So, I love books. I love reading books, I love collecting books, I just love books!   I love being taken away to alternative realities. I love losing myself and a book that’s so good that when it’s finished I’m missing the characters or I’m missing the story. It’s like coming back from a really great vacation and missing where you were and what you did. So here’s a list of my 10 current favorite good reads! Some of this list of books will always be in my 10 favorites; others will vacillate as I discover new books, new books are published and I, of course, continue to read more every year.

Count of Monte Christo By Alexandre Dumas

Goodreads.com does an excellent job describing my favorite book.  “Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantes is confined to the grim fortress of If.

There he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo and he becomes determined not only to escape, but also to unearth the treasure and use it to plot the destruction of the three men responsible for his incarceration.

Dumas’ epic tale of suffering and retribution, inspired by a real-life case of wrongful imprisonment, was a huge popular success when it was first serialized in the 1840s.”

This is one of my absolute favorite books. At some point in my adult life  my dad recommended that I read this book. It was thick and intimidating but I went for it and I’m so glad I did!

You can also check it out as a movie. I believe there are several adaptations from the book, six to be exact. My preference is the 2002 version with Jim Caviezel, Guy Pearce and Christopher Adamson.  

Picture of Dorian Gray

Another classic that I can get enough of. Oscar Wilde really put pen to paper on this one and excited me with the idea of a man who lives an immortal life while his painting ages and suffers as he participates in crime and all forms of dangerous and inappropriate behaviors.  and other forms of unhealthy behaviors all the while knowing that his own body is impenetrable to the consequences of his actions.

Goodreads says, “Wilde forged a devastating portrait of the effects of evil and debauchery on a young aesthete in late-19th-century England. Combining elements of the Gothic horror novel and decadent French fiction, the book centers on a striking premise: As Dorian Gray sinks into a life of crime and gross sensuality, his body retains perfect youth and vigor while his recently painted portrait grows day by day into a hideous record of evil, which he must keep hidden from the world. For over a century, this mesmerizing tale of horror and suspense has enjoyed wide popularity. It ranks as one of Wilde’s most important creations and among the classic achievements of its kind.”

There are six versions of this book that have been made into a movie that I can find on IMDB.com. Seems kind of crazy but with a book this spectacular I can see why lots of directors want to get their hands on it.

Start Up Nation by Dan Senor, Saul Singer and Sear Pratt

I read this book just before and during my first trip to Israel. I wasn’t sure what kind of book about Israel it was but I saw a lot of people reading it and recommending it so I picked it up.

Let me just tell you that this is the first and only the next book I have ever read in my entire life including high school.

I’m sorry Miss Wortham,  but I never read a single book in your class. Please forgive me, thanks for passing me and letting me graduate from high school!  Anyways this book taught me a lot about Israel and some things about economics.

But the thing that stuck with me was its description of their military and how it’s organized and functions in a small country such as Israel. It was fascinating and really opened my eyes to different countries and how they manage the military and their leadership. 

Now that I have become friends with a lot of people from Israel I enjoy having conversations about the differences that I see between our military and theirs and how it impacts leadership. And how they treat their military after they’ve left the army and gone back into the private sector.

Like I said, it’s an economics book. But because I don’t know a lot about economics I’m going to let goodreads.com give you a better description of what this book is. 

“Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion dollar question: How is it that Israel — a country of 7.1 million, only 60 years old, surrounded by enemies, in a constant state of war since its founding, with no natural resources– produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada and the UK?”

Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult

If you’ve ever read anything by Jodi Picoult you know that she is an incredible Storyteller. Her vast imagination and the creative ways that she twists and turns her plots are what make her probably one of the best fiction novelists of my adult life.  This book came out at a very timely and poignant moment in our lives. This is an incredible work of fiction related to the COVID pandemic. 

This book hits close to home with themes of First Responders in the medical profession and the stress and trials and tribulations they went through, the general population and what the lockdown did to everybody, specifically people who may not have been in our hometown when this occurred. It also deals with people who have suffered from the covid virus and their struggles both mentally and physically to recover.  There was a huge twist of plot through the middle of the book and it shocked me and delighted me at the same time. Again if you’re a Jodi Picoult fan, then this book will not disappoint you. But be warned it does hit very close to home.

Read Goodreads description of this book and I dare you to disagree with me. “A deeply moving novel about the resilience of the human spirit in a moment of crisis. Diana O’Toole is perfectly on track. She will be married by thirty, done having kids by thirty-five, and move out to the New York City suburbs, all while climbing the professional ladder in the cutthroat art auction world. She’s not engaged just yet, but she knows her boyfriend, Finn, a surgical resident, is about to propose on their romantic getaway to the Galápagos—days before her thirtieth birthday. Right on time.

But then a virus that felt worlds away has appeared in the city, and on the eve of their departure, Finn breaks the news: It’s all hands on deck at the hospital. He has to stay behind. You should still go, he assures her, since it would be a shame for all of their nonrefundable trip to go to waste. And so, reluctantly, she goes.

Almost immediately, Diana’s dream vacation goes awry. The whole island is now under quarantine, and she is stranded until the borders reopen. Completely isolated, she must venture beyond her comfort zone. Slowly, she carves out a connection with a local family when a teenager with a secret opens up to Diana, despite her father’s suspicion of outsiders.

Diana finds herself examining her relationships, her choices, and herself—and wondering if when she goes home, she too will have evolved into someone completely different.”

