Here is a list of the greatest books I have had the pleasure of reading. I know many more await me and just the thought of that gives me a reason to live. I only hope this list encourages people to get their hands on these books as soon as possible.
"Pippi Longstocking" by Astrid Lindgren
"Number the Stars" by Lois Lowry
"Where the Red Fern Grows" by John Rawls
"James and the Giant Peach" by Roald Dahl
"Mick Harte was Here" by Barbara Park
"The Pearl" by John Steinbeck
"Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee
"The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger
"The Vagina Monologues" by Eve Ensler
"Anthem" by Ayn Rand
"The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
"What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day" by Pearl Cleage
"The Hottest State" by Ethan Hawke
"Eating Chinese Food Naked" by Mei Ng
"The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald
"Go Ask Alice" by Anonymous
"If Tomorrow Comes" by Sidney Sheldon
"Plainsong" by Kent Haruf
"Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man" by Fannie Flagg
"A Farewell to Arms" by Ernest Hemingway
"Amazing Gracie" by A.E. Cannon
"Night" by Elie Wiesel
"Augusta, Gone" by Martha Tod Dudman
"All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich Maria Remarque
"The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky
"Feast of Love" by Charles Baxter
"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" by J.K. Rowling
"In the Beginning" by Chaim Potok
"White Oleander" by Janet Fitch
"In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote
"The Woman Who Walked into Doors"by Roddy Doyle
"Veronika Decides to Die" by Paulo Coelho
"The Liar's Club" by Mary Karr
"Valley of the Dolls" by Jacqueline Susann
"Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" by John Berendt
"A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
"Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
"A Star Called Henry" by Roddy Doyle
"Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom
"Burden of Desire" Robert MacNeil
"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
"Blackboy" by Richard Wright
"Couldn't Keep it to Myself" by Wally Lamb and the Women of the York Correctional Institution
"The House of 60 Fathers" by Meindert De Jong
"She's Come Undone"by Wally Lamb
"The Color of Water" by James McBride
"East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
"The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck
"Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha" by Roddy Doyle
"The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
"Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
"We the Living" by Ayn Rand
"Midwives" by Chris Bohjalian
"I Know This Much is True" by Wally Lamb
"Hiroshima" by John Hersey
"The Girl With the Pearl Earring" by Tracy Chevalier
"Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes
"Death Be Not Proud" by John Gunther
"Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt
"Memoirs of a Geisha" by Arthur Golden
"The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
"When the Emperor was Divine" by Julie Otsuka
"Drowning Ruth" by Christina Schwarz
"Black Like Me" by John Howard Griffin
"The Big Wave" by Pearl S. Buck
"One Child" by Torey Hayden
"The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
"The Ha-Ha" by Dave King
"Limbo" by A. Manette Ansay
"Crow Lake" by Mary Lawson
"Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
"The Glass Castle" by Jeanette Walls
"A Yellow Raft in Blue Water" by Michael Dorris
"Falling Leaves" by Adeline Yen Mah
"War Trash" by Ha Jin
"Blackbird" by Jennifer Lauck
"The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand
"Molokai" by Alan Brennert
"The Rice Mother" by Rani Manicka
"All Over But the Shoutin'" by Rick Bragg
"The Kitchen God's Wife" by Amy Tan
"Ellen Foster" by Kaye Gibbons
"The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd
