What'cha Readin'?
06/21/2011
Oh, Carole. You're killing me here. First, the Ten Best Love Songs . . . and now, this. Ten Books to Recommend to a Friend? Ten??? Shoot me now.
Man, oh man! Among all my other "hobbies" . . . I am a Reader, first and foremost. Ten? Only Ten? I'm in agony. . .
So. . .
- If I were recommending books to a friend who loves to Read like I love to Read. . . I would recommend my favorite novels. Books like Three Junes by Julia Glass; A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris; or The History of Love by Nicole Krauss.
- If I were recommending books to a friend who is in a self-reflective phase . . . I would recommend Composing a Life by Mary Catherine Bateson, Circle of Stones by Judith Duerk, or life is a verb by Patti Digh.
- If I were recommending books to a friend who wants to start reading classics . . . I would recommend Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, or The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton.
- If I were recommending books to a child . . . I would recommend From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Koningsburg, Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry, or A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle.
- If I were recommending books to a friend who is interested in reading non-fiction. . . I would recommend Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, or The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman.
- If I were recommending books to a friend who likes biographies . . . I would recommend Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, or First Family: John & Abigail Adams by Joseph J. Ellis.
- If I were recommending books for friends in my old book club (the group that I still miss deeply - even though it's been 8 years since I moved away!). . . I would recommend All the Little Live Things by Wallace Stegner, A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, or The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.
- If I were recommending books for a friend who just wanted fun, entertaining "beach reads" . . . I would recommend Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver, Stones from the River by Ursula Hegi, or The Stand by Stephen King.
- If I were recommending books for a friend who was working along the cancer-continuum (diagnosis - treatment - survivorship) . . . I would recommend Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips by Kris Carr, It's Not About the Bike by Lance Armstrong, and Picking Up the Pieces by Sherri McGee and Kathy Scalzo.
- If I were recommending books for a friend who liked mysteries with a little something extra. . . I would recommend The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (and the other two books in the series) by Stieg Larsson, In the Woods by Tana French, or the Three Pines mystery series by Louise Penny.
That's ten. Isn't it?