You can tell a lot about people by looking at their book shelves. Here’s your chance to learn about me by seeing what books I’ve been reading. [I’ve actually read a lot more than what’s listed here, so as I remember more titles I’ll be adding them to this list.]
To see my TBR list check this page: My TBR Lists: Books I Plan to Read Soon.
One of the most important things we writers need to do is read, because it helps us know the genres we choose to write in, and because through reading we learn to recognize good writing from bad. It is as important for us to read other genres as it is to read the ones we gravitate to in our writings. In this way we expand our understanding of writing, and develop our own unique styles.
Fiction
Picture Books to Middle Grade Illustrated
I’ve read dozens of picture books and it would take a miracle to remember them all, but here are a few of my favorites remembered from my own childhood and from my parenting years.
Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears by Verna Aardema
The Five Chinese Brothers by Claire Huchet Bishop
The Bears on Hemlock Mountain by Alice Dalgliesh
The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes
The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack
Millions of Cats by Wanda Gág
My Father’s Dragon by Ruth S. Gannett
Paddle To The Sea by Holling C. Holling
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf
The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
Liza Lou And The Yeller Belly Swamp by Mercer Mayer
There’s a Nightmare in My Closet by Mercer Mayer
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business by Esphyr Slobodkina
Middle Grade Fiction
The Book of Three (Prydain Chronicles) by Lloyd Alexander
The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli
Sounder by William H. Armstrong
Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard & Florence Atwater
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl’s Journal, 1830-1832 by Joan W. Blos
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary
The Cat Who Went to Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth
What Jamie Saw by Carolyn Coman
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
Julie by Jean Craighead George
Julie’s Wolf Pack by Jean Craighead George
Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
The Watsons Go to Birmingham: 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis
Along Came A Dog by Meindert Dejong
The House of Sixty Fathers by Meindert DeJong
Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes
Calico Bush by Rachel Field
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
Blue Willow by Doris Gates
The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare
The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare
Lily’s Crossing by Patricia Reilly Giff
Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janel Gray
Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry
Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
All Alone by Claire Huchet Bishop
The Little House Series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg
Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth by E. L. Konigsburg
Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison by Lois Lenski
Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski
The Magician’s Nephew by CS Lewis
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis
Prince Caspian by CS Lewis
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
Esperanza Rising
Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Secret of the Andes by Ann Nolan Clark
Rascal: A Memoir of a Better Era by Sterling North
Sing Down The Moon by Scott O’Dell
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
The Black Pearl by Scott O’Dell
A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
Seesaw Girl by Linda Sue Park
When My Name Was Keoko by Linda Sue Park
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Pussy Meow: The Autobiography of a Cat by Susanna Louise Patteson
Letters from Pussycatville by Susanna Louise Patteson
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck
The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pène du Bois
Daughter of the Mountains by Louise Rankin
Missing May by Cynthia Rylant
Fog Magic by Julia Sauer
The Light at Tern Rock by Julia Sauer
The Family Under The Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson
Roller Skates by Ruth Sawyer
The Cricket In Times Square by George Selden, pseud. (George Thompson)
The Grim Grotto by Lemony Snicket
Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorenson
Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry
Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
Middle Grade Non-Fiction
The Wright Brothers: How They Invented the Airplane by Russell Freedman
The Great Fire by Jim Murphy
Blizzard by Jim Murphy
…and lots of biographies…
Young Adult Fiction
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
I, Juan de Pareja by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino
The Education of Little Tree by Forrest Carter
My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier & Christopher Collier
Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman
Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding
The Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
The Dark Frigate by Charles Hawes
Moccasin Trail by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
The First Part Last by Angela Johnson
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Twilight by Stephenie Meyers
Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson
A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix
The Perilous Guard by Elizabeth Marie Pope
The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Marie Pope
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
Where The Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
Holes by Louis Sachar
Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous (Beatrice Sparks)
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by JRR Tolkien
