Great Books!

	A	B	C	D
1	TITLE	AUTHOR	GENRE	NOTES

2	The Count of Monte Cristo	Alexandre Dumas	Fiction	Read this a looong time ago but still think it's one of the most exciting adventure stories I've ever read
3	Bel Canto	Ann Patchett	Fiction	She's a master story teller. Beautiful book.
4	State of Wonder	Ann Patchett	Fiction	How I loved this book! Science, drugs, indigenous people, the rainforest, relationships and more in one tremendous story.
5	Leaving Lucy Pear	Anna Solomon	Fiction	Loved this book by my dear friend, Anna. Brilliant bit of historical fiction with wonderful characters and a great plot.
6	Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year	Anne Lamott	Non-fiction	This helped me get through the first few months of my colicky older son's life - I laughed and cried
7	Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith	Anne Lamott	Non-fiction	Really enjoyed this (and I am completely non-religious)
8	Bird by Bird	Anne Lamott	Non-fiction	Love all her books
9	All the Light We Cannot See	Anthony Doerr	Fiction	Absolutely beautiful book. Haunting.
10	The God of Small Things	Arundhati Roy	Fiction
11	A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference	Ayelet Waldman	Non-fiction (psychology/memoir)	A rather intriguing read about her experience using tiny doses of LSD to improve her perspective on life and her mood. Lots of interesting facts also about the war on drugs, the criminal justice system and the history of psychedelics.
12	Bad Mother	Ayelet Waldman	Non-fiction	Read this after my first son arrived - super helpful! An essential read for any new mothers, especially in the Bay Area.
13	The Bean Trees	Barbara Kingsolver	Fiction	This was one of my mainstays as a teenager and I still love it.
14	Animal Dreams	Barbara Kingsolver	Fiction	Ditto what I wrote for the Bean Trees though I actually like this one even more.
15	Animal, Vegetable, Miracle	Barbara Kingsolver	Non-fiction	Loved this book about her family's experience growing/raising all their own food and more.
16	The Poisonwood Bible	Barbara Kingsolver	Fiction	Incredible story - long and wonderful - about a family of missionaries who move to Africa and how they fall apart.
17	A Tree Grows in Brooklyn	Betty Smith	Fiction	THE book I read over and over as a girl. Still ranks among my top ten.
18	Ravencliffe - the Blythedale Series	Carol Goodman	Fiction (possibly YA)	I really enjoyed this whole series - fantasy.
19	Little Fires Everywhere	Celeste Ng	Fiction	Loved this book!
20	Wild	Cheryl Strayed	Non-fiction	No doubt you know all about it. If you haven't read it yet, you should!
21	Americanah	Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie	Fiction	What a book!!! She's a fantastically gifted writer.
22	Eligible	Curtis Sittenfeld	Fiction	A modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice that I adored. I like all Curtis Sittenfeld's books - An American Wife (story inspired by Laura Bush) and Prep were great, too.
23	The Brothers K	David James Duncan	Fiction	This is a great book. Even for people like me who hate baseball.
24	The Story of Edgar Sawtelle	David Wroblewski	Fiction	Right up there with All the Light We Cannot See and Middlesex as one of the best books I've ever read.
25	A Discovery of Witches	Deborah Harkness	Fiction	First of a trilogy about witches and vampires that happens to be quite erudite and well-written. This first one is great and the others are not quite as great but you'll still have to read them to find out what happens.
26	The Outlander Series	Diana Gabaldon	Fiction	I LOVED this series. Really well-written, suspenseful, enjoyable series. Don't be dissuaded by the time traveling...
27	The Witch of Blackbird Pond	Elizabeth George Speare	Fiction (YA)	Another of my favorite books as a young adult. Set in colonial New England.
28	Eat, Pray, Love	Elizabeth Gilbert	Non-fiction (memoir)	Don't think about Julia Roberts in the film version or all the hype and commercialization of this book - I thought it was really a wonderful book.
29	The Signature of All Things	Elizabeth Gilbert	Fiction	I put this up there with All the Light We Cannot See and Edgar Sawtelle as one of the best books I've read.
30	Broken Open	Elizabeth Lesser	Non-fiction (memoir/spirituality)	An excellent book by my mom-in-law (no, I am NOT biased, a lot of people love it) about the power of hard times to help us grow.
31	Marrow	Elizabeth Lesser	Non-fiction (memoir)	A moving book by my wonderful mom-in-law about the journey she went on with her beloved sister, my aunt Maggie, when she got cancer.
32	A Little Princess	Frances Hodgson Burnett	Fiction (YA)	One of the books I read over and over again as a girl.
33	The Secret Garden	Frances Hodgson Burnett	Fiction (YA)	Loved this one and read it over and over as a kid.
34	A Man Called Ove	Fredrik Backmam	Fiction	Took me a little while to get into this but then I was hooked. And moved.
35	100 Years of Solitude	Gabriel Garcia Marquez	Fiction	These were books I loved in highschool.
