Do you know how to totally paralyze a book lover? Tag her in a Facebook message challenging her to list her top ten books.
“Come on, it can’t be that hard. Just think of a few books that have stuck with you.”
There.Is.No.Way.
It’s like going to a kennel of 100 beloved, squirming puppies and selecting just ten and then looking back and seeing the other 90 wagging their tails, staring at you with their pitiful eyes, and hearing them whimper and whine,
“Come back! Don’t forget me!”
I can’t leave them.
So I go back and give them all a pat on the head before attempting to select a few (just kill me now).
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Book nerd that I am, I categorized by genre~a word us bibliophiles love.
(Double nerd that I am, I added links so you can go and preview them.)
Children’s Fiction ~ Young Adult Fiction ~ Adult Fiction ~ Southern Fiction ~
Non-Fiction/Memoir/Biography ~ Spiritual
I offer this list with the ulterior motive that you will totally disagree, and give me suggestions for other books that I’ve missed. So scan the list but PLEASE comment below. So I can keep adding more puppies to the kennel.
Children’s Fiction
The Little Princeby Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
This was the first book I checked out of my school library in first grade, probably because of the delightful drawings, but I keep coming back to it. Even though it was beyond me at the time, it gave me hints of the magic that books offer.
The Incredible Journeyby Sheila Burnford
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
To hear animal stories told from their point of view captured me. Don’t even let me start thinking about Old Yeller or Where the Red Fern Grows.
Pippi Longstockingby Astrid Lindgren
Thank you for a giving me a feisty girl with freckles who made messes and exuded life and imagination.
The Complete Fairy Talesby George MacDonald
I keep re-reading his fairy tales, especially The Princess and the Goblin. Ooh, and for a story that will take you deep, try The Day Boy and the Night Girl. He showed me that a pretend world really isn’t.
Thank you for your unique way with words, images, rhymes, and sneaking in truth that goes down like truffles (chocolate of course) instead of raw mussels.
Owl Moonby Jane Yolen
I didn’t discover Yolen’s work, and especially Owl Moon, until I read it to my children, but I was amazed how a few well-chosen words and illustrations transported me not only to the woods but into a relationship of a father and daughter.
Cinder Ednaby Ellen Jackson
Trust me. Just read it, especially if you’re a wee bit weary of the classic “Princess” tales and felt like you never fit.
These last two books made me long to be a writer who could portray hard reality with kindness and hope. At the time I didn’t know that the word I was searching for was “redemptive.”
Charlotte’s Webby E. B. White
Thank you, Charlotte, for your tenderness, cleverness and friendship. Thank you, Wilbur, for fainting.
The Velveteen Rabbitby Marjorie Williams
I have to read this regularly (especially as I get older and "very shabby") to remember what it means to be “real.”
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Young Adult Books and Series
Bridge to Terebithia by Katherine Paterson
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Books that didn’t always have the expected ending stuck with me, so I loved (and hated) these.
The Chosen by Chaim Potok
Ushered into the mysterious Hasidic world, I saw enduring family love in a changing world.
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle
The Space Triology by C. S. Lewis
I’m glad that science fiction books tend to filter down to young adults and children. Lewis helped me see how sin could enter a perfect world.
The Lord of the Rings Triology with the Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkein
Thank you for showing me that homely hobbits and “small stories” matter.
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowlings
Thank you, J. K., for beautifully bringing to closure so many of the different story lines in such a rich and true way.
Little Womenby Louisa May Alcott
Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
I am grateful to these women authors for giving us girls with intelligence, curiosity and flaws. Check out the deals on Kindle.
The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
Every year, I try to read them again and live in the wonder of this amazing world that I can see and taste, a world that makes me long for my true home beyond Narnia.
Adult Fiction
The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Life of Piby Yann Martel
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
The Joy Luck Clubby Amy Tan
Thank you, dear authors, for ushering me into worlds I would never have known and allowing me to meet fully formed, complex people. Although I still don’t know if I forgive Martel for the ending on Life of Pi.
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
I loved Strout’s courage in playing with genres and giving us a series of short stories anchored in one small place and one real woman that ended up as a novel.
