Books You Should Read

Have you ever read a book that you loved so much that you want to stop people on the street and tell them that they have to drop everything they are doing and go read this book? When you spend as much time around books as I do, you might think I come across those "you just have to read this" books all the time. Unfortunately, the magical books are few and far between. There are plenty of good reads and interesting novels and exciting stories....but the ones that make you sit all day reading when you have a million other things to do are rare.

So, here, in no particular order, is a list of books that took me away:

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
The Solace of Open Spaces by Gretel Erlich
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
White Oleander by Janet Fitch
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
Once Upon a Day by Lisa Tucker
Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
How to Be Lost by Amanda Eyre Ward

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

These books are real treasures. They wrapped me in deftly written phrases and beautifully crafted stories. I remember these books because while I was reading them, the rest of the world just disappeared.