1. Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the life of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The main story arc concerns Harry's struggle against Lord Voldemort, a dark wizard who intends to become immortal, overthrow the wizard governing body known as the Ministry of Magic, and subjugate all wizards and muggles, a reference term that means non-magical people.
Since the release of the first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, on 26 June 1997, the books have found immense popularity, critical acclaim and commercial success worldwide. They have attracted a wide adult audience as well as younger readers, and are often considered cornerstones of modern young adult literature. The series has also had its share of criticism, including concern about the increasingly dark tone as the series progressed, as well as the often gruesome and graphic violence it depicts. As of May 2013, the books have sold more than 500 million copies worldwide, making them the best-selling book series in history, and have been translated into seventy-three languages. The last four books consecutively set records as the fastest-selling books in history, with the final instalment selling roughly eleven million copies in the United States within twenty-four hours of its release.
The series was originally published in English by two major publishers, Bloomsbury in the United Kingdom and Scholastic Press in the United States. A play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, based on a story co-written by Rowling, premiered in London on 30 July 2016 at the Palace Theatre, and its script was published by Little, Brown as the eighth book in the series.The original seven books were adapted into an eight-part film series by Warner Bros. Pictures, which has become the second highest-grossing film series of all time as of August 2015. In 2016, the total value of the Harry Potter franchise was estimated at $25 billion, making Harry Potter one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time.
2. Manga
Manga (漫画 Manga) are comics created in Japan or by creators in the Japanese language, conforming to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century.They have a long and complex pre-history in earlier Japanese art.
The term manga (kanji: 漫画; hiragana: まんが; katakana: マンガ; 
listen (help·info); English: /ˈmæŋɡə/ or /ˈmɑːŋɡə/) in Japan is a word used to refer to both comics and cartooning. "Manga" as a term used outside Japan refers to comics originally published in Japan.
listen (help·info); English: /ˈmæŋɡə/ or /ˈmɑːŋɡə/) in Japan is a word used to refer to both comics and cartooning. "Manga" as a term used outside Japan refers to comics originally published in Japan.
In Japan, people of all ages read manga. The medium includes works in a broad range of genres: action-adventure, business and commerce, comedy, detective, historical drama, horror, mystery, romance, science fiction and fantasy, sexuality, sports and games, and suspense, among others.Many manga are translated into other languages. Since the 1950s, manga has steadily become a major part of the Japanese publishing industry, representing a ¥406 billion market in Japan in 2007 (approximately $3.6 billion) and ¥420 billion (approximately $5.5 billion) in 2009. Manga have also gained a significant worldwide audience. In Europe and the Middle East the market was worth $250 million in 2012. In 2008, in the U.S. and Canada, the manga market was valued at $175 million. Manga represent 38 % of the French comics market, nearly 260 million Euros which is equivalent to approximately ten times to that of the United States. Manga stories are typically printed in black-and-white, although some full-color manga exist (e.g., Colorful). In Japan, manga are usually serialized in large manga magazines, often containing many stories, each presented in a single episode to be continued in the next issue. If the series is successful, collected chapters may be republished in tankōbon volumes, frequently but not exclusively, paperback books.[ A manga artist (mangaka in Japanese) typically works with a few assistants in a small studio and is associated with a creative editor from a commercial publishing company. If a manga series is popular enough, it may be animated after or even during its run. Sometimes manga are drawn centering on previously existing live-action or animated films.
Manga-influenced comics, among original works, exist in other parts of the world, particularly in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan("manhua"), and South Korea ("manhwa"). An example of this is the one in the picture below titled Noblesse written by Son Jeho and illustrated by Lee Kwangsu
3. The Corrections
The Corrections is a 2001 novel by American author Jonathan Franzen. It revolves around the troubles of an elderly Midwesterncouple and their three adult children, tracing their lives from the mid-20th century to "one last Christmas" together near the turn of the millennium. The novel was awarded the National Book Award in 2001 and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 2002.
The Corrections was published to widespread acclaim from literary critics. The sense of anxiety and apprehension found in its characters has been compared with those of Americans following the September 11 terrorist attacks, despite the novel's release having preceded that event by ten days. As a result, many have interpreted the novel as having prescient insight into the mood of post-9/11 American life, and numerous publications have ranked it with the best works of contemporary fiction
4. "Roman Triptych: Meditations" is a poem by Pope John Paul II, published in the (Vatican) in March 2003 by Libreria Editrice Vaticana, with the presentation of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. "Roman Triptych" is the only poem John Paul II wrote during his long Pontificate.
