What would be on your 'Ideal Bookshelf'?
Jul 23, 2020 12:21:55 GMT -7
kc, linviolet, and 3 more like this
Post by agreads on Jul 23, 2020 12:21:55 GMT -7
like being asked to pick a fave book, my ideal bookshelf may change depending on when you ask me. But for now, here's mine.
From childhood:
The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart. This is the book that started my life-long fascination with the Arthurian legends. I was 10 or 11 when I read it.
The Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I started reading these as a young child, around 6 or 7, and I think they set up my appreciation for long saga style series. My mother grew up in a tiny town in the vast plains of northwest Texas, and reading these books always made me wonder how much of her life and my grandmother's life resembled Little House.
Epic Fantasy
The Pern novels by Anne McCaffrey. I still love these books and occasionally read the whole series over again.
All the books by David and Leigh Eddings. The world building and plotting over multiple books in each series is still some of the best out there.
The Dragon Prince 6-book series by Melanie Rawn. Exquisite world building and flawed but heroic characters.
The Witching Hour series by Anne Rice. Deeply flawed characters who still make you fall in love with them and empathize with the antagonists.
General fiction
James Michener books. He had a singular talent for telling a story and for research. He immerses the reader in the places and people he is writing about, and steeps you in the history, culture, struggles, and growth.
James Herriot's animal books. I love the humor and humanity in the books as well as the animals. Although based on his real life as a vet in the Yorkshire Dales, they are fiction books because he altered timelines, embellished certain things, and made up some characters.
Cry to Heaven by Anne Rice. The time period and the commentary on the abuses and power of the church loosely ties into a lot of fiction I've read about the Crusades, the Waldensian massacre, the Inquisitions, the Knights Templar, and other similar books. But with Rice's talent for weaving a story when she was in her heyday, this is the one book of those general topics that I would choose.
As a Southerner, I have to add something about the south. I'm not sure which one to pick, so I'll say these 3:
The Color Purple by Alice Walker. Not an easy read by any means, but a profound one.
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flag. A poignant and very realistic look at life in the rural south, particularly for women.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt. This cast of characters remains the most spot-on for a cross-section of Southerners I've known in real life.
Non-fiction
Appointment at the Ends of the World: A Memoir of a Wildlife Veterinarian by William Karesh. I love any books about animals and wildlife, and this one is fascinating.
In Search of the Primitive by Lewis Cotlow. I'm also fascinated by "hidden tribes" and the groups of people who live isolated from civilization. This book is an account of the author's travels around the world to find some of those people and learn about their ways of life.
A Voyage Long and Strange by Tony Horwitz. An hysterically funny and slightly irreverent look at American history through the historical attractions across the U.S.
There would have to something on world history, but I don't know which one. Maybe the best one-book shot would be A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. I love his books and he does know his stuff, both subject matter and how to write it.
Classical Literature
The complete works of Shakespeare. I reread sonnets and plays regularly.
Plato's complete works. His philosophical writings can be problematic, but he is great starting point for critical thinking methods. He is also a decent source for ancient history and Greek mythology.
I would also have to have some poetry collections. Robert W. Service, Walt Whitman, Maya Angelou, Lord Byron, Homer, and poems such as The Calf Path, and The Face on the Ballroom Floor.
Finally, Romance!
Carla Kelly. Several of hers are favorites.
The Windhams books by Grace Burrows, plus Daniel's True Desire from the True Gentlemen series.
Reunion by Sharon Sala. My favorite romantic suspense book.
The Elemental Mysteries by Elizabeth Hunter. My favorite pnr series.
Wow, that was way more than I intended to post and I'm sure I left out some. This list is good sampling of my favorites in several genres though.
From childhood:
The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart. This is the book that started my life-long fascination with the Arthurian legends. I was 10 or 11 when I read it.
The Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I started reading these as a young child, around 6 or 7, and I think they set up my appreciation for long saga style series. My mother grew up in a tiny town in the vast plains of northwest Texas, and reading these books always made me wonder how much of her life and my grandmother's life resembled Little House.
Epic Fantasy
The Pern novels by Anne McCaffrey. I still love these books and occasionally read the whole series over again.
All the books by David and Leigh Eddings. The world building and plotting over multiple books in each series is still some of the best out there.
The Dragon Prince 6-book series by Melanie Rawn. Exquisite world building and flawed but heroic characters.
The Witching Hour series by Anne Rice. Deeply flawed characters who still make you fall in love with them and empathize with the antagonists.
General fiction
James Michener books. He had a singular talent for telling a story and for research. He immerses the reader in the places and people he is writing about, and steeps you in the history, culture, struggles, and growth.
James Herriot's animal books. I love the humor and humanity in the books as well as the animals. Although based on his real life as a vet in the Yorkshire Dales, they are fiction books because he altered timelines, embellished certain things, and made up some characters.
Cry to Heaven by Anne Rice. The time period and the commentary on the abuses and power of the church loosely ties into a lot of fiction I've read about the Crusades, the Waldensian massacre, the Inquisitions, the Knights Templar, and other similar books. But with Rice's talent for weaving a story when she was in her heyday, this is the one book of those general topics that I would choose.
As a Southerner, I have to add something about the south. I'm not sure which one to pick, so I'll say these 3:
The Color Purple by Alice Walker. Not an easy read by any means, but a profound one.
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flag. A poignant and very realistic look at life in the rural south, particularly for women.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt. This cast of characters remains the most spot-on for a cross-section of Southerners I've known in real life.
Non-fiction
Appointment at the Ends of the World: A Memoir of a Wildlife Veterinarian by William Karesh. I love any books about animals and wildlife, and this one is fascinating.
In Search of the Primitive by Lewis Cotlow. I'm also fascinated by "hidden tribes" and the groups of people who live isolated from civilization. This book is an account of the author's travels around the world to find some of those people and learn about their ways of life.
A Voyage Long and Strange by Tony Horwitz. An hysterically funny and slightly irreverent look at American history through the historical attractions across the U.S.
There would have to something on world history, but I don't know which one. Maybe the best one-book shot would be A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. I love his books and he does know his stuff, both subject matter and how to write it.
Classical Literature
The complete works of Shakespeare. I reread sonnets and plays regularly.
Plato's complete works. His philosophical writings can be problematic, but he is great starting point for critical thinking methods. He is also a decent source for ancient history and Greek mythology.
I would also have to have some poetry collections. Robert W. Service, Walt Whitman, Maya Angelou, Lord Byron, Homer, and poems such as The Calf Path, and The Face on the Ballroom Floor.
Finally, Romance!
Carla Kelly. Several of hers are favorites.
The Windhams books by Grace Burrows, plus Daniel's True Desire from the True Gentlemen series.
Reunion by Sharon Sala. My favorite romantic suspense book.
The Elemental Mysteries by Elizabeth Hunter. My favorite pnr series.
Wow, that was way more than I intended to post and I'm sure I left out some. This list is good sampling of my favorites in several genres though.