Amy's Top 40: Rockin' the Book Lists from Coast to Coast
It has been suggested, by other people as well as by the quixotic little voice in the back of my brain who gets ideas of this sort, that I ought to actually LIST MY FAVORITE BOOKS. After all, they are my favorite thing to talk about. Why not have them all in one convenient little list, to show off to the world?
Here's why not: BECAUSE WHO CAN SERIOUSLY PICK WHAT THEIR FAVORITE BOOKS ARE?! THERE ARE TOO MANY! THE LIST WOULD GO ON AND ON UNTIL THE END OF THE INTERNET!
But, complete bookdork that I am, I figured I might as well give it a serious consideration. I went through my List of All The Books I've Ever Read and copied out every title-- and in some cases, author-- that yelled out "This is quite possibly one of your favorite books and you've probably told somebody it was at one point for that matter too!" at me to start with. Of course this is just a list of my favorite NOVELS, which most of my favorite books tend to be, so then I had to wrack my brains to make sure I'd thought of all my favorite picture books and nonfiction too (or at least The Picture and Nonfiction Books I consider My Favorite Books, which is slightly different).
And THEN I had to figure out how to put them IN ORDER. That looked hopeless.
So first I tried splitting them into Tiers, with Tier One being the subject of my last post, Tier Two being "Lifelong Hugests of Favorites," Tier Three being "Also Hugely Favorited Important Books," down all the way to, like, Tier Seven, "Books I Have Adored At Some Point In My Life." This way I wouldn't have to rank them each individually and be fussing over their order constantly. But that didn't seem to work, because then it made books a tier down from the tier above look much lower ranked than the ones above when they actually might be only a couple books apart, which was breaking my heart over some of them.
So THEN I decided to go ahead and rank them all anyway, but that brings us back to my original problem with that, which is that I CANNOT DECIDE if the ranking is final anyway, so just accept that it is NOT, and number 3 may not be ALL that much greater than number 4, and whatnot.
And then there are books that USED to be your favorite books but you haven't read them in over a decade and are not full of burning desire to REread them at the moment, but you KNOW they are awesome books and you DID love them. There are more than a few of those on this list, because I feel like being inclusive, but it DID involve hemming and hawing.
And then you get books like Lord of the Rings. Honestly, I cannot read Lord of the Rings straight through on rereads-- I have to skim and skip all the places where Tolkien really ought to have skimmed and skipped. TECHNICALLY, it's not a great book. But it is SO INGRAINED IN MY VERY SOUL AND I NAMED MY SON AFTER IT, so, seriously. It belongs on this list-- and HIGH on it-- whether I technically enjoy the writing or not.
Then there are series, like Star Wars in the movie world, in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts (but where I'll give you the names of some of my favorite parts --er, books-- anyway). If you compare individual titles in the series to the stand-alone titles around them in rank, they MAY OR MAY NOT actually fit there, but I did my best to place series where they might fall in my love for them, anyway.
Somehow, all those books-- or series-- turned out to be exactly 40 slots worth of books, so I said, "Cool! It's a Top 40! I can live with that!"
But that was after I pulled out certain kinds of books on grounds that I couldn't fairly rank them, so we also have some separate lists:
--All those books that you strongly suspect ought to be on this list, but you've only read them once and can't say with confidence that they really are your FAVORITE. So I made a separate, unranked list of those books. Which would mess up the Top 40 thing if I ever DO get around to rereading them, but seriously.
--Picture books and nonfiction books. I just can't put those into the same ranking system as fiction, because they're too different to compare properly. So I've listed them separately, but that doesn't mean I love them LESS. I love apples AND oranges. Though neither as much as strawberries, so my metaphor will die if I continue much longer.
SOOOOOOO, now that I've got all the stipulations out of the way ... shall we begin?
NUMBER FREAKIN' ONE: L'Engle, Madeleine. A wrinkle in time. Do I need to say more? If I do, then you obviously didn't read my last entry. Click back and do that, then.
2. Burnett, Frances Hodgson. The secret garden. Because it feels like spring. And "Here Comes the Sun" is my favorite song. These may be related.
3. Carroll, Lewis. Alice's adventures in Wonderland /Through the looking glass. Because these books freakily enough do look a great deal like the inside of my head.