The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
It has stuck with me, disturbed me, and given me a character I won’t forget.
A River Runs Through Itby Norman McLean
Those who love Montana know the thought, “How do I describe this to people?” Mclean captures the land I love and writes with compassion and mercy, not judgment and sarcasm, about dysfunctional families.
The Complete Works of Wendell Berry
(I don’t think it’s been compiled yet, but when it is, I’ll pre-order.)
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Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
My deepest gratitude to Wendell Berry and Marilynne Robinson for giving me a way to disturb my friends who have pigeon-holed Christians. Thank you for the deep quiet quality of your writing. Thank you for your books that show the Christian faith in stories that are hopeful and painful and people who are real and flawed.
Southern Fiction Books
Southern is a genre all to itself with the most memorable characters, the most unbelievable but true stories, the quirkiest and darkest humor. Be proud, Southern friends. Grab a sweet tea, sit on a rocking chair on the front porch and relish some of these:
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Even though I read it years ago, this book still has the power to make me hurt and hope at the same time.
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Café by Fannie Flagg
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Walking Across Egypt by Clyde Edgerton
To Kill a Mockingbirdby Harper Lee
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhoodby Rebecca Wells
To Dance with the White Dog by Terry Kay
Pat Conroy’s novels
Ron Rash’s novels
Everything by Flannery O’Connor and Eudora Welty
Non-Fiction, Memoir, Biography
The Color of Water by James McBride
The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Undaunted Courageby Stephen Ambrose
Enduranceby Alfred Lansing
Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindberg
I try to find all the essays and writings I can find from this fascinating woman.
Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
You know an author is good when you read all her footnotes. Seabiscuit and Unbroken were unbelievably true, showing the worst of times and the spirit of a man. They also remind me of my father, the place and time in which he was raised.
Non-Fiction/Spiritual/by Author
Holy Bible
(That’s a given.)
These men challenge me with their depth and scholarship and that, even with their intellectual gifts, it was always the grace of God in Jesus that was their message.
I hope I have all his books on my shelf. He helps me see and value Jesus Christ, community, and to not be ashamed of my own brokenness.
Thank you for reminding us that God can’t love us more and he can’t love us less.
Thank you for your raw and messy faith and your gratitude to Jesus and being a voice to an audience many of us in-the-box evangelicals will never reach.
Sacred Rhythmsby Ruth Haley Barton
She helped make the spiritual disciplines accessible and gave a context for their need in my busy life.
Walking on Waterby Madeline L’Engle
The Mind of the Maker by Dorothy Sayer
Breath for Bones by Luci Shaw
Visions of Vocation by Steven Garber
Thank you for compelling me to keep on creating, and that what I do matters.
Knowing Godby J. I. Packer
I am grateful that this is one of the first books I read as a new believer.
What the Bible is All About by Henrietta Mears
She helped me see Jesus in every book of the Bible and showed me how to teach the Bible in a clear and memorable way. And she illustrates that one woman with a passion for the Scripture could have significant influence on her times.
C. S. Lewis has been the author, beyond the writers of Scripture, who has most shaped my Christian life. He articulates difficult doctrine in compelling story, such as The Great Divorce, The Screwtape Letters and Till We Have Faces, and he makes the complex more accessible (Mere Christianity).
While the Other Puppies Howl....
My Top Books (at least for this week)
I’m shutting my ears to all the other puppies howling in the kennel as I put together this list of 11 books and three go-to authors. The works by those authors have shaped me, stuck in my head, and sunk to my heart.
Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
The Velveteen Rabbit by Marjorie Williams
The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
A River Runs Through It by Norman McLean
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindberg
Knowing God by J. I. Packer
What the Bible is All About by Henrietta Mears
Everything I can get my hands on by:
Wendell Berry
Henri Nouwen
C. S. Lewis
Your Turn. Go!
The reason I put this list together was to raise your wrath and make you comment below! Tell me what books I’ve missed, why you disagree, what other genres I’ve totally missed. And I won’t limit you to 10.
Then watch out 2nd & Charles, Amazon, all those lovely serendipitous used books stores out there, the wonderful Hoover Public Library, and my Christmas wishlist.