Top 5 Friday: Favorite Book Series

Most of you know I'm an avid reader - Nate and I are both bookworms. I have so many favorite books - and pretty soon I'm going to start some top 5 lists for different genres perhaps! But there is just nothing like a series - you become more invested, more attached, sometimes more obsessed with the characters. After 3,4,5 (or 7) novels, you feel like you know them. So behold I present, my favorite book series (in no particular order, right now it would be Hunger Games because I just finished it!)

] 1. Emily Giffin's series - Something Borrowed, Something Blue and then three independent novels that are still linked somewhat to the first two - Love the One You're With, Baby Proof, and The Heart of the Matter. Of these my favorites are definitely the first two, the only two that would technically qualify as a series. My least favorite was Heart of the Matter but it grew on me after I read it the second time. I've read a fair number of "chic lit" type books, but Giffin has a knack for making imperfect characters relatable, and telling a heartfelt story you really can't wait to finish.

2. Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. I read this series twice - most recently about a year ago - and it is thrill writing at its best. I thought the characters and story were so original and the plot so unpredictable I couldn't put them down. Of the three, my favorite is the second one (fire) which really nursed my obsession with the series!

3. J.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. I read these books in high school and I've got to read them again - Nate just did recently. The depths Tolkien went to in creating the world of Middle Earth - including an entire language - and the mystical fantasy element achieve a tangible reality for the reader. The movies elevated this, but the books are special. I must remind myself to read them again!

4. JK Rowling's Harry Potter Series - The Sorcerer's Stone, The Chamber of Secrets, The Prisoner of Azkaban, The Goblet of Fire, The Order of the Phoenix, The Half-Blood Prince, and The Deathly Hallows. I was officially the last person on this bandwagon already, but I just love the Harry Potter story. I can't imagine what it was like to grow up with the characters like my little sister did. Even as an adult I wish my letter to Hogwarts would come! I particularly like the story and how the characters had depth and grew within each book and across the arc of the series. Major props too for the character Snape, as the broken record I'll continue to say he's one of the most interesting characters I've ever read.

5. Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games Series - The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay. Object of my obsession - having just finished reading I'll probably gush about this series the most. I found it engrossing, unpredictable, a clever blend of futuristic post-apocalyptic world with some ancient barbaric elements (like the hunger games). I read the second and third books in one sitting, in one day. Incredible. This is my (current) favorite.

Happy Friday! A late post, but I got it in!

PS: Go read these if you haven't! ;)