When a friend recently asked me to compile a list of my favorite books, I’m sure she had no idea the list would be so long. And neither did I. I thought I’d come up with 10-15 books, maybe 20 that could be considered my tops. But oh, was I wrong. I got out pen and paper (yes, some of us still use yellow legal pads) and started brainstorming. I recorded every book that I remembered loving as an adult, for one reason or another. I wrote and wrote and wrote and before I knew it, there was no blank space left on the page.
As I looked back over my list, I saw a little bit of almost everything. Some of the books that I’d recorded were considered literary masterpieces while others were not. They ran the gamut from young adult to memoir to fantasy to classics. There was humor and horror and romance. Some were contemporary, others historical. Some made me feel happy while others made me sad. Some just made me feel weird. But the common thread that ran through all the books I loved was that each one made me feel something very deeply. In short, they made an impact on me.
Naturally, if you compiled your own list, it would look very different from mine. Yours might be filled with non-fiction, mine is not. Yours might include Shakespeare and Tolstoy and Proust. Mine does not. Yours would reflect your own personality and be unique to you. And so is mine. So take this list for what it is: one person’s opinion about a number of fabulous books that have enriched my life and might, in some way, enrich yours.
By the way, one of the books on this list is the book that is solely responsible for turning me into a reader. If you can guess which one, I’ll have Amazon mail you a free book of your choice (May I suggest an enthralling family drama, The Weight of Lies, by my sister Emily Carpenter, coming out June 6, 2017. The Weight of Lies: A Novel ). But I’m pretty sure you’ll never figure it out.
So, here’s my current list of favorites, beginning with the most recently published. I do reserve the right to make amendments going forward, because the minute I press publish, I’m certain I’ll think of five books I’ve left out. And if you are a reader or a wannabe reader, please download the free and fabulous Goodreads App on your phone and use it to determine which books are right for you. I hope this gives you some intriguing ideas, and will inspire you to, as they say, #keepreading.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman 2017
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart 2014
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell 2013
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes 2012
Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple 2012
The Fault In Our Stars by John Green 2012
Room by Emma Donoghue 2010
The Help by Kathryn Stockett 2009
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 2008
Snowflower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See 2005
Still Alice by Lisa Genova 2005
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer 2005
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls 2005
the curious case of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon 2004
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini 2003
Dry by Augusten Burroughs 2003
Coraline by Neil Gaiman 2002
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory 2001
Life of Pi by Yann Martel 2001
The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff 2000
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver 1998
1000 White Women by Jim Fergus 1998
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant 1997
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden 1997
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling 1997
Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding 1996
The Giver by Lois Lowry 1993
A Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers 1993
A Prayer For Owen Meany by John Irving 1989
Not Without My Daughter by Betty Mahmoody 1987
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card 1985
Carrie by Stephen King 1974
The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom 1971
We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson 1962
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess 1962
Where The Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls 1961
The Bad Seed by William March 1954
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway 1952
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis 1950
Anthem by Ayn Rand 1938
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier 1938
1984 by George Orwell 1937
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck 1937
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell 1936
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 1925
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde1890
The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne 1850
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte 1847
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas 1844
Candide by Voltaire 1759
Revelation by John c. 95
Genesis by Moses c. 1446 B.C.
Katy Shelton 
I do need to add a couple of books to this list! But honestly I haven’t read anything fabulous recently. Great suggestion about keywords, I’ll see about doing that.
And the first book I loved was…”Not Without My Daughter.” Fascinating.
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But Jane Eyre is probably my fave of all times.
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Never read NWMD but saw the movie with Sally Fields and am still haunted by it. Jane Eyre was a childhood favorite of mine. Haven’t re-read it but watched the movie (the Mia Wasikowska one) with Dennis (who had never read the book) and loved it all over again.
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Katy… I searched and searched for this old post because a friend was asking for book recommendations. Have you updated the list or published a new one? Maybe you should use ‘keywords’ and say ‘book review’ or something if/when you do these. I love hearing what other people are reading.
By the way, which of the books turned you into a reader? I’m guessing either The Help, The L, W & Wardrobe or Jane Eyre?
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I’ve only read 13; have only heard of 10 others. This is an impressive list! Saw a documentary on Wm. March nt. before last. Do you remember that he lived next door to me in his old age? I never saw him.
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I did remember that. What a wonderfully creepy book he wrote!
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