You Knew It Was Coming...

What's a book blog without a list of the author's favorites? In a completely non-exhaustive and unparticular order:
  • Charlotte's Web
  • Children of the River
  • The Outsiders
  • Blonde
  • Gone with the Wind
  • To Full Term: A Mother's Triumph Over Miscarriage
  • The Sense of Structure: Writing From a Reader's Perspective
  • Katharine Kerr's Deverry series
  • Drop City
  • America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates and Heroines
  • The Vagina Monologues
  • Ramona the Pest
  • Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus
  • Le Petit Prince
  • Exiles: The Ruins of Ambrai
  • The Things They Carried
  • If I Die in a Combat Zone
  • Not So Quiet...
  • The Sun Also Rises
And what determines a favorite, you ask?

I'm sort of biased in this area. Sometimes I feel like I've fallen in love with almost every book I've ever finished. The feeling is especially powerful if I did a really good job picking a book to suit my mood. I adore the feeling I get when I've matched up my mood with the mood of the book. It's what I imagine marriage will be like. Here's another list I'm currently using as a scale. Feel free to rate your own books using it. Again, non-exhaustive:
  • A favorite book should wrench your heart, in any direction, if only for 30 seconds.
  • A favorite book should make you laugh out loud.
  • A favorite book should cause you (at times) to take pause in your reading and regroup, because you realize you've been audibly mumbling the most exciting parts to yourself.
  • A favorite book is literally impossible to put down because it's figuratively glued to your hand.
  • A favorite book leaves you feeling satisfied, no matter what the ending.
  • A favorite book is meaningful enough, and surprising enough, for rereads.
  • A favorite book excites you.
  • A favorite book invites you.
  • A favorite book allows you time to breathe.
  • A favorite book leaves you with a new thought.
  • A favorite book earns your respect, it never commands it.
  • Last but not least, a favorite book just makes you feel happy.
I suggest we all take some time to pull out the ol' favorites, leaf through them, tell them you love them. Ahem, well. Happy reading, everyone!

4 comments:

  1. Oh, honey. You crack me up. Marriage can indeed be like a good, favorite book, but it is certainly NOT always going to match your mood, unless you're magical, and then you gotta show me what I'm doing wrong. LOL.

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  2. ha, I did say 'imagine.' Oh, little girl dreams...

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  3. True, true...and I suppose I should not be so cynical! It definitely is that way sometimes. Books still don't talk back. Hahaha.

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