My favorite books

I have been invited to take part in a blog "meme" on my favorite fiction books.  Books, being one of my very favorite things in the whole world, are something I am always thrilled to share.  :)  I did discover, however, as I looked at each of the categories, that as an adult I have spent a whole lot more time reading non-fiction than fiction, and many of the fiction books I do read are my children’s books that I just happen to pick up or that I am “previewing” for them.   I've discovered that even in adulthood though, I actually really love reading books intended for children.  Oftentimes, they have a lot of depth and meaning and are usually innocent and inoffensive, something many secular fiction books I've read that are more "age appropriate" for me, are not.  As a fellow book lover once told me, children's books often have more "heart."  Of course, there have been a few more grown-up selections I have loved, as well.  So, without further ado, here is my list:

Favorite books from my childhood:

We Love Kindergarten by Clara Cassidy
All the “Ramona” books by Beverly Cleary
Daphne’s Book by Mary Downing Hahn
Behind the Attic Wall by Sylvia Cassedy
The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
Cheaper by the Dozen by Ernestine Carey and Frank B. Gilbreth
The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg

My favorite books to read to my children:

Yertle the Turtle and The Sneetches and pretty much everything else by Dr. Seuss
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
Goodnight Opus by Berkeley Breathed
All the “Ramona” books by Beverly Cleary
Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner by AA Milne
Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss
The “Little House” books (especially On The Banks of Plum Creek and Farmer Boy) by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia  MacLachlan
The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs by Betty G. Birney
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
So, so many more……

Current read-alouds:

String, Straight Edge, and Shadow by Julia E. Diggins
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Clown of God by Tomie De Paola

My Favorite Novels:

The Genesis Code by John Case
Three by Ted Dekker
The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint Exupery (a novella?)
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
The Witch at Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

Novels I’ve enjoyed recently:

The Bicycle Man by David L. Dudley
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Flowers for Algernon (a novella?) by Daniel Keyes
Animal Farm by George Orwell
The Year Money Grew on Trees by Aaron Hawkins

Novels I am currently reading:

Lorna Doone by R.D. Blackmore

Novels I’d Like to read:

anything by GK Chesterton
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Jeweler’s Shop by Karol Wojtyla (aka Pope John Paul the Great)

For more wonderful books, be sure to check out all the meme participants over at Sue Elvis' blog "Stories of an Unschooling Family"  and feel free to join in with us as well!