Contemporary Adult Fiction
The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom
Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach
Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
Peony by Pearl Buck
This Side of Innocence by Taylor Caldwell
Breakfast At Tiffany’s by Truman Capote
2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven
One Harlequin romance, title forgotten, by Janet Daily
A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
The House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III
Poor Cow by Nell Dunn
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards
The Carousel by Richard Paul Evans
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
The Collector by John Fowles
The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles
The Magus by John Fowles
Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
Body Double by Tess Gerritsen
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
Ordinary People by Judith Guest
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein
Demian by Herman Hesse
The Glass Bead Game by Herman Hesse
Narcissus and Goldman by Herman Hesse
Siddartha by Herman Hesse
Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse
Mistress of Mellyn by Victoria Holt
Kirkland Revels by Victoria Holt
Bride of Pendorric by Victoria Holt
The Legend of the Seventh Virgin by Victoria Holt
Menfeya in the Morning by Victoria Holt
The King of the Castle by Victoria Holt
The Shivering Sands by Victoria Holt
The Secret Woman by Victoria Holt
The Shadow of the Lynx by Victoria Holt
On the Night of the Seventh Moon by Victoria Holt
The Far Pavilions by M. M. Kaye
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb
The City of Joy by Dominique Lapierre
Memory of Fire by Holly Lisle
The Thornbirds by Colleen McCullough
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
A Little Yellow Dog: An Easy Rawlins Mystery by Walter Mosley
The Sands of Kalahari by William Mulvihill
We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Love Story by Erich Segal
Message in a Bottle by Nicholas Spark
Palomino by Danielle Steel
The Promise by Danielle Steel
The Ring by Danielle Steel
Summer’s End by Danielle Steel
Earth Abides by George R. Stewart
Moonspinners by Mary Stewart
The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan
Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo
The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler
Dinner At The Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler
Pocho by Jose Antonio Villarreal
Cats Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Slaughterhouse Five, or the Children’s Crusade by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Short Stories
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
The Call of Cthulhu by H.P. Lovecraft
At the Mountains of Madness and Other Tales of Terror by H.P. Lovecraft
Selected Tales by Edgar Allan Poe
Plays
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
Poetry
The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Basho
Another book (can’t remember title) by Basho
Stanyan Street and Other Sorrows by Rod McKuen
Several other poetry collections by Rod McKuen
Classics
Waiting For Godot by Samuel Beckett
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
A Christmas Carol
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
The Lady of the Camellias by Alexandre Dumas
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Tender Is The Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
A Farewell To Arms by Hemingway
The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Call of the Wild and lots of short stories by Jack London
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
1984 by George Orwell
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Paton
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare
Hamlet by Shakespeare
Antigone by Sophocles
Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
The Red Pony by John Steinbeck
A Cup of Gold by John Steinbeck
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain
Candide by Voltaire
Non-Fiction
Memoirs, Autobiographies, Biographies, True Stories, Essays, etc.:
Medicine Woman by Lynn V. Andrews
Spirit Woman by Lynn V. Andrews
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
Emma Lee by Juanita Brooks
A Walk In The Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson
Cheaper By The Dozen by Frank B. Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
When Rabbit Howls by Truddi Chase
In the Land of the Grasshopper Song: Two Women in the Klamath River Indian Country in 1908-09 by Mary Ellicott Arnold and Mabel Reed
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
I Never Promised You A Rose Garden by Joanne Greenberg
The Endless Steppe: Growing Up in Siberia by Esther Hautzig
Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
Mutant Messages Down Under by Marlo Morgan (may be fictionalized)
The Other Side: An account of my experiences with psychic phenomena by Bishop James A. Pike
Tisha: The Story of a Young Teacher in the Alaska Wilderness by Robert Specht
Travels With Charley by John Steinbeck
Pioneer Women: Voices From the Kansas Frontier by Joanna L. Stratton
Always, Karen by Jeanne Walker – see my review
Healthy Aging: A Lifelong Guide to Your Physical and Spiritual Well-Being
Writing
Becoming a Writer
Just Open A Vein edited by William Brohaugh
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print by Renni Browne
The Artists Way by Julia Cameron
How to Write and Sell Your First Novel by Oscar Collier
Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
On Writing by Stephen King
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
The First Five Pages: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile by Noah Lukeman
Writing To Sell by Scott Meredith
The New Diary by Tristine Rainer
A Writer’s Book of Days: A Spirited Companion and Lively Muse for the Writing Life by Judy Reeves
How To Grow A Novel by Sol Stein
The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr.
