Top 20 Books of All Time

Reading is a passion for me and it has been since I was old enough to know what words were. It is second only to my love of writing. I am not the only person who feels this way. Millions of people in the United States alone consider themselves to be avid readers. The preferred genres vary, the favorite authors vary, but everyone seems to agree on one thing: they love to read. They love books. They love the written words on the page. Walking into a bookstore stirs something inside of them. They love the stories that come off of the pages before their eyes, the look into others lives and the trips to worlds beyond this one. From Steinbeck and Hemingway and Kerouac to Dickens and Twain and Hawthorne, authors have held us captivated for decades. Each decade produces new authors, each year people find the classics to pick up again or maybe for the first time.

I have read a lot. I have made lists of the books that I consider to be my favorites. Mind you, these are my top 20; the books I have read that have shaped me and left me feeling something. Whether you are already collecting ideas for summer reading or if you are just looking for a good read anytime, the following titles will not let you down. So, in no particular order, here they are:

MY TOP TWENTY BOOKS

1. Cherry by Mary Karr

This book is a memoir of Mary Karr's life as a young girl, growing up in the world and learning to discover herself and see the world around her. Her experiences vary between the hilarious and the horrific and left me with a powerful feeling of the idea of experiences and self.

2. The Liar's Club by Mary Karr

This memoir was Mary Karr's first, and tells about the years of her life before the events in Cherry. You can read both this and Cherry in any order, it doesn't really matter which one comes first. Mary Karr again tears open the pages of her turbulent childhood and tells her stories with poetry, wit, and deep insight.

3. Carrie by Stephen King