Friday Five – Favorite Reads

Welcome to the Friday Five! Each week we help you get to know our writers with the help of a top 5 list! This week: Favorite Reads

If you’re here, right now, looking at this, you’re probably reading. It’s just something that happens. Not everyone can do it, and that sucks, and not everyone wants to do it. Some people hate to read, they’ll do it for required things, but would never pickup a book or something for enjoyment or entertainment. Most of us are the opposite, we read all the time. Books, games, comics, text messages, internets, you name it, we’re part of a culture that just absorbs a lot of stuff through text. So this week, why not talk about our Favorite Reads.

Chris

I actually really enjoy reading, whether it’s comics, novels, Wikipedia pages, you name it. I’ve read stuff from the Star Wars expanded universe to non-fiction books like The Art of Deception. Reading is just a good time, most of the time.

1. Ready Player One – If you have any nostalgia factor for things from the ’80s, even if it was all second hand by the time you got to it, this is a great book to read. Ready Player One is a fast read, and you just don’t want to put it down as you follow these people through this future virtual reality game. It’s nothing like you’d expect it to be, but it’s still a load of fun, with a ton of ’80s references.
2. Amazing Spider-Man – Who doesn’t love Spider-Man. I thought about this one a lot, did I want to pick a certain book or go broad, which Spider-Man did I prefer now? I decided the main universe Amazing Spider-Man is probably my favorite to read right now, even as it just relaunched. It’s the one everyone knows, and has the most history to it.
3. Inheritance Cycle – You may remember the movie Eragon from 2006 (Holy shit, 2006. . .), this is the book series itwas based on. Eragon was also the name of the first book. Unfortunately the movie didn’t do a great job, so like another series on my list, we never got to see the rest of the story play out on screen. The novels though are just full of action and fantasy goodness. Lots of dragons too which is always cool
4. A Song of Ice and Fire – It’s rare today to know someone who doesn’t watch Game of Thrones, well A Song of Ice and Fire is the basis for that show. Game of Thrones is actually just the title of the first book, but definitely is a much better TV name than the book series has. If you’re a fan of the show, you’d only be hurting yourself by not checking the books out too, totally worth it!
5. His Dark Materials – Another series that started to take off into the movie realm, but came crashing down. Back in 2007 there was a fun little fantasy movie called The Golden Compass, based on the first novel in the series. That movie wasn’t the best, and it didn’t do a great job presenting the story that is told in the book series. And thus we never see the rest of the story. Luckily though we’ve still got these books. The series is really crazy, and has all kinds of crazy sub themes and such.

Shannon

I don’t really read much anymore, but here are some of the things that stand out for me.
1. The Odyssey – I first read this in 6th grade and I absolutely loved it. I bought the Iliad and Odyssey in one book a few years ago and I need to pick it up again.
2. The Harry Potter Series – Great characters and a good read for a huge age range.
3. Fables – Ok, so I just started this series, but I’m hoping it will get me into comic books more and so far it’s pretty interesting.
4. Pet Shop of Horrors – Most of the good mangas I’d like to put on here I never actually read, but watched the anime instead. But I did read a few of Pet Shop of Horrors which has interesting stories and different takes on classics.
5. The Sincerest Form of Flattery – A book written by a friend that can be found for digital download on Amazon. I haven’t finished reading it, but the story is really cool.

Audra

1. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Trilogy – The story line is so addictive and well thought out.
2. Inkheart Trilogy – A young reader series, but it is so interesting how they get sucked into a story book.
3. His Dark Materials (The Golden Compass Trilogy) – They traveled to different worlds and kept you suspensefully on your toes.
4. The Sookie Stackhouse Series – The HBO series has gone down a weird path. However, they did started to make up concepts that weren’t even in the book. But some of the things that they did take from the story were best kept in the book.
5. Fifty Shades of Grey – Yeah. I’ll be that girl. I got into it, and actually learned quite a few things. And while it is definitely not considered ‘Great Literature’, it kept my interest and was an easy read.

Eric

I generally don’t read book unless they have pictures. There are a few exceptions.

1. Spider-Man – Literally anything with the wallcrawler is free game. If I have to choose a favorite it’s Ultimate Pre Miles. Altho. . . Miles is growing on me.
2. Saga – Everybody should be reading this book. It’s got everything: Blood, Sex, Space, and Naked spider ladies! Seriously, it’s insanity and so good!
3. Hawkguy (Hawkeye) – Another book that you should just pick up right now! Fraction is all over the place in this book. Sometimes it’s hard to follow, but when it all comes together, it’s fantastic! “Boomerang arrow. Always comes back in the end.”
4. Y: The Last Man – This was such a great book! BKV is a genius(see Saga), and Pia Guerria’s art is perfect for the book. Check this one out!
5. Harry Potter – Told you I read books without pictures! It’s incredibly entertaining, and an insanely easy read!

Chris talks a bunch on PodQuest each week. He's also been known to write about stuff from time to time. You can Email Chris or follow Chris on Twitter @Just_Cobb or Facebook

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