4. Montgomery, L. M. Anne of Green Gables. BECAUSE, ANNE. If you've ever met Anne, you understand.
5. L'Engle, Madeleine. A ring of endless light. Is beautiful and deep and I'm totally not even a dolphin person.
6. Austen, Jane. Pride and prejudice. I waffle back and forth on my favorite Austen. This is the most consistently enjoyable read...
7. Austen, Jane. Sense and sensibility ... but this one means a bit more to me personally. So possibly consider this a tie for 6.
8. Pratchett, Terry. The Discworld series. Especially the Tiffany books starting with The Wee Free Men. They're witty and brilliant and just so dang funny.
9. Tolkien, J. R. R. The lord of the rings. Heroes are the ones who never give up. Go Team Sam.
10. Sachar, Louis. Holes. I don't think I've seen a more brilliantly put-together book, ever. It's just PERFECT.
11. Peck, Richard. Ghosts I have been. BECAUSE, BLOSSOM. She is my best imaginary friend.
12. Rowling, J. K. The Harry Potter books. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix being my particular favorite (BECAUSE, LUNA. Um, anyway). SO MUCH FUN. I'm not sure I need to say more than that.
13. Cooper, Susan. The Dark is Rising series, with the book of the same name likely being my favorite. Dark and mythic. I was reading Greenwitch on 9/11/01 and the eerie bigness put everything into perspective.
14. Lowry, Lois. The giver. One of the cooler things about getting Old is when you meet adults younger than you who, for instance, may have read an amazing book you first read when you were 18 but THEY read at that perfect book age, when they were 10 or 11, and it is for them what YOUR #1 is for you, and it's like, WHOA. Awesome. I loved it enough when I was 18.
15. Jones, Diana Wynne. Howl's Moving Castle. Much as I am tempted to type BECAUSE, SOPHIE here to go along with the theme, it's not entirely true, because it ignores that Sophie+Howl=OneOfTheGreatestFictionalCouplesEver and it's their interactions that REALLY make it.
16. Duane, Diane. The Young Wizards series. What's possibly bad is, anymore when I'm writing a religious/spiritual freewrite to myself, I find myself using terms like "The Lone Power" or "the Speech" or "the One" or "the Powers That Be" as if they are PROPER THEOLOGY. Also, it's just the most underrated fantasy series ever. I'll call The Wizard's Dilemma my favorite for being the most angsty L'Engle-like.
17. Dahl, Roald. Matilda. Because I only WISH I was brilliant enough to be telekinetic. Or with-it enough to be Miss Honey. Either way.
18. Lewis, C. S. The Chronicles of Narnia. Because just THINKING about it gives you this sort of magic feeling, like you COULD just open a closet and find yourself somewhere Completely Different. The voyage of the "Dawn Treader" is still my favorite, and I still have not seen the movie.
19. Austen, Jane. Persuasion. This is the most romantic book I can tolerate reading. Actually, any time I am actually in the mood for a completely swoony passionate romance, this is where I turn!
20. Avi. The true confessions of Charlotte Doyle. Because I totally wanted to be a 19th century sailor when I read it! How completely wrong is that! I started reading it to the older SRC kids last summer, and managed to hook one of them. Just one, but that's totally still a success.
21. Adams, Douglas. The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy. 21 IS EXACTLY HALF of 42! I swear I didn't do it on purpose! It just ended up here! ...um, yeah. For the backlog of completely geeky quotations one now has constantly in the back of ones brain because of it.
22. Farmer, Nancy. The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm. For wild, unusual twists of plot and vivid, complicated characters! And WHY are there not more books set in 22nd century Zimbabwe?
23. Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games Trilogy. Because, SO OBSESSIVE. Because, so well-drawn and well-built. Also, Peeta.
24. Lowry, Lois. Number the stars. Because I'm already WWII-obsessed, and when you throw in RESISTANCE MOVEMENTS INVOLVING LOTS OF SECRET PLOTS AND TRICKS, that's just too awesome. OOO, I just found out that Sean Astin, who is already most famous for portraying one of my MOST FAVORITE CHARACTERS EVER (see #9), is trying to get this made into a movie, which gives me YET ANOTHER reason to totally love him.
