The Anchor Book - the one that sinks in

You may believe that you are a bad reader or dislike the hobby altogether but it can be a passion for everyone once they find their "anchor book." The anchor book is the one that pulls the reader in and makes them love reading. After they find it, they cannot stop. If you don't like reading at all, maybe you just haven't found the right book for you. Anyone can be turned into a reader with the right book, the book that sinks you in.

I have composed anchor book suggestions by genres that you may prefer.

Many of these books have movies and TV series with them, but it is always better to read the book first and then see it come alive on screen after.

For random ideas, here are my top favorite books: (in no particular order)

1. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)

2. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood (1985)

3. The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brien (1990)

4. The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky (1999)

5. The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls (2005)

6. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson (2005)

If you want to start off in fantasy, romance, or coming-of-age, try books in the YA (young adult fiction) category -- which anyone at any age can read.

Fantasy books include an assortment of monsters and magic. Many of these books are also set in dystopian societies.

• The Throne of Glass series - A teenage assassin living in a destroyed world with a corrupt king (includes romance, friendship, and magic)

• The Vampire Academy series (+ a movie) - Teenage vampires and vampire protectors train at an academy; two best friends, a vampire and her soon-to-be guardian face many evils

• The Hunger Games series - a boy and a girl are selected from each district to be in Hunger Games show aired to the capital where they must fight to the death yet one girl may help end it all if they all follow her (+ a movie series)

• Harry Potter series - wizards and witches (+ a movie series)

• Twilight series (+ a movie series) - vampires and werewolves + Stephanie Myer's better book The Host (also a great movie) - aliens

• The Mortal Instruments series (also a movie + a TV series) - shadowhunters/monster hunters

• The 5th Wave series (+ a movie) - aliens

• The Percy Jackson series (+ a movie series) - Greek mythology, demigods

• The Knife of Never Letting Go - A town of mind-readers where there are no women and only one boy and his dog

If the coming-of-age and romance side of YA is more your style, then try:

• The Perks of Being a Wallflower (+ a movie)

• 13 Reasons Why (+ a TV series)

• Every Last Word

• Turtles All The Way Down

• The Outsiders (+ a movie)

• Speak (+ a movie)

• The Fault in Our Stars (+ a movie)

• Me Before You (+ a movie)

• It Ends with Us

• To All The Boys I Loved Before (+ a movie series)

If crime, murder, and mysteries are more your style, try:

• Books by Gillian Flynn

  • Gone Girl (+ Award-winning film)

  • Sharp Objects (+ HBO TV Miniseries)

  • Dark Objects (+ a movie)

• Books by Riley Sager

  • Final Girls

  • The Last Time I Lied

  • Lock Every Door

• Books by Karin Slaughter

  • Pretty Girls

  • The Good Daughter

• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Series (+ a movie series)

• Luckiest Girl Alive

• Mr. Tender's Girl - re-telling of Slenderman

• Books by Agatha Christie

  • And Then There Were None (+ a movie + TV series)

  • Murder on the Orient Express (+ a movie)

If you like horror:

• Books by Stephen King

  • IT (+ a movie - old and new)

  • The Shining (+ a movie)

  • Pet Sematary (+ a movie - old and new)

  • Misery (+ a movie)

• Slasher Girls & Monster Boys - horror story anthology

• The Haunting of Hill House (+ a movie + TV Miniseries)

Try non-fiction or memoirs:

• The Glass Castle (+ a movie)

• Educated

• Eat, Pray, Love (+ a movie)

• Me Elton John (+ a movie - Rocketman)

• Finding Chika: A Little Girl, an Earthquake, and the Making of a Family

• The Blind Side (+ a movie)

Try war stories or events surrounding wars:

• The Things They Carried - Vietnam War

• The Lilac Girls

• The Alice Network

• All The Light We Cannot See

• The Nightingale

• Unbroken (biography)

• American Sniper (autobiography)

• The Tattooist of Auschwitz

  • Cilka's Journey (sequel)

Try other adult novels:

• The Help (+ a movie) - (historical fiction)

• I was Anastasia (+ a Disney movie + Broadway musical)- (historical fiction) the Romanov's murders and the rumor the daughter Anastasia was alive with potential imposter Anna Anderson

• The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar - historical fiction) also about the Romanovs' murders

• The Lovely Bones (+ a movie) - a 14-year-old girl watches from Heaven her family coping with her murder

• Water for Elephants (+ a movie) - (historical fiction, romance)

• The Other Boleyn Girl - (historical fiction)

• Little Fires Everywhere (+ a TV series)

• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (+ a movie)

• Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (+ a movie) - (historical fiction)

Last but not least, try a classic:

• The Great Gatsby (+ a movie - old and new)

• To Kill A Mockingbird (+ a movie)

• Wuthering Heights (+ a movie - old and new)

• Romeo and Juliet (+ many movies)

• Hamlet (+ many movies)

• The Call of the Wild (+ a movie - old and new)

• Pride and Prejudice (+ a movie + zombie parody book + movie)

• Beloved (+ a movie)

• 1984 (+ a movie)

• The Iliad

• Little Women (+ a movie - old and new)

• The Scarlet Letter (+ many movies)

All you need to do is pick a book or two from a genre that interests you and give it a try. You never know what door it may open and what adventure it may bring!

Comment your favorite book or an anchor book that made you love reading!