As You Wish:Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes  

Such an AMAZING book! If you LOVE the Princess Bride as much as I do, you MUST read this book. Actually, do yourself a favor and DO THE AUDIBLE VERSION!!! Cary Elwes narrates this book and ALL of the characters make a cameo (Except Andre the GIant of blessed memory who passed away in January of 1993

This book details how the story of producing, directing and All the go background stories to how the movie The Princess Bride was made. It is an absolute must-read! And then go back and watch the movie and see where all the things that we talked about in the book take place. There’s always been a question in my mind during the sword fight scene when you can tell that Cary Elwes has something wrong with his boot and the book tells you what exactly it is. 

Amazon says it best, “From actor Cary Elwes, who played the iconic role of Westley in The Princess Bride, comes a first-person account and behind-the-scenes look at the making of the cult classic film filled with never-before-told stories and interviews with costars Robin Wright, Wallace Shawn, Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, and Mandy Patinkin, as well as author and screenwriter William Goldman, producer Norman Lear, and director Rob Reiner.

The Princess Bride has been a family favorite for close to three decades. Ranked by the American Film Institute as one of the top 100 Greatest Love Stories and by the Writers Guild of America as one of the top 100 screenplays of all time, The Princess Bride will continue to resonate with audiences for years to come.

Cary Elwes was inspired to share his memories and give fans an unprecedented look into the creation of the film while participating in the twenty-fifth anniversary cast reunion. In As You Wish he has created an enchanting experience; in addition to interviews with his fellow cast mates, there are plenty of set secrets and backstage stories.

With a foreword by Rob Reiner, As You Wish is a must-have for all fans of this beloved film.”

Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson

This book is way out of left field for me, which is why it makes this good reads list. It’s basically about a couple of guys who are deep sea scuba divers who catch wind of a sunken submarine off the northern east coast of the United States.

They begin to explore it and it unfolds that it was from WWII. However it’s not recorded as being sunk. So then they begin to investigate exactly which submarine this might be.

So you got some mystery and Intrigue as well as some World War 2 history (which I totally loved) and I learned a lot about Scuba which I know very little about.

The first chapter was a little slow because it was almost all about scuba but once you get through that part you’re pretty much committed.

Book of Names By Jill Gregory

This book has a great balance of mysticism, mystery, and some religion all wrapped into one. I read this quite some time ago but it’s always stuck with me as a book of intrigue and fueled my fascination on many levels.  Thrift books describe it as, “Within each generation, there are thirty-six righteous souls. Their lives hold the key to the fate of the world. Now someone wants them dead.

When a childhood tragedy comes back to haunt Professor David Shepherd, he finds himself in possession of knowledge that holds the world in a delicate balance. He uncovers the Book of Names—an ancient text originating with the biblical Adam, and thought lost to history forever. By Kabbalistic tradition, the book contains the names of each generation’s thirty-six righteous souls—the Hidden Ones—by whose merits alone the world continues to exist.

Legend holds that if all thirty-six Hidden Ones were eliminated, the world would meet its end. When the Hidden Ones start dying of unnatural causes, the world grows increasingly unstable: war in Afghanistan, massive flooding in New York, brutal terrorist attacks in Melbourne, a tanker explosion in Iran. David finds himself battling against the Gnoseos, a secret religious sect whose goal is to destroy the world by eliminating all of the righteous souls.

David’s involvement quickly turns personal when his stepdaughter’s name is discovered to be one of the endangered. With the help of a brilliant and beautiful Israeli ancient texts expert, David races to decipher the traditions of the Kabbalah to save the righteous souls, his stepdaughter, and perhaps the world. This description may be from another edition of this product”.

A Year of Living Biblically  By AJ Jacobs

Y’all. This book had me rolling my eyes and rolling on the floor with laughter.  AJ’s wit and his sense of humor mixed with his snarkiness is the perfect juxtaposition for the author of a book like this. Anybody who has ever read or learned anything biblical will get a kick out of this book as well as the author!   Though this si on of my favorite good reads, I highly recommend you listen to the audible version, he narrates it himself which adds an extra layer of entertainment.  I always love it when the author reads their own work.   The inflection and tone are perfect and you feel like you’re having a conversation with them. 

“Avoiding shellfish was easy. The stoning of adulterers proved a little more difficult – and potentially controversial. Was it enough to walk up to an adulterer and gently touch them with a stone? Even that could be grounds for accusations of assault, especially with female adulterers in Manhattan. So what’s a good Bible-reading boy to do?

Raised in a secular family but increasingly interested in the relevance of faith in our modern world, A.J. Jacobs decides to dive in headfirst and attempt to obey the hundreds of less-publicized rules. The resulting spiritual journey is at once funny and profound, reverent and irreverent, personal and universal, and will make you see history’s most influential book with new eyes.”

I Hope You Enjoyed My Good Reads Top Ten Books List

You can clearly see that my taste in books is wide, vast and completely eccentric. I like to read what the young adults around me are reading, I like to read what my friends are reading, and I like to read random crap I find online. I rarely shelf a book before finishing it.

I think there are two books in my lifetime that I started and was like absolutely not I’m not finishing this book. One of them was White Teeth by Zadie Smith and the second one was Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. If you have to write an entire paragraph about an asparagus plant I just can’t with you. LOL

So yes, I am a giant bibliophile. I’m trying right now to only read books that I’ve already purchased or gotten for free on my Kindle or my audible account. I think there’s about 60 or 70 more of those. Then I plan to move on to books that are actually printed on paper. But who knows I might just alternate between paper and Audible. There are currently over 1,000 books in my want to read list on Goodreads. If you’re on Goodreads and you want to be a friend of mine search me up and start viewing my bookshelf.   If I own it I am happy to share it with you. 

All the best!