25. Levine, Gail Carson. Ella enchanted. I love me my fairytale retellings, and I love me my clever lighthearted fantasy, and this book does both PERFECTLY. That's all.
26. Cushman, Karen. Catherine, called Birdy. Can Cushman bring history to life or what. That's rhetorical. She can.
27. Dahl, Roald. The BFG. ...is a totally lovable character. The book's great fun, too.
28. Cleary, Beverly. The Ramona books. Possbily the most real, and most funny, funny-realistic-fiction ever written for middle grade, my favorites being Ramona Quimby, age 8 and Ramona and her Father
29. Spinelli, Jerry. Maniac Magee. Just brilliant. Also, AMANDA (she did not make the top ten girl-crush list but I love her very much nonetheless).
30. Curtis, Christopher Paul. The Watsons go to Birmingham-1963. Oh, the voice. I dare you to read the first paragraph and not get swept up in the storytelling!
31. Snicket, Lemony. A Series of Unfortunate Events. So ridiculous and yet strangely brilliant. Also, libraries are obviously awesome in this universe, which may be why The Penultimate Peril is my favorite book of the series (DEWEY-ORGANIZED HOTEL!)
32. Christie, Agatha. And then there were none. The best MURDER mystery ever... okay, maybe it's not the mystery itself, but the SYSTEMATIC KILLING OFF OF EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER. That just there is awesome.
33. Raskin, Ellen.The Westing game. The best PUZZLE mystery ever. I actually HAD to grab pencil and paper to work out clues on my first reading.
34. Funke, Cornelia. Inkspell. The best book in the trilogy that takes being a Booklover to a whole new level.
35. Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist. Couldn't put it down in 8th grade.
36. Howe, James. Bunnicula. I'm sure I've explained about Cujo Rabbit before, but this is just so totally delightful even WITHOUT that extra personal bit, so I shall never forget it.
37. Robinson, Barbara. The best Christmas pageant ever. The Best Christmas BOOK Ever, thank you! And so short, you might as WELL read it every year.
38. Milne, A. A. Winnie-the-pooh /the House at Pooh corner. The dialogue in these books is SO FUNNY, and I'm sure it goes completely over Sam's head when I read it to him, but he doesn't mind, and I certainly don't mind reading it to him!
39. Voigt, Cynthia. Jackaroo. This is the COOLEST SWASHBUCKLING GIRL-HERO ADVENTURE EVER and totally not enough people know about it.
40. Cassedy, Sylvia. Behind the attic wall. This one I haven't read in like 20 years, but I sure read it over and over again back in the day. EERIE and AWESOME.
Isn't it handy how nicely that worked out to be Top 40? Except that it isn't the whole story, so...
Possibilities: Books I strongly suspect would make this list, somewhere, once I get around to rereading them. Because you really do need to read them at least twice before it can truly feel FAVORITE... although you well enough may feel "OMG WHAT A GOOD BOOK AND I WILL RAVE ABOUT IT NOW" nonetheless:
Adams, Douglas. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. I honestly recall that I loved this MORE than Hitchhikers, which is up there at #21, so what does that tell you.
Bray, Libba. Going Bovine. MOST RECENT ADDITION! And I can not WAIT to read it again. But I'll probably wait anyway, because I have too many other NEW books to read, so... when I get my own copy I guess. IT'S ON MY WISH LIST AND MY BIRTHDAY IS COMING UP, YOU KNOW.
Jones, Diana Wynne. Archer's Goon. Everything I love about Jones in one awesome package-- I'm sure it would make the list SOMEWHERE on rereading.
Lockhart, E. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. I enjoyed it very much-- even more than I expected to-- WHEN I read it, but every time I read mention of it SINCE then, I am filled with excitement and delight all over, so I do expect it ought to be Listworthy.
McKinley, Robin. Two from her which only rereads could help me decide between: Beauty, which was CLEARLY one of the sources used by the screenwriters of my favorite Disney animated movie; and The hero and the crown which is just AWESOME.
Pratchett, Terry. Nation. It was breathtaking. And since I read it the same year as Frankie Landau-Banks and ranked it ABOVE that one, it's obviously Listworthy, too.
