10 Books

It's been a few weeks since I had my shit together enough to participate in a Monday Listicles. This week the topic is A List of 10 Books. Simple, no? I could spin this a thousand ways but the KISS principle seems the best approach. So off I went listing some books I love and linked it all up. Then I read a few of the other listicles. Awww, crap! In my book excitement, which can only be blamed on the fact that I'm a total dork, I published next weeks topic too early. I'm just going to roll with it.

10 Books that rocked my socks off so hard I could barely put them down:

1. Heaven is Here by Stephanie Nielson
This story is one that I am still thinking about intensely days after finishing. For one thing, this woman lived through a horrific accident that took months of recovery just to get to the point of basic independent function. Then she went and relived it in order to write this book. Wow. Despite circumstances that would bring most of us to our knees she still considers herself incredibly blessed and is thankful. Imagine that.

2. Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters by Margaret Meeker
Along with baby CPR, Giving Birth 101, and Breastfeeding 101 this book should be required for all people who are about to embark on raising a daughter. Seriously, it's that important. And it should be annual re-reading until your daughter is 40 years old.

3. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
When I got to the end I was just pissed that there weren't another 1000 pages to read. I could not put it down. For 3 days in a row I did nothing but read. Luckily laying on the couch doesn't work up a sweat but I still needed a shower when I got to the last page.

4. She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb
I read this when I was in my early 20s. It moved me deeply and awakened compassion and empathy in a way I hadn't really tapped into before - this character is heartbreaking.

5. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
A spellbinding classic. How interesting to have looked at this incredible time in history from this perspective.

6. Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch
My copy is dog-eared with sticky bookmark flags and pencil underlining passages that have been at one time or another, eye-opening or comforting or both. To a hard-core religious this book is probably blasphemous but I love thinking that God is really like this and that the universe really is this connected. It provides evidence of that gut feeling I've always had: there is something bigger and more vast than my mortal self can comprehend.

7. Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Incredible read. So macabre that my morbid curiosity couldn't help but keep reading.

8. Many Lives, Many Masters by Brian L. Weiss
Another one that I couldn't put down. It really made me wonder about reincarnation and who I might have been in the past.

9. The Legacy of Divorce by Judith S. Wallerstein and Sandra Blakeslee
While reading this book I felt normal for the very first time in my life.

10. Baby Love by Rebecca Walker
This book makes me feel like less of an asshole and less of an outcast when I admit out loud that I didn't always want kids. Then when I did want them I was still afraid of my entire identity being sucked into a deep, dark black hole. Apparently for some women this is totally normal. It's also totally normal to feel OK about a major identity shift and wondering why you ever thought there was a chance that your baby wouldn't be the most captivating creature you ever laid eyes on in the first place.