An Author’s Favorite Books

One of my favorite things to learn about people is what their favorite books are. A person’s book selections can tell you a lot about their personality and what excites or fascinates them. Susan W. Lyons is an avid reader and author of the children’s book Sea Dogs (and a cat).  I shared her book in this list of books for the book lover in your life.  Since Susan is passionate about reading and writing I asked her to share some of her favorite books of all-time.  Below she shares a variety of books such as classics, mysteries and humor. There are a few books on her list that I’ve had on my want-to-read list for some time and Charlotte’s Web is one of my all-time favorite children’s books as well. You can follow Susan on Goodreads and also on Facebook.

I thought a while to select 10 books and authors that I am passionate about, ones that I finish and think either “Oh, Wow!” or smile with satisfaction at a wonderful story, superbly told. Many of my selections are representative of those authors’ bodies of work, or are their best, in my opinion. Some of these are like old friends that I visit and re-visit from time to time.

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.  This book is no surprise to many readers.  Jane Austen, living in a limited social circle and dependent on her brother for her living situation, created a masterpiece.  The wit sparkles, the plot is clever, and the best part is that both the main characters, Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy, have to overcome their pride and prejudices to find true love.

 

2.  Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, by Emily and Charlotte Bronte, respectively. These stories are amazing in their scope and passion; they have strong female characters (especially Jane Eyre) and flaunt social strictures of their time. For two members of the same family to have created literary masterpieces, coming as they did from a humble, isolated parsonage in Yorkshire with a distant father and indifferent caregiver (their mother and several siblings died) is nothing short of remarkable.

3.  Homer’s Odyssey, by Gwen Cooper.  This isn’t the ancient Greek story (which is fine) but a story about a blind cat, Homer, adopted by the author as a kitten.  The cat’s pluck and resilience teaches the author how better to overcome difficulties in her own life and live it to the fullest.  It’s a wonderful love story between cat and human.

4.  Death Comes as the End, by Agatha Christie.  I can’t say enough about Agatha Christie’s writing.  She is a consummate author, and while most of her mysteries are set in England in the 20^th century, this one takes place in ancient Egypt and showcases not only Christie’s intellect but her writing skill.  It’s one of her best.

5.  Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens.  Dickens is one of my favorite authors.  He tends to be wordy, since some of his books were serialized in newspapers and he was paid per word, but I love his descriptions of 19^th century England.  Great Expectations is more concise than some, and I think it’s his masterwork. A young man searching for his way in life encounters various eccentric people and challenging circumstances.  He learns he has ‘expectations’ from someone who provides him with money to improve his situation  and make him a gentleman, but the benefactor is not the person he believes it to be.  There’s humor, pathos, irony, and love that is unrequited.  It has everything!

6.  Any of the Jeeves and Wooster and Wooster stories written by P.G. Wodehouse.  These stories poke fun at the absurdities of life among the English gentry in the 1920s.  Bertie Wooster and his friends are always getting into one scrape or another, and Wooster’s valet, Jeeves, always has to think of a solution to the problem.  I like stories that make me laugh out loud—Wodehouse can do that.  The film series of Jeeves and Wooster are actually pretty good renderings of the stories. Hugh Laurie is Wooster and Stephen Fry is Jeeves.

7.  On Beulah Height,  by Reginald Hill.  This author has a writing style like no other.  A lifelong friend of mine introduced me to his mysteries, and I found this one to be the most haunting and melancholy of all.  There’s a surprise twist at the end, too, which shows just how skillful a writer Hill is.

8.  I am Malala, by Malala Yousazfai.  Another friend recommended this book to me, which I never would have selected on my own since it is outside my comfort zone.  I am glad I read it because it shines a light on Pakistan that we don’t see in the media.  Malala has parents who love her dearly and believe she is just as valuable as her brothers.  Her wonderful father has a school in their village, and Malala and other girls are avid students. Malala blogs about restricted life under Taliban rule.  When the Taliban attempts to assassinate her, the family relocates to England.  Malala is the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, and she is still an advocate for the rights of girls and women.

 

9.  Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little, by E.B. White.  I do like classic children’s books!  White, a respected essayist of national renown, wrote these wonderful stories for his niece and they endure as bastions of kids’ lit.    What is there not to love about a child born looking like a mouse who doesn’t let that get in his way?  Or about a benign and clever spider who saves Wilbur the pig’s life? Forget the movies made from these stories—they can’t even come close.

10.  The Alphabet Mysteries, by Sue Grafton.  There’s no single book of this name, but Grafton is working her way through the alphabet with her Kinsey Millhone mysteries.  .  Millhone is a quirky character, but she is endearing and often delightful in her observations about human nature.  She is a private investigator who finds herself embroiled in tricky cases, but there’s always resolution at the end.  I am rereading them after several years and they are just as good the second time around. A is for Alibi,  B is for Burglar, and so on.

Are any of these books on your list of favorites? Please leave a comment and share one of your favorite books.

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