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!