Reading Lists

People that know me know I love to read. And sometimes I’ll have someone ask me for a book recommendation. Usually when I’m on the spot like that I can’t think of any good recommendations. But, finally, I have come up with a list of some of my favorites. Some of these are books I read as far back as junior high, and even if they aren't an ‘adult’ read, I still enjoy them. I’ve tried to pull from a variety of genres, but I’ll be honest—I mostly read fiction, so that’s mostly what this list is. It is by no means an extensive list.

So, here goes, in no particular order:

Moccasin Trail, Eloise Jarvis McGraw
Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia, Jean Sasson
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
Redeeming Love, Francine Rivers
Little Britches Series, Ralph Moody
The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien
Thorn, Intisar Khanani
To Say Nothing of the Dog, Connie Willis
Christy, Catherine Marshall
Blood Covenant, Michael Franzese (not necessarily the most well-written book I have ever read, but the story itself is interesting--everybody likes a good mob story, right?)
The Lottery Rose, Irene Hunt

I was reading a writing blog recently and the author said something that has stuck with me. Basically—your writing will reflect what you read—so if I have been reading a lot of poorly written books, my writing will probably reflect that. The good news is that the opposite can happen as well—reading well written works will help me become a better writer. So, in the spirit of that, I am coming up with a list of books to read in the upcoming year. I am trying to stick to books I have never read before, or at least haven’t read in the last five years.

Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
1984, George Orwell
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand
All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr
A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens