Lori’s Top 5 Books Read This Year

This is a series of 10 books from Author Darren Shan who wrote the Cirque du Freak  series of books. This series of fiction books deals with the world of demons.

Rick Andrews, introduced me to this series of books (thanks Rick for letting me borrow books 1-9) I think I read all of them before he even got through book one.

Darren Shan has a way of descriptive writing telling you in gory detail of these evil creatures. I'll be the first to admit these books are graphic and they scared be, but for some reason I just kept reading. I'd finish one and then grab the other until I had read them all. I guess for me I just wanted to see good win out over evil. I won't tell you who wins because I am still in the middle of the final book.

Stephenie Meyers penned this book after writing the Twilight Series. I must admit I tried reading this book in the beginning and could not for the life of me get into the story. So I walked away from it, and it sat on my shelf for over a year. I got bored one day and decided to pick it up again and I was hooked.

The Host is about a group of alien parasites, who come to Earth, and start taking over the bodies of humans. These parasites are thousands of years old that hop from planet to planet experiencing the life of those it inhabits. However, there are a group of humans that live off the radar because they do not want to be taken over by alien life forms.

The story follows one girl, Melanie Stryder who was taken over by an alien yet didn’t completely disappear. She remains trapped with in her body fighting the alien internally. Then the alien starts feeling more like her host than her alien self. Luckily, for Stephenie Meyer, I wasn't the only one who loved this book.

The Host will be heading to a movie theater in you in 2013.

About four years ago, I saw a teaser for a new show coming to HBO called True Blood. I for one had always like vampire stories so I knew I would be tuning in. After the first episode I was hooked and wanted to know more about Sookie, Bill and Bon Temps. I picked up Charlaine Harris' works of art and started reading the series book after book, after book until I had finally read them all and had to wait. So within the last year I have read the last two books, Book 11-Dead in the Family and Book 12- Dead Reckoning. Both wonderful and both sticking to what we love the most Sookie Stackhouse and her trials of love.

If you love vampires, werewolves, and the supernatural world then pick these up for a fun read. If you love True Blood then pick these books up to find out where Alan Ball strays from the books and where he keeps the story line right on for the show.

When I first read this book, or shall I say, heard this book (I was traveling a lot last December and I picked it up on CD) I loved it. Seth Grahame-Smith took the story and the history of Abraham Lincoln and intertwined it with vampires and makes Lincoln a vampire hunter.

First of all I loved it because it was a book about vampires. Secondly, it was historical. I don't care much for history lessons, but I actually enjoyed how he placed much of his story around Lincoln's rise to the presidency and the freeing of the slaves.

I am currently reading the book, I thought I would go back and read it to see if I missed anything while I was listening to it when I was on the road.  I am sure I did.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, will be coming to the big screen in 2012.

I cannot wait to pick up the book Seth Grahame-Smith wrote before this one, Pride, Prejudice and Zombies. You just have to love an author that can put a spin on the classics.

I kind of fell into this book by accident. I was at the store trying to find a book before I headed off on vacation. I always need a book when I travel. I walked by this book, glanced at it, because it was on the best seller shelf, shrugged and walked on. I was on my way to try to find Pride, Prejudice and Zombies from Seth Grahame-Smith as I mentioned above, but for some reason all the copies were gone. I looked for a Dean Koontz book that I hadn't read yet, and I looked for the last book in the Demonta series mentioned above as well, but no such luck. Every book I looked for wasn't available.

How odd I thought, but then moved back to The Shack. I thought, OK I'm supposed to read this because something keeps dragging me back over here to this book.

The book kinda changed my life. The first few chapters are tough to read especially if you have children, but don't let that deter you from reading this wonderful book because I can guarantee you, that you will think of life in a whole new way after reading The Shack. I look at God in a whole new way now, it puts things into perspective, it gives you a new way of thinking on how and why things happen in life. Especially the horrible bad things that happen.

Honestly, I truly believe God was standing next to me in that bookstore that day dragging me back over to that book.

Even, if you don't believe in God and have a relationship with him, I encourage you to read this book because you will have a whole new outlook on God when you finish.

I know this book is fiction, and that the story didn't happen, I do know that there is more truth in this book than anyone will ever know, it opens your heart, it opens your mind, and it opens your way of thinking.