35 books I love
In honor of my 35th turn around the sun, here's a list of my all-time favorite books
Today, I turn 35 years old. I really like being in my thirties, much more than I liked being in my twenties (at least, most of the time — my tequila days are tragically over).
Halfway into this decade of my life, I’ve finished my doctorate, moved into the cutest old house with fruit trees and roses, had pink hair for a little while, landed an actual dream job, and advocated for myself throughout the long process to three very helpful medical diagnoses (one of which led to the removal of my adorably inefficient gall bladder; another which helped explain 14 years of seemingly arbitrary symptoms).
I’ve also, in the last five-ish years, read somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 books, which isn’t really all that many when you consider it’s been half a decade, but it’s nothing to sniff at either.
As a little birthday treat for myself, I sat down and thought about the all of the books I love and what I’d put on a list of my 35 All-Time Favorites.
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My criteria for choosing was very simple:
Books from grade school count as much as books from grad school. As long as I truly love the book, it can appear here.
I have read it cover-to-cover, in full, at least once. (There are a few books I love but didn’t read to completion. This includes books by Gertrude Stein, Dorothy Richardson, Anais Nin, Nora Ephron, Dorothy Parker, Colette, Elizabeth Bowen…books I found lovely but did not finish for whatever reason)
Books here can belong to any category: poetry, nonfiction, fiction (novels and short stories), memoir. For poetry, it could be an anthology as long as I had truly read every poem in the anthology. Same for short story collections.
These books are not in any particular order, and I’ve limited myself to a single sentence telling you why I love each one.
35
Anastasia Krupnik by Lois Lowry
Nothing was cooler to me, as a 9-year-old, than Anastasia Krupnik wearing a black turtleneck to her father’s poetry lecture.
34
Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
I wanted to learn to play the ukulele so badly after I read this.
33
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
I was so gobsmacked by the opening chapter that I read through the night to finish it.
32
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
I will always love Snape. Always.
31
Madness & Civilization by Michel Foucault
This book forever changed the way I think.
30
Discipline & Punish by Michel Foucault
This book taught me more about the art of closely reading than anything else I’ve ever read.
29
The Animal That Therefore I Am by Jacques Derrida
I didn’t know philosophers could be funny!
28
The Professor’s House by Willa Cather
The impeccable craft; the emotional honesty; the descriptions of the Southwestern desert skies.
27
Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
This is a classic rags-to-riches story, told on top of a classic riches-to-rags story and the way the two stories overlap is unadulterated genius.
26
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton
The most heart-wrenchingly beautiful portrait of an indecisive woman I’ve ever read.
25
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (Yes, Edith gets two spots!)
I have somewhere between “no words” and “too many words” for how perfect I find this novel to be.
24
Passing by Nella Larsen
When I finished the last page, I flipped the book over in my hands and immediately started it over again.
23
Beloved by Toni Morrison
This book completely rearranged my understanding of race with a level of compassion and nuance that still feels like a gift.
22
American Primitive by Mary Oliver
This book helped me realize that “spiritual” and “religious” are two verrrrrrry different things, and I can happily have one without the other.
21
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
No story has ever made me cry harder or made me feel more hopeful for humanity.
20
New British Poetry edited by Charles Simic
Every single poem in this anthology is a banger.
19
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
“Give me the splendid, silent sun with all his beams full-dazzling.”
18
Pudd’nhead Wilson and Those Extraordinary Twins by Mark Twain
This book is deeply funny and absolutely pitchforks racism to the wall.
17
Nights by Hilda Doolittle (H.D.)
I didn’t know anything about modernism until I read this novella.
16
McTeague by Frank Norris
A perfect intersection where Naturalism meets absurdism meets Stephen-Crane-levels of desolation.
15
Borne by Jeff Vandermeer
There’s a moment so surprising and magical halfway through this novel that it made me drop the book.
14
Coraline by Neil Gaiman
This story lights up parts of me that almost always sit in shadow.
13
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
I’ve read my copy so many times that the binding broke and the pages are now held together with a rubber band.
12
American Indian Stories by Zitkala-Sa
This book taught me something I will never forget about how differently people of color experience democracy.
11
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
This book made me understand the Holy Bible better than any religious lessons ever did (and perhaps ever could).
10
Adam Bede by George Eliot
I still can’t think about Hetty without having a big, embarrassing sob.
9
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
I am forever grateful to the brilliant professor who taught me that this book is almost always misread, and showed me a new way to appreciate it.
8
Girlhood by Melissa Febos
One of those books that made me realize I’m never alone, not even in the strangest or saddest places I’ve ever been.
7
Yonnondio by Tillie Olsen
If you ever want to understand the ravages of poverty, read Tillie Olsen. (And then read the incredible short story, “Life in the Iron-Mills,” which inspired this novella.)
6
Peter & Wendy by J.M. Barrie
Every single sentence makes me want to write another dissertation (on how patriarchy hurts men as much as it hurts women).
5
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
My (middle)namesake, my muse, my absolute dream girl: Anne Shirley.
4
After Leaving Mr. McKenzie by Jean Rhys
I never realized what an unforgivable dick my ex was until I read this book.
3
The Tales of Henry James
The prose felt way too dense until my brain snapped into his signature style, and then I never wanted to snap back out.
2
Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
It will never feel like an overstatement to say that this book changed my life.
1
Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams
A healing balm for the aching heart I carried through my religious deconstruction.
Thank you for indulging me in this very long list.
I found so many of my favorites on this list, and a few new titles to add to my Goodreads list! If I were to make my own list, I'd have to give a lot of real estate to Virginia Woolf and Kurt Vonnegut, and perhaps one of my absolute favorite novels published in the last few years, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. Thank you for sharing, and have a wonderful birthday :)
Happy Birthday, Haley!! And thank you for sharing this list of great books. Some I've loved (Rhys, Kaysen, Austen, Montgomery, Barrie...) to name a few, and some that I would love to check out. I think it's SO HARD to name your favourite books, but a few of my all-timers are: The Bell Jar, Little Women, The Secret Garden, Rebecca, My Cousin Rachel, Jamaica Inn (OK, the whole of du Maurier), The Hours, Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name (BEST title ever!!) The Camomile Lawn, and Tales of the City. I could go on. Perhaps I will have to write one for my next birthday... :)