Favourite Books: 2011

I thought I'd finally get back around to do these long over due favourite blogs, and for today's I'd do my favourite books.
Throughout my reading career, I feel I've managed to read quite a number of books, probably not an extravagant number but still quite a few. The majority of this reading however was during my time at secondary school, especially years 7 and 8 when I discovered and befriended the schools library. It was also around this time that I discovered the harry potter books too and began to read through those.
Since secondary school the only real time that I've began to read again has been during the summer. Whether its been due to long family trips with time to spare or just more free time outside of school, I've always seemed to find the summer a good time to read, and every year would get through several books during this time.
Even though I've read a good selection of books through the years, I don't think I've actually read that many people would consider 'mainstream' type books or books that you'd recognise as having been written by famous authors. Due to this I've begun to think lately that I have barely scratched the surface when it comes to reading and I should go back and read more of the classics and widely known books.
I'm not quite sure why it is, perhaps a rekindling of love for reading or due to the feeling that there are so many more books out there, that in the last month I've gone out and spent more money on books then I have in the last few years put together. This new selection of books that I've bought is comprised of books that I've always wanted to read and just haven't for some reason and also several new books that I've seen and have wanted to read.
Before I go ahead and tell you my five favourite books so far, I thought I'd also add that after that list I'm going to add a second list of books that I am planning on reading.
Again, as it is quite hard to separate and rank my top favourites I'm just going to give you my top five in no particular order:
1. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J.K Rowling
2. Paper towns - John Green
3. The Crystal Skull - Manda Scott
4. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
5. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
I really enjoyed the whole of the Harry Potter series, and have read each of them several times over. However these two listed are my favourite out of the series.
At this moment I'm reading a newly published book called The Fault In Our Stars by author John Green and is amazing so far, looking forward to finishing it.
Other books that I'm planning on reading after The Fault In Our Stars are, The Hobbit, the collection of Sherlock Holmes Books by Arthur Conan Doyle, The Atlantis Code and Looking for Alaska. I'm looking forward to reading all of them, and hopefully will be able to find time in between my studies now that I'm back at university.
If you've not read any of the books listed in my favourites I do recommend you give each of them a read. Also just generally if you can, read more, whether it be books, newspapers or blogs.
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