Six in Six

Emma at Words and Peace

Emma at Words and Peace is now hosting Six in Six, a flexible meme in which at or around the end of the sixth month (June) one may list six titles in six categories chosen from books one has read so far during the year. For 2026 therefore it’ll be six books in six categories in the sixth month on the twenty-sixth day of the month (for me.) 

Let's see if I can pull this off... if not I guess you'll never know I even tried! Ha! Emma has way better ideas than I do, so be sure to check out her list. (Here) I've read or reread all these books in 2026:

Around the world:

1. Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernières -- GREECE
2. The Man Who Could Move Clouds by Ingrid Rojas Contreras -- COLUMBIA
3. Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy -- Fictitious island off Antarctica, 1000 miles from AUSTRALIA
4. Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante -- ITALY
5. A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar -- INDIA
6. The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali -- IRAN

Memoirs/Biographies:

1. Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy
2. Why Fathers Cry at Night: A Memoir in Love Poems, Letters, Recipes, and Remembrances by Kwame Alexander
3. Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li
4. I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
5. The Man Who Could Move Clouds by Ingrid Rojas Contreras
6. Toni at Random by Dana A. Williams

Humorous (at least partially):

1. So Far Gone by Jess Walter
2. Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler
3. The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett
4. The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt
5. Vigil by George Saunders
6. Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy by Mary Roach

Animals important to story:

1. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville -- WHALES, especially one big white Sperm whale.
2. Moby Dick by Will Eisner -- See above
3. Why Read Moby-Dick? by Nathaniel Philbrick -- See above
4. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov -- BLACK CAT
5. The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett -- CAT
6. Whistler by Ann Patchett -- HORSE

Classics:

1. A Passage to India by E.M. Forster (1924)
2. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Sparks (1961)
3. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (1967)
4. Animal Farm by George Orwell (1945)
5. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (1851)
6. Desiderata: A Poem for a Way of Life by Max Ehrmann (1927)

Poetry:

1. Startlement: New and Selected Poems by Ada Limón
2. Little Alleluias: Collected Poetry and Prose by Mary Oliver
3. Goldenrod: Poems by Maggie Smith
4. Woman Without Shame: Poems by Sandra Cisneros
5. Poems and Prayers by Matthew McConaughey
6. Why Fathers Cry at Night: A Memoir in Love Poems, Letters, Recipes, and Remembrances by Kwame Alexander

How'd I do? Just a few duplicates, not bad.

Pick your categories and join in the fun! So what if you can't have it done by the 26th? Emma suggests you make the list during July!

-Anne

A Roundup -- 56 Classics Everyone Should Read Before They Die

A Roundup of the 50 Classics Books 

Everyone Should Read Before They Die

This past week I put on my geek hat again, this time to roundup the top 56 classics everyone should read before they die. 

My method: I consulted 20 lists found online. My favorite lists were: Harvard Book Store Top 100 books and a list of 100 books to read before college, created by College Board in 2022. 

A few more particulars: 

• My publication date cutoff to be included was 25 years ago. Many, many wonderful books, really great modern classics, should be on this list but I decided that is for a different list. 
• I organized the list alphabetically by title. 
• The Great Gatsby was the only book on every single list with 20 votes. 
• Though I have them numbered 1-50, titles with the same number of votes should really have the same place. For example, 1984 thru TKAM all got 16 votes so they should all be in 3rd place, then BNW and WH got 15 votes each so they should both hold 8th place. That is too confusing so I just left it at 1-50, and then had to add a few to cover all the books with eight votes.
• I also decided to leave plays off the list and then decided to break my own rule by including Hamlet, the best of the best, as a placeholder for all other great plays (Waiting for Godot; Romeo and Juliet; The Cherry Orchard; Our Town, etc.)
• Over 300 book titles were suggested with many super popular classics, like the Iliad/Odyssey, falling just below my cutoff threshold.

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Must-read Classics

(Numbers after the titles represent how many lists out of 20 it was on. Stars * next to the numbers reflect the books I have read.)