Stewart, Trenton Lee. The mysterious Benedict Society. BECAUSE, COOL-NERD KIDS! Who remind me of some of my own characters! And one of them is named after Fox Mulder! THAT IS TOO AWESOME!
Yee, Lisa. Millicent Min, girl genius. Speaking of nerd-kids, I just so appreciate this sensitive portrayal of what it's like to be a TOTAL NERDGIRL, maybe because it makes me look almost Popular in comparison, but, yes, it has a tender place in my heart.
Picture books and Easy Readers:
Johnson, Crockett. Harold and the Purple Crayon. It's like the best kind of dream! It's surreal and meta and mindbending! And also funny! It's like Going Bovine in picture book, less-obscene form!
Lobel, Arnold. Frog and Toad Together. Sam likes me to read these books to him, and every time I read this one--even over and over-- I am struck by its complete brilliant perfection. And I still can't read "Cookies" with a straight face.
Seuss, Dr. Green Eggs and Ham. Talk about brilliant: what this man did with 48 basic sight words is nothing short of genius. Also, I GOT Sam's name onto my name-my-kid-this list thanks to ol' #9 above, but Sam-I-Am is definitely a good role model for persistence and bravery-in-culinary choices, and I DO call him that nearly as often as I call him Samwise.
Slobodkina, Esphyr. Caps for Sale. I DID love this as a child, so I'm not sure, but what I REALLY love about it is that it is possibly the most fun book to read aloud to a kid (or many) ever. I can't separate my feelings for the book itself from the experience of reading it interactively.
Nonfiction:
The Beatles. Anthology. I almost forget, reading their story in their own words, that they are the most influential and insanely famous rock stars in the history of popular music. They feel just like these guys I know, friends of mine, who also incidentally happen to be exceedingly talented songsmiths... but still.
Finch, Christopher. Jim Henson: The Works. The longest-overdue library book I ever had out. Now I have my own copy which I can gaze at (all the gorgeous bright pictures) whenever I feel the need to revel in the thought of a life devoted to Singing and Dancing and Making People Happy.
Lamott, Anne. Bird by Bird. Maybe my favorite writing-craft book ever, teaching not so much how to write as how to BE A WRITER-- and I still need to remind myself of the importance of taking it bird by bird!
WHHEW! I think we'll have to stop there. For now.
Here's why not: BECAUSE WHO CAN SERIOUSLY PICK WHAT THEIR FAVORITE BOOKS ARE?! THERE ARE TOO MANY! THE LIST WOULD GO ON AND ON UNTIL THE END OF THE INTERNET!
But, complete bookdork that I am, I figured I might as well give it a serious consideration. I went through my List of All The Books I've Ever Read and copied out every title-- and in some cases, author-- that yelled out "This is quite possibly one of your favorite books and you've probably told somebody it was at one point for that matter too!" at me to start with. Of course this is just a list of my favorite NOVELS, which most of my favorite books tend to be, so then I had to wrack my brains to make sure I'd thought of all my favorite picture books and nonfiction too (or at least The Picture and Nonfiction Books I consider My Favorite Books, which is slightly different).
And THEN I had to figure out how to put them IN ORDER. That looked hopeless.
So first I tried splitting them into Tiers, with Tier One being the subject of my last post, Tier Two being "Lifelong Hugests of Favorites," Tier Three being "Also Hugely Favorited Important Books," down all the way to, like, Tier Seven, "Books I Have Adored At Some Point In My Life." This way I wouldn't have to rank them each individually and be fussing over their order constantly. But that didn't seem to work, because then it made books a tier down from the tier above look much lower ranked than the ones above when they actually might be only a couple books apart, which was breaking my heart over some of them.
So THEN I decided to go ahead and rank them all anyway, but that brings us back to my original problem with that, which is that I CANNOT DECIDE if the ranking is final anyway, so just accept that it is NOT, and number 3 may not be ALL that much greater than number 4, and whatnot.
And then there are books that USED to be your favorite books but you haven't read them in over a decade and are not full of burning desire to REread them at the moment, but you KNOW they are awesome books and you DID love them. There are more than a few of those on this list, because I feel like being inclusive, but it DID involve hemming and hawing.