36	Love in the Time of Cholera	Gabriel Garcia Marquez	Fiction	Magical realism to the max!
37	Caleb's Crossing	Geraldine Brooks	Fiction	I love historical fiction and am also fascinated with books set in Colonial times in the NE US so...
38	March	Geraldine Brooks	Fiction	The story of the dad in Little Women
39	Year of Wonders	Geraldine Brooks	Fiction	Novel about the plague - quite good.
40	The Dance of Intimacy	Harriet Lerner	Non-fiction (psychology)	This set of books is incredibly eye-opening! I could feel the new grooves forming in my brain as I read...
41	The Dance of Anger	Harriet Lerner	Non-fiction (psychology)	Ditto.
42	Siddhartha	Hermann Hesse	Fiction	Another formative book I read in my teens that I'd probably get a lot more out of now :)
43	Atonement	Ian McKewen	Fiction	Made me sad but I loved it.
44	Daughter of Fortune	Isabel Allende	Fiction	I always enjoy her books - this was one of my favorites
45	The Lord of the Rings Trilogy	J.R. Tolkien	Fiction	Classics for a reason!
46	American Pictures	Jacob Holdt	Non-fiction	This was a really formative book for me and taught me a lot about human nature and America and race and class. Fascinating. I ended up writing my senior thesis (for my pysc-soc joint major) about it.
47	All Creatures Great and Small (whole series)	James Herriot	Non-fiction (memoir/animals)	Dr. James Herriot must surely have been England's best country vet. And also one hell of a brilliant comedic writer. His love for his life and his patients shines through on every page. I can't recommend this whole series highly enough.
48	Pride and Prejudice	Jane Austen	Fiction	I read it over and over again. Like comfort food.
49	The Glass Castle	Jeanette Walls	Non-fiction (memoir)	Incredible, devastating memoir
50	Half-Broke Horses	Jeanette Walls	Non-fiction (memoir)	Another incredible, devastating memoir
51	Middlesex	Jeffrey Eugenides	Fiction	One of my all-time favorite books - an incredible story and beautifully written.
52	Manhattan Beach	Jennifer Egan	Fiction	Read this recently and got completely sucked in and now want to read everything she's written.
53	The Namesake	Jhumpa Lahiri	Fiction
54	Longbourn	Jo Baker	Fiction	Story of some of the servants in the Bennet household from Pride & Prejudice. As a Pride and Prejudice fan, I have read many spin-offs (most of them are not anything to write home about) but this one was beautifully written and stands on its own solidly without the Austen conceit.
55	The Year of Magical Thinking	Joan Didion	Non-fiction (memoir)	A beautiful, fascinating, completely heartbreaking book - non-fiction.
56	The Fault in Our Stars	John Green	Fiction	Touching and very real.
57	Turtles All the Way Down	John Green	Fiction	Love his ability to write wonderful female characters and that his heroine struggles with mental illness.
58	The Cider House Rules	John Irving	Fiction	Also managed to love the movie after reading the book which is rare.
59	A Prayer for Owen Meany	John Irving	Fiction	I just loved the characters and the sense of time and place so much.
60	Catch-22	Joseph Heller	Fiction	Read this in my teens - it was very formative.
61	Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret	Judy Blume	Fiction (YA)	Another of the books I read over and over again in my early teens.
62	Starry Sally J. Friedman As Herself	Judy Blume	Fiction (YA)	And another one of the books I read repeatedly when I was maybe 11 or 12.
63	Deenie	Judy Blume	Fiction (YA)	Another book I read a number of times in my tweens.
64	Bridge to Terabithia	Katherine Paterson	Fiction (YA)	another book I read and re-read as a kid. Kind of heavy but a wonderful read.
65	The Help	Kathryn Stockett	Fiction	Gripping story
66	Touched With Fire	Kay Jamison	Non-fiction (memoir/psychology)	Eye-opening memoir/psychology book by a doctor who also happens to suffer from bipolar disorder.
67	One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest	Ken Kesey	Fiction	wow! Read this as a teenager, still think about it sometimes.
68	Anne of Green Gables Series	L.M. Montgomery	Fiction (YA)	These were a mainstay of my early teen years and I still re-read them as the comfort food of life, along with Pride and Prejudice.
69	Lonesome Dove	Larry McMurtry	Fiction	Didn't read this until I was in my mid-30's and then devoured it and the sequel. Incredible book.
