Inspired by @ListPrompts. I’ve listed a lot about books and authors so here I’m going to cast a wide net and pick some favorites across the spectrum.
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
My first true love from before my clear memory begins. I still ❤️ it entirely so I don’t want to hear about all your negatives interpretations 😉.
Beezus and Ramona by Beverley Cleary
The best of a perfect series.
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
Perfection.
Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut
It is hard to pick a favorite Vonnegut but this is both great and a little less popular so it seemed a good choice. And it’s the purest example of the distinctive juxtaposition of cynicism + humanism in Vonnegut.
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
This pretty much demands multiple readings and probably some background reading as well but it is a powerful good book.
The Denial of Death by Earnest Becker
A dated but brilliant and very eye opening survey of modern psychological thinking. Possibly this book changed my life.
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Another life changer. This book reignited my love of literature after a long spell from mid-high school to early twenties of non fiction reading and not feeling smart enough to read “real” books. Also an absolutely beautiful book.
Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare
Again, hard to pick a favorite but this is probably it. Staggeringly beautiful, thematically powerful, utterly moving.
How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu
Gotta have some contemporary lit on here so this is my wildcard choice. I love everything about this funny oddball touching book.
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
We also need a memoir/biography and this tops that list for me. So sweet, so insightful, so inspiring, and so devastatingly sad.
