Creating A Book List: Would You Share Some Favourites?

"That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover

that your longings are universal longings, that you're

not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong."

F. SCOTT FITZGERALD

On this snowy afternoon, I'm thinking about making a book list. I enjoy reading book lists—whether they are created by publishing houses, the New York Times, the local bookstore, or fellow bibliophiles. I cast my eye down the lists to see what's making someone's chart. I feel the delight when I recognize titles and maybe have read one or two, but mostly I'm looking for new books that sound promising.

Last summer, I brought home Sarah Nisha Adams's novel called The Reading List (I mention it HERE). A delightful tale of an aging widower and a lonely teenage girl who form an unlikely friendship through books. It starts with a mysterious list found by someone at the library. . . 'one lonely folded scrap of paper sitting on the desk . . . the lettering is neat, looping, warm, inviting'. It read as follows:

Just in case you need it :

To Kill A Mockingbird

Rebecca

The Kite Runner

Life of Pi

Pride and Prejudice

Little Women

Beloved

A Suitable Boy

Who made the list? Who left it at the library? And so begins this wonderful, heartwarming tale. I'm intrigued and have  now collected the eight books on the list—three I already owned, the others I needed to find and read for the first time. My plan is to read the books in the order given on the list and follow along as I reread Sarah's novel. I'll try to keep you posted.

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Further, today I'm also interested in starting another book list—one with you, my blogging friends, in mind. If you are interested in joining in, this is what I'm looking for: favourite title(s) you enjoy in each of the following categories. They can be current favourites or books from long ago, fiction or nonfiction, current or classics, bestsellers or little known gems. Share your list in the comments section or on your own blog, whatever works for you.

I'll start:

1. A favourite (or two or three) from your childhood. Heidi, Anne of Green Gables, Pippi Longstocking, Mr. Popper's Penguins, The Elephant's Child (Kipling), Little Women, Pollyanna, Nancy Drew series, The Secret Garden, Little House on the Prairie, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Little Engine that Could, Egermeier's Illustrated Bible Story Book, Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen.  

2. A book you once read that you couldn't stop thinking about. I read Gone with the Wind when I was around eleven or twelve. I was so sad for Scarlett O'Hara when she became a very young widow and then had to act like an old woman—wearing horrid dark 'widow's weeds', no more pretty dresses, no more flirting with handsome young men, no dancing at parties. I was haunted at how awful she must have felt and still so young. Maybe it was one of my first experiences of feeling the pain of someone I met in a book. 

3. One book that shaped your life. Living A Beautiful Life by Alexandra Stoddard. I came across this book back in the early 1990s. It grabbed my heart when I read how we could live our lives more beautifully. This book and the original Victoria magazines were a godsend - they fed something deep in my soul.

4. A book you couldn't put down. The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister; A Time for Mercy by John Grisham; All the Devils are Here by Louise Penny; A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. 

5. A book that deepened your thinking. Ordering Your Private World by Gordon MacDonald; C.S. Lewis's writings; From the Father's Heart by Charles Slagle; Life of the Beloved by Henri Nouwen.

6. A book with a favourite heroine. Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott. I read this book decades ago and loved watching young Rose growing up in this coming of age story. She holds a tender place in my affection.

7. A book that creates a safe place when you need rest in your soul. Jan Karon's Father Tim novels set it Mitford. 

8. A book that lifts your spirits and makes you feel happy.  Susan Branch's memoirs, The Isle of Dreams and The Fairy Tale Girl.

9. Something you want to read but haven't got to it yet. 1984 by George Orwell and The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. 

10. A book you like to read over and over. Every December, I pull out Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher.

11. A book you just finished and loved. Homecoming by Kate Morton.

 

12. A book you just started and already know you'll like it. Growing Pains by Emily Carr, an autobiography of one of Canada's well-known artists. 

"I love the solitude of reading. I love the

deep dive into someone else’s story, the

delicious ache of a last page."

NAOMI SHIHAB NYE

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Wishing you a beautiful week ahead,

Brenda

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