the CIR Canon
my favorite books, served by course.
There are two things you should probably know about me:
I despise the star rating system.
It tells me nothing about whether the reader liked the book or not. I guess 5 stars probably means outstanding, but what is the difference between 4 and 3 stars? That really makes no sense to me. So instead I developed my own ratingn system:
All-Time Faves
The books I absolutely LOVED and would re-read over and over again. I also probably own more than one physical edition of these, because I am OBSESSED! This are the books that permanently rearrange the furniture in my brain and make any other book compete with their memory.
books I like
The books I enjoyed enough to recommend and probably also buy a physical copy of it. They are not life-changing stories, but I would definitely go back to them.
Books that are "just OK"
The books that are not bad, but they are nothing remarkable. They were interesting enough for me to keep reading till the end, but I will probably forget about them in a week or so.
dissapointing
This rating is for the books I was looking forward to and I ended up not liking. This category I usually finish because I am always hopeful that the story will get better.
Books I despise
Bad stories, annoying characters, glaring plot-holes, unnecessary scenes, dumb conflicts that could be resolved with a little common sense... the worse of the worse. The deadly sins of bad storytelling. That goes in here.
I’m a very generous rater.
Really, look around my goodreads profile, it takes a lot for me to rate a book less than four stars and even more to give a book two stars or less.
However, not every high rating belongs in the same place.
That is where the meal system comes in.
Instead of simply rating my books, I sort my favorite fantasy, science-fiction, horror, and romantasy books into three very scientific and absolutely not Michelin-approved, categories: treats, entrées, and full three-course meals.
treats
A treat is pure reading pleasure.
It may not have the most elaborate plot, the deepest worldbuilding, or prose that makes me reconsider the English language. It doesn’t need to. A treat understands its assignment: capture my attention, keep me entertained, and make it dangerously easy to say, “just one more chapter.”
These are the books I reach for when I want something lighter, faster, or simply fun. They’re compelling, enjoyable, and often exactly what I need, even if they aren’t trying to become my entire personality.
My treats include books such as The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland, Fellow Creatures by Emma Lowther, Foul Days by Genoveva Dimova, I’ll Find You Where the Timeline Ends by Kylie Lee Baker, and Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng.
Not every satisfying read needs to be intellectually devastating. Sometimes you want a beautifully made little dessert.
entrées
An entrée is the complete package.
It’s serving plot. It’s serving characters. It’s serving writing. Every major element is doing its job, and together they create the kind of story I want to sink into again and again.
These books don’t merely keep me entertained. They make me care. They leave me thinking about their characters, ideas, and sentences long after I’ve finished reading.
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil belongs here not only because of its character work and story, but because V. E. Schwab’s writing does things to my brain that very few authors can accomplish. The An Ember in the Ashes quartet are entrées too: immersive, emotionally satisfying, and exceptionally well constructed.
Rebecca Ross also belongs at this table. I’m not naturally drawn to romantasy, but when Ross does romantic fantasy, she reminds me why the genre works. Her stories balance romance, atmosphere, emotion, and prose without making any one ingredient carry the entire meal.
three-course meal
Then there are the outstanding books among the outstanding books.
A three-course meal gives me everything: ambitious ideas, unforgettable characters, exceptional writing, emotional damage, intellectual satisfaction, and a world I don’t want to leave. These are the books that become standards against which other books are measured.
Red Rising by Pierce Brown is a three-course meal. So are The Deavabad Trilogy by Shannon Chakraborty and The Sword of Kaigen and Blood Over Bright Haven by M. L. Wang.
These are not simply books I enjoyed or even books I loved. They’re books that satisfied something emotional and intellectual at the same time. They gave me everything I wanted and usually several things I didn’t know I wanted until they were already ruining my life.
curious about my all-time faves...
Check out the list of books that I will always recommend.
If you are interested in the most complete list of the books I’ve finished and my current reads, visit my Goodreads page, my Story Graph page or my Fable page.