I read a lot and through the years of reading I have chosen my favorite books by the criteria of whether it is worth reading over and over again. Of course it has to be well written, astonishing, universal in theme and transcending time in its subject, and the plot has to make me want more. So here is a list of the books that I have read, reread, and plan to reread. In the course of time this list will grow longer and I will take the time to add as I go reading more books.
Fiction:
1. The Hours by Michael Cunningham
2. That Old Ace in the Hole by Annie Proulx
3. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
4. White Oleander by Janet Fitch
5. What We Keep by Elizabeth Berg
6. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
7. A Time to Kill and Skipping Christmas by John Grisham
8. Three Junes by Julia Glass
9. We were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates
10. Cane River by Lalita Tademy
11. The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan
12. The Green Mile by Stephen King
13. While I was Gone by Sue Miller
14. Oxygen by Andrew Miller
Classics:
1. Emma, Sense and Sensibility, and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
2. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
3. Christmas Carol, Nicholas Nickelby, and Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
4. Winter of our Discontent, East of Eden, Red Pony, and The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
5. A Farewell to Arms and Fiesta: The Sun also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
6. Siddharta by Herman Hesse
7. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
8. Washington Square by Henry James
9. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
10. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Non-Fiction:
1. Angela’s Ashes and ‘Tis by Frank McCourt
2. Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck
3. Geisha, A Life by Mineko Iwasaki
4. Adrift by Steven Callahan
5. Girl Interrupted by Susana Kaysen
6. To War with Whitaker: The Wartime Diaries of the Countess of Ranfurly 1939-1945
7. A Monk Swimming by Malachy McCourt
8. Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden
9. Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand
10. The Kennedy Men by Laurence Leamer
11. Stolen Lives by Malika Oufkir
Children’s Literature:
1. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
2. Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster
3. Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney
4. The Watson’s go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis
5. The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
6. The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
7. Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery
Chick Lit.:
1. In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner
2. Le Divorce by Dianne Johnson
3. Bridget Jones’s Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding
4. I don’t know how she does it by Allison Pearson
Self-Help:
1. He’s not just that into You by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tucillo
2. I Kissed Dating Goodbye and Boy meets Girl by Joshua Harris
3. Making Friends by Andrew Matthews
4. The Essential 55 by Ron Clark
5. Life Lessons Learned while Shopping by Amanda Ford
As for Filipino Lit. I love F. Sionil Jose. I haven't read any of his works that I didn't like. So far I have read Po-on, Tree, Mass, The Pretenders, My Brother, My Executioner, Gagamba, Ermita, and Viajero. All of these novels I absolutely was in awe of. There is one book by Nick Joaquin that I was able to read and it was a superb experience. It was a biography of Dr. Jose Rizal that Mr. Joaquin was commissioned to write during the centennial year of Philippine Independence. I was able to borrow a copy from James, a college classmate whose aunt, Laarni Enriquez got a copy from Malacanang Palace as a giveaway. From that book I know one of these days I am supposed to start reading more of Nick Joaquin's works.
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