"The Tender Bar" by J.R. Moehringer
"The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
"A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini
"Water For Elephants" by Sara Gruen
"Growing Up" by Russell Baker
"McTeague" by Frank Norris
"The Native Son" by Richard Wright
"Sarah, Plain and Tall" by Patricia MacLachlan
"Those Who Save Us" by Jenna Blum
"Mrs. Kimble" by Jennifer Haigh
"The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie
"The Distant Land of My Father" by Bo Caldwell
"Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck
"The Girl Who Owned a City" by O.T. Nelson
"A Loss For Words" by Lou Ann Walker
"Truth and Beauty" by Ann Patchett
"The Space Between Us" by Thrity Umrigar
The Memory of Running" by Ron McLarty
"The Thirteenth Tale" by Diane Setterfield
"Snow Angels" by Stewart O'Nan
"Sights Unseen" by Kaye Gibbons
"The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas" by John Boyne
"Half Broke Horses" by Jeanette Walls
"True Grit" by Charles Portis
"Wishin' and Hopin'" by Wally Lamb
"A Father's Story" by Lionel Dahmer
"The Razor's Edge" by W. Somerset Maugham
"Women" by Charles Bukowski
"Post Office" by Charles Bukowski
"The Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency" by Alexander McCall Smith
"Snow Falling on Cedars" by David Guterson
"Because of Winn Dixie" by Kate DiCamillo
"Tis" by Frank McCourt
"Factotum" by Charles Bukowski
"Sold" by Patricia McCormick
"Rickshaw Boy" by Lao She
"The Cat Ate My Gym Suit" by Paula Danzinger
"Not Me" by Michael Lavigne
"The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
"Gone With the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell
"Last Night at the Lobster" by Stewart O'Nan
"Ham on Rye" by Charles Bukowski
"Wonder When You'll Miss Me" by Amanda Davis
"Bossypants" by Tina Fey
"Ask the Dust" by John Fante
"The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins
"River, Cross My Heart" by Breena Clarke
"The Mammy" by Brendan O'Carroll
"Of Human Bondage" by W. Somerset Maugham
"Lizzie Borden" by Edward D. Radin
"She Always Knew How: Mae West" by Charlotte Chandler
"Ties That Bind, Ties That Break" by Lensey Namioka
"The Shepherd, the Angel and Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog" by Dave Barry
"Lonesome Dove" by Larry McMurtry
"My Lobotomy" by Howard Dully
"Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?" by Mindy Kaling
"Country Girls" by Edna O'Brien
"The Ghost at the Table" by Suzanne Berne
"Hollywood" by Charles Bukowski
"The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
"Maus I" by Art Spiegelman
"And the Mountains Echoed" by Khaled Hosseini
"We are Water" by Wally Lamb
"The Teacher's Funeral" by Richard Peck
"The Blizzard Year" by Gretel Ehrlich
"Sutton" by J.R. Moehringer
"American on Purpose" by Craig Ferguson
"Charms For the Easy Life" by Kaye Gibbons
"Big Stone Gap" by Adriana Trigiani
"The Chisellers" by Brendan O'Carroll
"The Granny" by Brendan O'Carroll
"Leaving Cheyenne" by Larry McMurtry
"Sleep Towards Heaven" Amanda Eyre Ward
"Midnight at the Dragon Cafe" by Judy Fong Bates
"Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?" by Roz Chast
"The Honk and Holler Opening Soon" by Billie Letts
"Sweet and Low" by Rich Cohen
"Then Again" by Diane Keaton
"Watch Me" by Anjelica Huston
"Yes, Please" by Amy Poehler
"The Round House" by Louise Erdrich
"Too Close to the Falls" by Catherine Gildiner
"The Book of Unknown Americans" by Cristina Henriquez
"Just Kids" by Patti Smith
"My Life on the Road" by Gloria Steinem
"Dalva" by Jim Harrison
"Official Book Club Selection" by Kathy Griffin
"Kiss Me Like a Stranger" by Gene Wilder
"Where You Once Belonged" by Kent Haruf
"The Lemon Jelly Cake" by Madeline Babcock Smith
"Persepolis 1 and 2" by Marjane Satrapi
"The Promise" by Chaim Potok
"A Man Named Ove" by Fredrik Backman
"The Undertaker's Daughter" by Kate Mayfield
