Wow, 10 years!! That's an amazing run in the blog-o-sphere! A heartfelt congratulations to the ROMANCING THE GENRES hosts for all the informative, fun, and worthwhile blog posts over this past decade.
So, I had to come up with something denoting "10" for this month...and you know what? It wasn't hard, heehee. Since this is a blog about writing, writers, and books, an idea popped into my head without any thought - and I lovelovelove when that happens because it's so rare.
I love a good top 10 list, but unlike Letterman, I don’t like going backward. Here, in no apparent or meaningful order, are my top 10 favorite books (who just so happen to have been written by my favorite authors.) The books I love to read are as eclectic and varied as the books I love to write!
The Little Engine That could – best book about self-motivation and self-actualization ever written.
Naked in Death – the first JD Robb book. 50+ books later the futuristic police procedural romance series is still at the height of its game.
Pride and Prejudice – This one needs no explanation!
Gone with the Wind – Dated for these times, I know, but in its time it was a true masterpiece at explaining the once ( horrible) southern way of life.
Under the Banner of Heaven – A detailed look –through a modern murder mystery – of the origins of the Mormon Church. Fascinating and terrifying.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil – Take a true crime story, add in a plethora of quirky characters and a setting almost as diverse as its occupants, and this book is a social treatise on American culture: Separate but equal is never truly separate or equal.
New York to Dallas – Another JD Robb story in which the heroine confronts her tortured past, kicks it in the ass, and moves forward with the love of Roarke by her side. This is my favorite in the entire In Death series and the only one without the IN DEATH tagline.
To Have and to Hold – The first book in Lauren Layne’s Wedding belles series. And the first time I was introduced to this amazing author.
Wife by Wednesday book 1 in the Weekday Bride series by Catherine Bybee – Just love a quirky woman in a powerful occupation and position.
The Bible – I mean, come on! It’s filled with love, murder, family drama, social mores and political intrigue. What more could you want??!!
DO you have a top ten list of books? I can truly admit that most of these books I've read more than once. Some, more than 3 or 4 times ( New York to Dallas). And yes, I know it's hard to name only 10!!!! Hee hee
Happy Anniversary, ROMANCING THE GENRES! I'm so happy to be here.
I've got a new Holiday Novella dropping on June 7.
SANTA BABY ( A Dickens Holiday Prequel - Dorrit's Diner) is a short, heartwarming story about a diner owner, a cop, and a baby abandoned on Christmas Eve. You can preorder it right now here: UniLink
It’s Christmas Eve morning in the tiny New England town of Dickens.
Santa’s arrival is imminent, and a hint of snow is in the air.
Amy Dorrit is just about to open her popular diner for the breakfast rush when she discovers an abandoned baby on her back doorstep.
Amy knows she should call the authorities and turn the infant over to them, but she just can’t. Thoughts of her own abandonment as a baby flood through her and she wants to keep the little one out of the hands of the authorities until the mother – hopefully –returns.
But will the mom come back? And if she doesn’t, what is Amy prepared to do about the baby who has, already, claimed her heart?
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15 comments:
SANTA BABY, a book sure to be on somebody's top-ten in time! Thanks for sharing your ten favorite books with us. I love Nora and want to read her JD Robb stuff someday. When the world slows down enough for me to crack a book, that is! (But not on my e-reader as that would be an expensive repair!) Hope you have a great weekend!
MJ - the In Death books are some of the best written/dialogue books out there. The relationships are REAL and fabulous. Some of the plots are out there - really!- but it pales in relation to Eve and Roarke and the rest of the gang.
10 Years! Wow! Thanks to awesome Blog Mothers Sarah and Judith. So Happy to be a Generista. Love your top 10 books and being on this blog with you!
