My Favourite Books (and Authors) of all Time!

Someone recently asked me about the kinds of books I read and authors that I admire – and it got me thinking. It had been a while since I dedicatedly sat and read for hours uninterrupted, but this time at home allowed me to catch up on some very necessary reading. Here is a top-five list of books (or series of books) I can read again and again, and often find myself doing that whenever I want to revisit some affectionate memories I hold so dearly with these books.

(Note: No two books in this list are of the same genre or by the same author. I may refer to an author’s work as a whole in some cases as well.

Not a Penny more, not a Penny less, Jeffery Archer

Jeffery Archer, a former Lord in the British Parliament and illustrious writer claims my top spot. I was only recently introduced to his work when I attended an interview of the British author back in January of 2019. He was promoting his new book, ‘Heads you Win’, and I was fortunate enough to see the man and get his autograph signed in big, bold black ink on the first page of his book. I began reading this book but soon lost interest when the end-of-academic-year work started to pile up. The book did not appeal to me right away and was soon cast away into the corner of my bookshelf.

I was coerced back into the reading groove by my mother, and she suggested I pick up Archer’s best work – consequently, it was the first book that he ever wrote and his claim to fame, ‘Not a penny more, not a penny less.’ Although the book was written in 1976, when acquiring intricate details of 5 different events happening all over Europe must have cost a struggling author everything he owned, it is still relevant today and can capture the attention of a young reader. The timelessness of Archer’s work attracts me. His writing in this book is simple yet informative. As a person who doesn’t really like very descriptive writing, his eloquent words help paint a picture in my mind. From the cutlery at the Member’s booth at the Ascot Derby to the different shades of white of the operation theater, the different tassels on the cap of the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford to the intricacies of the disguise adorned by the protagonist.

The story is about a group of four individuals from who a millionaire has conned another million. Archer tells the story of a rag-tag unexpected group of strangers who are brought together by common misfortune and spend every day of their lives for two months planning to extract their money from the millionaire. A professor, the owner of an art gallery, a reputed doctor, and a Lord – an unlikely group of men that scheme to take their money back in a four-step plan that takes them from the back roads of London to the high seas off the coast of Monte Carlo. The ‘heist’ in the story appealed to me, as every part of the plan was played out in a suspenseful manner, the author managing to keep the reader on the edge of their seat at all times. This truly is Archer’s best work.

My only regret is reading this book before I read his other work, including some classics like the ‘The Eleventh Commandment’ and ‘The Sins of the Father’ (and later Heads you Win) – nothing will ever match up to the standard he has set with his first book.

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I look forward to reading more of his work, including a Prisoner of Birth, and if possible, one of his three prison diaries

The Martian, Andy Weir

This book took my breath away. In 2015 Matt Damon starred in the movie version of this book, and ever since I saw the movie I have been obsessed with this book. As per the pencil indentations on the front page, I read this book in the 6th grade. This book is filled with a lot of heavy sci-fi action and technical problems, but the author has managed to ‘dumb it down’ for me to enjoy this great story. As I am captivated by space travel and exploration, it came as no surprise to my friends that this book was all I could talk about with them. I made sure that a couple of my closest friends also read it so we could ‘discuss’ it, something that excited my 11- year old mind.

The book is about a space mission on Mars – the Ares III mission. It tells the story of 6 astronauts on Mars who were forced to abort their mission due to an unprecedented storm that had engulfed their Habitat. As they made their way to their spacecraft, one of the astronauts, Mark Watney is struck by a satellite dish and flung into the air, carried away by the storm. After frantically searching for the lost botanist, the crew had no choice but to take off without him. He is presumed dead by the crew and the whole world. However, against all odds, Watney manages to survive due to sheer luck – the pipe that impaled him sealed his suit and prevented him from dying. The story goes on to show his time alone on Mars, as he struggles to survive against the harsh conditions of the planet. The story tells us about his life on the Red Planet and how he struggles to keep himself alive.

Apart from the great attention to detail and brilliant technical explanation, this book inspires me to move forward in any adversity. The man was alone on a planet with no way to communicate with people that could bring him back home – but he still went on to make sure that he was doing his best.

Andy Weir’s science-fiction books are a sure read – I was enticed by his book Artemis, which tells us the story of a colony on the moon and an attempt to take over it that went badly.  

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The Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien

There’s not much that people don’t know about The Hobbit and the great works of Tolkien.

The story tells us about a young Hobbit by the name of Bilbo Baggins of Bag-end that wanted to live life to the fullest. His wish is granted by Gandalf the wizard, who takes him on an adventure of the lifetime in the company of the dwarfs. Together they battle goblins and the infamous Gollum and take on the dragon Smaug to retrieve the land of the dwarfs. This is my best in summarizing a book of such high acclaim, and I hope I have not destroyed the premise of this book in doing so.

What appealed to me was Tolkien’s writing – I found it unnecessarily complicated in the beginning, with frivolous explanations of the Shire and the dwarves many songs. However, as the story progressed and the plot was revealed, this fable of fantasy became appealing. The scene with Gollum and the ring is one of my favorites for it talks about man’s greed and how that can lead to his downfall.

I look forward to reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and have already made headway with ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’.

The Percy Jackson Series, Rick Riordan

Although this series may seem a little childish to include in my list of books, it was a big part of my life in primary and middle school. Whenever I do get a chance, I always flip open a random book from the series and can be seen reading it and finishing it by the end of the day.

The books talk about a demigod named Percy Jackson, a regular teenager who figures out that his father is Poseidon, God of the Seas. The pentalogy shows his dealing with Greek Gods and mythology.

This series is one of the reasons I am very excited about history. Every page has a little snippet of the historical Greeks and Romans – even some facts that you thought you would never learn. It is a fun series but the learning potential associated with these books is phenomenal.

The Tin-Tin Comic book series, Hergé

Although this comic book series isn’t technically a book it still is on this list because it is an amazing read. Written from the 1930s onwards by this Belgian author, the ‘Adventures of Tin-Tin’ follows the lives of Tin-Tin, a young reporter, Captain Haddock, an old sea captain, Professor Calculus, and eccentric professor and many other supporting and recurring characters.

There are about 25 books in the series, but my favorite one by far is Destination Moon – again because its about space. This book, written in the 1950s, way before the Apollo 11 took off explains the physics of going to the moon. It is commendable to see that a writer has been able to accurately depict complex scientific phenomena in a speech bubble on a colorful backdrop. This book talks about nuclear reactions, numerous scientific experiments, and the engineering of a space rocket! I had first read this book many years ago and every subsequent reading would skip the science part. However, I recently made it a point to read the science information and was able to understand what was going on.

Other than Destination Moon, ‘Red Beckham’s Treasure’ and the ‘Land of Black Gold’ also deserves a special commendation.

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A special shoutout to some of the great fan fiction work in the Star Wars universe, including ‘Bloodline’ and ‘Catalyst’. Some books on my reading list include ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’, ‘A Prisoner of Birth’ and ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’.