Musing Monday

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about the ‘best’ books'.

There’s been some discussion on my blog this week about what should or shouldn’t make a ‘best' books’ list. What elements do you think lands a book in that ‘best’ category? Think of your top 5 best books and tune in next week to see the collated list.

I guess when it comes to picking what I think are the best books it's how much I love the characters that is my ultimate criteria. With some books, I feel so connected with the characters that I worry about them when I'm not reading the book. I become obsessed and spend every spare moment reading, just to find out their fate. Similarly, it's the relationship between characters I really enjoy. Nothing captures my interest more than a well done romantic subplot, and the romance has to be secondary in the story, while still being important. Finally, plot is important. It has to be something that I find very interesting and unique. I can't feel like it's been done before.

Mine may not be classics, but I would be much happier reading these 5 books over and over again for the rest of my life than anything Dickens or Hawthorne or Faulkner ever wrote.

So here they are, my top 5 books:
1. Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier
2. Son of Shadows by Juliet Marillier
3. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
4. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockart
5. Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey

Musing Monday's can be found at Just One More Page.