I love libraries, bookstores and perhaps used bookstores most of all. I’ve been a big reader since I was a little girl, majored in English in college, and spend my work days teaching high school students about reading and writing. It’s perfect for a life-long bookworm like me.
For a long time, I resisted the Kindle. But ever since I got one for Christmas, I’ve found that I’m breezing through books faster than ever. It’s completely re-ignited my passion for reading and I’m going through books faster than I can download them!This means that I have quite the reading list. I keep a running list of books to read. Today, I thought I’d share the books currently on my “must-read” list and thought you might want to add a few. I’m always greedy for new book recommendations.
Here goes!
Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen: I KNOW. My English major/female card should be revoked. I have tried multiple times to stumble through this book and I honestly cannot get through it! Friends have told me I should watch the movie first (hello, Colin Firth!) and then read the book. I’m hoping to hunker down with the documentary first and then get through the novel.
Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen: See above. I know. I’m a terrible person. I don’t know why I don’t love her (confession: I also hate Shakespeare, Dickens and Twain. You can judge me now.) but I just can’t get into it. I want to try though.
A Homemade Life, by Molly Wizenberg: Some of my very best recipes have been found on Molly’s website, renowned food blog Orangette. I feel like a terrible fangirl for having not read her book yet. I hope to remedy this immediately.
Anne Of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery: I know, I know: I should basically revoke my girl card. I’m not quite sure how I missed this series growing up; perhaps I read it and just don’t remember. Nevertheless, the series—or at least the first book—is on my list.
A Prayer For Owen Meany, by John Irving: I’ve heard many people regale this as their favorite book of all time; while other people hate it with a fiery passion. I hope to form an opinion on it shortly.
My book list extends far beyond these, of course, but these novels rise to the top.
What books are on your “must-read” list?
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Do you know, when I was at school, I loathed Jane Austen, but now I love her. She was really an amazing writer. Those are some nice picks. Recently, I’ve loved the Millenium trilogy, I literally ignored everything else going on around me until I’d finished them.
ANNE!! I read the entire Anne of Green Gables series at least 10 times growing up. I’ve been to Green Gables and I decided to go to college in Prince Edward Island probably 95% based on my love of Anne. Sadly, PEI in 2000 is not as magical as Lucy Maud’s PEI.
Ella Minnow Pea… ESPECIALLY because your an English teacher! YOU will TRUELY appreciate this clever fiction.
Love the list. I’ve been resistant to get an eReader for a long time. I love the smell and feel of books too much haha. Maybe I’ll change my mind some day hehe. Could you email me more books you would recommend. I’m always looking for new stuff to read.
I’m a total memoir junkie lately…if someone wants to tell a story about their life, I’ll read it. I guess it isn’t especially surprising given how much I love reading blogs. A Homemade Life was such a delicious treat I was sad when I finished it! But as for Shakespeare and Dickens, I couldn’t agree with you more (Sorry Oprah.) Can you believe I actually kind of like Twain? You’d think I’d have some PTSD flashbacks from the Olmstead era.
I can’t stand Jane Austen, either, to be honest. My mom is getting a Kindle this week because they’re on sale for something offensively inexpensive like $130. Maybe I can convince her to let me, erm, borrow it?
I’m joining a book club when I move to New Hampshire, & their January book was A Prayer For Owen Meany. I’d never even heard of it. Maybe I’ll check it out, too? I just finished a YA sci-fi book (I know, I know) called City of Bones & have moved onto The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, which so far is not living up to the coolness of its name…
I resisted buying an e-reader for a long time… then I bought a Nook this fall and LOVE IT.
So nice how light/portable they are. It took me a couple of books to get used to reading on it but now i love it.
I am not sure what my must reads are for this year… I need to tackle a shelf of un-read books that I own!
Oooh I love these kinds of posts! I’m definitely going to check back later to see what other people have read. So far I’m loving: The Help by Katherine Stockett, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, and Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. All three are amazing and I’m flying through them!
I’ve seen (and love. and own.) the Colin Firth version of P&P. Way better than the newer, Keira Knightley version, even if it is 6 hours long. Yet, I still can’t read the book. Like you, I pick it up and almost as quickly put it down. Maybe someday, but for now, the movie is just fine!
