Probably the reason this middle grade book has stayed with me over the years is because it is likely the book I have read the most times in my life! I used to read it all the time as a kid, and have read it a few times as an adult. Just a really great kids' book with an interesting mystery, quirky characters, and lots of surprises. I volunteer in the school library at my son's elementary school, and I love recommending this book to the older kids.
2. A Widow For One Year by John Irving
I don't think I can remember the last sentence of any other book, including the book I finished reading yesterday - but more than 18 years after reading "A Widow For One Year," I still vividly recall the last sentence of this book and just the thought of it brings tears to my eyes. John Irving's books vary wildly in quality, and some of his more recent books seem almost like a parody of a John Irving book. This one isn't his most famous, but is my favorite of his. Somewhat less weirdness than his other books and just really indelible characters.
3. The Passage by Justin Cronin
This book (and the subsequent 2 books in the trilogy) are among my favorites of all time. I read it six and a half years ago and when my daughter read it earlier this year I could discuss it with her for the most part as if I had just read it - I can still name pretty much every character in the book and most of the plot points. Long and totally crazy hard to describe plot that veers from government conspiracy to vampires to post-apocalyptic craziness, but written in a very literary style. Just an amazing, can't put-it-down read.
4. Wonder by R.J. Palacio
Another middle grade book, but this one I read for the first time as an adult. And it is one of the best books I have ever read, better than most adult fiction. If you somehow never have heard of the book (or the movie adaptation currently in theaters), it's about a boy born with severe facial disfiguration who has been homeschooled and goes to school for the first time in fifth grade, and is just a beautiful story about compassion, friendship, and seeing beyond the surface.
5. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn and Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter
Ok, I'm cheating with this one by naming two books,
but they both fall into the same category - books which are good and well-written but which I wish I could forget because they're so disturbing! "Dark Places" is about a woman whose family was murdered when she was a girl, and goes back and forth in time between her adult attempts to investigate what really happened, and flashbacks to the time just before - culminating in a description of the massacre of the family that was just so gory and upsetting. I lent this one to my friend Sarah and when she tried to give it back to me, I refused because I didn't want to have the book in my house! "Pretty Girls" was picked by my friend Laurie for our book club and while it was a good book, the rest of this in the book club still some times give her grief for picking such a creepy book. It's a novel about torture porn and murder and still freaks me out every time I think about it.
but they both fall into the same category - books which are good and well-written but which I wish I could forget because they're so disturbing! "Dark Places" is about a woman whose family was murdered when she was a girl, and goes back and forth in time between her adult attempts to investigate what really happened, and flashbacks to the time just before - culminating in a description of the massacre of the family that was just so gory and upsetting. I lent this one to my friend Sarah and when she tried to give it back to me, I refused because I didn't want to have the book in my house! "Pretty Girls" was picked by my friend Laurie for our book club and while it was a good book, the rest of this in the book club still some times give her grief for picking such a creepy book. It's a novel about torture porn and murder and still freaks me out every time I think about it.
So those are my 5 (well 6) that sprang to mind today, I'm sure I could easily come up with more! What books stand out in your mind as those that have stayed with you?
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