I have always been an avid reader. Seriously, I remember when I didn’t have a new book I would turn to an encyclopedia just to have something to read. [sidenote: does anyone even own encyclopedias anymore?]

I have had my slumps where I do not read, obviously, but in the last two years I have been devouring books at an alarming rate. So much so that I decided to finally start using Goodreads to help keep up with what I have read & what I want to read. Because, let’s face it, those are ever-growing lists of books and I just could not keep up.

So today I bring to you a list of my four and five star rated books on Goodreads [although it is not a comprehensive list of all books I have read/recommend]. If you’re on it too, you can follow me here. I am always looking out for fellow bibliophiles for book recommendations!

How I personally rate books:

• 1 star: I either could not finish the book or I kept reading even though it pained me because I was hoping it would get better & it never did.
• 2 star: I read it; I didn’t like it, but I didn’t want to be mean.
• 3 star: I enjoyed the book; it it was neither amazing nor bad.
• 4 star: I really, really liked this book & would recommend!
• 5 star: I would re-read this book tomorrow and forever because I loved it so much & highly recommend it.

Other fun book facts about me:

• I really enjoy sci-fi, fantasy, young adult, & dystopian/utopian fiction, but I do try to expand my reading horizons.
• I love a strong, smart female protagonist.
• I have my guilty pleasure genre: New Adult books. Though most of what I’ve read is not too impressive, they are a nice getaway from epic tales.

Now that we’ve got the basics covered, here is my list of recommended books for you!

Five Star Books:

• Harry Potter series – J.K. Rowling
• Legend series – Marie Lu
• The Infernal Devices series – Cassandra Clare
• And Then There Were None – Agatha Christie
• The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe (part of a series) – C.S. Lewis
• Lady Midnight (part of a series) – Cassandra Clare
• City of Bones –and- City of Glass (parts of a series) – Cassandra Clare
• Outlander – Diana Gabaldon
• Ready Player One – Ernest Cline
• A Game of Thrones (part of a series) – George R.R. Martin
• Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
• Red Queen (part of a series) – Victoria Aveyard

Four Star Books:

*These are broken down into sub-categories because there are so many!*

Entire Series:

• The Iron Fey series – Julie Kagawa
• Daughter of Smoke & Bone series – Laini Taylor
• Six of Crows duology – Leigh Bardugo
• The Raven Cycle series – Maggie Stiefvater
• The Wolves of Mercy Falls series – Maggie Stiefvater
• The Winner’s Trilogy series – Marie Rutkoski
• The Dark Tower series – Stephen King
• Penryn & the End of Days series – Susan Ee
• His Dark Materials series – Philip Pullman

Stand Alone Books:

• The Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
• The Diary of a Young Girl – Anne Frank
• Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
• The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
• The Last Wife of Henry VIII – Carolly Erickson
• The Historian – Elizabeth Kostova
• Unteachable – Elliot Wake
• The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Animal Farm – George Orwell
• Gone Girl – Gillian Flynn
• The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger
• The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Fault in Our Stars – John Green
• Marley & Me – John Grogan
• The Help – Kathryn Stockett
• Before I Fall – Lauren Olivier
• Number the Stars – Lois Lowry
• The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
• Helen of Troy – Margaret George
• The Autobiography of Henry VIII – Margaret George
• Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
• The Female of the Species – Mindy McGinnis
• The Girl on the Train – Paula Hawkins
• The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
• Forbidden – Tabitha Suzuma
• The Girl with the Pearl Earring – Tracy Chevalier
• Lord of the Flies – William Golding

Adult Fantasy/SciFi:

• First Grave on the Right – Darynda Jones
• Dragonfly in Amber –and– Voyager – Diana Gabaldon
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
• A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, A Dance with Dragons, –and– The Winds of Winter – George R.R. Martin
• Wicked: The Life & Times of the Wicked Witch of the West  – Gregory Maguire
• Fellowship of the Ring – J.R.R. Tolkien
• Bloodfever, Faefever, –and– Dreamfever – Karen M. Moning
• Hounded – Kevin Hearne
• City of Stairs – Robert J. Bennett

YA Fantasy/SciFi:

• These Broken Stars – Amie Kaufman
• Written in Red –and- Murder of Crows – Anne Bishop
• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader – C.S. Lewis
• Tales From the Shadowhunter Academy – Cassandra Clare
• Lord of Shadows – Cassandra Clare
• City of Ashes, City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls, –and– City of Heavenly Fire – Cassandra Clare
• Earth Girl – Janet Edwards
• Strange the Dreamer – Laini Taylor
• Poison Study –and– Magic Study – Maria V. Snyder
• The Young Elites –and– The Rose Society – Marie Lu
• The Knife of Never Letting Go – Patrick Ness
• Menagerie –and– Spectacle – Rachel Vincent
• The Assassin’s Blade, Throne of Glass, Heir of Fire, Queen of Shadows, –and– Empire of Storms – Sarah J. Maas
• A Court of Mist & Fury – Sarah J. Maas
• Unspoken – Sarah R. Brennan
• The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
• Carve the Mark – Veronica Roth
• Glass Sword –and– King’s Cage – Victoria Aveyard

Fiction:

• Night – Elie Wiesel
• The Giver – Lois Lowry
• Unravel – Calia Read
• Paper Princess – Erin Watt
• The Girl You Left Behind – Jojo Moyes
• The Notebook – Nicholas Sparks
• The Constant Princess, The Other Boleyn Girl, The Taming of the Queen, –and– The Queen’s Fool – Philippa Gregory
• Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood – Rebecca Wells
• In The Woods –and– Broken Harbour – Tana French
• Romancing the Duke – Tessa Dare

I hope this list helps inspire you to read more or gives you some inspiration for your next read! I did my best to categorize correctly & some of the parts of a series could be read as stand alones, but if you see any major issues with the list, let me know!

If you see some of your favorites on the list, let me know in the comments below!