Sunday, August 28, 2005

Bookmania

Since my top 10 movies post had me thinking about all the other "love them" items in my life, I thought I'd post my top books. Some of these are adult books, some are children's books and some are young adult. All are worthy, and again, I've probably left tons out. My favorite way to spend summertime was reading, whether I was indoors in the air conditioning or outside laying under the tree in the front yard appreciating the thick carpet grass that my parents spent all spring cultivating to lush rug-like fullness. So here we go with books (or book series) in no particular order.

  1. The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkein)
  2. Dragonsong (Anne McCaffrey. I loved the whole Pern series, really)
  3. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle (Betty McDonald. Remember the radish cure for nonbathers?)
  4. The Chronicles of Narnia (C. S. Lewis)
  5. Strawberry Girl (Lois Lenski. I read all of her "Girl" series)
  6. Harry Potter series (J. K. Rowling)
  7. Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series (Laurell K. Hamilton)
  8. Dune (Frank Herbert. See, Frank, I have tons of Sci-Fi on here. While you were watching it, I was reading it. Later in life I'd start watching.)
  9. A Wrinkle in Time (Madeline L'Engle. I read all of the Murray family adventures.)
  10. (3-Way Tie) Interview with the Vampire (Anne Rice), The Witch of Blackbird Pond (Elizabeth George Speare) with The Once and Future King (T. H. White)

Okay, so I cheated a bit and really have a top 12 list. But I left off so many great ones! Where the Red Fern Grows, The Boxcar Children series, The Wizard of Oz series, all my guilty pleasure Star Trek books & Jude Devereaux cheap historical romance books, Atlas Shrugged, To Kill a Mockingbird, Gone With the Wind, Lord of the Flies, The Exorcist (okay, so it wasn't great but I enjoyed being scared spitless) and even The Handmaid's Tale. If you'll leave me a list of your top books, I'm sure there will be some I've forgotten but also loved reading over the years.

7 comments:

(F)redddy said...

Forgive me for not knowing the authors, but, in no particular order...
1. What to expect when you're expecting.
2. The Toddler Years.
3. I Missed My Period, Now What?
4. Stranger in a Strange Land.
5. ANY book with the word "Golden" in it...IE: Little Golden Book: Tommy loves his daddies...
6. The ENTIRE Armistead Maupin: Tales of the City series. (KNEW ONE AUTHOR!!!)
7. Any book written by Charles Dickens, ESPECIALLY Great Expectations.
8. Richard Bach's: One...some of his other shit's good too, but I get bored reading about bi-planes...especially when there's nothing sexual about a plane...
9. The Front Runner...BEAUTIFUL...(BOTH sequels sucked though).
10. ...WAIT! You tricked me. I DO NOT PLEASURE READ!!!

Kay said...

I remember when we were both on the Tales of the City craze, Babycakes. Great series! I know the What to Expect books 1 & 2 have been helpful for you...did you ever convince Jed to read them? I seem to recall reading The Front Runner and thinking it was good. Are you still "non-pleasure reading" Harry Potter?

(F)redddy said...

Jed's come up with lots of baby info lately, but I'm not sure if he's reading the book or asking people questions. I'm fairly certain, based on the thick layer of dust on the cover, that he's not been reading! I'm still not reading Harry Potter (Lerlie borrowed and "returned", but I can't find it!)

Anonymous said...

Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

La Divinia Commedia, Dante

The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, J.R.R. Tolkein

Another Roadside Attraction, Tom Robbins

The Autobiography of Malcolm X

Ishmael, Daniel Quinn

Odi et Amo, Catullus

The Hours, Michael Cunningham

this is harder to do than movies

Anonymous said...

Watership Down by Richard Adams - hands down the best :) they just dont write em like they used to!

Thanks for keeping me updated, Kay!

Anonymous said...

How about Me Talk Pretty One Day. So hilarious it almost made me incontinent.

Anonymous said...

1. Geek Love (blanking)
2. Microserfs by Douglas Coupland
3. Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
4. Naked by David Sedaris
5. The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
6. The Heart of Darkness by James Henry
7. Like People in History (blanking)
8. Generation X by Douglas Coupland
9. The Kid by Dan Savage
10. About a Boy by Nick Hornby