There’s just nothing better than being in the thrall of a great book, whether you’re actively reading it or wishing you could get back to reading it.

Even though the words in a given book don’t differ between readers, the worlds and characters and images each reader conjures up in their own mind are entirely unique. This is what makes the act or reading so personal, and, ultimately, incomparable to watching a movie or TV show. This is also why I found it particularly hard to accurately rank my favourite books, save for the first few on this list. Not that it’s at all necessary to rank them, or, for that matter, to rank anything, but it’s an interesting endeavour nonetheless, as it required me to parse out and dissect my memories—to try and recall how I felt when I first read, and/or re-read, these books—which I did find valuable.

Here, to the best of my current recollection, are my all-time top 100 favourite books.

100. Alone Against the North: An Expedition into the Unknown (Adam Shoalts)

99. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves (Karen Joy Fowler)

98. The Wild Heavens (Sarah Louise Butler)

97. Mean Business on North Ganson Street (S. Craig Zahler)

96. The Fireman (Joe Hill)

95. Annihilation (Jeff VanderMeer)

94. The House with a Clock in Its Walls (John Bellairs)

93. Piranesi (Susanna Clarke)

92. Gone Girl (Gillian Flynn)

91. Not Wanted on the Voyage (Timothy Findley)

90. Howard’s End (E. M. Forster)

89. The Revolutions (Felix Gilman)

88. House of Leaves (Mark Z. Danielewski)

87. Stranger in a Strange Land (Robert A. Heilein)

86. The Themis Files series (Sylvain Neuvel)

85. Mr. Breakfast (Jonathan Carroll)

84. Ghost Wall (Sarah Moss)

83. Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen (Christopher McDougall)

82. Deliverance (James Dickey)

81. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)

80. The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story (Douglas Preston)

79. Stardust (Neil Gaiman)

78. The Terror (Dan Simmons)

77. Swan: A Mystery (Carol Shields)

76. Owls in the Family (Farley Mowat)

75. The Day of the Jackal (Frederick Forsyth)

74. Wraiths of the Broken Land (S. Craig Zahler)

73. A Child Across the Sky (Jonathan Carroll)

72. Lost Between Houses (David Gilmour)

71. Carter Beats the Devil (Glen David Gold)

70. All the Light We Cannot See (Anthoney Doere)

69. Escape! (Ben Bova)

68. The Joona Linna series (Lars Kepler)

67. Clockers (Richard Price)

66. Red Dragon (Thomas Harris)

65. All the Pretty Horses (Cormack McCarthy)

64. Outside the Dog Museum (Jonathan Carroll)

63. The Devil All the Time (Donald Ray Pollock)

62. The Ruins (Scott Smith)

61. Swamplandia (Karen Russell)

60. The Jack Reacher series (Lee Child)

59. After Silence (Jonathan Carroll)

58. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)

57. Moby Dick (Herman Melville)

56. Aaron’s Rod (D. H. Lawrence)

55. Running in the Family (Michael Ondaatje)

54. Honeycomb (Joanne M. Harris)

53. Haunt Fox (Jim Kjelgaard)

52. Marathon Man (William Goldman)

51. The Man Game (Lee Henderson

50. Revival (Stephen King)

49. American Gods (Neil Gaiman)

48. Treasure Island (Robert Louis Stevenson)

47. The Golden Spruce (John Vaillant)

46. The Beach (Alex Garland)

44. A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L’Engle)

43. The Orenda (Joseph Boyden)

42. The Night Circus (Erin Morgenstern)

41. I Am David (Anne Holm)

40. Good Omens (Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman)

39. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Roald Dahl)

38. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)

37. Neverwhere (Neil Gaiman)

36. Where the Wild Things Are (Maurice Sendak)

35. The Heavenly Table (Donald Ray Pollock)      

34. The Indian in the Cupboard (Lynn Reid Banks)

33. Into Thin Air (Jon Krakauer)

32. 11/22/63 (Stephen King)

31. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More (Roald Dahl)

30. Charlotte’s Web (E. B. White)

29. Memoirs of an Invisible Man (H. F. Saint)

28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)

27. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (Michael Chabon)

26. A Fairly Honourable Defeat (Iris Murdoch)

25. The Map of Time (Félix J. Palma)

24. The Lord of the Rings (J. R. R. Tolkien)

23. Goodbye to Berlin (Christopher Isherwood)

22. Harry Potter series (J. K. Rowling)

21. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (Robert A. Heinlein)

20. The Sportswriter (Richard Ford

19. The Library at Mount Char (Scott Hawkins)

18. Project Hail Mary (Andy Weir)

17. The Lorax (Dr. Seuss)

16. The Land of Laughs (Jonathan Carroll)

15. The Hobbit (J. R. R. Tolkien)

14. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (Susanna Clarke)

13. Into the Wild (Jon Krakauer)

12. Cloud Atlas (Robert Mitchell)

11. The Devil in the White City (Erik Larson)

10. Fantastic Mr. Fox (Roald Dahl)

9. In the Skin of the Lion (Michael Ondaatje)

8. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)

7. Ready Player One (Ernie Cline)

6. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)

5. Knockemstiff (Donald Ray Pollock)

4. The Wooden Sea (Jonathan Carroll)

3. A Passage to India (E. M. Forster

2. The Dead Zone (Stephen King)

1. James and the Giant Peach (Roald Dahl)