Rules: Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you’ve read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.

1. The Alchemist, Paolo Coelho

• Easily one of my favorite books of all-time, if not my all-time favorite. You’d think a book so small would be a light read, but The Alchemist is jam packed with such profound statements that I was so surprised by the end of my first run through. (“What the heck did I just read? SO AMAZING.”) I’ve read some of Coelho’s other novels, but none of them have lived up to this one, in my opinion.

2. Pride & Prejudice, Jane Austen

• It’s basically the mother of all chick lit…and everyone needs themselves a little Mr. Darcy.

3. The Time Traveler’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger

• Picked it up in an airport bookstore on a whim on the way to Asia. It’s a really different kind of love story, but a really easy read. I recommend this book to every girl looking for something to pull at her heartstrings :)

4. Something to Someone, Javan

• I’m not one for poetry, but Javan has such captivating prose that I can’t help but be sucked in by his words. I have all four of his published books of poetry, but this one strikes me the most. (Off note: e.e. cummings is my all-time favorite poet, but I don’t have hard copies of any of his poetry. Must buy soon!!)

5. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling

• Harry Potter is one of the benchmarks of my teenage years, and this was my favorite installment because of one character: SNAPE.

6. The Amber Spyglass, Phillip Pullman

• His Dark Materials — what can be said that hasn’t already been said? Read the trilogy if you already haven’t. The last book in the series leaves the biggest imprint in my brain because as a little girl reading it, I teared up at what happened in the last couple of pages. (Seriously.) Will and Lyra, ugh.

7. Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes
8. Peony in Love, Lisa See

• It’s not necessarily one of the best books ever written, but it’s struck me with its use of exquisite imagery and bittersweet love story.

9. Mountains Beyond Mountains, Tracy Kidder

• The quintessential “pre-med” book — apparently it shows up in a lot of personal statements hahaha.

10. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott

• Let it just be known that I hate this book with a passion.

11. Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
12. The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch

• This is definitely one of the most inspiring books I have ever read. Randy Pausch is definitely a figure to be reckoned with: although he was diagnosed with terminal cancer (and has passed away since writing this book), he made the most of his time left and gave an amazingly profound “last” lecture at Carnegie Mellon (where he is a professor). I first watched this lecture on YouTube and knew I had to have this book — it’s a great read when you’re feeling particularly down and uninspired.

13. The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien

• I tried to enjoy this novel. I really did…but I never got past the first 30 pages. It’s on this list because of how utterly boring it was.

14. Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
15. The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner

The last two are on this list also because of how much I hated reading them. I literally had no clue what was going on while I was reading them, which didn’t bode well for me because they were required reading in my AP English class during my junior year of high school. As expected, it didn’t turn out so well for me. (Hahaha.)

Meanwhile, books that I own but haven’t read (and need to read!):

1. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
2. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
3. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
4. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards
5. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
6. The World According to Garp by John Irving

So little time, so many books to read!