. I need to add it to my ‘Want to Read’ before it slips my mind again.

It would be easy to be a princess if I were dressed in cloth of gold, but it is a great deal more of a triumph to be one all the time when no one knows it.

5. The Warrior Cats series by Erin Hunter

Most of all, I thank Erin Hunter’s series for introducing me to Wattpad. As KatClan14, I wrote some of my first fiction pieces and read many other aspiring authors' works because I found warrior cats fan fiction.

Whilst other kids my age adored the Magic Treehouse or Harry Potter, I read about the Firepaw. Housecat turned feral warrior cat. I cried when cats in these books died, which may have been my first emotional response to books, if I’m honest. A lot of imaginary play and writing of my own at this time was inspired by Erin Hunter’s fictional feline universe. Nine then ten-year-old me could not get enough of these books, and I remember anticipating book release dates, another first. If you have a cat-obsessed youth in your life, these books are for them.

6. The Nutcracker

My favourite Christmas season book is The Nutcracker. I have two different editions by two different authors, but the story is similar. A young girl befriends a nutcracker who comes to life and has to defeat an evil mouse king (in the other edition, the nutcracker used to be a boy and must save the king’s daughter to become a boy again). It’s magical, fantastical, and a dream I would have loved to have as a girl. If A Little Princess was my first historical fiction, The Nutcracker is the first true fantasy book I remember. I’ve never seen the ballet, but it’s on my bucket list.

The nutcracker sits under the holiday tree, a guardian of childhood stories. Feed him walnuts he will crack open a tale . . . — Vera Nazarian

7. Dear Canada series

Every break from school, I’d visit my grandma and borrow a thick stack of Dear Canada books from the library. If A Little Princess was my introduction to historical fiction, these were my first love of the genre.

Each Dear Canada book explores a young or adolescent girl's life at a different time in Canada’s history through her diary. The two I remember most are Alone in an Untamed Land by Maxine Trottier and If I Die Before I Wake by Jean Little. Out of curiosity, I’d like to pick up one of these books again to see if I’d still enjoy it as an adult.

8. The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

I include this in children’s because it was part of assigned school reading in grade seven or eight, though it could be YA.

I read many books in elementary school, but the only one I remember is The Outsiders, Ms Fenlong’s class. Afterwards, we had to write poems inspired by the book. I could probably still find my poetry, but I won’t pain you with its perfect rhyming prose. If you’ve ever heard the quote, “Stay gold, Ponyboy,” it’s from The Outsiders.

Sixteen years on the streets and you can learn a lot. But all the wrong things, not the things you want to learn. Sixteen years on the streets and you see a lot. But all the wrong sights, not the sights you want to see.

Young Adult

I started reading YA fiction around 11 or 12 and still enjoy a few books from this genre today. Throne of Glass is a yearly read of mine.

9. The Clique series by Lisi Harrison

I got the summer collection of this series for my birthday from a classmate. I think it’s borderline YA, probably more ages 9–12, and it was the Pretty Little Liars of my middle school years.

The first book of the series is the story of ‘new girl’ Claire trying to fit in and getting terrorized by the popular girls. I think it’s most comparable to Gossip Girl as far as what propels the plotline — drama. These books were my first introduction to luxury brands and modern wealthy lifestyles. My favourite part was how all the girls had their interests that developed throughout the series.

The Clique series was my transition from books about cats living in the woods fighting each other to young adult fiction about vampires in love.

10. The Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer

Here is where my vampire phase started and shortly after became a werewolf phase. I read all four books in a month of summer vacation, I think between grade seven and grade eight, but it could’ve been between grade eight and grade nine.

I read them before the movies came out and became popular. Except for the last movie, Breaking Dawn, I thought the movies were better than the books at the time. Now I can’t get through the movies, so I may have to retry the books. They were most memorable because they were the biggest books I’d read at the time. I fell head over heels for Edward, then Jacob, and then Edward again.

Twilight, again. Another ending. No matter how perfect the day is, it always has to end.

11. House of Night series by P.C. and Kristin Cast

Meyer’s vampire world was PG compared to the Casts’ Vampyres. Thirteen-year-old me was scandalized by Zoey’s relationships and the general relationships in this book, which I think is what makes it so memorable. If you liked Twilight or longed for something less romance and more vampires, then this is the series for you.

