*Anne Lamott's nonfiction, especially Bird by Bird (my most favorite book about writing) and Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year (the book that made me feel not quite so crazy and a little less alone during those first few weeks of motherhood)
*Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell...This book changed how I see Jesus. It made me want to believe in him after many, many years of suffocating under a forced relationship with a God I wasn't very fond of.
*The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater...I picked this one up at the library on a whim because I loved horse stories as a kid. It's got horses, a sweet love story, and a good bit of magic thrown in. I adored it, and will never forget standing in my kitchen stirring something on the stove with tears rolling down my face while reading the final pages.
*The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan...A fascinating, and at times appalling, look at the food we eat. I learned so much about the science of food and the state of the food industry in our country. It changed the way I feed my family.
*I've never been a huge fan of short story collections, but after reading The Shell Collector by Anthony Doerr, I changed my mind. These stories are gorgeous, and I have to say, there's a certain satisfaction in reading short stories as opposed to novels. When your time is short, it's nice to read something beautiful from start to finish in just a few sittings.
*I Am One of You Forever by Fred Chappell...Even though this is called a novel, it's really a collection of short stories about a boy named Jess growing up in western North Carolina. The stories are funny with a bit of the fantastical thrown in. Chappell is a poet as well and that is evident in his beautiful prose. I loved this little book so much that I pressed it into the hands of most of my relatives saying, "Please read this. It's amazing." They agreed.
*I've told you about Attachments by Rainbow Rowell before, about how it's the last book that repeatedly made me laugh out loud. Last week I finished her newest book Eleanor & Park. It's a totally different kind of story. Not so much humor, but I still fell head over heels for it. It's a love story that will take you back to that first "real" high school relationship that you secretly thought might be "the one" ;-) Eleanor & Park fall in love over books and music, and Rowell's characterization of them is pretty perfect. They stayed with me for days after I finished the book.
*The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery...It's the story of the quirky inhabitants of a Parisian apartment building told through the eyes of their concierge, Renee. She lives a dual life of who she thinks she should be and who she really is. It's another gorgeously written work with fascinating characters and an ending that will make you gasp.
*It's hard for me to pick a particular genre as my absolute favorite, but food memoirs are very near the top. Of all the kitchen writing I've read, Ruth Reichl's books rank at the top. I especially loved Garlic and Sapphires. Reichl, former editor in chief of Gourmet magazine, is a fantastic storyteller. These are the, often hilarious, stories of her time as a food critic...in disguise.
*Momma Zen by Karen Maezen Miller...Another one that got me through those early months of being a mama. Honest, real and uplifting, and one of my first glimpses into mindfulness and meditation. Underlined and scribbled in...proof it was just what I needed, when I needed it.
*Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art by Madeleine L'Engle...It's the same with Madeleine as with Anne Lamott, I am so much fonder of her nonfiction than her fiction. I went through a period of my life where I was reading anything I could get my hands on about God. This book is from that time. It helped talk me down off my fearful ledge, helped me see that it was okay to have questions, and introduced me to the concept of God as an artist.
Here are few more...they'd be on my list of Top 20 Favorites:
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler (although I may for once have loved the movie more)
Austenland by Shannon Hale
The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
I would love to know you're top 3, top 5, or your 10+ if you can narrow it down too...
1 comment:
It's funny that you posted this today b/c before I opened it I thought, "I still haven't sent my top ten-ish books to Claire--sigh, I don't know if I can DO that!" Especially not having a list like you. I'll try.
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