Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson: The book that started it all! It's got lost treasure, pirates, action, adventure, drama, intrigue and a whole bunch of awesome characters. Name anything about pirates that you think are facts and you may be surprised to find that it actually originates from this classic book.

Five on a Treasure Island - Enid Blyton: This one is a children's book starring the "Famous Five" from Enid Blyton, but it is such a timeless classic that I'm sure even grown-ups will get caught up in it. As it is the first book in the series, it is also a perfect place to start if you have not yet read any of the books about this group of adventurous kids. In this book the children visit their cousin who takes them to an island that belongs to her family. Their adventure begins when a storm uncovers a previously inaccessible shipwreck, which contains a treasure map that appears to indicate that there is a lost treasure hidden away in the castle that is on the island.

Ready Player One - Ernest Cline: I recently watched this one on blu-ray and it inspired me to read the book again, which in my opinion is still better. I think Ready Player One also fits the category of hunting lost treasure, even if in this book the treasure is hidden in a virtual reality game. The treasure in Ready Player One is actually an "Easter egg" that grants the person who finds it the fortune left behind by the creator of the game. What is nice about this particular treasure hunt is that instead of a map with "X" that marks the spot, the clues are all hidden in 1980s pop culture, which is why I recon the book is so popular with people my age. There's definitely a lot of nostalgia involved if you grew up with the references found in this book, but it is still entertaining even if you are younger or older.

This is an interesting question because I have without a doubt seen a shift towards protagonists who are not as likeable. To me it looks like modern authors are scared of creating protagonists who are too nice because, for some reason, it is something that took quite a bashing from readers and critics. Call me old fashioned, but I like a protagonist who I can root for and the current crop of angsty, brooding characters with their dark secrets and chequered pasts doesn't quite do it for me. I want a character who I look forward to spending my precious reading time with, not one who is going to constantly annoy me with their bad attitudes and constant griping. It is quite a sad state of affairs that a lot of authors, especially women it seems, are purposeful writing protagonists who are downright unlikeable because they think it will make readers take their work more seriously. There are a lot of books that I could list that all have very likeable characters, but for my favorite I think I am going to go with the Helen Fielding novel, Bridget Jones's Diary. As a protagonist Bridget is not perfect and the book is written in the form of her diary, so we get to know her with all her flaws, but despite all of this she is still a very likeable character. One of the reasons why I think she is so likeable is that myself and many others can see a lot of ourselves in the problems she had to face.

For me the master of monster books will always be Stephen King. He has come up with so many memorable monsters over the years that it is hard to keep track of them all. In 'Salem's Lot he gave us vampires, while in Cujo, he manages to turn a rabid dog into a terrifying monster. Then there is Pet Sematary, that contains some very chilling zombies, and in his book The Tommyknockers, it is aliens that step into the role of monsters. Then there is one of my all time King favorites, Needful Things, where the monster is a man named Leland Gaunt, who may or may not be Satan himself!

Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies - Lindsay Ribar - Not all villains are of the evil cackling variety, some are purely selfish. This is the case with Aspen, the protagonist of Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies by Lindsay Ribar. He has these amazing powers, but instead of using them to help humanity, he only uses them for his own personal gain. He also tends to screw things up for other people by using his powers. Aspen is a thief, but instead of stealing any physical valuables, he can rob people of stuff like their memories, feelings, traits and character attributes. The thing is, although he is clearly not using his powers for good, how many of us would be able to resist doing the same if we were in his shoes?

How To Lead a Life of Crime - Kirsten Miller - Imagine what would happen if instead of teaching students how to use magic, Hogwarts was a place to teach them how to become criminals. Well, that is the premise of How to Lead a Life of Crime by Kirsten Miller. Only this time the school is called Mandal Academy and it is a breeding ground for psychopaths. The protagonist of the book, Flick, isn't technically a villain as he isn't nearly as psychotic as his fellow students, but he is still a thief with some very ambiguous morals. Anyway, the book is so good, yet underrated that I just had to include it.

Half Bad - Sally Green - Villains are the way they are for a reason and nobody can blame the protagonist of Half Bad, Nathan Byrn, for being the way he is. Set in a world where there are good and bad witches, Nathan is a mixture of both, which leads to a lot of abuse in his life. Everyone is distrustful of Nathan because his father is a very powerful black witch and he has to face all kinds of dire predictions about how killing is in his blood and that it is all that he is made for.

Agenda - Virginia Aird - Moving away from the fantasy and supernatural a bit, there is also Agenda by Virginia Aird. Now to be honest, I didn't enjoy this book quite as much because it falls outside of my preferred genre, which is young adult, but I think other readers might really enjoy it if they want to read about a villainous character that isn't a typical male. Instead, the protagonist is an emotionally scarred woman who is out on a quest for vengeance.

Kill Kill Kill - Mike Leon - Finally, there is Kill Kill Kill, which is a book I'm busy with after someone recommended it to me. The book is a little extreme to me as it really doesn't shy away from controversial topics, but it has exactly what you would expect from something with a title like Kill Kill Kill. Because it is written from such a masculine perspective all the characters feel a little villainous to me, even the "good" guys who are all anti-heroes.

If you have any sort of interest in this type of thing, then you have probably read this book already, but just in case you haven't, don't miss out on Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. The book was published in the late fifties already by a Nigerian author named Chinua Achebe. What makes it so compelling from a cultural perspective is that it centers around Nigeria in pre-colonial days as well as what happened in the country after the Europeans started to make their appearance. The protagonist of the tale is Okonkwo and the novel explores a lot of his life and customs as part of a clan. It also explores the impact that Christian missionaries and the spreading colonialism had on Okonwo. It is a great book and also had a couple of sequels (some direct, some spiritual) that are worth tracking down as well.