Today it’s my birthday. Who wants to guess my age? I made it really hard for you, didn’t I? I love birthdays. I’m not too concerned about getting another year older. Although I may be a little sad to leave my 30s behind in a few years, as this has been an incredible decade, I generally just celebrate and embrace my age.
I always like to write a different post on my birthday. It’s a great time to reflect and think about life and the year to come. Today I’m switching things up with a fun post to share my favorite books of all time. I’ve been a reader my whole life and recently lamented about how little time I have to enjoy a good book these days. I just can’t seem to squeeze reading for enjoyment into my crazy schedule. At this stage in my life, it takes me six months to read a novel whereas I used to love spending an entire Saturday plowing through a page-turner.
I look forward to the days when I can do that again, but for now I will look back fondly at the books that have stayed with me. Some of these books are from my childhood, others through the various stages of my life. All have been books that I loved for different reasons. The writing, the characters, the way the story resonated with me. Some are on the list because of the way they impacted my life at the time I read them, others because I couldn’t put them down and that has to count for something. I realize there are probably too many YA novels and not enough Jane Austen, but this is my list.
As I’ve tried to remember my favorites, I’m sure a few have been forgotten. These are the ones that came to my mind as I sat and reflected on my reading life. You’ll notice it’s quite an eclectic collection and I think that reflects the different sides of my personality. The books are listed in no particular order.
My 38 Favorite Books of All Time
- The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
- The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
- Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
- Summer Sisters by Judy Blume
- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
- Still Alice by Lisa Genova
- The Glass Castle by Jeanette Wells
- I Know this Much is True by Wally Lamb
- A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
- Rabbit, Run by John Updike
- Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli
- Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
- The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
- The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- The Monster at the End of This Book by Jon Stone
- Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
- My Sister’s Keeper by Jody Picoult
- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
- Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
- On Writing by Stephen King
- Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
- The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
- There Are No Shortcuts by Rafe Esquith
- The Essential 55 by Ron Clark
- Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
- The China Study by T. Colin Campbell
- Healthy at 100 by John Robbins
- Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
- The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
- The Catcher and the Rye by J.D. Salinger
- What We Keep by Elizabeth Berg
- Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
- The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
- Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells
- The World According to Garp by John Irving
- Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
- Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
I would love to hear if we share any favorites or which books would make your favorite books of all time list. Share in the comments!
The links to books in this post are affiliate links, so if you click over and purchase from Amazon, I will get a percentage of the sale of your purchase. Thank you so much for supporting Happy Healthy Mama!
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Fortunately, a love of reading was instilled in me from early childhood, so in my personal library you can find a fairly large assortment. I would like to take this opportunity to share an excellent article https://jetsettimes.com/travelers/artists/best-books-to-read-in-the-holiday-evening/ about the best books to read on a holiday evening. After all, it is the anticipation of the holiday that helps to create the most incredible atmosphere in the house. Not only are they fun to read, but they also have great stories to learn from.
First of all, I want to talk in more detail about the fact that dystopia is usually an imaginary world full of horror and suffering. But I also want to draw your attention to the article https://www.charlottestories.com/what-is-an-anti-utopia/ which will tell you about everything related to this topic. The most notable dystopias were created by two well-known authors, Aldous Huxley and Gerog Orwell, in their novels based on futuristic dystopias.
Your selection of books is very cool and if I made my own selection of my favorite cool books, I would borrow a significant part from you. But there is one book that I would definitely single out and that is Martin Luther King’s book “I Have A Dream”. You can read about it on the site, but from personal experience I will say that it is a very interesting and fascinating book that will interest everyone.
Two of my favorites ever have been Empire Falls and Lonesome Dove (both out-of-genre for me–I read mostly murder mysteries!), Both really great books.
Thanks for sharing, Dana!
A newer book out is The Nightingale. Best book ever!!!
Happy birthday! I just finished All the Light we cannot See and it definitely makes my list and Goldfinch. Circling the Sun is another book I loved.
I am embarrassed to admit I started All the Light We Cannot See last AUGUST and have still not finished it. I love it; I just can’t seem to get through books these days!
The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
Best book I’ve ever read!
Checking it out right now–thanks!
Happy birthday Maryea!
I hope you hav a great day with your family!
Oh books, such a great topic to talk about…
I did love The Kite Runner, and his second book, A Thousand Splendid Suns. That one was even more touching than The Kite Runner.
My all-time favorites are Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts, The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald, and Homo Faber by Max Frisch. I’ve read them several times, and I will probabyl read them again.
Yes, I read A Thousand Splendid Suns and liked that one, too. It was hard to narrow this list down to 38. 🙂 I need to check out your favorites. The Great Gatsby is actually on my nightstand right now. That’s one I’ve always wanted to read but haven’t cracked it open yet. I am planning on bringing it on vacation in a few weeks.
Happy birthday! I think I might have to pick up a few of yours. I’ve been reading largely non-fiction for the past few years and am looking for a little more balance right now. I can’t recommend Between the World and Me enough. (And, for what it’s worth, I don’t think “not enough Jane Austen” is a bad thing.)
Thanks for the recommendation–I am going to check it out!
Happy, happy birthday, Maryea!
One of my goals for this year is to read more books that I have been avoiding since my kids were born. I will put the parenting and nutrition books on the back burner for a bit (just for a bit) and focus more on books that help me grow from other points of view, not only as a mom and nutritionist.
So I have on my list for this month “The school of greatness” and “The anatomy of a calling”.
Good for you, Alina! One year a few years back I set a New Year’s resolution to read one book a month. I actually did it, but right now I can’t fathom finding time for that. Ahhh finding balance is so hard!