1. Great Gatsby / Fitzgerald  -- 20*
2. Pride and Prejudice / Austen -- 18*
3. 1984 / Orwell -- 16*
4. Anna Karenina / Tolstoy -- 16
5. Catch-22 / Heller -- 16*
6. Jane Eyre / Charlotte Bronte --16*
7. To Kill a Mockingbird / Lee --16*
8. Brave New World / Huxley -- 15*
9. Wuthering Heights / Emily Bronte --15*
10. Catcher in the Rye / Salinger -- 14*
11. Crime and Punishment / Dostoevsky --14
12. Little Women / Alcott -- 14*
13. Moby-Dick / Melville -- 14*
14. One Hundred Years of Solitude / Garcia Marquez -- 14*
15. Great Expectations / Dickens -- 13*
16. Lolita / Nabokov -- 13*
17. War and Peace / Tolstoy -- 13
18. Animal Farm / Orwell -- 12*
19. Beloved / Morrison -- 12*
20. Frankenstein / Shelley --12* 
21. Lord of the Rings series / Tolkien --12*
22. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn / Twain -- 11*
23. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Carroll -- 11* 
24. Count of Monte Cristo / Dumas -- 11*
25. Handmaid's Tale / Atwood -- 11*
26. Les Misérables / Hugo -- 11*
27. Midnight's Children / Rushdie -- 11
28. Slaughterhouse-Five / Vonnegut -- 11*
29. Call of the Wild / London -- 10*
30. Don Quixote / Cervantes --10
31. Dracula / Stoker --10
32. Grapes of Wrath / Steinbeck --10*
33. Invisible Man / Ellison --10
34. Little Prince / Saint-Exupéry -- 10*
35. Madame Bovary / Flaubert -- 10*
36. Stranger /Camus -- 10*
37. Ulysses / Joyce -- 10
38. Charlotte's Web / White -- 9*
39. Color Purple / Walker -- 9*
40. Fahrenheit 451 / Bradbury -- 9*
41. Middlemarch / Eliot -- 9*
42. Gone with the Wind / Mitchell -- 9*
43. Hamlet / Shakespeare -- 9*
44. Harry Potter series / Rowling -- 9*
45. Heart of Darkness / Conrad -- 9
46. Picture of Dorian Gray / Wilde -- 9*
47. Tess of the D'Urbervilles / Hardy -- 9*
48. Atonement / McEwan -- 8*
49. Brothers Karamazov / Dostoevsky -- 8*
50. A Christmas Carol / Dickens -- 8*
51. Gulliver's Travels / Swift -- 8*
52. Lord of the Flies / Golding -- 8*
53. The Sun Also Rises / Hemingway -- 8
54. A Tale of Two Cities / Dickens -- 8
55. Their Eyes Were Watching God / Hurston -- 8*
56. Things Fall Apart / Achebe -- 8*

Are there any surprises to you? 

• I was a little surprised that Harry Potter books made the cut and that Gone with the Wind is still getting mentioned since it has fallen on hard times lately with its references to "happy slaves."
• Though there really aren't any surprises on this list, it is still mainly authored by old, dead white men writers. But I think a shift is occurring. There are ten women authors named, I expected Austen and the Bronte sisters but was delighted to see the list included Morrison, Atwood, Hurston, and Walker among them. Also there is at least one book each from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. And to my count there are seven people authors of color included.

How I hope to use this list: 

• I've read 44 of the top 56 books. I am determined to read all of the top 30, which means I only have five titles to go to complete that small subgoal for myself: Anna Karenina; Crime and Punishment; War and Peace; Midnight's Children; Don Quixote. Though all are big, dense books, I know I can do it. 

How you can use this list: 

• My recommendation to you, if you aren't a classic book reader, is start with books that are shorter and not so threatening. Start with Great Gatsby. It is a short and easy read. When you are done, reward yourself by watching one of the movies made from it. 
• Next pick a children's classic. Try The Little Prince if you've never read it. Next try a modern classic like A Handmaid's Tale or Atonement. You are actually making progress. 
• Now read one you've always wondered about like A Picture of Dorian Gray, Fahrenheit 451, or 1984. 
• After you are done with that reread any you've read before, or were supposed to have read in school, like Little Women or To Kill a Mockingbird. You may be surprised how much you like it now that you are an adult not being forced to read it. 
• Lastly make of list of five others you'd like to read. Before you know it you will have ten classics under your belt and I bet you won't want to stop.

If you are curious how many votes your favorite classic book got on my round-up and it isn't on the above top 50 list, leave a comment with the title name, I'll consult my spreadsheet and get back to you.

TTT: Best Books I Read in 2025

Best Books of 2025

I often create separate fiction and nonfiction favorite books lists each year. This year, for some reason, I found it really easy to identify my top five for each category and trouble picking 6-10. So this year, you get to see my top ten books of 2025: five fiction, five nonfiction.

