A Sea of Ink

What are the greatest books you've ever read? Not good, not favorite...but great. What are the books that are truly masterpieces? I have read many, many books so far in my short life. Hundreds and hundreds. Of those hundreds--perhaps a thousand?--only a few are worthy in my eyes of the adjective "great," in the true sense of the word. Many will disagree with my list, and that makes total sense--for, truly, what forms our opinions and reactions to books but our own, personal experiences? Thus far in my life, I have settled on these ten novels--some old, some more contemporary; some more complex than others--as the greatest I have yet read, in no particular order. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Life of Pi by Yann Martel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry* To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier Les ...

In  World  War II France, two sisters weather the war, and defy the Nazis, in different ways. A lot of  ways . Like, an unrealistic amount of ways, maybe? ~ This was so emotional and I loved the themes and questions which lay beneath the events and characters. What an incredible story. I def liked All the Light We Cannot See more, because (besides the fact that ATLWCS was FAR better as far as the artistic prose; The Nightingale ’s writing style was nothing special) I had issues with Isabelle’s character, especially in the first half. She was so extreme so soon, without much insight to make her a believable, solid character. I needed more. She was 2D to me almost up until the very end. At first, she seemed so unrealistic that I was having trouble reading about her at all.  Like, I’m the same age as Isabelle and I know I have more sense than her. And also it was REALLY cliché and a tad unrealistic at a lot of times—like, no way all the stuff that happened to ...

Save the Date, by Morgan Matson. Charlie's sister is getting married. She is so excited for all of her siblings to be together all in one place--their home. And then chaos ensues. Matson, as always, has written another group of amazing characters into being. Unique, individual (each sibling was their own, different person), fun, super witty—the characters are what drive her books. They feel so real, forming a strong foundation for each book. The plot of this book in particular was a let down for me. Most of the book was focused solely on every single thing going wrong at the main character’s wedding. EVERY. Single. Thing. To the point of ridiculous unbelievability. Some of the mishaps made sense, and that they would trigger additional mishaps also made sense. But others...nope. Totally unrealistic. To the point that I considered not finishing at all. The family themes and underlying issues going on within the Grant family universe were the best parts of the book. The side n...

FIVE FANTASTIC STARS. The tale of two teenagers ( blind Marie-Laure of Nazi-occupied France, and German Werner, a radio technology  prodigy )  trying to make it through the chaos of World War II. "So many windows are dark. It's as if the city has become a library of books in an unknown language, the houses great shelves of illegible volumes, the lamps all extinguished... But there is a machine in the attic at work again. A spark in the night." ~~~ I don’t know what I could ever write that could ever do justice to the masterpiece that is this book. So raw, so honest, so beautiful and real. I’ve never experienced war, but I felt that this book was very realistic (and  unapologetic)  in its portrayal of wartime and its effects on people and their lives. This book dares to emphasize the fact that, no, you don’t know what happens to everyone in the end. Not everything is resolved. Closure is not something life owes you; closure does not always exist.   E...