Thursday, July 21, 2011

Today I Read.

It's a rare day when I don't read something.   Actually, I can't remember any day that I haven't read.  It's who I am!  I read articles online, books by the stacks, blogs, the newspaper, magazines, catalogs and cereal boxes.  I see words and I read them.

Day 23 of the 30 Day Challenge:  A picture of your favorite book.

You should have seen how big my eyes got when I read that I was supposed to have a favorite book.  I didn't actually see how large my eyes got, but I felt how dry they got.  Then it was **blink blinkity blink**  I don't have ONE favorite book.  I don't think I have a favorite anything.  There are too many wonderful things to enjoy in this world!  Why pick just one?  I can't even get the same thing at a restaurant just because it was wonderful.  I have to keep trying new things!  Even if there is the chance that I'll get some real duds.  I can always come back to the best occasionally, but the quest for another favorite must go on!!!

So - in order of when they popped into my head:  SOME of my favorite books -



(Little Women by Lousia May Alcott.  source)


(Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery.  source)



(ANYTHING my Madeline L'Engle. source)



(The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare.  source)



(Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell. source)



(Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  source)



(The Dark Is Rising series by Susan Cooper.  source)




The Golden Compass Trilogy (controversial, I know!), more commonly referred to as His Dark Materials trilogy.  source)



(The Magic Circle by Donna Jo Napoli.  source)



(The Nancy Drew books by Carolyn Keene.  source)



(The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mar Twain.  source)



(The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.  source)



(The Meet Samantha series; Meet Kirsten series; Meet Molly series; and Meet Felicity series (I'm an original four sorta gal and they totally lost me when they strayed from the historical girls and started doing dolls of today.  puh-leeez.  source)



(Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith.  source)



(Ronia, the Robber's Daughter by Astrid Lindgren.  source)



(Any fairy tale illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman.  source)



(Dragon's Milk trilogy by Susan Fletcher.  source)



(The Ancient One by T.A. Barron.  source)



(The Adventures of Tintin books!!!!  I think I read all of them.  source)



(Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.  Pretty sure that if my parents had read this first, there is no WAY they would have let me read it at 12, but they didn't and I did and I read it at least 4 or 5 times.  source)



(The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. source)



Do you think it's sad that all my favorites are the ones I read while I was growing up?  Seriously, nothing I've read in the past decade has been better (though I did enjoy Harry Potter, all things Shannon Hale, and Aviva Jill Romm, who writes non-fiction).  Are books just getting worse or were stories simply more magical back then?

I seriously need to re-read all of these books.  I wonder if they will stay favorites the second (or third) time around.

8 comments:

Faith said...

i absolutely loved the Anne of Green Gables series! i ate that stuff up when i was younger ... also loved Nancy Drew!!! it is funny that your favorites are books when you read when you were younger but i think it might be true that books were written so much better when we were younger ... OR everything seemed magical when we were younger.

mun said...

Wow, such a long list! I love the the Little Women sequels by Lousia May Alcott - Good wives, little men and Jo's boys!

Vicky said...

That is a lot of favorite books!
I loved "Gone with the wind" too. I didn't watch the film until I had finished the book... and it is a long book.

Milk and Honey Mommy said...

Jamie,

You are a readin' fool. I too love reading and have only started, this year, reading more books for me; kid interest took over before. It would be interesting to see if the books are just as good the second, third, or fourth time around which could possibly happen since your girls and new girl or boy may want to read them too.

I am going to read-a-loud Little Women before we see the play. My sister is an Anne anything fan. I've wanted to read the Witch of Blackbird Pond. We may do the Little House books as another read-aloud. The kids enjoy the television series. Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys will make it into our house soon. My daughter is making her way through the Addy books and I may get her the other books in ther series. It looks like you have some really great reads. So like ah, what is your favorite?

Amy said...

You know I think you're fabulous but I have to say that a lot of your favorites were books I was force-fed as a kid and therefore hated reading. I never got through most of them. I should probably try reading them since I adore reading. maybe my mind will change.
LOVE Narnia of course. I was entertained by Nancy Drew (I made her moderner in my head). And fantasies are just awesome so I might just give those a try.

Anonymous said...

I Love your selection!!! I know I could never chose JUST ONE either...it's impossible!

An Apel a Day said...

Oh goodness I hear ya with the American Girls dolls! I have 4 of the first's. They are what got me into reading. Then they had to mess it up by going non historical and took away my favorite Kirsten! Boo on them!

I love Anne of Green Gables.

Rachel said...

I LOVE this post! I'm so glad you made one about the books you've read! I'm always looking for new books to read and this list has so many books that I haven't even heard about. I'm going to add a few to my list to get at the library!