FICTION:

1. The Antidote by Karen Russell -- I guessing this is a cilantro book, either you love it or hate it, but I loved it! It is set during the Dust Bowl in the midwest during the 1930s. It is so full of themes, but one important one is how we deal with history and have selective memories. I knew when I listened to this book in early June it would be my favorite book of the year and it is!

2. Heart the Lover by Lily King -- This story about a long-term friendship/love between two people who broke each other's hearts, yet remained in touch with each other, is clutch-your-hand-to-your-heart good. And the writing is transformative. I didn't even know this was a sequel of sorts to another book I loved by the same author, Writers and Lovers. Now I want to reread both, to catch the hints I missed first time around.

3. Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones -- It is shocking to even me that this book, a vampire story, is near the top of my yearly list of bests. It may have a vampire in it, but it is also an anti-colonialism story and a history of the Black Foot nation and what happened to its people when white men arrived and killed all their buffalo. Super powerful.

4. Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon -- Martha Ballard lived in Colonial Massachusetts and was a midwife. She kept a diary of what her life was like and the medical practices she used. Lawhon took her diaries and focused on one event she mentioned and made it into a compelling mystery. Very well-done and interesting, made even more so by the details being based on facts.

5. The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich -- Erdrich does it again. She writes in such a way to make us aware of many issues at one time. This time it is the overuse of pesticides in farming, and how Native Americans live, even today, in the 'land of plenty.'

NONFICTION:

1. There's Always This Year: On Baseketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib -- A memoir, of sorts. Also,  partly a sports story, as you would guess from the subtitle, the book explores the popularity of basketball in the region of Ohio where the author grew up. There's Always This Year is also part essay, part memoir, part social commentary, part cultural/racial observation, and part poetry, all moving far beyond basketball. 

2. All My Knotted-Up Life: a Memoir by Beth Moore -- Beth Moore is a Christian educator who has created  many Bible-series used for women's ministry in churches, including my own. In 2016, she made the news because she is one of the few Christians who spoke out against Trump for his Access Hollywood tape comments. This is her remarkable story.

3. Say Nothing: A True Tale of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe -- I'd long heard about the "Troubles" in Northern Ireland in the late 1970s through the early 1990s but knew little about it. This book, so well researched and written, cured my ignorance. I found the whole account fascinating.

 

4. Everything is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green  -- One of my must-read authors, John Green is on a mission to wake-up the world as to a deadly infection which is completely curable but the people who need the cure, the poorest of the poor in the world, can't afford the treatments. And the people who can afford the treatment, don't get TB. I told everyone I know to read this book, which doesn't read like a medical book, but it stuffed full of stories of real people, mkaing it personal and relatable.

5. Stay True: a Memoir by Hua Hsu -- An unlikely college friendship — Ken loves preppy polo shirts and Pearl Jam, Hua prefers Xeroxed zines and Pavement — blossoms in 1990s Berkeley, then is abruptly fissured by Ken’s murder in a random carjacking. Around those bare facts, Hsu’s understated memoir builds a glimmering fortress of memory in which youth and identity live alongside terrible, senseless loss. (NYT)

What were your favorite reads of 2025?

-Anne

Top Book Club Selections of 2025

These are my top ten book clubs selections of 2025.

I am in two book clubs. I asked the ladies in each club for their input and factored them into my list. Good book club choices not only need to be interesting, well-written books but also ones which generate thoughtful discussions. All of these books qualify on those points and I recommend them for your club.

See my reviews of all 2025 book club selections here.

1. James by Percival Everett -- James was my favorite book read in 2024. It was everyone's favorite book that year, topping almost all end-of-the-year lists. When I asked the RHS Ladies what were their top three books of the year, all identified James in their top three, most named it #1. Several said that James was so far above all the other books, it was hard to identify another favorite. It is as if I should put a line underneath James to create separation between it and all the other titles on this list. If you haven't read it, you must! (January, RHS Ladies #1) 

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2. Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon -- A gripping historical mystery based on the life a real colonial midwife, Martha Ballard, who defied the legal system and gender mores of the day. This club had read her diary years before so it was fun to be re-introduced to this character from history. (May, RHS Ladies #2)

3. Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe -- The only nonfiction book on this list. Even though the book is long (441 pages) none of the gals complained about it. None of us knew much about the "troubles" in Northern Ireland but now we do. This book will likely make my top ten books of the year, too. My review includes discussion questions. (August, SOTH Gals)

4. How to Read a Book by Monica Wood -- This is a marvelous book about friendship, second-chances, and the life-changing power of stories. It is also a great book for book lovers to read and discuss. This is my sentimental favorite on the list. Just rereading my own review made me smile. (June, RHS Ladies #3)