And then you get books like Lord of the Rings. Honestly, I cannot read Lord of the Rings straight through on rereads-- I have to skim and skip all the places where Tolkien really ought to have skimmed and skipped. TECHNICALLY, it's not a great book. But it is SO INGRAINED IN MY VERY SOUL AND I NAMED MY SON AFTER IT, so, seriously. It belongs on this list-- and HIGH on it-- whether I technically enjoy the writing or not.
Then there are series, like Star Wars in the movie world, in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts (but where I'll give you the names of some of my favorite parts --er, books-- anyway). If you compare individual titles in the series to the stand-alone titles around them in rank, they MAY OR MAY NOT actually fit there, but I did my best to place series where they might fall in my love for them, anyway.
Somehow, all those books-- or series-- turned out to be exactly 40 slots worth of books, so I said, "Cool! It's a Top 40! I can live with that!"
But that was after I pulled out certain kinds of books on grounds that I couldn't fairly rank them, so we also have some separate lists:
--All those books that you strongly suspect ought to be on this list, but you've only read them once and can't say with confidence that they really are your FAVORITE. So I made a separate, unranked list of those books. Which would mess up the Top 40 thing if I ever DO get around to rereading them, but seriously.
--Picture books and nonfiction books. I just can't put those into the same ranking system as fiction, because they're too different to compare properly. So I've listed them separately, but that doesn't mean I love them LESS. I love apples AND oranges. Though neither as much as strawberries, so my metaphor will die if I continue much longer.
SOOOOOOO, now that I've got all the stipulations out of the way ... shall we begin?
NUMBER FREAKIN' ONE: L'Engle, Madeleine. A wrinkle in time. Do I need to say more? If I do, then you obviously didn't read my last entry. Click back and do that, then.
2. Burnett, Frances Hodgson. The secret garden. Because it feels like spring. And "Here Comes the Sun" is my favorite song. These may be related.
3. Carroll, Lewis. Alice's adventures in Wonderland /Through the looking glass. Because these books freakily enough do look a great deal like the inside of my head.
4. Montgomery, L. M. Anne of Green Gables. BECAUSE, ANNE. If you've ever met Anne, you understand.
5. L'Engle, Madeleine. A ring of endless light. Is beautiful and deep and I'm totally not even a dolphin person.
6. Austen, Jane. Pride and prejudice. I waffle back and forth on my favorite Austen. This is the most consistently enjoyable read...
7. Austen, Jane. Sense and sensibility ... but this one means a bit more to me personally. So possibly consider this a tie for 6.
8. Pratchett, Terry. The Discworld series. Especially the Tiffany books starting with The Wee Free Men. They're witty and brilliant and just so dang funny.
9. Tolkien, J. R. R. The lord of the rings. Heroes are the ones who never give up. Go Team Sam.
10. Sachar, Louis. Holes. I don't think I've seen a more brilliantly put-together book, ever. It's just PERFECT.
11. Peck, Richard. Ghosts I have been. BECAUSE, BLOSSOM. She is my best imaginary friend.
12. Rowling, J. K. The Harry Potter books. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix being my particular favorite (BECAUSE, LUNA. Um, anyway). SO MUCH FUN. I'm not sure I need to say more than that.
13. Cooper, Susan. The Dark is Rising series, with the book of the same name likely being my favorite. Dark and mythic. I was reading Greenwitch on 9/11/01 and the eerie bigness put everything into perspective.
14. Lowry, Lois. The giver. One of the cooler things about getting Old is when you meet adults younger than you who, for instance, may have read an amazing book you first read when you were 18 but THEY read at that perfect book age, when they were 10 or 11, and it is for them what YOUR #1 is for you, and it's like, WHOA. Awesome. I loved it enough when I was 18.
15. Jones, Diana Wynne. Howl's Moving Castle. Much as I am tempted to type BECAUSE, SOPHIE here to go along with the theme, it's not entirely true, because it ignores that Sophie+Howl=OneOfTheGreatestFictionalCouplesEver and it's their interactions that REALLY make it.
16. Duane, Diane. The Young Wizards series. What's possibly bad is, anymore when I'm writing a religious/spiritual freewrite to myself, I find myself using terms like "The Lone Power" or "the Speech" or "the One" or "the Powers That Be" as if they are PROPER THEOLOGY. Also, it's just the most underrated fantasy series ever. I'll call The Wizard's Dilemma my favorite for being the most angsty L'Engle-like.
