I will get started with some book recommendations with my all time top 5: (I invite all to do the same)
1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. And you can't not watch the 6 hour A&E movie with Colin Firth. The newer movie with Kiera Knightly is also a wonderful version. Sorry to be so predictable with this book, but I can't lie.
2. The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Our whole family also loved the movie.
3. Life of Pi by Yann Martel. I read this because one of my best friends recommended it-I would have never picked it out by reading the book jacket but it was awesome--the kind you think about for a long time after. There were times during the book that I had to put it down to think and absorb what I just read. This is also a great book to recommend for teenagers. Don't be turned off by the somewhat boring first portion of the book--hang on, it's worth it.
4. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. A favorite from high school with a favorite movie to go along with it.
5. The Kite Runner & A Thousand Splendid Suns both by Khaled Hosseini. My sister recommended these and they were hard to read because they were so sad, but wonderful. I would say 16+ for age.
Thanks Megen, great list! You stole several of my top favorites! I love all your top five. Here are other favorites from reading I've done in recent years, in no particular order (except I did save my favorite for last).
ReplyDelete1. Persuasion and Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. I found both of these to be just as rich and charming and funny as Pride and Prejudice. I'm guessing anyone who loves Pride and Prejudice is very likely to love any and all of Jane Austen's other novels. I plan on reading all of them.
2. The Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery. These are all wonderful. I am a novel and a half from finishing the series.
3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. A touching and funny story WWII set in London and the British Channel islands. Fun characters!
4. The Mitford series by Jan Karon. These are so sweet and funny and they always have some kind of mystery going on. The central character is an Episcopal priest named Father Tim in a small fictional Blue Ridge mountain town. The characters are wonderful, especially Father Tim, his assistant, his housekeeper, and his next-door neighbor, whom he's falling in love with!
5. The best for last! A couple of years ago I read "A Christmas Carol" at Christmastime and decided Dickens' story telling and language held the same kind of attraction for me that Jane Austen's do. But that book is very short, almost a short story, and I wanted to ease my way into reading more Dickens because some of the novels are very long. So I did a bit of internet investigation and found Oliver Twist recommended for getting one's feet wet with Dickens. Just a few chapters in, I knew I was becoming a Dickens fanatic. I didn't stop reading (listening to, actually) his novels and until I had gone through all but two of them (and the other four Christmas books, which I plan to read during the next four Christmas seasons). This has been a fabulously enriching and rewarding experience. And I don't mean enriching like eating your vegetables; I mean it in the sense of eating the best-tasting and most satisfying meal ever that also happens to be really good for you.
With that little intro, here's a list of Charles Dickens' novels in order of how much I loved them. The difference in how much I loved each of these books is minute-they are all an absolute joy-deeply moving, funny, and with characters who show so much tenderness at times that I'm brought to tears.
Important note: If you start on one of these, please please don't give up if you feel a little lost or weighed down in the first chapters. Hang in there for very rich rewards once the novel takes hold of you. I found this to be especially true for the top three in this list.
Bleak House (this might be my favorite book)
Our Mutual Friend
A Tale of Two Cities
David Copperfield
Great Expectations
Little Dorrit
The Pickwick Papers - so funny!!
Martin Chuzzlewit
Dombey and Sons
The Old Curiosity Shop
One last thing - the unabridged audio recordings of Dickens novels are fantastic. Only the best British narrators are chosen for these and they are so much fun to listen to! I highly recommend enjoying these novels this way, but I reading is equally fun.
Thanks-i loved persuasion too-im finally reading sense and sensibility. I also loved a Christmas carol but need to give other dickens books a chance. Great list-should keep me busy until 2014.
ReplyDeleteMegen and Caroline, you both listed some of my favorite books, including Pride and Prejudice, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, and the Anne of Green Gables series, so I am going to exclude those from my list, just so the lists aren't too redundant. I also won't list this, but I love the Harry Potter series, and especially loved listening to Jim Dale's audio recordings of the books.
ReplyDeleteAll of these are fairly easy reads and books that have been long-time favorites (with the exception of #1, which was published less than 15 years ago), and that I consider my personal collection of classics.
1. These is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine by Nancy E. Turner. Inspired by events in the author's family history, this fictional story of a woman trying to survive in the Arizona Territory in the late 1800's is a different kind of "pioneer" story. It's moving, powerful, and at times, gripping. I couldn't put the book down.
2. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. There's just something about this book that I can't get enough of. In fact, it's time to pull it out and read it again. In my opinion, it's a classic.
3. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. Another book that I truly adore. I love the message of hope and redemption. I've also enjoyed listening to the audio recording of this book.
4.The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. I love this book, as well as it's predecessor, Tom Sawyer. Full of adventure and life lessons, this book is always a great read.
5. Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns. It's been a long while since I read this book, but it's one I love. Apparently, I love coming of age books set in the south... 4 of these 5 books are. This book will have you laughing and crying and is definitely worth your time.
--nicole