Well, more like top 20, but then it was two Moffetts trying to narrow it down.
Top 20. (Not in order of importance.)
1. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
2. Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis
3. Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte (go to Haworth, England. You’ll get it.)
4. One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Marquez (the banned genius)
5. End of the Affair, Graham Greene
6. Room of One’s Own, Virginia Woolf
7. Night, Elie Wiesel
8. Lord of the Rings, J.R. Tolkien
9. Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger (you know you want to skip your last quarters across a pond in Central Park)
10. Count of Monte Cristo, Alexander Dumas (and his 300 assistants)
11. Alchemist, Paulo Coehlo
12. Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
13. On the Road, Jack Kerouac (think less Willie Nelson and more a shy James Dean)
14. Slaughter House Five, Kurt Vonnegut
15. Godric, Frederic Buechner (brace your soul, it’s in for a ride)
16. Written on the Body, Jeanette Winterson
17. Monsignor Quixote, Graham Greene (so we have a thing for the “novelist who happened to be Catholic“)
18. Letters to a Young Poet, Ranier Maria Rilke
19. Resurrection, Leo Tolstoy
20. The Republic, Plato
Honorable Mentions
A Separate Peace, John Knowles
A Soldier Returns, Rebecca West
Possession, A.S. Byatt
*The things being snow bound will prompt one to undertake…While visiting the family out West, the clouds opened up to deliver 3 days of unmitigated and uninterrupted family time in the form of a surprise snow storm. Holed up with only forty-five tins of Christmas goodies and the remainder of goods Mom purchased when she personally bought out Costco, we attempted to suffer through our predicament together. This meant that by the first night we were fat, warm, and philosophical.
This, of course, led to impossible questions. Such as the one that sister Rebekah, who is the real writer of the family, and I tried to answer. “What are your top ten books?”
The joys of cabin fever.
As we were wholly unable to narrow down our two-bottles-of-eggnog-and-a-loaf-of-pumpkin-bread inspired list down, we did what all good list makers do. We cheated, as you can tell. Anyway, we proceeded to spend more time wondering whom we left off the list than in actually composing it. Suggestions?
7 responses so far ↓
1 All bookmarks tagged books // Dec 26, 2007 at 8:42 pm
[…] bookmarks tagged books Top 10 Books. Ever. saved by 1 others virtubabe bookmarked on 12/26/07 | […]
2 aarthilal // Dec 28, 2007 at 6:15 am
hello!
I’m a big Paulo Coelho’s fan and I don’t know if you heard about his blog
<a href=”http://www.paulocoelhoblog.com” rel=”nofollow”>http://www.paulocoelhoblog.com</a>
I’ve started as a fan and now I’m collaborating with him and thought that you would like to enter his universe.
Merry Christmas!
Aart
3 erin*carly // Dec 28, 2007 at 12:55 pm
(now i see why you turn commenting off from time to time.)
although i admit i have not heard of a few books on the list, i’m glad to see Elie Wiesel on your list. that book haunted me for a long time after reading it for class. are there any on this list that you would recommend tackling first during this post-holiday lull?
i’d also like to give honorable mention to Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. as the first book read for enjoyment in an embarrassingly long time, it felt quite appropriate. also, this and 1984 capture a chilling portrayal of the future - now our present - that oddly rings true in our everyday lives.
4 Jarod // Dec 28, 2007 at 7:28 pm
A good list!
5 Linda // Dec 29, 2007 at 7:30 pm
Great list! I’d add: The Golden Notebook (Lessing), Animal Farm (Orwell), Rabbit Run (Updike), and Anna Karenina (Tolstoy). Just for fun, mind you… Peace, and Happy New Year! The beginning of a new 2000…
6 Sarah Moffett // Dec 31, 2007 at 9:12 am
Erin~No joke (spammers). Thank you for your additions.
Jarod~what? No art books to add?
Linda~I felt like adding something by Tolstoy after surviving, I mean reading, Anna Karenina, but the ending…still not over it.
Two additional, (gasp) modern additions to honorable mention.
<em>Memory Keeper’s Daughter</em>, by Kim Edwards
<em>Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close</em>, by Jonathan Safran Foer
7 Michael Krahn // Jan 6, 2008 at 8:13 am
Hey,
I recently read The Catcher in the Rye and put some thoughts up about it here:
http://michaelkrahn.com/blog/2008/01/06/the-catcher-in-the-rye/
Take a look if you’re interested.
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