Books

These are the stories, essays, adventures, and lessons that I love the most, in alphabetical order by title.  Many of them are wonderfully crafted stories, some of them are extremely educational, lots of them made me ugly cry or laugh so hard that anyone sitting within a 15 ft radius thought something was seriously wrong with me (this often happens on planes).  They range in complexity from simple (but wonderful) children's stories to difficult pieces that took me several sittings to finish. Not all of them are exemplary writing samples but moved me anyway.

These are the books that made me, from childhood and beyond.  Each of these pieces have opened my eyes, mind, or heart a little bit more.  It's a growing list, and I'll add more books whenever I imprint on another one.

1. All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
2. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
3. Antigone by Sophocles
4. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
5. Bridget Jones' Diary by Helen Fielding
6. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
7. Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller
8. Evening by Susan Minot
9. Forever by Pete Hamill
10. Franny and Zooey by JD Salinger
11. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
12. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond
13. Harriet the Spy by Liz Fitzhugh
14. Harry Potter series books #1-7 by J.K. Rowling
15. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
16. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
17. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
18. Little House series books #1-9 by Laura Ingalls Wilder
19. The Little Snake by A. L. Kennedy
20. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
21. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
22. Love You Forever by Robert Munsch
23. The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B series books #1-3 by Sandra Gulland
24. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
25. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
26. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
27. Opening Skinner's Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century by Lauren Slater
28. Persuasion by Jane Austen
29. Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
30. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
31. The Secrety History by Donna Tartt
32. Sadako and a Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr
33. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
34. The Shepards Life by James Rebanks
35. Sitka by Louis L'Amour
36. Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
37. Splendor in the Grass by William Inge
38. Tess of the D'Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy
39. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
40. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
41. Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott
42. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
43. Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
44. War by Sebastian Junger
45. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion