I think I'm becoming dumber as I get older. Ok, I'm being dramatic, but I have to admit that I haven't been reading a whole lot of books recently. And it seems that my reading materials are spiraling in a downward pattern. I was doing my reading best in grade school and now stuck reading movie or T.V. tie-ins. It's sad and I can't seem to help it.

In grade school I was reading books required for the higher grades and even for high school. Stuff like the Iliad and Catcher in the Rye. I wasn't really into the classics though, except maybe Wuthering Heights. Love it. Depressing but I loved it.

Then in high school, due to the very sparse collection of reading materials that have nothing to do with any lesson plan, I started reading thriller novels like the ones by Robert Ludlum. When I was super bored and there really was nothing else, I read the books of Andrew Greeley which was mostly about Catholic Church scandals.

College was the start of my descent. I noticed myself getting stuck reading movie or T.V. tie in books. I guess it's because they were easy to absorb. God knows my brain was already being overloaded with so much info during those times. Reading something of real substance was not what I would call as something to relax me. Sad thing is that I can't seem to break out of the habit. Sure, not all of the books I've read these days are T.V. ties ins but they are of the Young Adult category. I can't really say if this is still not good for me or if it's because Young Adult books are really becoming good these days.

The thing is that I need to just get my book passion back. But I think the drive is gone. The only book I'm excited about right now is Harry Potter book 6. And it's a shame because I used to be really excited about books. And not just about the highly publicized ones. I used to love discovering books that are not really known and recommending them to others. I loved the process of getting someone else interested; heck even just talking about a book was enough for me. I miss it.

Anyway in trying to recapture at least part of what I used to enjoy, I would like to impart 5 of the books I enjoyed over the years and would recommend to others.