12. The Divergent series by Veronica Roth

Here’s an unpopular opinion, the Hunger Games series was overrated. This series was 100 times better. I read through these books in no time and fell in love with the world Roth created, and I loved Tris and Four’s relationship. Although the grand finale, I’ve never been so infuriated with an author’s ending before. I loved dystopian YA fiction. The fewer sci-fi elements, the better. But the end was too bleak even for dystopia-loving me.

13. Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Mass

Spoilers to come . . . this is your warning.

This series is my kind of fantasy and romance. The best love story in post-2000 YA fiction is Celaena and Chaol. It’s Celaena not falling for the prince as was the norm in all the fairy tales and fantasy I’d read up until that point. Another unpopular opinion, but man, do I ship (a term that wasn’t popular when I first read this, I would’ve said I rooted for them) Celaena and Chaol.

Now, I aged out of the series (i.e., had to focus on university) before books four through seven came out, but I loved the first three. I’ve read the first book every year since I won the third book in the series five years ago; that’s how good it is. I’m not a big re-reader, but I’ve re-read the first three books at least three times where this series is concerned.

Loyalty is earned, not given.

14. Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare

When I say “the series,” I mean the first three books and maybe the fourth book. After that, I have no idea what happened, but I was not a fan. Clare lost me with books five and six.

These books had to make this list. I feel like I’d otherwise be betraying my best friends. The Mortal Instruments is one of the only series I’ve read and thoroughly enjoyed that I could talk about with my two friends who were also reading it. Up until this point, I didn’t understand book clubs, but being able to share what you’ve thought about a good read with other people can change your whole reading experience.

Of course, once I entered university studying political studies, I realized that this communal sharing could be better or worse. Still, with the Mortal Instruments series, it was for the better. There’s nothing like sharing good fantasy books among friends.

15. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

This book changed me. Up until this point, as you may have noticed, no “serious” books made my list. I like vampires, then I like dystopian, and then I liked fantasy in general — that’s how I’d explain my YA interests as a YA. In grade eleven or twelve, I picked up The Perks of Being a Wallflower and discovered that there’s a world outside of fantasy. My whole reading world changed right in time to transition from adolescence to adulthood.

We accept the love we think we deserve.

Adult

With the era of vampires and teen fantasy over, it was time to get seriously into any other book. There isn’t much I won’t read now.

16. The Heiresses by Sarah Shepard

Do I love a mystery? Not as much as I thought I did before reading this book. I mean, I read and liked Nancy Drew as a teen, but it didn’t make me crave mystery. This book sent me down the path that leads to The Girl on the Train, Gone Girl, Big Little Lies, and the like. The Heiresses is responsible for my love of mystery and thriller.

I should have encountered Sarah Shepard earlier but didn’t until after high school. I later discovered the Pretty Little Liars series on TV and fell in love, but the books weren’t as popular in high school or my friend group as all the series I mentioned above.

17 . The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

My all-time favourite book, hands down, is The Great Gatsby. I love the jazz age, I love Gatsby, and I love F. Scott Fitzgerald. I read this book at the beginning of the year every year.

I even wrote about it.

She thought I knew a lot because I knew different things from her . . .

18 . The Woman Hanging from the Thirteenth Floor Window by Joy Harjo

This is a poem I read for the first time in my first year of university. I will never get this line of the poem out of my head:

But she is the woman hanging from the 13th floor window, and she knows she is hanging by her own fingers, her own skin, her own thread of indecision.

Few other poems have stuck with me like this one. Another one would be Maya Angelou’s iconic Still I Rise.

19. How to Make Love to a Negro Without Getting Tired by Dany Laferrière, translated by David Homel

The title in its original French is Comment faire l’amour avec un Nègre sans se fatiguer. It was required reading for my Interculturalism in Montreal course, and I must admit the title made me both uncomfortable and sceptical. Little did I know that in 153 pages, I’d be in love with Dany Laferrière and seeking out his other works. It’s political, for starters, exploring both racial and sexual politics, and remains relevant thirty-plus years later.

This Goodreads review is good if you’re interested in finding out more without committing to the book itself.

20. We Have Always Been Here by Samra Habib

This book makes this list because it was my first dip outside my comfort zone. I love memoir and life writing, but the word queer and Muslim are side by side on this book’s cover.