5. Moloka'i by Alan Brennert -- This is possibly the perfect book club selection. Why?  Well, first there was a ton of topics to discuss: colonialism; the Hawaiian monarchy; Hawaiian culture--which included religion, food, and words; the evolution of leprosy treatment; cultural and familial reactions to leprosy; Moloka'i; historical events like the invention of airplanes and WWII; childbirth and adoption; missionaries and the Catholic Church; friendship and family. I read this book in 2021 in one books club and this year with the other. It was popular with both clubs. (April, SOTH Gals #2)

6. Sandwich by Catherine Newman -- This book was suggested by a member because she felt like we would all be able to relate to it. We are all in a sandwich between our aging parents and our adult children who are launching into their own lives. Plus, she said, the book is funny. We did have a lot of fun with this one. (February, RHS Ladies)

7. The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel -- Set in France during WWII, a surprisingly fresh new story about resistance efforts which involved creating documents so Jewish children could escape Germans who were hunting them. (June, SOTH Gals #1)

8. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar -- This is a cilantro book, either you will love it or hate it. I loved it. No one else in club did. But we actually had a fantastic discussion because of its many themes: addiction, grief, fatih, LGBTQ issues, the meaning of life. I included some discussion questions on my review. Check them out before you decide to select it or not. (April, RHS Ladies)

9. Three Days in June by Anne Tyler -- Looking for a short novella your members can read in a few days? Three Days in June is that book. A sweet story about love and family, and acceptance. I was charmed by this book. (October, RHS Ladies)

10. The Personal Librarian by Benedict and Murray -- Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J.P. Morgan to curate his collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for his newly built J. Pierpont Morgan Library. But Belle has a secret, one she must protect at all costs. She is "colored," passing as white. Oh boy, did we have a lot to discuss. (September, SOTH Gals #3)

Looking for even more suggestions?

Click links to check my past book club favorites by year:

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

-Anne

The Top 60 Books of 2025: Best Books Round-Up

The 60 Best Books of 2025, based on a best-books round up

It's here -- the results of my Best-Books-of-2025 round up. 

My process: 

1. I consulted 59 best-books lists from all over the English-speaking world, confessing the list is very USA-heavy. Here are a few of those sources I used: The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, Publishers Weekly, Amazon Editors, Libby, Chicago Public Library, The Guardian, The Post (NZ), +50 more lists. 

2. I created a spreadsheet which ultimately ended up with over 900 titles on it. (Yes, that is a big spreadsheet!) 450 of the titles got only one vote and only 300 books got three or more votes. Narrowing that down to a digestible number for publication I'll be focused on the books which got eight or more votes -- that is 60 titles.

3. Of the 60 Best Books of 2025, 13 are nonfiction (NF), 21%. The remainder of the list is made up of not only literary fiction, but also romance, horror, fantasy, YA, Sci-Fi, dystopia, historical, short stories, LGBTQ-themes, mystery, and thriller genres. The authors come from all over the world supporting a variety of viewpoints. There is probably a book for everyone to love on the list. I've read and liked 15 of them.

Without further ado... The list!

On 23-21 lists:

⭐Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy (23, NF)
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai (22)
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (21)

On 20 lists:

The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong
Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
Heart the Lover by Lily King

On 19 lists

Audition by Katie Kitamura
The Guardian and the Thief by Megha Majumdar
Katabasis by R.F. Kuang

On 18-17 lists

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (18)
The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy (17)
Baldwin: A Love Story by Nicholas Boggs (17, NF)
 One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad (17, NF)
Flashlight by Susan Choi (17)

On 16 lists

Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams (NF)

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

Flesh by David Szalay

We Do Not Part by Han Kang

Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 

What We Can Know by Ian McEwan 

On 15-13 lists

King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby (15)
The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami (14)
Antidote by Karen Russell (13)
A Flower Traveled in My Blood: An Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children by Haley Cohen Gilliland(13, NF)
A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck by Sophie Elmhirst (13, NF)
Buckeye by Patrick Ryan (12)
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab (12)

On 12-11 lists

Buckeye by Patrick Ryan (12)
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab (12)
The Director by Daniel Kehlmann, translated by Ross Benjamin (11)
Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry (11)
Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane (11, NF)
Raising Hare: a Memoir by Chloe Dalton (11, NF)
Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood (11)
Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li (11, NF)

On 10 lists

Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson (NF)
Heartwood by Amity Gaige
Isola by Allegra Goodman
Stag Dance by Torrey Peters
The Names by Florence Knapp