I watched the Colin Firth version of P&P like a dozen times before I finally got around to reading the book a few years ago. And that’s all the Austen I’ve read. I’m about to start Catching Fire, so I guess that’s on my must read list. As for recommendations, if you haven’t already read them: The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver and Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier.
Oh sigh. I keep meaning to finish P&P myself. I watched the Keira Knightley version (I know, but I love her, so shh) aaaaaaaaaand.. right. I’ll get on that one of these days.
I was JUST talking about Anne of Green Gables the other day; it’s definitely a must-read series. As in, it’s one of my favorites and I’m considering re-reading all of them soon.
I have also not read any Jane Austen novels. I’ve tried several times but have yet to get through them…. so you’re not alone there.
I have a Prayer for Owen Meany sitting on my shelf. I haven’t read it yet. BUT I tend to love John Irving books a lot.
I echo the Rebecca suggestion, as well as My Antonia by Willa Cather if you’ve not read that either
As someone else said, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is on my “to-read” list also. I also want to read The Death and Life of the Great American School System. I think it’s about school reform and how No Child Left Behind is kind of failing us. I’m a public school teacher so this is a topic that interests me greatly! Right now I’m in the middle of the Hunger Games trilogy and loving it. It’s a super easy YA read, but it draws you in for sure!
I absolutely LOVE Sense and Sensibility, but don’t actually like Pride and Prejudice that much. I do love Shakespeare and Twain, but I DESPISE Hemingway. I’d rather have my eyes gouged out with a dull knife than read his stories.
I think you will really love Anne of Green Gables. The stories and characters are wonderful and you’ll want to pack up and move to Prince Edward Island immediately.
Ah, I love this post! I just got a Kindle for Christmas even though I told pretty much everyone around me that I didn’t want one. I kind of knew that with my love of reading it was inevitable that someone would force it upon me, haha. I just finished “Motorcycles, Sushi, and One Strange Book” by Nancy Rue. It’s a YA novel but it has a more serious undertone than most. I really enjoyed it. I can’t wait to come back to this post and see what other people say!
I can’t relate to you on Jane Austen because I love her writing. But I also like Dickens, so there ya go. I’m so glad Owen Meany is on your list; it’s definitely in my top 3 favorites. I never read Anne of Green Gables either!
I very much think that you can’t judge an author by a book so would never say I hated a whole authors output. Must reads from me are the rest of the Dark Tower series by Stephen King (which i have been trying to read for 2 years), Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and Les Miserables…then again they are the tip of a 100 book TBR pile i already have for 2011
i just now got pride and prejudice to read as well, it’ll be the first jane austen i’ve read. revoke my girl card too! i have a feeling i won’t be super into it though because i truly cannot stand shakespeare and i am not a huge fan of twain either (although he does have good quotes).
right now i’m reading flowers in the attic, slightly creepy since it’s sort of incestual and really bizarre, but still a good read.
I got a Kindle for Christmas too. The first book I read was Only You by David Nicholls. It was different from any other book I’ve read, and I really enjoyed it. As for your list, I’ve read all of the books on it, except A Homemade Life, which I will look into now. Anne was a favorite series of mine growing up, and I’ve read nearly every book LMM has written. There is also a new biography out on her, I believe. I re-read Anne every other winter, and the Emily of New Moon series in the alternating years, though this year I think I’ll re-read The Little House series. I also prefer Sense and Sensibility over Pride and Prejudice, but I do enjoy most of Jane Austen’s writing. Finally, my college roommate told me (way back when) that if I started reading John Irving, I would get addicted. He was right. I also loved The World According to Garp and The Hotel New Hampshire and The Cider House Rules…all wonderful, transporting novels where you totally forget your real life while you’re reading them.
I hate Dickens aswell and I hate reading Shakespeare but I love going to the plays. i love Jane Austen and the Colin Firth movie is fantastic (although I don’t know if it qualifies as a documentary lol).
Best books I can recommend are: Sophie’s World, The Rice Mother and His Dark Materials Trilogy.
have you read straight man by richard russo? this is his real pulitzer book.
the miraculous journey of edward tulane by kate dicamillo. love.