The official inauguration of the Italian version (translated by Grażyna Miller) of the "Roman Triptych" ("Trittico romano, Meditazioni") was a ceremony held in the "Sala Stampa Vaticana" on March 6, 2003 in the presence of the author.
5.Free Culture (book)
Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity (published in paperback as Free Culture: The Nature and Future of Creativity) is a 2004 book by law professor Lawrence Lessig that was released on the Internet under the Creative Commons Attribution/Non-commercial license (by-nc 1.0) on March 25, 2004.
This book documents how copyright power has expanded substantially since 1974 in five critical dimensions:
- duration (from 32 to 95 years),
- scope (from publishers to virtually everyone),
- reach (to every view on a computer),
- control (including "derivative works" defined so broadly that virtually any new content could be sued by some copyright holder as a "derivative work" of something), and
- concentration and integration of the media industry.
6. The Road (Novel)
The Road is a 2006 novel by American writer Cormac McCarthy. It is a post-apocalyptic tale of a journey of a father and his young son over a period of several months, across a landscape blasted by an unspecified cataclysm that has destroyed most of civilization and, in the intervening years, almost all life on Earth. The novel was awarded the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction in 2006. The book was adapted to a film of the same name in 2009, directed by John Hillcoat.
7. Death of a Bachelor (song)
Death of a Bachelor is the fifth studio album by American rock band Panic! at the Disco, released January 15, 2016 on Fueled by Ramen and DCD2. It is the follow-up to the band's fourth studio album, Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die! (2013), with the entire album written and recorded by lead vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Brendon Urie, among external writers. It is the band's first album to not feature drummer Spencer Smith and also follows bassist Dallon Weekes' departure from the official line-up, subsequently becoming a touring member once again.
Death of a Bachelor debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, with 190,000 album units, earning the band its best sales week and first number one album. It was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Album at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards.
8. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (novel)
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007) is a novel written by Dominican American author Junot Díaz. Although a work of fiction, the novel is set in New Jersey in the United States, where Díaz was raised and deals with the Dominican Republic experience under dictator Rafael Trujillo. The book chronicles both the life of Oscar De León, an overweight Dominican boy growing up in Paterson, New Jersey, who is obsessed with science fiction and fantasy novels and with falling in love, as well as the curse that has plagued his family for generations.
Narrated by multiple characters, the novel incorporates a significant amount of Spanglish and neologisms, as well as references to fantasy and science fiction films and books. Through its overarching theme of the fukú curse, it additionally contains elements of magic realism. It received highly positive reviews from critics, who praised Díaz's writing style and the multi-generational story. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao went on to win numerous awards in 2008, such as the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
9. 2666 (novel)
2666 is the last novel by Roberto Bolaño. It was released in 2004, a year after Bolaño's death. Its themes are manifold, and it circulates around an elusive German author and the unsolved and ongoing murders of women in Santa Teresa, a violent city inspired by Ciudad Juárez and its epidemic of female homicides. In addition to Santa Teresa, settings and themes include the Eastern Front in World War II, the academic world, mental illness, journalism, and the breakdown of relationships and careers. 2666 explores 20th-century degeneration through a wide array of characters, locations, time periods, and stories within stories.
Over 1100 pages long in its Spanish edition, and almost 900 in its English translation, it is divided into five parts. An English-language translation by Natasha Wimmer was published in the United States in 2008, by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and in the United Kingdom in 2009, by Picador.
Critical reception of the novel has, on the whole, been very positive. In Chile, it won the Altazor Award in 2005. The New York Times Book Review included it in the list of "10 Best Books of 2008"; Time named it Best Fiction Book of 2008; and the novel won the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction. Wimmer's translation was nominated for the Best Translated Book Award. Critics have compared it to W. G. Sebald's work and praised the book's multiple story lines and scope.
10. The Humbling (Book)
The Humbling is a novel by Philip Roth published in the fall of 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. It is Roth's 30th book and concerns "an aging stage actor whose empty life is altered by a 'counterplot of unusual erotic desire'."