On 9 lists

Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz
Book of Lives: a Memoir of Sorts by Margaret Atwood (NF)
Memorial Days: a Memoir by Geraldine Brooks (NF)
My Friends by Fredrik Backman, translated by Neil Smith
Endling by Maria Reva

 On 8 lists

/ The Bewitching // The Compound // The Correspondent // Cursed Daughters /
/ Everything is Tuberculosis (NF) // Good Dirt //The Impossible Fortune /
/ On the Calculation of Volume III // Perfection // The River Has Roots // The Sisters /
/ So Far Gone // These Summer Storms // Witchcraft for Wayward Girls /
/ A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping // The South /

 

My thoughts:

I was surprised and delighted that Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy got the most mentions of all the 900+ books listed. Surprised because I'd barely heard of it before this exercise and it is memoir! Delighted because I love everything I've read by this author. I'm adding it to my TBR right now.

I always expect award-winners to percolate to the top. In some cases they did but in others they didn't. For example, of the five winners for the 2025 National Book Award, only the nonfiction winner, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, made the list with 17 votes. The fiction winner, The True True Story of Raja the Gullible got 6 votes. Two finalists for the NBA did better -- The Guardian and the Thief with 19 points and Antidote with 13. Theory and Practice cleaned up in the awards in Australia this year but only got 5 votes here. Not to pick on that book because Heart Lamp, the winner of the 2025 International Booker Prize also only got 5 votes.

If your favorite book wasn't among the top 60 books published this year, don't despair. It is likely just below the cut line or somewhere on the list. I was amazed at how many books got just one vote, yet that book got such praise by whoever published the list. Clearly 2025 was a year of a lot of good books! One example of that is the winner of the B&N Best Book of the Year honor, Mona's Eyes. No one else mentioned this book and they picked it as their best. Another way of looking at this is the top book on my list this year got 23 votes, that is 38% of the lists mentioning it. By contrast, last year I only looked at 37 lists before I published the round-up of the best-books-of-2024 list. James won top honor with 31 votes. That is 83%. I think the wealth was really spread out this year.

What books are you happy to see in the top 60 books of 2025? My three favorites of the year -- Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Heart the Lover, and Antidote -- are the list. Woot woot!

PS: I started wondering if this was truly a world-wide list so I investigated the nationality of the authors of the top 60 titles. Here is the breakdown: Australia -- 3; Britain -- 5; Canada -- 3; China -- 1; Denmark -- 1; Egypt -- 1; Germany -- 1; Hungary -- 1: India -- 4; Italy -- 1; Jamaica -- 1; Malaysia -- 1; Mexico -- 1; Nigeria -- 2; New Zealand -- 1; South Korea --1; Sweden -- 2; USA -- 27; Vietnam --1. 

-Anne

50 favorite novels of the past 50 years

This past weekend was my 50-year high school reunion. To honor that momentous event I decided to create a list of some of my 50 favorite novels (fiction) I've read since high school. In 2005 I became a high school librarian, which made reading part of my job. Therefore, more books on the list are from the last 20 years than the first 30. I hope you enjoy this walk down memory lane with me. Hyperlinks take you to reviews, if I wrote one.

This list is not ranked. I just listed the titles as they came to mind. I love them all.

1. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. I listened to the audiobook and loved all 30+ hours of it!

2. The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig. This is in my top ten favorite books. I've read it three times!

3. Peace Like a River by Leif Enger. I like all the Leif Enger books I've read but this one particularly speaks to me on a very personal level about faith and love.

4. Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns. I often credit this book with getting me back into reading after a several decades hiatus.

5. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. Oh my. This book has it all -- likable/memorable characters, recognizable setting, and a fantastic STORY. I read this during COVID lockdowns, so I had plenty of time to consume this 800+ page delight.

6. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. A truly American story. While the world was bracing for war, we were obsessed with comic books.

7. Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres. A touching love story so well-written I could picture ever scene in my mind.

8. Alas Babylon by Pat Frank. An odd choice, but I think about this book often and the implications of nuclear war.

9. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Possibly my favorite book. I've read it so many times, starting with an abridged version in 6th grade, and each time I love it more.

10. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. This book is hilarious and so quirky. Listen to the audiobook!

11. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Another top ten book. I somehow escaped high school without reading this one.

12. Persuasion by Jane Austen. Jane Austen is my favorite author. I seek out her books when I need comfort from our crazy world.

