Top 20 Books of 20 Years - The Best of the Best!

Since I started the blog, I've been periodically looking back at my ten favorite books which I read in each year since I started making top 10 lists.  I finally caught up to the present - and it just so happens that those lists cover 20 years of my reading - my top 10 lists so far stretch from 1999-2018!  So, I thought it would be fun to try to figure out my 20 favorite books of those 20 years of lists!  And yes, it's been a little while since I've posted anything - but part of the reason is that it has taken me a long time to narrow down the selections and then write this long post!

Books That Made Me Cry

I don't know about other people, but I actually love it when a book makes me cry.  Both for the element of the cathartic release of that I'm emotionally invested.  Often I'm crying at something sad, but sometimes I find the ending of a book I loved to be so poignant that it makes me cry even if it's happy!  In fact, if you look at my reviews of some my favorite books on Goodreads, it's not uncommon for them to include a statement along the lines of "I sobbed my way through the last chapter of this book."  All that being said, I am a famously easy crier.  My kids actually laugh at me because I cry so easily at movies and tv.

So, the following is not at all an exhaustive list of books that made me cry - just a look at a few of the most memorable cries.  Yes, they're all books that I loved (and many of them made my ten favorites lists the years that I read them).  But for the ones I list below, it wasn't just the book that was memorable but also specifically my emotional response to it!

Middle Grade Fiction Adults Can Enjoy Too

So far, I've discussed adult books and young adult books, but for the most part I haven't really discussed children's books, other than a mention or two.  So you may not realize that I'm just as passionate about children's literature, and about encouraging a love of reading in my kids.  I also volunteer at the school library at my kids' elementary school, so I love seeing what the kids are reading there and recommending some of these books to them too!

Today's post focuses on kids books that are so great, I recommend them even if you don't have a kid in your life to share them with.  These are also books that I recommend for kids who are strong independent readers, or for read-alouds with your kid.  Many of the books on this list I either read aloud to one of my kid, or I read them at the same time as one of my kids and then we discussed, though some I read purely for my own enjoyment.

Two series adults can enjoy too!

"Wonder" the movie vs. "Wonder" the book

I went to see the movie "Wonder" with my 9 year old son Jonah yesterday, which got me thinking about what makes a successful adaptation from a book to a movie.

I thought the movie was great, though not quite as a great as the book.  What made the viewing experience  different for me this time was that often when I see the movie version of a book I read, I read the book a year ago or more, sometimes quite a few years, so I might remember just the general gist of what the book is about.  And while I did read "Wonder" for the first time back in 2013, I JUST finished reading it with Jonah, who hadn't previously read it.  For the last month or two, we have read a few chapters of the book out loud before he goes to bed, and we literally finished reading it on Saturday night and then went and saw it in the movie theater on Sunday before it leaves theaters all together.  So, it was unusually fresh in my mind in terms of making direct comparisons between the book and the movie.

5 Books That Have Stayed With You

If you had to name 5 books that you have read that have really stayed with you over the years, what would they be?  Not necessarily your top 5 favorite books of all time (I could never pick!), but just the first 5 books that come to mind that have really stuck in your mind for one reason or another.  Here's what came to mind for me today:

1.  The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

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.

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?