17. Dahl, Roald. Matilda. Because I only WISH I was brilliant enough to be telekinetic. Or with-it enough to be Miss Honey. Either way.
18. Lewis, C. S. The Chronicles of Narnia. Because just THINKING about it gives you this sort of magic feeling, like you COULD just open a closet and find yourself somewhere Completely Different. The voyage of the "Dawn Treader" is still my favorite, and I still have not seen the movie.
19. Austen, Jane. Persuasion. This is the most romantic book I can tolerate reading. Actually, any time I am actually in the mood for a completely swoony passionate romance, this is where I turn!
20. Avi. The true confessions of Charlotte Doyle. Because I totally wanted to be a 19th century sailor when I read it! How completely wrong is that! I started reading it to the older SRC kids last summer, and managed to hook one of them. Just one, but that's totally still a success.
21. Adams, Douglas. The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy. 21 IS EXACTLY HALF of 42! I swear I didn't do it on purpose! It just ended up here! ...um, yeah. For the backlog of completely geeky quotations one now has constantly in the back of ones brain because of it.
22. Farmer, Nancy. The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm. For wild, unusual twists of plot and vivid, complicated characters! And WHY are there not more books set in 22nd century Zimbabwe?
23. Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games Trilogy. Because, SO OBSESSIVE. Because, so well-drawn and well-built. Also, Peeta.
24. Lowry, Lois. Number the stars. Because I'm already WWII-obsessed, and when you throw in RESISTANCE MOVEMENTS INVOLVING LOTS OF SECRET PLOTS AND TRICKS, that's just too awesome. OOO, I just found out that Sean Astin, who is already most famous for portraying one of my MOST FAVORITE CHARACTERS EVER (see #9), is trying to get this made into a movie, which gives me YET ANOTHER reason to totally love him.
25. Levine, Gail Carson. Ella enchanted. I love me my fairytale retellings, and I love me my clever lighthearted fantasy, and this book does both PERFECTLY. That's all.
26. Cushman, Karen. Catherine, called Birdy. Can Cushman bring history to life or what. That's rhetorical. She can.
27. Dahl, Roald. The BFG. ...is a totally lovable character. The book's great fun, too.
28. Cleary, Beverly. The Ramona books. Possbily the most real, and most funny, funny-realistic-fiction ever written for middle grade, my favorites being Ramona Quimby, age 8 and Ramona and her Father
29. Spinelli, Jerry. Maniac Magee. Just brilliant. Also, AMANDA (she did not make the top ten girl-crush list but I love her very much nonetheless).
30. Curtis, Christopher Paul. The Watsons go to Birmingham-1963. Oh, the voice. I dare you to read the first paragraph and not get swept up in the storytelling!
31. Snicket, Lemony. A Series of Unfortunate Events. So ridiculous and yet strangely brilliant. Also, libraries are obviously awesome in this universe, which may be why The Penultimate Peril is my favorite book of the series (DEWEY-ORGANIZED HOTEL!)
32. Christie, Agatha. And then there were none. The best MURDER mystery ever... okay, maybe it's not the mystery itself, but the SYSTEMATIC KILLING OFF OF EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER. That just there is awesome.
33. Raskin, Ellen.The Westing game. The best PUZZLE mystery ever. I actually HAD to grab pencil and paper to work out clues on my first reading.
34. Funke, Cornelia. Inkspell. The best book in the trilogy that takes being a Booklover to a whole new level.
35. Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist. Couldn't put it down in 8th grade.
36. Howe, James. Bunnicula. I'm sure I've explained about Cujo Rabbit before, but this is just so totally delightful even WITHOUT that extra personal bit, so I shall never forget it.
37. Robinson, Barbara. The best Christmas pageant ever. The Best Christmas BOOK Ever, thank you! And so short, you might as WELL read it every year.
38. Milne, A. A. Winnie-the-pooh /the House at Pooh corner. The dialogue in these books is SO FUNNY, and I'm sure it goes completely over Sam's head when I read it to him, but he doesn't mind, and I certainly don't mind reading it to him!
