These Are A Few of My Favorite...Books

I realized the other day that I've never actually created a "Top 10" List of my favorite books.

Firth, the nominees (in no particular order)

-A Grief Observed by CS Lewis
-The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis
-Prince Caspian by CS Lewis
-Why the Rest Hates the West by Meic Pearse
-Nancy Drew Series by Carolyn Keene
-Little Women by Louis May Alcott
-North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
-The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
-The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
-The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
-The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
-The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare
-Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
-The Ishbane Conspiracy by Randy Alcorn
-What A Girl Wants by Kristin Billerbeck
-Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller
-Candide by Voltaire
-Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI
-Making Sense of It All by Thomas Morris
-The Four Love by CS Lewis
-Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton
-The Man Who Was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton
-Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
-Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
-Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
-Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
-Me, Myself and Bob by Phil Visher
-Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott
-The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
-The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andric
-The Clash of Civilization by Samuel P Huntington

The Criteria for the Top Ten:
-A book that I've completely finished (There are some books that I absolutely love, but haven't finished a chapter or two)
-It has made an impact on my life in some sort of way
-I would recommend it to a friend without hesitation

The Final List (in no particular order)

A Grief Observed by CS Lewis
This is one of my favorite works by CS Lewis. There is so much raw emotion and passion in such few chapters. Getting a glimpse of what grief was like to one of the "giants" of Christianity truly gave me a lot of comfort during my own dark days.

The Nancy Drew Series by Carolyn Keene
Easily my favorite book series growing up. I remember wanting to cry the day I realized I had read all of the Nancy Drew books in the library. And it was a series that I could share with my mom and grandmother who had also grown up reading those books. For many years I wanted to be just like Nancy Drew when I grew up.

Eight Cousins by Lousia May Alcott
This was the first book I read when I was venturing into more "adult" books (or what seemed to me at the time to be adult books). I remember loving the story, the writing style and being fascinated by the differing educational/child rehearing philosophies presented in the book. (I was probably around 9 or 10 at the time).

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
I bought this book last year during the Mayterm trip around the Balkans. It was the most emotionally involved I had been in a book since...probably middle school. It wasn't just a romantic story - there were political and philosophical tensions that were described in detail, giving so much food for thought.

Candide by Voltaire
I find this work to be hilarious. And I absolutely love it. I read it a few years ago for fun, then last year for a class, and each time I encounter it, I appreciate the humor more and more.

Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI
During the fall semester (2009), I was part of a Book/Bible study that used this particular work. It follows the life of Jesus from His Baptism to the Transfiguration and offers such great insight into everything thing that He did, detailing the differing opinions from the early church fathers to today. Jesus has never really seemed the same since.

Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton
I originally purchased this book because I had some Border Rewards bucks to use up. It sat on my shelf until I had to do a book review for the InterVarsity group at college. I had three days to read it in, and it was probably the craziest I've ever been when trying to read a book. Every page is packed with so much gold, I ran out of post it notes trying to mark everything. So much of what Chesterton said about Christianity resonated with my own beliefs and has changed the way I view my own life.

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
In truth, I love pretty much anything Jane Austen has written. But Mansfield Park has become my favorite, mainly because when I read it this summer, I could sympathize with Fanny's dilemmas, worries, and considerations.

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
This is such a terrific book! I read this a few years after I had watched the Wishbone version, and it was probably the darkest thing I had read at that point in my life. But it is so well-written, it will always be my favorite Sherlock Holmes mystery.

The Bridge on the Drina by Ivo Andric
I read this novel during the spring semester of my freshman year. If you can get past the gruesome scene in the second chapter, it's really fantastic. It takes snapshots, basically folk stories, that surround a particular bridge in Eastern Europe. The clashing of different cultures, the impact of the tide of history, it really opened my eyes to what people in other parts of the world face. If you can't travel to the Balkans, this is the next best thing.


Feel free to dispute this list!