Over the years I create list after list of my favorite books. Each time, the list changes. Well, here are my absolutely, positively, quintessentially favorites that stand the test of time. And no, you’re not going to find me stupid enough to use them for resetting passwords.

Books:

1. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand – Is it the story of an architect or the story of life itself? Unlike Atlas Shrugged, I actually like this one.
2. Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling – Wizarding school.
3. Lockwood & Co. and the Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud – Maybe I just really love Stroud’s storytelling.
4. The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-ucci – He vanished. Did he flee or was he killed?
5. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern – A circus of dark and shadows.
6. The Long Walk and The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King – Be careful what you walk and wish for. It just might kill you.
7. The Dark is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper – The dark is rising. Start with book 2.
8. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North – Groundhog Life instead of Groundhog Day.
9. Discworld series by Terry Pratchett – Best comedy ever.
10. The Giver by Lois Lowry – Heart because there is no heart. Life because of inequality.

Honorable Mentions: Spin series by Robert Charles Wilson; The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis; The Mouse that Roared by Leonard Wibberly; Restart by Gordon Korman.