I read so many books last year, I had to update. Still would love to hear from any of you what you books you are loving!
100 or So of my All-Time Favorites
Sorted by genre, in no particular order…
Novels and Stories:
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Godric by Frederick Buechner
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett (whole Kingsbridge series)
Fortune Smiles by Adam Johnson
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck
Hawaii by James A. Michener
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Howards End by E.M. Forster
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (everything by Jane Austen)
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
Elenor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Science Fiction / Fantasy / Mythology:
A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Wrinkle in Time Series by Madeleine L’Engle
Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy
Cross Roads & Eve by William Paul Young
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
His Dark Materials series and Book of Dust series by Philip Pullman
Ender’s Game (whole series) by Orson Scott Card
The Passage by Justin Cronin
Circe by Madeline Miller
In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan
Leaf by Niggle by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Science:
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean
The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert
The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene
Finding God in the Waves by Mike McHargue (science and memoir)
Wisdom and Poetry:
Supper of the Lamb by Robert Farrar Capon
Devotions by Mary Oliver
Becoming Wise by Krista Tippett
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
Daring Greatly by Brené Brown
The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison
Healing the Wounded Heart by Dan Allender
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
Teaching a Stone to Talk by Annie Dillard (and Maytrees)
Walking in Wonder by John O’Donohue
Lost Connections by Johann Hari
The Pocket Pema Chodron by Pema Chodron
Rumi: The Big Red Book: The Great Masterpiece Celebrating Mystical Love and Friendship by Coleman Barks
Life on Mars by Tracy K. Smith
Spiritual / Christian:
Abba’s Child by Brennan Manning
Telling Secrets by Frederick Buechner
A Grief Observed, The Great Divorce, and The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
Love Does by Bob Goff
A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken
Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri Nouwen (also The Way of the Heart)
Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer
Everything Belongs by Richard Rohr (also The Divine Dance & Breathing Under Water)
A Hidden Wholeness by Parker J. Palmer
Learning to Walk in the Dark by Barbara Brown Taylor (also Leaving Church)
Acedia and Me by Kathleen Norris
Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott
Disciplines for the Inner Life by Bob and Michael W. Benson
Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton
Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home by Richard Foster
A Way other than Our Own by Walter Brueggemann
How I Found God in Everyone and Everywhere: An Anthology of Spiritual Memoirs edited by Andrew M. David and Philip Clayton
Learning the Vocabulary of God by Frank Charles Laubach
Tattoos on the Heart by Gregory Boyle
History, Biography, Memoir:
A Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Night by Elie Wiesel
Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
On Writing by Stephen King
All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller
As You Wish by Cary Elwes
Educated by Tara Westover
If Women Rose Rooted by Sharon Blackie
Mystery series authors:
Dorothy Sayers
Agatha Christie
P.D. James
Patricia Cornwell
Scott Pratt
Louise Penny
Nevada Barr
Stephen King
what a great list! but i was surprised to not see Penelope Wilcock’s series, The Hawk and the Dove… you should borrow it from your mom, who loved it like i do. your heart will thank you…
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I will add it to my list of books to read! I don’t know how I missed it.:)
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Some awesome books in there. Love Bill Bryson.
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