We will discuss your insolence on Wednesday. Do not be surprised if I raise my voice and/or break out in a rash.
i just started Sense and Sensibility today simply because i really want to read Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, haha.
also on my must read one day list is: the scarlet letter, little women and the harry potter series.
I feel the exact same way since I got my Kindle!! I was a bit cautious at first because I love real books, but I’m slowly discovering a good medium. My current must reads are award winners- I’m really in the mood to broaden my style of fictional reading!
I can’t get into Austen. I’ve seen a number of the movies, which I have to be in a particular mood for… but haven’t had a desire to read the books since purchasing P&P in middle school. I feel like eventually I should read/finish at least ONE book by her.. and also something by the Bronte sisters. I might do P&P&Zombies first though…
Personally, I read a lot of (and love) Bukowski and Vonnegut. Not sure if I have a favorite of Bukowski, but for Vonnegut it’s Slapstick.
In high school my favorite book was Perks of Being a Wallflower (I actually didn’t like/couldn’t get into Vonnegut then, no matter how I tried). Then in college I found Yann Martel (Life of Pi — I read Beatrice & Virgil a few months ago and really enjoyed it too).
Currently though, I keep encouraging people to check out Stuart Dybek — he’s a Chicago author, and currently teaches at Northwestern.
OH! I also really recommend Haroon and the Sea of Stories by Rushdie.
I was lucky enough to receive a Kindle for Christmas. I can’t believe how easy it was to switch to an e-reader. I really thought I would miss paper books, but I don’t.
Right now I’m reading The Help and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I would also strongly recommend, The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill (Aminata Diallo is a character that I will never forget) and The Rent Tent by Anita Diamant.
Pride and Prejudice is my FAVORITE book of all time.
I must say, I can’t get over the tactile response to a book. The visual stimulus of the cover and words on rough paper.
I so wish I could get into the techy way of reading but I can’t. just yet.:)
I’m in a bit of a book reading rutt lately, and I can’t get out! I was doing so well for a couple of months, and now this! I’m currently trying to read ‘A Dirty Job’ by Christopher Moore and I can’t get into it. Don’t you hate that? You know it’s going to be good… but you can’t just get yourself to sit down and read it?
“A Prayer for Owen Meany” has been on my to-read list forever, and I still haven’t read it yet! But, it’s on there. I’ve read “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.” Does that count?
I loved the Anne of Green Gables series, and I had all of the books in hardcover. I think they’ll be easy reads for you.
Right now I am working my way through “David Copperfield” by Charles Dickens. It’s actually not nearly as bad as I thought it would be! I might have to add a couple more of his books to my list.
I’m a huge fan of Prayer for Owen Meany — I actually just reread it for the first time in, oh, eight years, and was happy that it held up just as well for me. (Books I loved in high school don’t always. I’m looking at you, Catcher in the Rye.) Then again, I’m a sucker for books about Catholicism and (unrelated) sexual perversity in New England. By which I basically mean I’m a sucker for John Irving.
And don’t go shredding your female card just yet: despite her recent cultural moment, I’m not an Austen fan. Her books are pleasant enough beach reads, but definitely not on my must-reread list. Hopefully that doesn’t make me any less of a girl!
My seriously-dude-I-gotta-read-this books for the first quarter of 2011: Of Mice and Men (how haven’t I read this?!); Bend Sinister (so I can retain my identity as a Nabokov nut); and Down and Out in Paris and London, ’cause anything an aspiring writer can’t learn from Orwell’s prose just isn’t. worth. learning.
I loved A Homemade Life. Hope you enjoy it. A Prayer For Owen Meany, Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility are on my tbr list too.
I love book lists…. I have a few on my wishlist, but next up is The Bell Jar, trying to work myself into the mode to read it.
Oh I’m so excited to read A Homemade Life- I gave it as a present this year but haven’t read it yet myself! Thanks for the reminder- and A Prayer For Owen Meany? Priceless.
Hey did anything ever happen to the book club? If it’s still going, you should make everyone read Pride and Prejudice for the next read. lol
By the way, what did you think of The Stranger?
I LOVE the Anne of Green Gables series and I hope you do too. Also The Secret Garden? One of my all time favorites. As an English major, I should be shunned for this, but I’m not a fan of classics much at all. And I absolutely detest Shakespeare.
I have so many. I carry around a little moleskine to add to it.