How precious are Your thoughts to me, O LORD ... how vast is the sum of them!

Favorite Books

This is a list of my favorite books. Order is irrelevant here, because it is far too much work for me to dissect the merits of each labor of an author's love. And the order would keep changing as I change. Books will be tacked on as I read them; hopefully I will be discovering new favorites throughout my whole life! Favorite books lists are interesting and important because they give insight into the list-maker's own values and personality.

These books earned their spots because they profoundly affected me in some way. Their exquisite quality—writing style, storylines, themes, etc.—drew me in and opened up my mind to life. Obviously, not all are Christianity-based, but my life is better for having read them.

What do you think? Would any of these books belong on your list?
  1. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen 
  2. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
  3. Persuasion - Jane Austen  
  4. Mansfield Park - Jane Austen 
  5. Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen 
  6. Emma - Jane Austen
  7. Christy - Catherine Marshall
  8. Julie - Catherine Marshall
  9. Wives and Daughters - Elizabeth Gaskell 
  10. North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell 
  11. Mary Barton - Elizabeth Gaskell 
  12. Cranford - Elizabeth Gaskell
  13. The Moorland Cottage - Elizabeth Gaskell
  14. The Scent of Water - Elizabeth Goudge
  15. The Dean's Watch - Elizabeth Goudge 
  16. Green Dolphin Country - Elizabeth Goudge
  17. The Eliots of Damerosehay (series) - Elizabeth Goudge
  18. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
  19. The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
  20. The Lord of the Rings (series) - J. R. R. Tolkien 
  21. The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
  22. A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens 
  23. The Pickwick Papers - Charles Dickens 
  24. The Zion Chronicles - Bodie Thoene 
  25. First Light - Bodie Thoene 
  26. Daniel Deronda - George Eliot 
  27. Silas Marner - George Eliot
  28. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë
  29. The Pilgrim's Progress - John Bunyan
  30. Cecilia - Fanny Burney 
  31. The Wanderer - Fanny Burney
  32. The Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
  33. Anne of Green Gables (series) - L. M. Montgomery
  34. Emily of New Moon (series) - L. M. Montgomery
  35. The Blue Castle - L. M. Montgomery 
  36. Pat of Silver Bush (series) - L. M. Montgomery
  37. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
  38. An Old-Fashioned Girl - Louisa May Alcott 
  39. Rose in Bloom - Louisa May Alcott 
  40. The Chosen - Chaim Potok
  41. Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc - Mark Twain 
  42. The Innocents Abroad - Mark Twain
  43. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain 
  44. Out of Africa - Isak Dinesen
  45. Watership Down - Richard Adams
  46. The Brethren - H. Rider Haggard
  47. Kidnapped - Robert Louis Stevenson 
  48. Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson
  49. Lark Rise to Candleford - Flora Thompson
  50. The Scarlet Pimpernel - Baroness Emmuska Orczy 
  51. Least of All Saints - Grace Irwin
  52. Andrew Connington - Grace Irwin
  53. The Seventh Earl - Grace Irwin
  54. Hind's Feet on High Places (series) - Hannah Hurnard
  55. Jesus Freaks (series) - DC Talk and The Voice of the Martyrs
  56. Monster - Frank Peretti
  57. Little House on the Prairie (series) - Laura Ingalls Wilder
  58. Young Pioneers - Rose Wilder Lane
  59. The Incredible Journey - Sheila Burnford 
  60. A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle
  61. Mara, Daughter of the Nile - Eloise Jarvis McGraw
  62. Nancy Drew (series) - Carolyn Keene
  63. History Mysteries (series) - various authors
  64. Royal Diaries (series) - various authors
  65. American Girl (series) - various authors
  66. Homeschool Detectives (series) - John Bibee
  67. Ruby Slippers School (series) - Stacy Towle Morgan
  68. The American Adventure (series) - various authors
  69. Elsie Dinsmore (series) 
  70. Princess - Carolyn Lane
  71. Father Brown mysteries (series) - G. K. Chesterton
  72. Alpha Centauri - Robert Siegel
  73. Calico Captive - Elizabeth George Speare
  74. A Girl of the Limberlost - Gene Stratton Porter
  75. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
  76. A Little Princess - Frances Hodgson Burnett
  77. Charity's Diary (series) - Elisabeth Allen
  78. Tongue of the Prophets - Robert St. John
  79. Twenty Years at Hull-House - Jane Addams
  80. The Hiding Place - Corrie ten Boom
  81. Midnight in the Dollhouse - Marjorie Stover
  82. Dogs to the Rescue (series) - Jeanette Sanderson
  83. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
  84. Dahveed: Yahweh's Chosen - Terri Fivash
  85. Joseph - Terri Fivash
  86. Five Gems (series) - E. Kaiser Writes
  87. Thaw (series) - E. Kaiser Writes
  88. Madeleine Takes Command - Ethel C. Brill
  89. Our Village - Mary Mitford
  90. The Inimitable Jeeves - P. G. Wodehouse
  91. Johnny Tremain - Esther Forbes 
  92. The Baronet's Song - George MacDonald
  93. The Shepherd's Castle - George MacDonald
  94. Around the World in Eighty Days - Jules Verne
  95. Carry on, Mr. Bowditch - Jean Lee Latham
  96. How Do I Love Thee? - Nancy Moser
  97. Stepping Heavenward - Elizabeth Prentiss
  98. Within the Palace Gates - Anna P. Siviter
  99. Winnie-the-Pooh (series) - A. A. Milne
  100. Ella Enchanted - Gail Carson Levine
  101. God of the Fairy Tale - Jim Ware
  102. Have His Carcase - Dorothy L. Sayers
  103. Animal Ark (series) - Ben M. Baglio
  104. Penross Manor - Joan Winmill Brown
  105. The Perilous Gard - Elizabeth Marie Pope
  106. The Valley Omnibus - Sarah Scheele
  107. Remembering the Alamo - Alicia A. Willis
  108. From the Dark to the Dawn - Alicia A. Willis
  109. Caught up in a Story - Sarah Clarkson
  110. Miniatures and Morals - Peter J. Leithart 



1 comment:

  1. I like your list. :) Tolkien's, Lewis's, Kidnapped, Mara Daughter of the Nile, A Wrinkle in Time, and Pride and Prejudice would all make it to my list, I think! And there's about a dozen of those on there that I'm really looking forward to reading. :)

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