Today’s prompt says to list ten new favorites from the last three years, and noted that we could go back a bit further if necessary. It was definitely necessary for me. One year of the last three (2013) had no new favorites at all! So this list comes from the last four years, in order of when I read them:

1. The Host by Stephenie Meyer – This was my very first book of 2011, on audio, and such a brilliant experience (especially compared to my lukewarm, didn’t-make-it-through experience with Twilight). This one still periodically comes back to me, and I remember that over the course of listening to it, I would dream about it nearly every night.

2. The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist – This is exactly what a dystopian novel should be, and has some of my favorite quotes of all time in it.

3. The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan – Revolutionized the way I look at food.

4. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern – When I read this, I had decided nearly a year before to stop writing. This book got me to write again, and for the next few years, I read it every year during the fall.

5. Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones – After attempting and failing to read this one multiple times over multiple years, I tried the audio version and fell completely in love. So in love that I believe I listened to it six or seven times before I was willing to move on to other books.

6. the Mistborn trilogy and many others by Brandon Sanderson – I know it’s cheating to have three books in one, but these go together. Sanderson completely changed the way I thought about fantasy, and I think I remember the characters in this series more than any other I’ve ever read. Many of his other books have the same amazing qualities.

7. the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor – I never expected to like these. I got the first book as a free audio download one summer. Then I was hooked, and Taylor delivered all the way through the series.

8. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo – While I was less enamored by the end of this particular series, the first book still stands out to me as one of the best-crafted fantasy worlds I’ve ever experienced, and I adore every moment in this book.

9. the Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy by Rae Carson – Another brilliant world-builder, and this one struck me particularly because of the way Carson incorporated an entire religious system into her characters’ lives.

10. the Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater – After I babbled on and on about these books last fall, is it any wonder that they showed up here? PS – I’m relistening to these right now…

I didn’t choose any books from 2015 because it’s too early to tell if they will become favorites, but there are a few contenders already this year that might eventually end up here. Yay!

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.