 Hello everybody, E here. Welcome to the best books of the decade. I only have one hard rule for this and that is these books had to have been published between 2010 and 2019. How I compiled this list was I stood in my office and I looked around and I picked out I think a total of 21 books right off the bat and then I started to weed, not weed, well yeah I started to you know whittle down the stack to the books that meant the most to me for specific reasons and finally I ended up with five of them. If I were to, if I had more time I would do best books of the decade and I wouldn't do just five but my time is short I don't have much time right now it being the holidays and certain things happening in my life and my career all good things all positive I'm very very happy right now but I decided to cut it down to five and these are the books that either came along right when I needed them this past decade or books that just defined the decade for me at number five. So at number five we have Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith. This is a book that came came along I will always remember the point in time that I read it I was quitting smoking and I read this book maybe over the course of I don't know just a couple of days maybe three or four days but it was there for me when the withdrawals and everything were the worst when my attitude was the absolute worst the author's description of the place that he was in when he was writing the book meant a lot to me also Andrew Smith felt like he was in a rut he was writing the same thing over and over again he's a young adult author he felt like he wasn't pushing the genre anywhere new so he decided to stop writing for publication and start writing for fun again so he started writing and this is the book that came out this book is also beautiful it's got a neon green binding not binding but dust jacket it's got a black inside but the the actual it's what are they called sprayed edges is the same color as the dust jacket it's a beautiful book and if I'm honest it's the reason why I grabbed it this book is wild it is crazy it is also a our voices if you want to go into hashtags and trending the book is about a young man who is struggling with his sexuality he has a best friend and a girlfriend and he's trying to decide between these two people while basically the end of the world is happening but it's not like a dystopian or anything like that this is a book unlike anything else I have ever read period and I feel it's because Andrew Smith Andrew Smith just threw it all out the window and decided he was just going to start writing and I think the best books are written that way being an author myself when I'm reading someone else's material I can tell if it's plotted I can tell that okay these are story notes these are stepping stones to get to a bigger purpose books like this you just don't know where they're going to go and that's the magic of fiction for me at number four okay so at number four we have Elinor by Jason Gurley I'm shocked that this is on the list considering I don't talk about it nearly enough the only time I've really given it a video I need to do a review of it here on the channel but the only time I've really done a video of it is I think top five books that nobody ever talks about fantastic novels that nobody ever talks about and I think that's one of the reasons why I'm putting it on this list to give it a little more visibility from what I understand the book was self published and it was much longer or shorter I can't remember which one it is but then a crown came in and bought the rights to it and completely re-edited it uh I don't know if stuff stuff was added or taken away I'm not sure but it is a very very clean experience um I there are so there's so much in here about depression uh postpartum depression about the loss of a child so much in here regarding those things uh things that I went through myself of course I didn't go through postpartum depression but there's I have some history with losing a child and that there's so much in here that I that I felt I felt close to and Jason really hit the mark uh for I'm talking about the Jason Gurley really hit the mark as far as those things were concerned the the land the fantasy world that he creates and it's not really a fantasy novel it's more of a fantasy novel that you might see a Neil Gaiman right but it's he creates this world that is so dark and dour and depressing I keep using dour I'm not sure if it means that or not but it's very dark um sinister and there's one land in particular with dinosaurs and watching that land what happens to that land over time has stuck with me and it's one of those it's one of those stories that is embedded in my nature now anytime I think about not feeling good or anytime I think about you know how depressed I am how bad things are when it usually isn't really that bad I think of this book I think of the imagery that Gurley you know projected into my mind and it's absolutely amazing I love this book it is easily one of my favorite books of all time though it might not be on my top 20 actually I can't remember for this or not but it's one of those books where the author completely stole me away from reality and put me in another place and then made me reconsider how I looked at my own emotions at number three right at number three we have a book that nobody will be surprised to see on my best of the decade list and that is you by Caroline Kepnes this book changed the game it changed the thriller game it changed the way people looked at stalker fiction it changed everything after this book came out it spawned loads of I don't want to say mimicry there there was but there