All Time Favorite Books

I used to have my all time favorite books listed in a little area to the right of my postings on my blog. I keep finding other things I want to add there and I decided to delete that box of books. So, I'm going to tell you a bit about them and maybe even why I liked them. These are not in any particular order.



Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry is the best western I've ever read. It's long and full and to simplify, it's about a cattle drive -- but so much more. I remember when it came out, almost my whole family had read it and kept telling me how great it was, but I couldn't get into it. I tried to read it a couple of times and was bored silly. Then I decided that I'd try one more time and I'd give it 100 pages. With 960 pages, that seemed fair to me. Besides, I fully expected to toss it aside at that point. I can't remember when I was hooked, but I certainly was by the time I got to that 100th page! It's still one of my all time favorite books.



Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett was one I found many years before Oprah did. I first heard about it in the early 1990's in a Dear Abby or Ann Landers column. Someone had written in saying that it was the best book they'd ever read. That they found it in a hotel lobby with a note to take it, but to please leave it in another hotel lobby when they finished with it. I was intrigued by this book and this concept of leaving books too. So, I went to the bookstore to see what the book was about and bought it on the spot. It's set in medieval times and is about a Cathedral builder and his family. It has remained one of my all time favorites since then. It's also very long and full. You find yourself just amazed and shocked at times. I have never reread it and I haven't read the recent sequel yet either, but I still think about it at times. If you want to leave a book in a public place for someone to find, check out BookCrossing. Fun and interesting.



Outlander by Diana Gabaldon is another long, full, wonderful book. I've found it at times in the romance section, which always surprises me. That's not the way I think of it. Although there is indeed plenty of romancing going on. It's more fantasy and adventure to me. It's about a WW2 nurse who is transported back in time while visiting Scotland for her honeymoon. It's the first in a series and well worth all the time the series will take to read. Scotland, Highlanders, history, witch trials, ahhhh, there is so much to these books that I don't even know where to start.



The Sookie Stackhouse series is by Charlaine Harris. I picked it up because I fell head over heals for True Blood on HBO. The series is based on the book series. The books have much more in them than the TV series, although the first season of True Blood was basically based on the first book of the series Dead Until Dark. There was still a lot left out and changed from the book. This is not normally the type of TV I would watch or the type of book I would read (since I moved out to the country, I don't much care for "scary"), but I really do like these Vampire stories. They are fun. There's romance and scary things, but not so scary as to truly scare me. I can't wait for the next book and the next season.



The Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich is a mystery series. Stephanie is a bounty hunter in New Jersey and not a very good one at that. She is a hoot! There's romance and lots of laughs. I love this series and I've read it more than once. The first book in it is One for the Money and in my opinion, the first book is the weakest. Ms. Evanovich's writing gets better after it and the stories are better.



Another book that I want to mention, because I still think of it, is called Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. It was one that we read in my book club toward the end of the book club's life. It's about a group of people who are held hostage and it is amazing! I don't want to tell you much about it because I'm afraid that once I start, I won't be able to stop. Don't want to ruin the book for you.

Tomorrow, I may try to take photos of all of these books to add to this posting. Then again, I might not.