The Top 10 Most Important Books I've Read

My incredible sister challenged me to write about the top ten most important/influential/inspiring books I have read. She put it up on her blog, which she would always tell me about but I never actually knew what it was until now, and now I'm blog-stalking her. Mua ha ha!

Anyways, I've always loved reading and have always wanted to write books, but creating this list was actually incredibly hard. It would be a million time easier for me to write about the most important songs in my life. I think I connect with music in a very different way than I do with books. So I thought about it all day and stole a lot of the books from my sister's list, but I think I've made a pretty complete list of the books that have helped me most in my life. It's random and some of them may seem odd, but these are my favorites all for very different reasons.

1. Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom --This is perhaps one of my favorite books of all time. If you haven't read it, it's about a dying man teaching one of his past students about life. It's honestly one of the most beautiful and inspiring books I've ever read. I really think it taught be about life and living life to the fullest. 
2. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare --For a very long time I told people this was my favorite book, and that's still mostly true. I love this story so much because it's pretty much what every love story is based on, but this is the first and the best. There's something about a tragic love story that I just love so much (which remind me, it's Halloween time, so go watch my favorite movie: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog)
3. Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling --Currently at work I'm listening to the audio-books of the whole Harry Potter series. I believe these books are some of the greatest, most well written books ever written. I honestly love them so much (although not as much as my sister) and they were the first books as a kid that I truly fell in love with. In elementary school I had a Harry Potter club with two of my friends and it helped us bond in a very special way. I love Harry Potter and the way these books helped me grow up. Harry and I grew up together and I will always love these books in a very special way. 
4. How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss --Every Christmas Eve my siblings and I read this book together and it's my most favorite holiday tradition and something I want to keep up with my future children. This book is a beautiful story of the true meaning of Christmas, and about life. It's not about gifts and material things, it's about family, friends, and about love. That's a lesson that I love to be reminded of every Christmas. 
5. The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye --I read this book over and over again as a child because I always have been, and probably always will be, obsessed with princesses. I love reading stories about princesses. And in this story she has brown hair like me and doesn't care about being a princess, she just want to live a normal and ordinary life, but she's still a princess and still incredibly special. I love this book. 
6. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins --I have a very weird dark side. I love reading about pain and death sometimes. All my most favorite songs are super depressing and my husband thinks I'm super weird because of it. This book gives me so many feels! I love that it's brutal and honest and there's no sympathy there. Life is brutal and hard and not all stories and chapters in our lives have happy endings. I honestly love this book, and think I love the movies even more. I'm literally freaking out over Mocking Jay trailers! 
7. Chicken Soup for the Kid's Soul --This is another book I read multiple times as a child. It has 101 different stories about real life. And I truly feel this book taught me more about life than any other book. It taught me about heartache and pain, about joy, about being grateful, about family, about friends, about life! I love this book. 
8. Emeralds and Espionage by Lynn Gardner --This one may seem weird, but it was the first book I read about adults and about real love. My dumb teenage self learned a lot from this book about love and not to settle for anyone who doesn't believe in my morals and they must treat me like a princess. And that's exactly what I got. 
9. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green --I didn't read this book until this summer, but as soon as I was done, bawling my eyes out, I felt that it was one of the greatest books I had ever read. This book is so real, so raw, painful, and beautiful. I enjoyed it so much and am scared to see the movie because it's impossible for it to live up to what the book brought me, but it will make me sob for hours. 
10. Divergent by Veronica Roth --I've reread this book so many times and seen the movie so many times. I don't know what it is. I love this book. I hate the third one, but I love this book. I think it is an incredible view of female empowerment. I can be powerful and strong and brave. I love that this book reminds me of that. 

What are the top 10 books that are most important to you?

Let me know in the comments below!