39. Voigt, Cynthia. Jackaroo. This is the COOLEST SWASHBUCKLING GIRL-HERO ADVENTURE EVER and totally not enough people know about it.
40. Cassedy, Sylvia. Behind the attic wall. This one I haven't read in like 20 years, but I sure read it over and over again back in the day. EERIE and AWESOME.
Isn't it handy how nicely that worked out to be Top 40? Except that it isn't the whole story, so...
Possibilities: Books I strongly suspect would make this list, somewhere, once I get around to rereading them. Because you really do need to read them at least twice before it can truly feel FAVORITE... although you well enough may feel "OMG WHAT A GOOD BOOK AND I WILL RAVE ABOUT IT NOW" nonetheless:
Adams, Douglas. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. I honestly recall that I loved this MORE than Hitchhikers, which is up there at #21, so what does that tell you.
Bray, Libba. Going Bovine. MOST RECENT ADDITION! And I can not WAIT to read it again. But I'll probably wait anyway, because I have too many other NEW books to read, so... when I get my own copy I guess. IT'S ON MY WISH LIST AND MY BIRTHDAY IS COMING UP, YOU KNOW.
Jones, Diana Wynne. Archer's Goon. Everything I love about Jones in one awesome package-- I'm sure it would make the list SOMEWHERE on rereading.
Lockhart, E. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. I enjoyed it very much-- even more than I expected to-- WHEN I read it, but every time I read mention of it SINCE then, I am filled with excitement and delight all over, so I do expect it ought to be Listworthy.
McKinley, Robin. Two from her which only rereads could help me decide between: Beauty, which was CLEARLY one of the sources used by the screenwriters of my favorite Disney animated movie; and The hero and the crown which is just AWESOME.
Pratchett, Terry. Nation. It was breathtaking. And since I read it the same year as Frankie Landau-Banks and ranked it ABOVE that one, it's obviously Listworthy, too.
Stewart, Trenton Lee. The mysterious Benedict Society. BECAUSE, COOL-NERD KIDS! Who remind me of some of my own characters! And one of them is named after Fox Mulder! THAT IS TOO AWESOME!
Yee, Lisa. Millicent Min, girl genius. Speaking of nerd-kids, I just so appreciate this sensitive portrayal of what it's like to be a TOTAL NERDGIRL, maybe because it makes me look almost Popular in comparison, but, yes, it has a tender place in my heart.
Picture books and Easy Readers:
Johnson, Crockett. Harold and the Purple Crayon. It's like the best kind of dream! It's surreal and meta and mindbending! And also funny! It's like Going Bovine in picture book, less-obscene form!
Lobel, Arnold. Frog and Toad Together. Sam likes me to read these books to him, and every time I read this one--even over and over-- I am struck by its complete brilliant perfection. And I still can't read "Cookies" with a straight face.
Seuss, Dr. Green Eggs and Ham. Talk about brilliant: what this man did with 48 basic sight words is nothing short of genius. Also, I GOT Sam's name onto my name-my-kid-this list thanks to ol' #9 above, but Sam-I-Am is definitely a good role model for persistence and bravery-in-culinary choices, and I DO call him that nearly as often as I call him Samwise.
Slobodkina, Esphyr. Caps for Sale. I DID love this as a child, so I'm not sure, but what I REALLY love about it is that it is possibly the most fun book to read aloud to a kid (or many) ever. I can't separate my feelings for the book itself from the experience of reading it interactively.
Nonfiction:
The Beatles. Anthology. I almost forget, reading their story in their own words, that they are the most influential and insanely famous rock stars in the history of popular music. They feel just like these guys I know, friends of mine, who also incidentally happen to be exceedingly talented songsmiths... but still.
Finch, Christopher. Jim Henson: The Works. The longest-overdue library book I ever had out. Now I have my own copy which I can gaze at (all the gorgeous bright pictures) whenever I feel the need to revel in the thought of a life devoted to Singing and Dancing and Making People Happy.
Lamott, Anne. Bird by Bird. Maybe my favorite writing-craft book ever, teaching not so much how to write as how to BE A WRITER-- and I still need to remind myself of the importance of taking it bird by bird!
WHHEW! I think we'll have to stop there. For now.