1.The Little Prince – each rereading always brings new perspective.

2. Jonathan Livingston Seagull – how can you not be inspired by this book?

3. The Earthsea Trilogy – puts Tolkien to shame for its wisdom and moving narration

4. A Song of Ice and Fire  (series; 5 books out, still unfinished) – a fantasy book with magic rarely used? This book is a master in moving the story through characterization. If you loved Tudors, you’d more than love reading this book. Politics and intrigue plays a larger part in this book than magic.

5. The Griffin & Sabine Trilogy (series) – this is a series of epistolary novels accompanied by very beautiful artwork and moving poetry. Useful if you want someone to admit their hidden feelings for you 😀

6. Sins Series (Sins of Omission, Sins of the Flesh) – a very immersing love story. I’ve never been one to like romance novels, but this one isn’t your typical romance novel. Evokes echoes of my past, present, and future. Uhuh. Read it to find out. This is really weird ‘coz i read this way back when my love life was still non-existent.

7. Ender Series – an outstanding sci-fi series. Speaker of the dead was especially very moving. Xenophobia as social commentary for bigotry.

8. The Vampire Lestat – my favorite among Anne Rice’s vampire chronicles. Lestat’s story aptly puts meaning into the phrase: Savage Garden.

9. Uplift Series – the most awesome sci-fi book ever in terms of premise, scope, and possibilities for spin-offs. In this universe, non-sentient beings are lifted into sapiency by sapient civilizations through genetic manipulation. Upon achieving sapiency, this species becomes indentured to the species that “uplifted” them from animal existence. This cycle occurs throughout the universe and is accepted as the norm by which ALL species become sentient. Enter the discovery of Earth, where humankind has achieved sentience without the help of a patron. Natural evolution is a heresy in this universe, and humankind gathers all sorts of enemies more technologically advanced than them. Facing extinction, humankind escapes one disaster after another through ingenuity and sheer luck. Is fate a random occurrence or a science?

10.  Beggars Ride (Beggars Trilogy) – what if humans never sleep? In this book, a group of babies is genetically altered so they’ll never need to sleep. These babies grow up to be just what they were designed to do. Sleepless. But their genetic manipulation had unintended consequences. First, babies produced by the Sleepless inherited their ability. Second, they were inherently beyond genius level. The stupidest of the sleepless will probably best Stephen Hawking in analytical thinking. As the general human population grew more fearful and more hateful towards the Sleepless, the Sleepless began gathering together and living in their own enclaves. Forced to live a life separate from the rest of humanity, the Sleepless begins a campaign to change the world and humanity in general, for the better.

11. Voyage From Yesteryear – not especially an impressive work of fiction. The idea isn’t even unique or utilized very well to create a good story, but this book is the first book that convinced me that a moneyless society can truly be possible.

12. The Saga of Recluce – balance between good and evil set in a fantasy world. Magic has its price.

13. The Choice – a gift curiously given to me by my wife. Beautiful message.

14. The Gift Of Acabar – reminds me of my high school days when cynicism hasn’t killed my upbeat optimism.

15. The Wheel of Time Series – 11 books collected and the series still isn’t finished! The author already died and the series isn’t finished yet. Thankfully, he knew he was gonna die (cancer, i think) and left extensive notes for the next writer who will finish the series. Hopefully, the publishers will stop meddling in the writing of this series and allow it to be finished once and for all. Yeah, it’s a verified moneymaker – but come on!