The significance of this was not lost on me. I went to a Catholic high school where the LGBTQ+ community wasn’t necessarily frowned upon or openly talked about; it was more or less non-existent in all narratives and teachings. I couldn’t imagine Islam being accepting and thought correctly, as Samra Habib details in her memoir. It was an eye-opening read at the very least and well-written.

Another honourable mention for life writing that opened my eyes to the intersection of gender and religion is Glennon Doyle’s popular Untamed.

21. Becoming by Michelle Obama

I cannot count the number of times I said, in the past eight years, why can’t Michelle Obama just run for president.

This book explains why she didn’t and never will. It shows that Michelle Obama had her own experiences, her own life, and was a daughter, mother, and wife before and beyond (and after) being the First Lady for eight years.

22. How to Pronounce Knife by Souvankham Thammavongsa

This book is a collection of short stories that explore characters struggling to find their footing in unfamiliar spaces, often dealing with idioms, culture, and values. I read this whole collection in one afternoon, and though that was many months ago, I remember most of the stories like I read it yesterday. Between the worm harvesting and that poor child struggling to pronounce knife, this isn’t a book you want to miss out on if you like short fiction.

From Goodreads:

In a taut, visceral prose style that establishes her as one of the most striking and assured voices of her generation, Thammavongsa interrogates what it means to make a living, to work, and to create meaning.

I often don’t buy books, preferring to borrow them from the library, but this book is on my to-buy list.

23. The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kid

This book taught me an important lesson, don’t judge a book by its synopsis.

From Goodreads:

Raised in a wealthy family in Sepphoris with ties to the ruler of Galilee, Ana is rebellious and ambitious, a relentless seeker with a brilliant, curious mind and a daring spirit . . . When she meets the eighteen-year-old Jesus, each is drawn to and enriched by the other’s spiritual and philosophical ideas. He becomes a floodgate for her intellect, but also the awakener of her heart. Their marriage unfolds with love and conflict, humor and pathos in Nazareth, where Ana makes a home with Jesus, his brothers, James and Simon, and their mother, Mary.

I’ll admit, I didn’t know what the book was about before I started reading it. I hadn’t read the description. If I had, I probably wouldn’t have read it, but I’m glad I did.

The Book of Longings is a fictional imagining of the life of Jesus Christ’s wife if he had one. I read this book in one day and dreamt about it all night. It’s a truly unforgettable story of the women of Nazareth who could have been involved in Christ’s life. The author’s note does a marvellous job at justifying Sue Monk Kid’s narrative and her efforts to fit the period and create believable characters. Above all else, it is a good story about a girl finding her place in a difficult time and world.

Honourable Mentions

Like I said in the introduction, choosing only twenty-three books out of all the books I read was difficult, so I chose an honourable mention for each category as well.

The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch

Like Dr Seuss, Robert Munsch is also iconic and, at this point, almost a classic. I don’t know how I was never the paper bag princess for Halloween, but I do know I loved this book. The princess defeats the dragon to save the prince in this one while wearing a paper bag.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

It was hard to choose between this, Alice and Wonderland, and The Book Thief.

Long before I saw the movie, I fell into Narnia through the wardrobe by reading the book. The time I spent thinking about Narnia far surpasses the time I spent dreaming about Alice in Wonderland or The Book Thief. I loved Aslan and Prince Caspian long before the movies too. What child didn’t dream about Narnia?

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

This book is a hit or miss for many people, and I may have enjoyed it more than I would have at any other point in my life because I read it right after The Book of Longings. The whole book is fundamentally a collection of parables, and as a whole, could be taken as a parable about modern life. It’s best to read this with an open mind (and heart).

Conclusion

Libraries reopened in my hometown this week, and there’s nothing like the feeling I get when I enter a library. Now I have six brand new library books on my shelf, waiting to be devoured. This whole list could be different by this time next year but isn’t that the wonder of reading.

Takeaways

• Your children will remember that you read to them, but the books they remember might not be what you expect (will my mom remember the Fox in Socks debacle, probably not)
• You might go through reading phases, which may involve not reading for a while or falling in love with teenage vampires. This is okay. This, too, will pass.
• Read anything and everything. You never know what you may love.
• Judge books by the first fifty to a hundred pages, not by the cover, synopsis, or reviews.
• Books aren’t a one-size-fits-all experience. That’s okay too. That’s what makes them special.

Do you have a list of books that had a big impact on your life? Why not write about them? We’d love to hear from you as we are always keen to take on new writers.