My Favorite Books

This week's blog assignment for The Dressing Room is to list our favorite books. Listing "favorite" anything is very hard for me, because my tastes change frequently! But here's a list of books I can read over and over and never get tired of. And I'm not putting them in any special order, because that would take me a month!

The Harry Potter Series (I suppose it would be cheating to list all 7 separately?), by JK Rowling
Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte & Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys (I'm counting them together because each makes me appreciate the other more)
Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
The Catcher in the Rye, by JD Salinger
Prodigal Summer, by Barbara Kingsolver
Anything by Toni Morrison
Anything by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Animal Farm, by George Orwell
The Baby Book, by William Sears (we wouldn't have survived the first year of parenting without it!)

Can you tell I was an English major in college? Most of these (OK, not Harry Potter, but only because I'm too old!) are books I wrote papers on, so I really read them closely and had the opportunity to discuss them with classmates. I think that really helps me appreciate books and movies-- Someone willing to get nerdy with me and discuss little details and themes, and appreciate a well written phrase. I have a terrible memory, and if I read a book or watch a movie and don't discuss it afterwards, it quickly leaves my brain.

I think that's why I am not reading much these days, other than to reread old favorites. If I can't really absorb the book, it's hard for me to make the time to read it-- I'd rather be sewing! When I'm sewing, if the baby wakes up or the four year old has an urgent need for the mermaid doll she can't find, I can stop sewing for a moment and help them. If I get interrupted while reading I have a hard time settling back into it. Someday I'll have loooong blocks of time again... Someday!