Top 10 Favorite Books From the Last 100 I’ve Read

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Choosing my ten favorites from the last 100 books I’ve read was quite a difficult task and I bit my lip and sighed a few times over the stress of it all. Besides the following 10, I read 90 more books and most of them were really quite good. These, however, stand out as beyond ordinary. In no particular order:

1. Kristin Lavransdatter

by Sigrid Undset

It’s possible this may be the book I choose as my lifetime favorite, the one that left an indelible impression on me and the one that started this journey of “reading to a 1000.” The experience of holding this book was another one altogether. I found it at my local childhood library, where I have many memories of being sprawled out on the cool leather couches to read, and the hardback copy was decades old with translucent pages printed in the original translation. I was the first to check it out in many years. This was seven years ago now, but I keep thinking I want to go back and see if that library (which I’ve since moved away from) still has the same copy I read. I think holding it in my hands again will give me a thrill.

Written by Sigrid Undset, who was born almost exactly 100 years before me in 1882, this is what I call a sweeping saga. {It’s actually a trilogy, though I read it bound in one volume without really taking note of the three subtitles: The Wreath, The Wife, The Cross.} It encompasses the life of a Norwegian woman, Kristin, whose surname indicates the custom of the patriarchal traditions of the day: she was, quite simply, the daughter of Lavran; therefore, Lavran’s daughter or Lavransdatter in Norwegian.  A historical novel taking place in the 14th century, this is unlike anything I’ve read before or since. The translation of the old language used took me a bit to adjust to, but it was worth the few pages of plodding before I completely fell into the book Wonderland-style. Love, grief, regret, joy, courage, faith, uncertainty-it’s an epic tale I’ve yet to find a match for. Sigrid was a remarkable storyteller, and her depiction of a strong woman in a remarkable time will stay with me long after I’ve forgotten many other books.

2. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows

I love this book! I can’t say it more succinctly than that. Whenever I find a copy in Goodwill, as I have many times, I squeal and snatch it up. I always want an extra copy on hand to give away. This is a comfortable weekend read recommended by my friend, Kim, who I adore. Over the course of a couple years she kept bringing it up as one of her favorites and I just never got around to it. {Lazy.} Until. Until I came across a copy (BLESS YOU GOODWILL) and finally read it. Kim, I’m sorry it took so long for me to listen to you. I’ll never procrastinate again when you tell me to read something since now I trust your taste implicitly.

Okay, all ramblings aside, here’s what you need to know: this is a series of letters but don’t let that put you off. It’s charmingly written and engaging from the start. World War II is barely over and as the world begins picking up the broken pieces, a London writer, Juliet, begins a correspondence with inhabitants of the island of Guernsey (located in the English channel, naturally I looked it up). The island had been occupied during the war and a sort of resistance group was formed when islanders banded together. As they share their stories with Juliet, she becomes captivated and ends up traveling to Guernsey herself. Juliet’s voice resonates with me more than any other character I can think of; I felt we understood one another and shared similar impulsivities. I suspect other readers feel the same way…

I’m not really doing this book justice; if you look it up on Amazon you’ll see it gets almost 5 stars and over 4,000 reviews! If you need more convincing, check some of them out then order the book for a perfect, cozy fall read. {Or come to my house and I’ll give you a Goodwill copy! #notsponsoredbyGoodwill #ipromise}

3.  The Harry Potter Series

by J. K. Rowling

Maybe I cheated a little by including all 7 books in the Harry Potter series as one of my top 10 selections, but the rules on this blog are bendy so there you have it. If you just came out of an underground bunker and have never heard of Harry Potter before, you are in for an imaginative, delightful experience. Harry is an orphan whose ordinary life is upended by the discovery of a magical side to the world, a school of magic called Hogwarts, and his own mysterious past. There is more to this series than simply the charm of a world where magic is possible. There are deep and moving themes of growing up and understanding oneself, friendship and love-the kind that includes laying down your life-and the complexities of making hard choices during difficult times. There is laugh-out-loud humor and memorable, everyday pleasures captured magically.

Whether you’ve read the books or not, here are some discussions about them I thoroughly enjoyed:

Harry Potter Love @ The Art of Simple

Raising Kids on Harry Potter @ The Art of Simple

4. Pride and Prejudice

by Jane Austen

If you are feeling annoyed by our modern colloquialisms and rather habitual bad grammar, the language in this book is the ideal remedy to restore your good humour. {I spell humour in proper British English as that is what Jane Austen would do and it suits the word perfectly.} As chapter one famously begins, “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”

Having read and re-read this cleverly told story full of wit and sarcasm, and seen every movie version made, I most definitely call it a favorite. Here we have unmarried sisters, rich men, lovely English countryside, jilted love, misunderstood intentions, scathing pride, stubborn prejudice. Elizabeth Bennet is the second child in a family of five unmarried daughters {gasp} with an unaccountably ridiculous mother, a lovingly complacent father, and capable sense of self. What happens when she meets her intellectual yet haughty match in rich, distant, annoying Mr. Darcy? I laugh, I cry, I swoon, this is a classic I’ll always return to.

I must mention this Jane Austen inspired etsy shop-perfect for fans of her literature! I’ve given several items as gifts to fellow readers and I’ll take a “half agony, half hope” mug any day.

