Happy Friday, Readers!

Thank you to anyone who has visited or commented on my blog or social media posts this week. The support is greatly appreciated.

Today, I want to discuss some of my favourite books.

I was going to start with a disclaimer about my previous love for the Harry Potter Series and how that has changed since J.K. Rowling's true anti-trans ideology has become more apparent. However, I have decided to write a full-length blog post about that in the future, as I think it's something important that should be discussed.

Now onto books I love. Please note, if there are issues with the author (i.e. Patrick Rothfuss not fulfilling charity incentives), I don't discuss that here. For the sake of this post, I am separating art from the artist.

In order of when the books were introduced to me:

The Witching Hour by Anne Rice

As I mentioned above, in my late teens, I was a Harry Potter fan, which renewed my love of reading, and I was on the lookout for new books to read. At the same time, I was heavily into gothic subculture. One night, my sister and I were looking for something to watch on TV and stumbled across the Interview with the Vampire movie starring Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise.

I was instantly in love.

As soon as I was able, I went to the bookshop and bought as many Anne Rice books as I could get my hands on, absolutely devouring The Vampire Chronicles. By the time I'd read all the Chronicles that had been published, Anne Rice was firmly one of my favourite authors, and I ventured into her other works. I already loved all things witches, so The Mayfair Witches trilogy seemed like a no-brainer.

Ironically, I started the book and could not get into it. I hated that I'd bought this book, by an author I loved, about witches, and I couldn't get into it. I honestly don't remember why; it just didn't pull me in, and I put it down and moved on to something else.

One of these something else's was Blackwood Farm, another book in The Vampire Chronicles, which briefly featured appearances by Rowan and Mona Mayfair.

Mona Mayfair captured my heart completely, and I needed to know more about her and the Mayfair Family, so I tried to read The Witching Hour again.

This time, something clicked. I think maybe the first few chapters aren't a true representation of the book as a whole, and the switching POVs was frustrating for me (ironic given I later fell in love with GRRM).

But once the story got going, I was hooked. I loved the history of the Mayfair Witches and the gothic horror that came with it, and I was intrigued by how that history would affect the current-day storyline and romance between Rowan and Michael.

The Talamasca were fascinating to me, and I wanted to join them. Lasher was equal parts enthralling and terrifying.

The end of the book left me reeling, and I immediately dived into the next, thrilled to see my beloved Mona featured more prominently.

By the time I got to the final book and then read the tie-in/cross-over with The Vampire Chronicles, The Witching Hour had cemented itself as one of my favourite books ever.

The Northern Lights by Philip Pullman

I am super lucky to have a bookworm for a brother-in-law, and when we saw each other during the holidays, we'd discuss our favourite books. B-I-L always mentioned His Dark Materials and recommended I read them. One year, he bought the complete series for me as a birthday gift.

I'm so glad he did.

I instantly fell in love with Lyra, her world, and the idea of Dæmons. I needed to know what Dust was, and how it connected to Lyra, Pantalaimon, and the world as a whole.

Then we were introduced to Iorek Byrnison, and that changed everything. How can you not love an armoured, talking polar bear? That's the point I knew these books were something special.

As I often do with series I love, I jumped from one book to the next in quick succession, so they all blurred into one big story. A story I adored, and still hold close to my heart many years after finishing the series.

The Name of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

The other bookish person in my life is my sister, and we sometimes have a similar arrangement as me and B-I-L, where we recommend books for each other, and buy the recommended books for the other as Christmas or birthday gifts.

The Name of the Wind was one of these books. I think she bought it for me in exchange for me buying her the His Dark Materials trilogy.

Another book of magic and mystery that instantly pulled me in. I spent hours thinking and theorizing about who or what The Chandrian are, and how Kvothe will defeat them. It also helped that Kvothe was a redhead with green eyes—a sure-fire way to win my heart!

A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

By now, it should be clear I love books with magic, mysteries, great world-building, and lore. A fellow Harry Potter fandom friend recommended the books to me, saying that the Lannisters made the Malfoys look like babies in comparison.

I was intrigued.

Then I heard there was going to be a TV show based on the books, starring Sean Bean. I decided I wanted to read the books before I watched the show so that my first impression of the characters and the story was directly from the books.

Comparing the A Song of Ice and Fire series to the Harry Potter series in any way absolutely does not do justice to George R. R. Martin's books, which are phenomenal and one of the best fantasy book series ever.

My redhead-loving streak continues as Sansa Stark became one of my favourite characters. I also have a love-hate relationship with the Targaryen Family and can't decide if they're the coolest people ever or psychopaths. Maybe a bit of both.

Even though the TV series finished on a sour note, and we don't know if and when GRRM will finish the book series, the world of Ice and Fire is so rich and full of lore that I could spend hours reading theories and watching videos about different obscure characters. It's no surprise I'm currently obsessed with the mysterious and witchy Alys Rivers.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I'm one of those people who, when something becomes super popular, I become curious and want to check it out. Sometimes I end up hating the super popular thing (Twilight just was not for me), and sometimes I love it.

The Hunger Games series was one of those 'I love it' times. Although I'd read some YA fiction, I had never read anything set in a world like Panem, and I wasn't sure what to expect.

I had a sort of vision in my mind of what YA books were like (again, Twilight ruined my perception here), and I was expecting a love story set in a war-torn world. Yes, The Hunger Games has that, but oh boy, does it have SO MUCH more. I don't think I've read another book like it that focuses on war, corruption, class systems, and rebellion. It's a series that really makes you stop and think.

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Ghibli movies are my guilty pleasure. When I'm stressed and feeling down, I snuggle in bed and watch one. My favourite is Howl's Moving Castle, so imagine my surprise when I learned it was based on a book.

I also have a soft spot for children's and young adult fiction, especially if it's fantasy. Sometimes you just need something easy and fun to escape into.

I started reading Howl's Moving Castle recently, fully expecting it to be exactly the same as the movie. While it's very similar, there are many key details that make it stand out, and in my opinion, make it better than the movie. Sophie is slightly different, and I liked her much more in the book. Howl is even more of a brat in the books than he is in the movie, and somehow, that made him more endearing. I do love a troubled, broken man. Bonus points if they are magical. ;)

The book is whimsical, light, and easy to read, which for me is perfect. I can switch off and lose myself in another world for a few hours, without having to think too deeply about anything or worry about the world. Perfection.

While these six are just some of my favourite books, if I listed all the books I've read and enjoyed, we'd be here forever. Honestly, I'm pretty black and white when it comes to reading. It either hooks me early on and I become obsessed, or it doesn't hook me and I forget about it.

I can only think of a few series I completed (or nearly completed) that I didn't enjoy. I jump between genres, enjoying both contemporary and other-world stories. Romance is a bonus for me, but not always a necessity. But I'm more often drawn to stories with magic, mysteries, world-building, and lore.

That's all I have for you this week. Now I really should get back to writing my own book, and resist the temptation to play with the new Sims expansion.

Be sure to come back on Monday, for an interview with indie author and graphic designer Clare Bentley.

Until then,

Take care and stay creative.

T.T.F.N.