To a lifelong bookworm, narrowing down your ten favorite series is pretty difficult! Like a lot of readers, I like series books because I enjoy revisiting characters and worlds that I find compelling. I also like the longer plot arcs you can explore with a series!
In the end, I decided to not just pick my ten favorite, but those that I felt had the most influence on me as a reader and a writer. As I looked over the list, I found a great combination of fantasy, history, science fiction, and mystery, all genres that have contributed to my own novels.
There’s no possible way that I could rank these from favorite to least favorite, so I am listing them in the order that I read them. I hope you enjoy!
I think I started this series with my parents reading to me, and I ended reading them for myself. I was a huge Narnia fan, and I still enjoy reading them to this day. Lewis knew how to write for children without writing down to them.
My family has been in the United States for hundreds of years, and I remember my great-aunt telling stories about “proving up” homestead land in the Dakotas as a child. These books taught me not just about my country’s frontier history, but my own family history, as well.
A classic for any little girl! I devoured these books, and reveled in solving the fantastic mysteries that Nancy solved with her friends. A smart girl’s literary candy.
The series that started with A Wrinkle in Time, the book that introduced me to science fiction blended with fantasy in the most beautiful way. I loved the characters, the family dynamics, and the vastness of the universe L’Engle created.
An under-read Lewis classic starting with Out of the Silent Planet. These books are another blend of science fiction and fantasy that will sweep you away with their language. I recommend them to any scifi fan.
Though I read The Hobbit as a child, I was in high school before I read the full trilogy. There is nothing I can say about these books that hasn’t been said by other, smarter fantasy fans. The gold standard for high fantasy in my mind.
The first time I cracked open an Anne Rice novel, I was hooked! Never a horror fan, I was seduced by Lestat. My first vampire love!
Before CSI was sexy on TV, Cornwell wrote her brilliant medical examiner/detective Kay Scarpetta in Postmortem. A smart, professional woman who solved crimes not with superpowers, but with her mind, Scarpetta is a must-read for mystery fans.
I wasn’t introduced to Harry until my 20s when I was teaching English in middle school. I had to know what all my students were raving about, so I picked up the books. It was love at first delumination.
The series that brought me back to vampires, it combined fantasy with the quirky Southern fiction I had grown to love when I lived in Texas. This was, quite literally, a life-changing series for me. It was after I read and got involved in the online SVM community that I started blogging and writing my own fiction. Thank you, Ms. Harris!
Thanks to Chrissie for letting me share my Perfect Ten! Hope you might find something in here that you enjoy, too! I’d love to introduce you to a new favorite. For more about my writing, please visit my blog, elizabethhunterwrites.com. I’d love to hear from you!
Thanks for reading,
Elizabeth Hunter
Thanks Elizabeth! I absolutely love the Southern Vampire Mysteries too! And there are a few series there already on my TBR list.
How about you? Have you read any of these series? Will you be adding any to your TBR list? Let Elizabeth and I know what you think!
If you are an author/blogger who would like to take part in this feature then please email me at onceuponaseries [at] live.co.uk.
This sounds awesome! Next week I will have to participate :)
ReplyDeleteAll the books on your list are amazing! Harry Potter especially :)
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH! Interview! Harry! Sookie! A WRINKLY IN TIME!!!
ReplyDeleteOh my word, it really is a perfect ten, huh?
Man, I'd have a hard time only coming up with 10. There's so many great series out there.
ReplyDelete@Shelagh Lewis's sci-fi is fantastic! It actually arose out of a challenge between he and Tolkien. There are three books and if you're a scifi fan, they're a must-read.
ReplyDelete@Sarah Thanks! I do love Harry. I'll look for your 10!
@Sarah (also) I had a REALLY hard time narrowing it down, I tell you! These were the stand-out favorites.
@Jenny Agreed! It was a lot harder than I thought to only pick ten. I had no idea how attached to so many series I was.