"This 'N That" by Bette Davis
"The Young Wan" by Brendan O'Carroll
"The Captain is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship" by Charles Bukowski
"My American Unhappiness" by Dean Bakopoulos
"Maus II" by Art Spiegelman
"The Mascot" by Mark Kurzem
"The Egg and I" by Betty MacDonald
"My Mother Was Nuts" by Penny Marshall
"The Greatest Love Story Ever Told" by Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman
"The Sleepy Hollow Family Almanac" by Kris D'Agostino
"It's My F_ _ _ _ ing Birthday" by Merrill Markoe
"Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine" by Gail Honeyman
"A Southern Family" by Gail Godwin
"Run With the Horsemen" by Ferrol Sams
"Mama's Bank Account" by Kathryn Forbes
"Shoot the Moon" by Billie Letts
"The Buddha in the Attic" by Julie Otsuka
"Ava's Man" by Rick Bragg
"Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress" by Susan Jane Gilman
"Name Drop" by Ross Mathews
"You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again" by Julia Phillips
"It's My F_ _ _ _ ing Birthday" by Merrill Markoe
"Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine" by Gail Honeyman
"A Southern Family" by Gail Godwin
"Run With the Horsemen" by Ferrol Sams
"Mama's Bank Account" by Kathryn Forbes
"Shoot the Moon" by Billie Letts
"The Buddha in the Attic" by Julie Otsuka
"Ava's Man" by Rick Bragg
"Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress" by Susan Jane Gilman
"Name Drop" by Ross Mathews
"You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again" by Julia Phillips
"The Trouble With Goats and Sheep" by Joanna Cannon
"Ellis Island" by Fred Mustard Stewart
"My Extraordinary Ordinary Life" by Sissy Spacek
"The Gift of Asher Lev" by Chaim Potok
"Call Your Daughter Home" by Deb Spera
"The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen" by Himself
"Septemers of Shiraz" by Dalia Sofer
"An Unfinished Life" by Mark Spragg
"In Such Good Company" by Carol Burnett
"2 A.M. at the Cat's Pajamas" by Marie-Helene Bertino
"The Prince of Frogtown" by Rick Bragg
"All About Me!" by Mel Brooks
"This is Going to Hurt" by Adam Kay
"The Beans of Egypt, Maine" by Carolyn Chute
"The Beginning of Sorrows" by David Martin
"The Moveable Feast" by Ernest Hemingway
"The Fixer" by Bernard Malamud
"The Sun Also Rises" by Hemingway
"Hands of My Father" by Myron Uhlberg
"Peyton Place" by Grace Metalious
"On Writing" by Stephen King
"Recipes From the Dump" by Abigail Stone
"A Pale View of the Hills" by Kazuo Ishiguro
"Needful Things" by Stephen King
"The Paper Bag Christmas" by Kevin Alan Milne
"A Hell of a Life" Maureen Stapleton
"The Movies, Mr. Griffith and Me" by Lillian Gish
"In the Frame" by Helen Mirren
"Capote's Women" by Laurence Leamer
"The Mermaids Singing" by Lisa Carey
"The Authenticity Project" by Clare Pooley
"Daughter of Fortune" by Isabel Allende
"Washington Square" by Henry James
"My Year of Rest and Relaxation" by Ottessa Moshfegh
"Writers and Lovers" by Lilly King
"Little Men" by Louisa Alcott
"The Story of Arthur Truluv" by Elizabeth Berg
"The Dakota Winters" by Tom Barbash
"Foster" by Claire Keegan
"Having Our Say" by The Delany Sisters
"The Giant's House" by Elizabeth McCracken
"The Secrets Between Us" by Thrity Umrigar
"The Other Side of the Bridge" by Mary Lawson
"Motherless Brooklyn" by Jonathan Lethem
"The Chinchilla Farm" by Judith Freeman
"Little Heathens" by Mildred Armstrong Kalish
"The Kid Stays in the Picture" by Robert Evans
"The Night Always Comes" by Willy Vlautin
"On the Black Hill" by Bruce Chatwin
"Oscar Wars" by Michael Schulman
"The Guncle" by Steven Rowley
"A Bright Ray of Darkness" by Ethan Hawke
"A Bullet for Cinderella" by James D. MacDonald
"They Went That-A-Way" by Malcolm Forbes
"The Tattooist of Auschwitz" by Heather Morris
"The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot" by Marianne Cronin
"A Girl From Yamhill" by Beverly Cleary
updated 11/2023
