1. The Stand; Stephen King - I read this book (extended cut) at least once a year. It’s my favorite book of all time. I remember being in absolute awe the first time I read it. I still love it, and at this point, there are entire passages that I could probably almost quote to you. I am so nervous about the remake (especially with Amber Heard in it) ... but even though the first miniseries was TERRIBLE, it’s still a classic. I just want a good, true to the original work adaptation of something King that ISNT The Shining (which, arguably, still isn’t even super true to the novel)

2. The Giver; Lois Lowry - I read this book in elementary school, and I’m not sure if it’s required reading for everyone, but it should be. They nearly ruined it by making the movie and casting that succubus Tswift as Rosemary, but then again the movie itself was friggin terrible, so... Anyway. The book was short, simple and really, really effective. I find zero faults with it.  3. Phoenix Rising; Karen Hesse -@the-blind-assassin-12 and @its-my-little-dumpster-fire know of my love for this book, and if I had to cite one of my inspirations for wanting to be a writer in the first place, it’s this book. I stole it from my classroom when I was a kid, and never looked back. She managed to tell a relevant story in a very specific way, and keep it relevant throughout the times. (I just read it again a couple months ago, and it still hits me the same way it did as a preteen reading it). I think that I latched onto the way she wrote details - particularly about Ezra - and actually incorporate a lot of that into my writing.  4. The “Little House” series; Laura Ingalls Wilder - Reading these as a kid, I was shocked that this is the way people used to live. It was such a shocking look into the way she grew up, what she experienced, what happened to her family. I devoured these books over and over. If I remember correctly, I did a book report on “The Long Winter” and I had to make a diorama and it was badass. 

5. (I hate putting this on here because JK Rowling is a literal piece of trash) ... but Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; JK Rowling - I grew up reading these books. My 6th grade home ec teacher would read one chapter to us every Friday from the first HP book... and I was HOOKED. I bought them as they came out, and the 7th one actually came out while my friends and I were on a cross-country drive, and we stopped at some shitty KMart in the middle of nowhere in Arizona to buy it. I finished it in 2 days, reading when I wasn’t driving, and then when I WAS driving, my friend Greg was reading. I ended up finishing before him, and had to sit quietly on my friend’s sister’s couch on the corner of Hollywood and Vine and wait for him to finish. He closed the book, looked at me, and then we ended up leaving the apartment together and just walking aimlessly for a couple hours while we talked about it. That ending - with the exception of the epilogue - was the PERFECT way to wrap up the series. The Cursed Child shouldn’t ever have been written.  I would give anything to be able to experience the end of that series all over again for the first time. 

OOPS I FORGOT TO ANSWER THE SECOND PART: 

Perfect examples: Twilight, 50 Shades. They’re popular, but they aren’t good. I’m not going to ever write something that is one cliche after another just to make a buck. I’m willing to compromise a little, but never ever like that - or just to prove a point.