Narrowing my favorite books to a top ten is a form of torture, my friend. It would have to include books whose characters (or historical information) have stuck with me over the years. Incidentally, I picked up one of those old books sometime ago and found that, as most older books, point of view was handled differently, so I suppose some would say it hadn't stood the test of time. But I still love it because of the memorable characters and the way the plot was nestled in beautifully researched historical reality. No, I won't name it here, but still, your post has made me think, again, of what constitutes a 'good' book and if a favorite book is necessarily a 'good' book. Hmmm. It's Friday. Much too late in the week for such ponderings. LOL. Love your writing, by the way. Good and favorite :) Hugs.
Like you, it's hard to limit the list to ten books. The one book that made me want to become a writer was Little Women. Best on your Christmas book!
Marcia - thanks!!!
Barbara - I Hear ya!! it took me years to get the list down to these top 10 but these are the ones I've read many times and every time find something new and worthy within the pages!
Ilona - I love LIttle Women too! I read it twice and have seen the movies ( all 9000 of them) numerous times!!
Thanks for the thoughtful Top 10 Books list! Like others, I have too many to count. As a child, Oliver Twist and Little Women were eye-openers for me, and I loved fairy tales, fantasy and SciFi (Visitors from the Planet Vega, anyone? Green Smoke?) I went on a Walter Farley horse book jag that introduced me to Australia and it's racial issues. And a biography jag, ands...
I won't bore you with my lengthy "as an adult" list. My most recent additions are British Author Natalie Cox's MUTTS AND MISTLETOE and Judith Ashley's VISIONS OF HAPPINESS.
Can't wait to read SANAT BABY!!!
Sarah - I can't wait until the 20th anniversary - 20 books will be a bit easier to list, LOL!
Great list, Peggy. I agree with many of yours and will add that Persuasion is my favorite Jane Austen novel. I really relate to Anne Elliot.
Lynn - I loved Persuasion, too!!!
Peggy - loved that you had The Little Engine That Could. The Christmas book I am editing now, uses this book as a motivation mantra for my heroine. Can't wait to read your Santa book - I preordered a while ago, so counting down the days. Who says reading Christmas stories in June isn't a GREAT idea??!?!
What a fun thing to to with #10. My problem with listing ten books is that I'd have to look them up. I don't remember book titles or authors very well. My response to, what is my favorite 10 books would be: Um, the one where the girl does X and then the witch comes along and does Y, and someone else would have to find the title for me. :)
I do love the Little Engine That Could, though I didn't read it until I was an adult. Other children's books that did stick with me are Pippi Longstocking--I longed to have that freedom to do my own quirky things as a child. The other was Charlotte's Web. I have a vague memory of my 2nd grade teacher reading the book to us for 30 minutes each day just after lunch. I was always happy to see a spider near our home after that and I would talk to it just in case it talked back.
As an adult, so many books had an impact on me from romances to SF. I didn't start reading adult fantasy until I was nearly 50 years old. I preferred science-based fiction to magic-based. But I know enjoy them both.
One book that does stand out in my mind is a series by Suzette Haden Elgin, beginning with Native Tongue and ending with Earthsong. It is a dystopian world where oppressed women from elite families are bred to produce better alien translators. The primary income source in this future patriarchal world is from trade with aliens. It was written in the mid 1980's, when the ERA had still not been ratified after a decade of fighting for it (fell short by three states). I was never a political person, not really feeling empowered or knowledgeable to speak up. This book served as an eye-opener for me around the extremes of women having no rights, the importance of banding together to fight, and the huge difficulty of winning a fight even over generations. Not exactly uplifting but lots of interesting futuristic ideas and ways of dealing with oppression. I think Elgin, a linguist and academic, had hopes that Laaden, a language just for women in the stories, would take off in some way. It never did. I still have dreams about it and how it works on an emotional expression level.
I enjoyed your blog post! I'd have trouble narrowing down my list to 10!
I do love "The Little Engine that Could"! Very motivational and my kids used to tell me that :)) "Just like the little engine that could, I'll do it , mommy!"
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