5. Columbine

by David Cullen

Confession: I have a thing for true crime. While I voraciously consume podcasts on the topic, I’m pickier about my literature selections. This is an exceptionally written, thoughtful, well-researched account of the Columbine High School shooting which took place near Littleton, Colorado on April 20, 1999. I was 17 at the time and it made a tremendous impression on me. I read all the newspaper articles on the story that came my way, and a couple months after it happened I found myself driving by to see the memorial during a visit to Colorado. I felt the displacement and confusion familiar to many teenagers at the time…what exactly had happened, and why? David Cullen does an excellent job answering many of those questions. If you don’t read any other true crime account, read this one.

6. The Man in the Brown Suit

by Agatha Christie

“It is really a hard life. Men will not be nice to you if you are not good-looking, and women will not be nice to you if you are.”

“I dare say it is good for one now and again to realize what an idiot one can be! But no one relishes the process.” 

A longtime fan of Christie’s mystery novels, this is absolutely one of my favorites and perfectly quotable. We have an “accidental” death, a cryptic message, a girl named Anne longing for exciting exploits, the odd behavior of a man in a brown suit, and the glories of London in the 1920’s. What more could you ask for?

“I had the firm conviction that, if I went about looking for adventure, adventure would meet me halfway. It is a theory of mine that one always gets what one wants.” 

7. Blue Like Jazz

by Donald Miller

This is another book I heard people reference for years before I finally picked it up. The title continues: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality. I appreciated this book very much, even when I didn’t agree. I would categorize it as a memoir; a thoughtful, intimate examination of Christianity and God in the everyday. Donald Miller is honest and personal as he talks about his faith journey, and that’s one thing I love about his book. Also this:

“There is something quite beautiful about the Grand Canyon night. There is something beautiful about a billion stars held steady by a God who knows what He is doing. (They hang there, like stars, like notes on a page of music, free-form verse, silent mysteries swirling in the blue like jazz.) And as I lay there, it occurred to me that God is up there somewhere. Of course, I had always known He was, but this time I felt it, I realized it, the way a person realizes they are hungry or thirsty. The knowledge of God seeped out of my brain and into my heart. I am imagined Him looking down on this earth, half angry because His beloved mankind had cheated on Him, had committed adultery, and yet hopelessly in love with her, drunk with love for her.”

8.The Hiding Place

by Corrie ten Boom

Corrie tells the story of her life, her family, and Haarlem in the 1940’s during Nazi-occupied Holland. A single watchmaker in her early 50’s, Corrie lived with her father and sister on a cobbled Haarlem street where they were well known and respected in their community. The ten Boom family had a great love for Jewish people and their home was a safe house during the war when they participated in the underground resistance movement and were instrumental in saving many lives. Corrie and her sister Betsie were sent to a concentration camp when their activities were discovered and…well, you’ll have to read it for yourself!

My first memory of this book was when mom read it aloud to my sister and I one winter when I was perhaps 11. I fell in love with the “Beje” as Corrie affectionately called her home, and the stories of life and faith that took place within those walls resonated with me. During a trip to the Netherlands a few years ago I walked the streets of Haarlem where Corrie rode her bike, climbed the narrow stairs of the Beje, and stood in the hiding place built into the wall of Corrie’s room. It is no exaggeration to say it was one of the most singular and moving experiences of my life.

9. In the Garden of Beasts

by Erik Larson

Erik Larson is a masterful researcher and storyteller. Here he lays out the events which began in 1933, when American ambassador William Dodd and his family moved to the heart of Berlin and growing force of Nazism. Martha, his socialite daughter, vivacious and colorful, led a life behind the scenes which would have scandalized her American friends back home. The family watched in horror as the Nazi regime grew stronger and the world payed little attention. Goring, Goebbels, the first chief of the Gestapo, and many other notable characters whose stories are interwoven with the Dodds and what was happening in Berlin at that time are described in a magnetically readable style.

I found this book a vivid and fascinating read! Larson has a way of taking you back to a time and place in history and giving you a front-row seat to the truth that is quite often stranger than fiction.

10.The Hobbit

by J.R.R. Tolkein

I read aloud to the children the story of Bilbo’s adventures during chilly fall days a couple years ago, and now it makes me think of steaming mugs of hot chocolate, since we often had them in hand during reading time. That or tea-lots of tea!-is highly recommended during the reading of this book. The first chapter begins:

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.

Bilbo is a hobbit living in the Shire who has no intention of grand travels or daring escapades. He enjoys his ordinary, cozy life full of comfort and reading, thank-you-very-much. All of this changes when his friend, the wizard Gandalf, and a motley crew of dwarves show up on his doorstep. He’s needed on a dangerous quest…to the Lonely Mountain where a buried treasure is said to be hidden under the watchful eye of the dragon Smaug. What happens when he says goodbye to his beloved Shire and ventures out in the big unknown? This book is legendary, and perfect for reading aloud to share with an enthralled audience; I’m just sorry I didn’t read it sooner!

And that wraps up my first list of top 10! Thanks for checking it out. Have you read any of these books? If so, I’d love to hear what you think of them!

Photo by Anjeli Lundblad on Unsplash