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    TOP TEN — ALL TIME

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1.   THE STARLESS SEA

   ERIN MORGENSTERN

It's physically impossible to explain to you what this book means to me, and exactly how intensely I felt it as if it were another limb. Suffice to say, I tattooed it on myself immediately after reading, so... ding ding ding, we have a winner!

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2.   STRANGE THE DREAMER (duology)

LAINI TAYLOR

An achingly stunning and poignant meditation on trauma and the narratives we construct in light of it. This is required reading. It's also my go-to when someone accuses YA of being vapid or poorly-written. 10/10 would die for Lazlo.

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3.  YOUR HEART IS A MUSCLE THE SIZE OF A FIST

SUNIL YAPA

"But restless thing that it is, your blood, it leaps into the world." 

I read this back in early 2016, before the political landscape of North America seemed to "suddenly" flip on its head. What a warning this novel was (and remains to be). If you're an activist of any kind, add this to your TBR now.

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4.   A COURT OF MIST AND FURY

SARAH J. MAAS

Rhysand is straight up the only man I've been attracted to in recent memory and I'm not even mad about it.

8/10 because the writing could use a little something, but SJM got me hot and bothered anyway.

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5.   THE HUMANS

MATT HAIG

Matt Haig takes the metaphor of alienation to the extreme in this hilarious and heartbreaking novel that looks with foreign eyes at the human experience. Sometimes we all feel a little alien. 

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6.   SIX OF CROWS (duology)

LEIGH BARDUGO

Leigh Bardugo could kill me with her bare hands and I would thank her for existing. 10/10 would go to Ketterdam in an instant and be plucked like the pigeon I am.

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7.   A MONSTER CALLS

PATRICK NESS

"'Stories are wild creatures,' the monster said. 'When you let them loose, who knows what havoc they might wreak?'" 

For a story about a kid who feels invisible, I sure as hell felt seen by this book. I cradled these pages to my chest for what seemed like hours after finishing. A good story about stories will always be 10/10 in my heart.

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8.   THE SONG OF ACHILLES

   MADELINE MILLER

"What has Hector ever done to me?"   Well I'll tell you what the f*ck Madeline Miller has done to me and it was RUIN ME WITH THIS GODDAMN NOVEL. Cried so hard my nose bled. 10/10 will never love again.

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9.   WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY BESIDE OURSELVES

   KAREN JOY FOWLER

“In everyone's life there are people who stay and people who go and people who are taken against their will.” Hi yes 911? I'd like to report Karen Joy Fowler for obliterating me and making me cry so hard I almost threw up. I was absolutely destroyed by this book and Fern will be in my heart for the rest of my days. 10/10 never going to a zoo again.

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10. PRIDE & PREJUDICE

   JANE AUSTEN

Everybody give it up for the one book I read cover-to-cover during my undergrad. Late to the party, but we got there eventually. 8/10 let your sister be a ho, Elizabeth, but tbh I'd be hot for Darcy, too.