Just 50 Books I F#&%ing Love
I had a great conversation with a friend recently about all-time favorite books and I’ve decided to throw a few of mine to the wind. This list runs the gamut from books I’ve read and reread a thousand times since childhood, books that changed my life in college, and books that made me hyperventilate from crying so hard all the way to books I just finished last week and thought were neat.
In no particular order, here are 50 books I f#&%ing love:
Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
I’ll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson
Fire by Kristin Cashore (really the whole Graceling series, but it’s cheating to list them all)
On Writing by Stephen King
The Stand by Stephen King (of course I chose this and no I didn’t mistype it as The Road before OR spell his name with a V, what are you talking about)
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green (and the sequel, A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor)
The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
Into The Wild, also by Jon Krakauer
The Smoke Jumper by Nicholas Evans
The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotson (also The Secret of Platform 13 and Which Witch? and everything she’s ever written)
The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo
The Waterstone by Rebecca Rupp (yes it’s on my nightstand right now)
O Beautiful by Jung Yun
The Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce, specifically The Woman Who Rides Like A Man
Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway
Shrill by Lindy West
Waiting by Debra Ginsberg
Normal People by Sally Rooney
Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty (really her entire bibliography, let’s be real)
A Psalm for the Wild-Built and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers (AKA the Monk & Robot duology, which I will scream if it stops at two books)
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, also by Becky Chambers (and the entire Wayfarers series although I’ve only finished the first two so far #JusticeForJenks)
Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo, who apparently owns my childhood
Anything ever written by Bruce Coville (but especially Jeremy Thatcher Dragon Hatcher and The Unicorn Chronicles, in particular Song of the Wanderer)
Just a brief pause to say I could literally do this all day — I love books so much T_THeir Apparent by Vivian Vande Velde
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (sorry, buddy, but the second one was garbo)
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (it’s the best one in the series and we all know it)
The Codex Alera series by Jim Butcher, but especially Cursor’s Fury
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reed (honorable mention to Malibu Rising because I think about it all the time)
Daisy Jones and the Six, also by Taylor Jenkins Reed because the plot twist made me cry and I’m still mad I didn’t see it coming
Room by Emma Donoghue
A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Devereaux (-sobs in 1980s-)
Nomadland by Jessica Bruder
The Martian by Andy Weir
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini for that freaking final line that just oh my god
The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth (the movie is fine, I guess, but the book is fifty bajillion times better)
I feel like I’m forgetting something really obvious and the next time I do this there will probably be a lot of screaming because of it.Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Just Listen by Sarah Dessen (and honestly everything she’s ever written)
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine (THIS IS WHAT I WAS FORGETTING) — Honorable mention to Ella Enchanted as well
Holes by Louis Sachar (and the best movie adaptation ever made)
The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
FINE, I’ll say Looking for Alaska by John Green (honorable mention to The Fault in Our Stars and An Abundance of Katherines although I think John Green is a bit overrated nowadays)
The Princess Bride by William Goldman (yes I thought it was a true story when I was a kid and no my sister has not let me forget that)
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Gemma Doyle
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs AKA Mr. Stumble-on-the-Second-Book himself (I know I’m being mean but COME ON)
Unwind by Neal Shusterman
Roald Dahl’s entire anthology but specifically The BFG, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, and Boy
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
The Secret Garden and A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Okay, so this list is a little longer than 50. A lot longer than 50 if we count all the honorable mentions. But hey, this is just a glimpse into my bookshelf and into my childhood, and I’ll make sure to put together some themed lists next time around. Maybe “20 books I wish I never read”? LOL!
Til next time,
Mags