were plenty of books that came out in response to this book which is interesting enough because I believe this book was in response to gone girl but era meant to hulls our kind of cruelty I feel the doll factory by Elizabeth McNeil I feel that kind of it was kind of on the same vein is it any wonder that McNeil's book and Kepnes's book are from the same publisher I think not two completely different stories but they all seem like they seem like responses to these books and I don't know if McNeil's was or not I don't know that for sure but I believe that you was a response to gone girl and it did so much for the bad guy as the protagonist or the the main character being a bad guy I feel it's done an even better job for that than Patricia Heismas the talent Mr Ripley I never liked Ripley in those books I loved Joe in this book and anytime an author can make me love a character that I shouldn't love that I shouldn't have feelings about and make me despise a character that we should be rooting for I think that is a sleight of hand that cannot go unappreciated unappreciated unappreciated that's a word so but Caroline Kepnes she's also a fantastic person she's very open and accessible she will I don't know if she responds to everybody but she's she's responding to me she's talked to me on Twitter she she's very open very nice person and I love all the success that she is seeing because in my opinion she deserves every single minute of it at number two okay at number two is probably another book that people will not be shocked that's on this list it is easily my favorite Stephen King book of the decade and that is revival by Stephen King and in case you're wondering know the institute even though it's in my top five now is nowhere close to this book um this this book I cheered I was crying I was upset but I cheered at the end of this book because it was a return to form for my favorite author of all time it was one of those it was the feeling like you you saw a long lost friend walk through the door again and they were in good health and they were doing really well for themselves and you see them and you're like I knew it I knew you were capable of this um the the book was polarizing in that a lot of people a lot of people when I wrote my review they were upset because they went out and bought the book based on my reaction to it um and in fact after that I changed my whole way that I talk about books to other people and whenever anybody asked me hey do you think that such and such book is worth it I am now answering everybody I don't know I don't know what you are going to think is worth it I have no idea what is going on in your head or your life at that moment but this book to me was important this book felt like I said like a return to form for Stephen King and no I'm not talking about a return to horror this book isn't a a scary it is terrifying to me um even as an atheist it is terrifying to me um the the book touches on things it's just the the will to live where does our will to live come from also it dealt with something that I was feeling at that point in time when I read it which was the fleeting nature of life how quickly life goes by when we're children we all think oh you know well we're gonna live forever that's what coming of age means you know other than the sexual aspect it also means realizing that the world is maybe not as innocent as you believe um in this book he he tackles everything that is relevant to that theme it is a perfect thematic experience in that he it comes completely full circle uh the all the questions that the Charlie Charlie Jacobs I believe his name is uh the pastor asks or all the stuff that he says in in his speech to his congregation just before he quits all of that stuff mirrored all the questions and feelings I had when I left Christianity when I realized that and if you're a Christian that's fine I don't mind spirituality I have more against a religion than I have against spirituality but um it mirrored everything that I had that no questions that no definitive answers to the questions that I had and on top of that I saw if there is a god this is not someone that I want to worship this it's an evil uh manipulative egotistical creature if there is a god and that's just not something that uh that draws my my wants to worship it it it tackles a lot of those things but above and beyond everything else this book is terrifically written amazingly written and I still get excited to this day thinking about this book while Stephen King's it is still my favorite Stephen King book this book year after year means something more to me it it it's probably it will never take the place of it because it has so much more than this one just just in size alone this books like three four hundred pages I can't remember I can never remember how long this one's four hundred pages it is eleven hundred pages um there's just so much more to it but as far as the shortest succinct experience for Stephen King's writing revival is where it's at for me at number one okay so at number one we have Landon this one's for you since you brought it up on the last stream Donna Tarts the goldfinch yes the rumors are true I have stopped reading Stephen King's it over and over and over again I think I stopped the 18th read through I didn't feel it was starting to be diminishing returns I wasn't getting anything really new out of it on top of that this book came along this is the book um I have a paperback and and my audio book alongside my bed this is the book that I have started reading over and over again I have read it one more time since my first time and I found a bunch of new stuff especially in the audio book I don't know why but