I love to read. In fact, I don't really feel like myself if I have fewer than two or three books in progress at any given moment. While I was in school I did a lot of reading for classes that I didn't necessarily enjoy, though I did learn quite a bit about genres, topics, and time periods outside of my comfort zone. I'm a fairly active member of goodreads (you can find me as Erin Birnel) and love browsing books the way I do patterns or yarn on Ravelry. Without further ado, some of my favorite books:
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I discovered this book as a middle schooler and became obsessed with Gothic literature and the Bronte sisters.
House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski. This book falls firmly in the self-consciously post-modern genre but I LOVE it. Depending on how sympathetic you are to the characters this can be a horror story or a love story - either way it's creepy.
Anything by Shirley Jackson. I'm currently reading her autobiography, Life Among the Savages, and it makes me laugh out loud. I find her writing style very engaging and she tackles slightly freaky subject matter in a lot of her novels and short stories, which I totally dig.
Anne of Green Gables and the rest of the Anne series. This series has been a constant in my reading life from middle school to today. As I've grown older there are different aspects of the story that speak to me and change my perspective of Anne and her life on P.E. Island.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. This is a classic and the movie version is pretty awesome as well.
John Steinbeck and Daphne DuMaurier. I'll read pretty much any book written by either of these authors - they both have points of view and styles of writing that I enjoy and value even if the subject matter isn't something that appeals to me.
To Kill A Mockingbird is one of those books that I read once a year. I used to read more than I do now. I need to get back to it.
ReplyDeleteHaven't read a couple of those authors but will be adding them to my list. :)