Anna Quindlen's Book Lists



I finished up Anna Quindlen's How Reading Changed My Life. It is a book one can read in a minute; it is only 70 pages long. Although it is short, don't be fooled - it is not lightweight.

I especially enjoyed looking over her book lists at the end. I love lists. These are not your typical ones, either. Here are examples and a pick from each list:

10 Books I Just Love to Read, and Always Will
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

10 Modern Novels That Made Me Proud to Be a Writer
The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen

10 Good Book-Club Selections
The Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett

10 Books Recommended by a Really Good Elementary School Librarian
No Flying in the House by Betty Brock

10 Mystery Novels I'd Most Like to Find in a Summer Rental
The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie P. King.

10 Books for a Girl Who Is Full of Beans (or Ought to Be)
Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman

10 Book I Would Save in a Fire (If I Could Save Only 10)
Bleak House by Charles Dickens

10 Nonfiction Books That Help Us Understand the World
The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam

There are a couple other lists but you get the idea. Here are over 100 books just in case you are looking for some suggestions. What I liked is that there are books on these lists I have not heard of much less read. But, from the examples above, I have read two: The Phantom Tollbooth and Catherine, Called Birdy. I loved them both and both are listed as 'children's books'.

There I go trying to make up for my childhood lapses in literary adventures.