it it really highlighted certain things the the production quality of the audio book really highlighted certain aspects that I missed beforehand I think a lot of it was the inflection of certain uh dialogue I'm not sure if I'll get the same thing when I go back and read I'm reading the paperback along with the uh the audiobook so it's like I'm being read to as I'm reading along um I've read it once and I've started my third one already I read just several pages a night sometimes 10 sometimes upwards of 20 because this book is really hard to put down I know that's cliched but it's for me it's an almost impossible to put down because when I do stop I don't want to stop and I'm always saddened when I have to put it down but uh Donna Tartt this is easily the best coming of age novel for boys ever written um that it's written by a woman I don't think it matters um but there's the themes of loving your your your best friend and wanting to do anything uh for them and even if you are a straight straight boy the feelings of of love and the feeling of you know sometimes wanting to touch your friend it I know I know there's gonna be a lot of dudes out there going hey I never felt that way but that she covered this in the book where sometimes you know well not sometimes the basis of any sexual relationship should always be a friendship um or any type of relationship period should be a friendship first and foremost whether whether it be you know two young boys or whether it be adults and there is no sexual relationship between these boys um but there is a friendship that could have possibly led to more that even though neither of the boys considered themselves gay I hope that comes off right um I know there's going to be a lot of people disagreeing with me I even the director of the movie seemingly disagreed uh because he said he wanted to tone down that aspect of in the movie I haven't seen the movie yet um I was hyped for it but I haven't seen it yet uh in in Tarte's book there there's a lot of stuff in there about the the emotional aspect of growing up with a friend very close by when you have no one else to turn to and I found a lot of myself in the main character uh especially the drug addiction uh I fought with addiction uh several times in my life whether it be cigarettes heroin alcohol several different things I'm an addictive personality if I do anything too often I end up becoming addicted to it that's just how just how I am and I suffer withdrawals you know even with stuff with like food um but the the purpose of this book the themes of this book really really hit home for me and I feel that's the reason why it is probably going to end up replacing Stephen King's it as my favorite book of all time I don't know yet I'm going to continue researching and studying this book and finding out how in the hell Donna Tarte did what she did I feel like I know how Stephen King did what he did with it I feel like I have you know mind those depths to completion with this one I am really enjoying going back and finding the structure uh really nitpicking figuring out where you know that just simple things like when she ends a chapter when she ends uh when she starts a page break when she does this that or the other to keep you wanting to read even though the text is very verbose extremely verbose uh it is very that her descriptions are astoundingly immersive I don't know that's one of the main reason I don't know how she does it and keeps people entertained because when I read fantasy I get bored very quickly because there's a lot of world building well there's a lot of world building in this one even though it's set in reality there's a lot of stuff in there having to do with showing you places that maybe aren't all that popular that not everybody has been like certain museums certain areas of the desert uh track even track houses you know those things if you don't have any experience with those things let's say you live in trailer park or you've lived in mansions all your life you don't know what the suburbs are actually like and track houses can be an oddity to you I find that stuff interesting and I find how she made that stuff interesting I find that interesting you know I'm repeating myself now but those are the things that I really latched on to with this book along with the themes and along with the story of a boy who does not know where he is going to end up a boy who is scared and terrified who ends up jumping into a jumping into bad things to try and make good things making bad decisions to try and help you know better his life or if we're just going to be completely honest escapism a boy who is running away from himself who is running away from the world and that above all is why the goldfinch by Donna Tartt is my favorite book of the decade so that's it those are my top five books of the decade I know there's going to be some discussion about hey why isn't this on here why isn't this person on there why isn't this book on there that kind of thing and that's completely fine leave all your comments down in the doobly-doo I would love to hear from you guys it doesn't have to be a top five it can be any list of your best or worst book of books of the decade I don't care which it can be the worst I'm completely fine with that if you have any issues with sorry my phone just went off if you have any issues with any of the books that I posted here or if you like the books let me know why you have issues let me know why you love them as much as I do that kind of thing let's have a discussion down there in the doobly-doo but until next time I have been E you have been you this has been the best books of the decade I'll talk to you guys later bye bye