Recommended Reading

Read and Recommended

The Bible (complete New Testament, various Old Testament books)
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
Hard Times by Charles Dickens
Beowulf by Anonymous

The Elephant Man by Christine Sparks
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
The Professor's House by Willa Cather
One of Ours by Willa Cather
O Pioneers by Willa Cather
My Antonia by Willa Cather
Then She Found Me by Elinor Lipman
Come August, Come Freedom by Gigi Amateau
The Round House by Louise Erdrich
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck
The Pearl by John Steinbeck
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Typee by Herman Melville
Billy Budd by Herman Melville
Bartleby, The Scrivener by Herman Melville
Clarel by Herman Melville
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Silas Marner by George Eliot
The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
Felix Holt, the Radical by George Eliot
Daniel Deronda by George Eliot
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Persuasion by Jane Austen
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee 
Lord of the Flies by William Golding 
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald  
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain 
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain 
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger 
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury 
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne 
The Color Purple by Alice Walker 
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott 
Moby-Dick or, The Whale by Herman Melville 

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller 

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The Crucible by Arthur Miller 
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White 
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
White Fang by Jack London 
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain 
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton 
Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger 
The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams 
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton 
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt 
Our Town by Thornton Wilder 
A River Runs Through It  by Norman Maclean 
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd 
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg 
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner 
The Awakening by Kate Chopin 
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Complete Stories of Flannery O'Connor 
Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe
Little House on the Prairie (Full Series) by Laura Ingalls Wilder 
The Notebook  by Nicholas Sparks
Message in a Bottle by Nicholas Sparks
Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks
The Choice by Nicholas Sparks
A Bend in the Road by Nicholas Sparks
At First Sight by Nicholas Sparks
Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks
The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks
The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks
Three Weeks with My Brother by Nicholas Sparks
True Believer by Nicholas Sparks
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose
The American Dream by Jim Cullen
Russka: The Novel of Russia by Edward Rutherford
Sarum: The Novel of England by Edward Rutherford
The Forest by Edward Rutherford
Follow the River by James Alexander Thom
A Fine and Pleasant Misery by Patrick McManus
They Shoot Canoes Don't They? by Patrick McManus
World Without End by Ken Follett
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel
The Valley of Horses by Jean M. Auel
The Mammoth Hunters by Jean M. Auel
The Plains of Passage by Jean M. Auel
The Shelters of Stone by Jean M. Auel
The Land of Painted Caves by Jean M. Auel
The Moviegoer by Walker Percy
All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
The Robber Bridegroom by Eudora Welty 


              YOUNG ADULT NOVELS
As a high school librarian, I have read many more YA novels than I can remember. These are some of my favorites. However, I tend to read several books by one author before moving on to another.

House Rules by Jodi Piccult

Songs of the Humpback Whales by Jodi Piccult
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Piccult
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
The First Part Last by Angela Johnson
Bird by Angela Johnson
The Hatchet series by Gary Paulsen
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
The Yearling by Marjorie Kennan Rawlings
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

I Am the Cheese by Robert Cormier

Tunes for Bears to Dance to by Robert Cormier

The Rag and Bone Shop by Robert Cormier

We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier

Take Me Where the Good Times Are by Robert Cormier

Heroes by Robert Cormier

Night Journeys by Avi (1st in series)
Encounter at Easton by Avi (2nd in series)

Beloved by Toni Morrison 

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Orange Is the New Black by Piper Kerman*
The Road by Cormac McCarthy*
The Second Son by Charles Sailor*
*I have read these and enjoyed them, but I do not recommend them as highly as the others for various reasons. Still, you may enjoy them. 

Some on the waiting list

My Quilting Library