70	Little House on the Prairie Series	Laura Ingalls Wilder	Fiction (YA)	I read these as an adult for the first time and loved them. Then I read them to my older son who also loved them (I think he was 6 or 7 at the time)
71	The Diviners Series	Libba Bray	Fiction (YA)	A great fantasy series which I think is probably technically young adult.
72	Euphoria	Lily King	Fiction	Loosely inspired by the life of Margaret Mead and a totally gripping book.
73	Shrill	Lindy West	Non-fiction (memoir)	As a woman, this was an important book to read. Lindy West is one seriously smart, funny person and she's done suffering fools.
74	A Summer To Die	Lois Lowry	Fiction (YA)	One of my favorite books as a teenager, I read it over and over. It's sad but great.
75	Captain Corelli's Mandolin	Louis de Bernières	Fiction	Sad but beautiful
76	The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse	Louise Erdrich	Fiction	I LOVE all her books though I think this one may be my favorite. I recommend reading them all.
77	The Plague of Doves	Louise Erdrich	Fiction	Also especially enjoyed this one by Louise Erdrich and read her whole series for kids (kind of like Little House on the Prairie from the point of view of the Indians) to my older son after reading Little House on the Prairie to him - we both loved them.
78	The Birchbark House series	Louise Erdrich	Fiction (YA)	Read these to my son when he was 6 or 7 as a counterpoint to the Little House on the Prairie series and think they are the bomb and provide a really important perspective.
79	Harriet the Spy	Louise Fitzhugh	Fiction (YA)	A weird but great book that I read a number of times as a kid
80	Gone With the Wind	Margaret Mitchell	Fiction	Didn't read this until my late 30's - no wonder it's a classic. What a great story!
81	The Mists of Avalon	Marion Zimmer Bradley	Fiction	I remember staying up until 4 AM to finish this. Couldn't put it down. Arthurian legends from the female perspective.
82	Winter's Tale	Mark Helprin	Fiction	Too complicated and fantastical a tale to attempt to summarize but masterfully written.
83	The Liars Club	Mary Karr	Non-fiction (memoir)	Amazing memoir
84	The Interestings	Meg Wollitzer	Fiction	Really absorbing story about a group of friends who meet at an arts summer camp in their teens and go from there.
85	The Female Persuasion	Meg Wollitzer	Fiction	Fascinating story. Kinda wonder if she's been to Omega!
86	Long Ago In France	MFK Fisher	Memoir (food)	If you enjoy food and like France, you've kinda got to read this one.
87	The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay	Michael Chabon	Fiction	An epic story - read it many years ago and remember it fondly
88	Moonglow	Michael Chabon	Fiction (memoir)	A remarkably beautifully written novel that is loosely based on his own family.
89	Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry	Mildred D. Taylor	Fiction (YA)	Read this numerous times as a girl, about an African American girl named Cassie and her family in Mississippi.
90	The House at Tyneford	Natasha Solomons	Fiction	I love this book and am always amazed no one has heard of it. Beautifully written and a bit haunting.
91	The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat	Oliver Sacks	Non-fiction (science/medicine)	He was a great writer and these are just a fascinating glimpse into how the human brain works (or doesn't work)
92	News of the World	Paulette Jiles	Fiction	Touching book about an older gentleman tasked with transporting a 10 year old girl who'd been captured by the Kiowa back to her relations in Texas (though she does not want to go back.)
93	When Things Fall Apart	Pema Chodron	Non-Fiction (spirituality/religion)	I read this at a time when things were indeed falling apart in my life and found it somewhat helpful.
94	A Tale for the Time Being	Ruth Ozeki	Fiction	Reading this right now and find it gripping and fascinating after taking a little while to get into it.
95	Tender At The Bone	Ruth Reichl	Memoir	I really enjoy all her books - she's a good writer and very honest about her upbringing and her struggles. And the food aspect is always great, too.
96	The Princess Bride	S. Morgenstern	Fiction	My highschool English teacher recommended this to me in 11th grade. I was skeptical that it could be as good as the movie (which I already loved) but it is even better.
97	Into the Wilderness Series	Sara Donati	Fiction	I really love this whole series although the first book is my favorite. I've read it many times. It's a sort of spin-off of the Last of the Mohicans and follows Hawkeye's adopted son's family through quite a lot of twists and turns and generations.
98	Island of the Blue Dolphins	Scott O'Dell	Fiction (YA)	Another book I absolutely adored as a young adult about a young Indian girl who gets left behind on her island off the coast of California and survives for decades.
99	Cold Comfort Farm	Stella Gibbons	Fiction	A book I adore - it's a satirical novel making fun of all the pastoral novels that were being written in that period, I believe though I just found it charmingly funny and zany. And I also love the movie they made of it: https://amzn.to/2qf8TJa
100	Mermaid Chair	Sue Monk Kidd	Fiction	I wish her books had better covers because she's a wonderful writer and the chicklit cheesiness of them rely belies their contents.