Best Book Ever

 

I have a hard time nailing down my favorite book. Part of the reason is because I have so many and it's hard to narrow it down and pick just one. Most of the time when people ask me what my favorite book is, I say Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card or The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald because they're both books that have been favorites for such a long time.

But in the past few weeks, I've been talking books that I love and elements of stories that I love and even writers that inspire me. And on book keeps coming up more than others.

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Here's what I love about it. First, it's an amazing and page turning plot about a girl who was abandoned by her mother when she was eleven and is not struggling to just get more from her life. There are several mysteries that crop up in the book--to the point where I felt a little unsure of what was happening in the beginning, but I was well rewarded when everything tied together in the end. The characters are wonderful--they're full developed, well realized, and flawed in a way that makes them so real. I want these characters to be my friends. And as always, the writing is exceptionally beautiful, and there were a number of quotes that I read and thought "Yes, that is exactly how I've felt." And for those reasons, Jellicoe Road is my best book ever.