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Publishing Children’s Books, Second Edition by Harold D. Underdown
Blogging Tips – What bloggers won’t tell you about blogging by Lorelle Van Fossen
Spiritual, New Age, Religious, Philosophy, Energy Healing, etc:
The Bible
A Course In Miracles
The Bhagavad Gita
DreamHealer: A True Story of Miracle Healings by Adam
The Master Cleanser by Stanley Burroughs
The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge by Carlos Castaneda
Trust Your Vibes: Secret Tools for Six-Sensory Living by Sonia Choquette
Acres of Diamonds by R. H. Conwell
The Power of Concentration by Theron, Q Dumont
Unification Culture and the 21st Century by Mose Durst
The Unquiet Dead: A Psychologist Treats Spirit Possession by Dr. Edith Fiore
Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain
The Prophet by Khalil Gibran
The Art of Spiritual Healing by Joel S. Goldsmith
Combatting Cult Mind Contol by Steve Hassan
The Path of the Masters: The Science of Surat Shabd Yoga & The Yoga of the Audible Life Stream by Julian Johnson
The Law of Attraction by Michael Losier
The Romance Factor by Alan Loy McGinnis
The Friendship Factor: How to Get Closer to the People You Care For by Alan Loy McGinnis
The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield
The Tenth Insight by James Redfield
The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, A Toltec Wisdom Book
Entity Possession: Freeing the Energy Body of Negative Influences by Samuel Sagan
Hostage To Heaven – Four years in the Unification Church by an Ex- Moonie and The Mother Who Fought To Free Her by Barbara & Betty Underwood
The Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson
See You At The Top by Zig Zigler
Children, Recovery, Psychology
Dibs In Search of Self by Virginia M. Axline
Play Therapy by Virginia M. Axline
Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself by Melody Beattie
Games People Play: The basic handbook of transactional analysis by Eric Berne
‘It Will Never Happen to Me!’ Children of Alcoholics: As Youngsters – Adolescents – Adults by Claudia Black
How to Parent by Fitzhugh Dodson
Dysfunctional Families by John C. Friel Ph.D.
12 Steps for Adult Children by Friends in Recovery
Between Parent and Child: The Bestselling Classic That Revolutionized Parent-Child Communication by Dr. Haim G Ginott
Parent Effectiveness Training: The Proven Program for Raising Responsible Children by Thomas Gordon
Recovery: A Guide for Adult Children of Alcoholics by Herbert L. Gravitz
I’m Ok, You’re Ok by Thomas A. Harris, M.D.
Out of Control: Who’s Watching Our Child Protection Agencies? by Brenda Scott
Protecting Children From Child Protective Services by Alan L. Schwartz
Healing The Child Within: Discovery and Recovery for Adult Children of Dysfunctional Families by Charles L. Whitfield
A Gift to Myself by Charles L. Whitfield
Adult Children of Alcoholics by Janet Woititz
Struggle for Intimacy by Janet Woititz
Homemaking
Diet For A Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappe
Organizing from the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern
Taming the Paper Tiger: Organizing the Paper in Your Life by Barbara Hemphill
Sidetracked Home Executives(TM): From Pigpen to Paradise by Pam Young and Peggy Jones
Clear Your Clutter With Feng Shui by Karen Kingston
[Note: This list will be updated whenever I read another book!]
Just wanted to point out that Tender is the Night is by F Scott Fitzgerald not William Faulkner!
I like your reading list – I am writing Middle Grade children’s books and will definitely be looking out for many of the titles on your list.
Shuna, thanks SO MUCH for pointing out my error – I’ve fixed it now. It has been many years since I read that book, but I really know better – I’ve never read anything by Faulkner…. something I should change, and soon!
Thanks so much for the book recommendation, Frances Ellen… I am putting it on my TBR list right now.
Contemporary Adult Fiction: I have garnered several books from your list that I will definitely read. Let me recommend one for you. “Water for Elephants” – for the life of me, I cannot remember who wrote it, but it was one of the best I’ve read recently.
Thank you for your excellent blog.