My Top Ten Favorite Books
My Top Ten Favorite Books
It's that time of year again, it's my birthday this week and I want to talk about books. Again. I'm addicted and I love it. In no particular order, here are my top ten favorite books. It took a while to narrow it down to just ten, so there's a few runners up at the end. I could talk all day long about books I've love and why I love them. But for everyone's sanity sake, I've slimmed it down and here we go:
I first came across this book in a charity shop and everything about it just screamed "buy me!" The cover design and colors, the general plot, Paris, WWII; so I figured I'd give it a try. Then I fell in love and that's how I got hooked on Alan Furst. The quote, "He would be polite, distant and impossible to approach, and that was that." was just one of the many reasons why I LOVE this book.
I read this twice before I was, hmm, 17, and I loved it. I really want to reread it, too. Although, I think part of why I love this book is because of the two teachers I had when I read it. But regardless, I love the characters, the underlying themes, and probably where I was when I first read it.
The first time I read this, I had google open to check the people and locations mentioned and it was all so true to form. I laughed, I almost cried, and I don't think I could love this book more. I had dreams about it while reading. I absolutely was amazed by Esme and what she's seen and been through.
This honestly made me cry when I finished it. I think that's even my "review" of it on good reads. This book is unlike anything else I've read. For me, it was weirdly person and just sucked me into the world.
I didn't mean to fall in love with this book, or Tolkien's world, but oh I did. I had no clue what I was getting into when I first read this over 16 years ago and I'm so glad I didn't. I really think that helped with me just becoming entranced with the characters and the world building. This is one of the books that will forever be on my reread list.
When I first read this in high school, we read it out loud with different students reading certain parts and I think that added to the initial experience of reading it. I was Banquo and quickly became attached to the character and well, the whole play. Its dark, twisted, ironically Shakespeare and I love it.
I love how twisted, dark, and how things aren't fully described so that your imagination makes things so much worse. Every time I read it, I'm surprised at how modern it reads. I've also found that I tend to read this book while traveling, I think it adds to the experience - you should really try it.
This is one of those things that really got me into older texts and various mythologies. I love reading different translations of this tale as the translation is what really effects and shapes the story. This is one of the many texts that I wish I could read in the original language.
This intimate look at a man's journey through WWII through letters and sketches is just so wonderful to read and flip through. At one point, he comments on how he wished he still had all the letters from his wife to see her side of it more, and I think that's my only wish for this book too. I read this awhile before my hubby deployed and I think it helped me to some degree. It's one of the most unique reads I've seen on the subject. It has great insight on a time period I always find fascinating and it's from a point of view that I've not yet seen.
I watched the movie before reading the book, but that has definitely not hindered my love for this book. The film was wonderfully done and I think stayed fairly true to the book. I love the characters and the various points of view that you see throughout the novel. It's honest while being deceptive and it's just done so so so well.
My top 6 runners up are:
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Beyond the Pale: Folklore, Family, and the Mystery of Our Hidden Genes by Emily Urquhart
The Foreign Correspondent by Alan Furst
Ten Thousand Leaves: Love Poems from the Manyoshu by Otomo no Yakamochi, translated by Harold Wright
Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
The Gospel of Loki by Joanne Harris
Happy creating, and happy reading!
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