Top 10 Books
Written on November 18th, 2025 by Dr Hobo
These are the books that have stuck with me - the ones I return to, the ones that changed how I see stories, and the ones I can’t stop recommending. No ranking, just ten books worth your time. As of October 2025.
Tortilla Flat
Author: John Steinbeck
Year: 1935
Steinbeck is often associated with heavy school reading lists and Of Mice and Men, but my favourite of his is the hilarious and deeply warm Tortilla Flat, probably my most re-read book. It follows a group of paisanos in post-WWI Monterey living life on their own terms, which mainly involves wine, friendship, and questionable adventures. I think it’s much better than its spiritual cousin Cannery Row. These are characters I’d genuinely love to have a drink with, and the quote below should tell you exactly why.
💬 Favourite Quote
Two gallons is a great deal of wine, even for two paisanos. Spiritually the jugs maybe graduated thus: Just below the shoulder of the first bottle, serious and concentrated conversation. Two inches farther down, sweetly sad memory. Three inches more, thoughts of old and satisfactory loves. An inch, thoughts of bitter loves. Bottom of the first jug, general and undirected sadness. Shoulder of the second jug, black, unholy despondency. Two fingers down, a song of death or longing. A thumb, every other song each one knows. The graduations stop here, for the trail splits and there is no certainty. From this point anything can happen.
This Thing of Darkness
Author: Harry Thompson
Year: 2005
This book absolutely blew my mind. Almost every chapter made me stop and think - really think - about history, morality, and the cost of progress. Captain Robert FitzRoy is one of the most underestimated figures from Victorian England, completely overshadowed by his more famous passenger, Charles Darwin, and that injustice genuinely upsets me. Thompson writes him with enough humanity that you feel everything it cost him. RIP Captain FitzRoy - you deserved better from history.
The Blade Itself
Author: Joe Abercrombie
Year: 2006
Just wow. This book introduced me to grimdark fantasy and I’ve never looked back. Abercrombie takes every fantasy trope you think you know and turns it inside out. But the real star is Glokta, my favourite character in all of fantasy. A tortured former war hero turned torturer, he’s darkly funny and genuinely unsettling. Imagine if Gandalf was a complete asshole and the Fellowship was full of morally compromised antiheroes. If that sounds appealing, this trilogy is for you.
💬 Favourite Quote
Every man has his excuses, and the more vile the man becomes, the more touching the story has to be. What is my story now, I wonder?
A Storm of Swords
Author: George R.R. Martin
Year: 2000
The Red Wedding. Need I say more? This is the book where Martin proved he was willing to break every rule and our hearts along with them. The foreshadowing is masterful - you know logically that something is wrong, the signs are all there, but your heart won’t let you believe it. I’ve never had a reading experience quite like it. Read it before watching the show if you possibly can. P.S. George, seriously - how much longer until The Winds of Winter?
💬 Favourite Quote
And any man who must say 'I am king' is no true king at all
Wool
Author: Hugh Howey
Year: 2011
This one came out of nowhere and completely blindsided me. Howey’s vision of humanity living in underground silos is genuinely original, and the mystery unfolds slowly enough to keep you turning pages without feeling like it’s withholding. The TV adaptation is decent but not a replacement - it never quite captures the slow build of tension and claustrophobic atmosphere.
💬 Favourite Quote
People were like machines. They broke down. They rattled. They could burn you or maim you if you weren't careful. Her job was not only to figure out why this happened and who was to blame, but also to listen for the signs of it coming. Being sheriff, like being a mechanic, was as much the fine art of preventive maintenance as it was the cleaning up after a breakdown
River God
Author: Wilbur Smith
Year: 1993
Growing up, I devoured Wilbur Smith’s adventure novels - they were my gateway to historical fiction. Picking just one was genuinely difficult; Birds of Prey and Shout at the Devil both came close, but River God edges it. Set in ancient Egypt during the Hyksos invasion, the story is told through Taita, a eunuch slave who’s cleverer than everyone else in the room, and his devotion to his mistress Lostris drives the whole thing. Decades of scope, Smith’s Egypt feeling lived-in throughout. It’s the first in his Egyptian series and probably the only one you need.
💬 Favourite Quote
Sometimes it is best for men not to attempt to interfere with destiny. Our prayers can be answered in ways which we do not expect and do not welcome
Children of Time
Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky
Year: 2015
I picked this up when I really needed a sci-fi hit, and it delivered and then some. Tchaikovsky takes a concept that shouldn’t work - uplifted spiders as the main characters - and makes it genuinely compelling. The scope spans generations and civilisations without ever losing the thread, and the dual timeline keeps the tension up throughout. The payoff is worth every page. My benchmark for what science fiction can do when it’s firing on all cylinders.
💬 Favourite Quote
You can never know. That is the problem with ignorance. You can never truly know the extent of what you are ignorant about
Midshipman’s Hope
Author: David Feintuch
Year: 1994
I can’t quite explain why I love this series so much, but I keep coming back to it. Essentially the sci-fi equivalent of Master and Commander, with a young officer thrust into impossible situations and forced to grow up fast. Nicholas Seafort is flawed, sometimes frustratingly so, but that’s what makes the journey worth following. The first and fourth books are the standouts. Feintuch’s prose is spare and direct and somehow it just gets under your skin.
💬 Favourite Quote
There is no pity in the endless night, no mercy in infinite space. We do not belong there. Not now, not ever—unless one man summons the unbreakable will and unyielding discipline to survive the dark, silent hell he lives to challenge…
Lonesome Dove
Author: Larry McMurtry
Year: 1985
This book holds a special place in my heart - it connects me to my dad, who has now sadly passed away. It was one of his favourites, and I only read it recently, finally understanding why. Now I can say it’s one of mine too. An epic Western yarn that spans thousands of miles and feels like you’re living every dusty mile alongside the characters. McMurtry’s prose is deceptively simple but devastating when it needs to be. Gus and Call are as well-drawn as any characters I’ve read. The miniseries is excellent and does it justice, but read the book first. Every one of its 800+ pages earns its place.
💬 Favourite Quote
At times he felt that he had almost rather not be in love with her, for it brought him no peace. What was the use of it, if it was only going to be painful?
Taming Poison Dragons
Author: Tim Murgatroyd
Year: 2009
This book transported me completely. Murgatroyd’s Tang Dynasty China isn’t window dressing - you step into it properly. The protagonist navigates court intrigue and personal tragedy in a way that makes the historical setting feel immediate rather than distant. It’s literary historical fiction that never forgets to tell a story. Criminally underrated, and I’m still baffled it isn’t more widely known.
Honourable Mentions
These almost made the list, and on another day, some of them might have:
- Sovereign by C.J. Sansom
- Dark Age by Pierce Brown
- Warrior of Rome series by Harry Sidebottom
- L.A. Requiem by Robert Crais
- Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by K.J. Parker
- Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn
- The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin
- The Darkness That Comes Before by R. Scott Bakker
- Walkaway by Cory Doctorow
- The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota (2015)
- And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini (2013)
What are your top books? Disagree with my picks? Drop a comment and let me know what I’m missing!