13. The Road by Cormac McCarthy. How'd this one end up on the list? So well-written but heartbreaking.

14. The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. There is a lot of backstory as to how this ended up on the list. Let's just say, it helped me understand my husband better after he returned home from a tour in Iraq with the military. 

15. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. I think about this book, and it's message every single day.

16. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki. Not for the casual reader, this book takes the theme of "time" and builds a complex story.

17. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. I used to tell people this was my favorite book, then I reread it. Okay, not my favorite but definitely a good one!

18. Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx. I am attracted to books full of quirky characters and this one is full of them.

19. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. A book for book lovers!

20. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. Possibly the best audiobook I've ever listened to, and I've listened to a lot.

21. Antidote by Karen Russell. A recent addition. I just read this book last month and was so impressed with the theme of memory.

22. Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. A favorite author and this is her best book set in Africa with a missionary family. I lived in Africa with a missionary family. Need I say more?

23. The Plot Against America by Philip Roth. Eek. I am afraid this book is coming true right now before our very eyes...fascism in America.

24. Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger. After a reread this book brought me tremendous comfort after a tragic death in the family. (Read my review for more details.)

25. The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles. The STORY! I loved every moment of it.

26. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann. Though much of the story has faded in my memory I do recall being obsessed with this book, reading several spin-offs after finishing this.

27. James by Percival Everett. Last year's favorite book of the year, a retelling of the Huck Finn story from Jim's point of view.

28. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Ha-ha-ha. Funniest book ever written.

29. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell. Hamnet was Shakespeare's son. This is a story of what might have happened to him. I love this book so much yet I don't think I can describe it without going on way too long. Read my review?

30. Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey. A coming-of-age story which hits all the right notes.

31. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. A little off-putting at first since the narrator is death, but it works especially considering how many people died during the Holocaust.

32. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy. I loved the writing so much in this book but a lot of the story has faded over time. I probably should have selected Roy's next fiction book, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness instead, which I loved also.

33. The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai. The history of AIDS from a caretakers point-of-view. Boy, did this book speak to me!

34. Going Bovine by Libba Bray. A fun and whimsical YA novel which included an Odyssey type of journey.

35. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. I think I've read everything John Green has written. I've read many of his books more than once, including this one. Two of my nonfiction favorites are his, too: The Anthropocene Reviewed and Everything is Tuberculosis.

36. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. I read this book after the death of a dear friend, an Art teacher. I knew she would love it so much. I kept notes to share with her daughter. A hard, but rewarding read.

37. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. Wow, just wow.

38. Commonwealth by Ann Patchett. Another favorite author. This is one of her best books, in my opinion.

39. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. Another book full of quirky characters and one I think best consumed in audiobook.

40. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rawling. What can I say? My girls grew up reading Harry Potter and in the early days I got to read the books to them. Such happy family memories.

41. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. Two divergent stories told from each side of WWII. The descriptive writing swept me up.

42. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya. The story has faded from my memory but not the impression this book left on me -- powerful and spell-binding.

43. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. Another book I  love dearly but never reviewed. Perhaps I should have chosen Verghese's next novel instead because I loved AND reviewed the book, The Covenant of Water.

44. The Justice Trilogy by Louise Erdrich. I read this trilogy out of order and I still enjoyed all the parts about Indigenous justice in America.

45. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. It is hard to make a list of favorite books read over 50 years (you try it!) I remember little about the plot but a whole lot about the love.

46. A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute. For some reason this book became a personal, almost cult-favorite for me. I think I've read it five times. The last time, however, I touched it after finishing it, and thanked it for its service. I don't think I need to reread it again.

47. Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders. This is the best audiobook ever with 166 unique narrators. Don't read this one, listen to it!

48. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. Sometimes I read a classic book and wonder why it is a classic. Other times I read a classic and just know why it is one. This is one of those books.

49. Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr. Another complexly plotted book, with something like five divergent stories happening at the same time. When they all come together it blew my mind.

50. The Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater. A shout-out to YA fantasy writers and readers. This is one of my favorites in that genre.

Egads! I don't want to stop. I have so many other favorites I wish I could list, but I will stop here. (And this list doesn't even include my favorite nonfiction books from the past half century. Time for a second list?)

After reviewing my list I realized how few were from my first few years after high school. Obviously memory is playing a role but I thought I would mention just a few books I do remember reading and liking from those earlier years -- Roots by Alex Haley; Watership Down by Richard Adams; ...And Ladies of the Club by Helen Hooven Santmyer; Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg; The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay; A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving; and one which should have been on the top list, The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.

-Anne