Book Recommendations

I've been asked a few times recently for a list of books I'd recommend. Here's my current recommended list. These are all YA fiction unless otherwise noted.

The 5th Wave - Rick Yancey - Aliens (I just finished book 1, I think book 2 is out now but book 3 hasn't been released yet)

Divergent - Veronica Roth - post-apocalyptic Chicago, people live within four "factions" (books 1 and 2 are good, I'd skip book 3) - good pairing along the Hunger Games vibe.

Shadow & Bone (Grisha Trilogy) - Leigh Bardugo - Warring kingdoms separated by an artificial rift. A ruling class with special powers. Have completed books 1 and 2, will be reading book 3 next.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Smoke and Bone Trilogy) - Laini Taylor - a girl with a really odd job discovers that just about everything she understood about the world is wrong - these are amazing, each one an epic and really long. I'm on page 400 (out of 600) on book 3 currently and there's still new things being introduced, but in a way that makes sense, not as revisionist. Amazingly original.

Ruby Red (Ruby Red Trilogy) - Kerstin Gier - time travel runs in the family, attempting to unravel a mystery in multiple times

The Enemy (The Enemy series) - Charlie Higson - was supposed to be 3 books, but so popular that it's been expanded to 7, only 5 of which are out so far. Everyone over the age of 16 has become a zombie. Book 5 wasn't as strong as the previous 4, but they're hard to put down. Takes place in London so you can creep yourself out by going on Google Maps Street View and finding the places mentioned. We're thinking of bribing our friends in the UK to mail us copies since they'll get the new books many months ahead of the US release.

Enclave (Razorland Trilogy) - Ann Aguirre - really, book 3 could have been two books. Small pockets of humanity exist, eking out a meager existence in a world filled with zombies. I don't know if Charlie Higson's Enemy series had any influence on this, but the two worlds go well together without Razorland feeling like a derivative or rip-off. Solid.

The Looking Glass Wars (The Looking Glass Wars Trilogy) - Frank Beddor - The premise is that there really is a dangerous and mysterious place called Wonderland, that there was a girl named Alyce and that she was forced to flee to England. But Louis Carroll took her stories as fantasy, watered them down and profited from them as his own. An incredibly imaginative series.

Lexicon - Max Barry - words have power. People have learned to harness this power for good and evil. One phrase exists so powerful that if read or spoken aloud, it can kill. (Adult)

The Fear Index - Robert Harris - the investment firm's newest autmoated stock trading AI is so powerful that it's making trades before events occur. Or is its trades causing the events? (Adult)

Enchantment - Guy Kawasaki - A wonderful guide to influencing others without it being so overt. (Non-fiction.)

You can reviews for all about Looking Glass (not sure why I never reviewed LGW) here: http://tvjames.blogspot.com/p/books.html - I try not to spoil.

What about you? I'm always looking for recommendations. Please post them in the comments below!