Top Ten Tuesday #41: "Gateway" Books

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and The Bookish. Each week the girls at B&B think up a fun theme, and participating bloggers post their favorite 10 books in that category. This week's theme is

Top Ten "Gateway" Books

These are the top ten books that got me into reading and kept me there.

The Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder. My aunt bought this box set for my sister one year, and my dad would read to us every night before bed. Sometime during Farmer Boy, my dad's two jobs caught up to him, and he wasn't able to continue our bedtime tradition. My sister, although these were her books, was not interested in continuing without dad, but I was! And thus...a bookworm was born!

The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner, Goosebumps by R.L. Stine, and The Baby-Sitters Club by Ann M. Martin. I loved all three of these series and own many of them, particularly of BSC, of which I possess nearly the entire 100+ book series (I bought many at my favorite used bookstore McKays I once bought 40 for $2!!). My mom used Boxcar Children and Goosebumps as reward motivation for chores and the like. These three are some of my favorite titles in each series.

 

Nancy Drew by Caroline Keene and The Hardy Boys by Franklin W. Dixon.What can I say? I love a good mystery! I think the Boxcar Children was what led me to these. I had three Nancy Drew Casefiles that I loved, but my mom started buying me the original yellow hardcovers, and those are the ones I primarily read. Meanwhile with the Hardy Boys, my brother had a large collection of the blue-backed original series, but I preferred the Hardy Boys Casefiles instead. Funny how that works. If you're wondering, yes, The Mystery of Shadow Ranch is my favorite Nancy book, but my favorite book featuring Frank & Joe is actually Deathgame. I just couldn't find a picture of the cover. Naturally, this led to a love of the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Super Mysteries, of which my favorite is Shock Waves (but they're all REALLY good). Finishing these is actually one of the goals on my bookish bucket list.

Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. Um, duh. My mom and aunt combined got me reading this awesome series when I was young, and I was hooked on reading for good. Not only that, this was the series that made me want to work in publishing one day. An actual paying publishing career hasn't worked out for me, buteventually I found my way to blogging, and that makes me really happy.

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer, The Underland Chronicles by Suzanne Collins, and the Children of the Red King series by Jenny Nimmo. Harry turned me on to these awesome middle grade series. Suzanne gave me ALL the feels with Gregor long before Rue and Prim and Finnick and Mags and Peeta. I still need to finish Artemis and Charlie Bone though. I'm REALLY excited because I will be meeting Eoin next week!!!!

 

Meg Cabot. Sure, Princess Diaries got me reading Meg's books, but I quickly fell in love with the rest of her works as well. The Mediator series is my favorite, and I also particularly love Teen Idol and Avalon High. She's another must-buy, and I also love her adult novels, particularly the Boy series and Heather Wells series in addition to all her ya's.

 

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer and Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. Say what you want about Stephenie Meyer, but she really pushed ya into the public eye. Stephenie opeened a lot of doors for a lot of authors and books that might not have gotten publisher attention otherwise, and for that, I thank her. Plus, to be perfectly honest, I enjoy Twilight. Yes, really. I don't look for subtext and undertones. I take it at face value, and its face value is entertainment. Also, EMMETT.Without Twilight, there would be no Kellan Lutz...or at least there would be less of him, and that would be more than a darn shame. It would be criminal. Twilight got me hooked on Vampire Academy while I was waiting for Breaking Dawn, and VA hooked me on Richelle Mead, along with a lot of other amazing paranormals and urban fantasies. Richelle, like Meg, is an author who is auto-buy for me as well as being an author whose adult books I enjoy.

Those are my 10...ish gateway books, series, and authors. What do you think? Who and what made your list this week? Share your links and picks in the comments!