Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Stephanie's Most Chord-Striking Books

I finally did it. I have been kicking around the idea for some time of creating my own list of "favorite" books. After much discussion today with some friends on Facebook, I finally created my "overall" list. These are definitely not all the books I would ever recommend, nor are they books I would recommend to everyone. (If you want a list tailored to you, you just let me know.)

I started by thinking of all the books that have stuck with me for weeks, months, or years, for whatever reason, listing all the books I could think of off the top of my head. Then, with that same requirement in mind, I reviewed the list of the 350+ books I have read and tracked (including recreational reading and required college reading) since 1993. I threw in a couple I remember from before 1993 and a couple I have edited or proofread.

I do not include works that are influential or important to literature or society unless they struck a particular personal note with me, so there’s no Shakespeare, no Chaucer, none of the other DeadWhite Guys. I also do not list any of the religions texts I am always reading, such as widely held religious texts (Bible, Quran, Book of Mormon, Baghavad Gita, miscellaneous "newly discovered lost texts," etc.). (Though that is not to say I don’t recommend the DWG or the religious texts.) All genres included, in alphabetical order by title:

1421: The Year China Discovered America, Gavin Menzies

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus, Charles C. Mann

1984, George Orwell

American Gods, Neil Gaiman

Angels along the Way, Della Reese

An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life, His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Anthem, Ayn Rand

At Peace in the Light, Dannion Brinkley with Paul Perry

Brother Wind, Sue Harrison

The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou, Maya Angelou (Why list them all individually, as I read them, when they exist collected now?)

The Color of Dust, Benjamin Lawless

The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou, Maya Angelou

The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, Emily Dickinson

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Gregory Maguire

Congo, Michael Crichton

The Darkangel Trilogy, Meredith Ann Pierce

The DaVinci Code, Dan Brown

Destiny of Souls: New Case Studies of Life Between Lives, Michael Newton

The Dragonriders of Pern series, Anne McCaffrey

Eats, Shoots & Leaves, Lynne Truss

The Elements of Style, Strunk & White

Emma, Jane Austen

Eragon, books 1-3 (4 coming soon?), Christopher Paolini

Esau, Philip Kerr

Evelina, Frances Burney

The Fall of Freddie the Leaf, Leo F. Buscaglia

Fingerprints of the Gods, Graham Hancock

Freedom series, books 1-4, Anne McCaffrey

The Green Mile, Stephen King

Harry Potter, Books 1-7, J.K. Rowling

Have a Little Faith, Mitch Albom

Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind the Rhyme, Chris Roberts

The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien

Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte

Jennifer Government, Max Barry

Journey of Souls: Case Studies of Life Between Lives, Michael Newton

The Langoliers, Stephen King

Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Choderlos De Laclos

Lisa, Bright and Dark, John Neufeild

The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien

Mama Might Be Better off Dead, Laurie Kaye Abraham

Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl

Mary Called Magdalene, Margaret George

Mary, Queen of Scotland & The Isles, Margaret George

Memnoch the Devil, Anne Rice

The Memoirs of Cleopatra, Margaret George

Misquoting Jesus, Bart D. Ehrman

Mother Earth Father Sky, Sue Harrison

Mountains Beyond Mountains, Tracy Kidder

The Mummy, Anne Rice

My Sister the Moon, Sue Harrison

Next, Michael Crichton

Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich

The Notebook, Nicholas Sparks

One Last Time, John Edward

People of the Lakes, Kathleen O’Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear

Pope Joan, Donna Woolfolk Cross

Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

Real Boys, William Pollack

Saved by the Light, Dannion Brinkley with Paul Perry

The Seven Daughters of Eve, Bryan Sykes

Somewhere over the Sun, Adi Alsaid

The Sound of Waves, Yukio Mishima

The Vampire Lestat, Anne Rice

What Dreams May Come, Richard Matheson

Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung? Ajahn Brahm

The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Elizabeth George Speare

No comments:

Post a Comment