Top Ten Books/Authors I am Thankful For + Books I Received this Christmas (Countdown to Christmas)

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful day filled with holiday cheer! For Top Ten Tuesday's freebie and my Christmas Countdown, I have decided to mix two Christmas topics: What authors/books I am most thankful for (this was the topic during Thanksgiving which I missed, but it also applies to Christmas), and a random topic I created: books I received this Christmas! Enjoy. :)

Top Ten Books/Authors I am Thankful For and Books I Received this Christmas

December 25, 2012

1. J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter: I love her, and I love HP, and the series is the most amazing I have ever read. It challenged me when I was younger, and still continues to awe and inspire me whenever I think about it. Which is still often. 
2. Uglies quartet by Scott Westerfeld: Not only were these novels amazing stories, but also taught and portrayed important underlying messages about beauty in society today. 
3. Underground to Canada by Barbara Claassen: This book opened by eyes about what slavery was like in the USA during that time period, and for that I am very grateful for Barbara Claassen's amazing story that portrayed this to me. 
4. Blood Red Road: Because this book was just THAT good. 
5. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: This opened my eyes to the horrible things that have happened and could happen on our earth. Not only that, but this book alone introduced me to a whole new genre of books that has now became one of my top favourite genres. Because this book introduced me to a genre, I have discovered sooooooo many amazing new books that I loved! Plus this book was amazing, and I am thankful to Suzanne Collins for writing it. 
6. The Rainbow Fairy novels by "Daisy Meadows": It just occurred to me today, since I read these so long ago and I of course didn't pay attention to stuff like that then, that Daisy Meadows HAD to have been a pseudonym (to be honest I would've been scared if it wasn't, considering these are the "rainbow fairies" books we're talking about). Goodreads proved me right. Anyway, this is on my list because they are the first books I ever read. Well, real novels, really, and I am grateful for them for easing me into reading to become the obsessive book-lover I am now. :D

Books I Received this Christmas:

1. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien: I already own a very old copy, but this copy goes with my new set of...
2. 3. 4. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien! I am so happy! I wanted this so badly, and now I have the complete set! I am definitely even more encouraged to read these novels in the spring. Awesome!!!

Thanks for reading! I am so grateful for my beautiful Lord of the Rings set I just received and the aforementioned books on my other list, as well as many, many more. Merry Christmas everyone, and Happy Holidays!