Category: favorite books

Coming-of-age is more of a theme than a genre, I suppose, but I tend to really like books that can be categorized this way. Maybe it’s the nostalgia (I am very prone to it) or the fact that all humans share the adolescent experience so it usually resonates with me.

I think, also, that any good novel will have characters that change over time (usually when they encounter some sort of difficulty) and coming-of-age provides a perfect framework to make that happen.

I don’t know, do you think the term “coming of age” has any real meaning when it comes to books? Is it too broad?

Regardless, here are my favorite coming-of-age books at the moment:

A Prayer For Owen Meany by John Irving – this is also still in my top five novels of all time.

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith – slow, sweet, tender. Amazing characters.

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides – flawless writing; completely drew me in to obsess about these strange but beautiful girls right along with the collective narrator.

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee – this is everyone’s favorite for a reason. Anytime I re-read it I’m blown away.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer – just the sweetest and most heartbreaking story ever.

Joyland by Stephen King – along with the excellent character development you get an interesting setting, element of mystery, and a satisfying ending.

What are your favorites? Any I need to add to my list?

I use Grammarly’s grammar check because although you might not be able to tell from the way I look when I drop Meredith off at daycare right now or the frequency of baths taken around here, I DO have some standards.

I read a whole lot more fiction than nonfiction, so when I do read it I try to make it the good stuff. A lot of the nonfiction books I read are faith-related, but since I’ve already written about my favorite books on faith I didn’t include any of those on this list. Here are the ones I absolutely loved.

Nicholas & Alexandra by Robert K. Massie – This biography of the last Tsar of Russia and his wife really is a case where truth is stranger than fiction. So much drama and intrigue and I loved every word.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand – The subtitle says this is “A World War II story of survival, resilience, and redemption,” and that’s a perfect way to describe it. I cannot even believe what this man went through and the way that his life was transformed.

And the Sea Will Tell by Vincent Bugliosi – My husband is a true crime fanatic, so that means I don’t have to wade through all the junk (because a lot of that genre really is terrible) and can go straight to the good stuff. He says this is the best true crime book he’s ever read, and it was completely riveting to me too. It’s unique in that the author was also the defense attorney and the evidence was seemingly insurmountable.

Great With Child by Beth Ann Fennelly – In a different vein, this is a memoir about motherhood in the format of letters written to an expectant mother that is gorgeous and poetic and just perfect.

Columbine by Dave Cullen – An account of the Columbine shootings, the boys that did it and their families, and the community. It was researched for ten years, the story is fascinating and in-depth, and the author is even witty. My eyes were opened.

The Hot Zone by Richard Preston – This might have been the first real nonfiction book I ever read. It’s the retelling of a near-outbreak of a strain of Ebola virus in the U.S. and I felt like it could have been the screenplay to a movie. It was intense and thrilling and for a long time afterward I was terrified of this disease.

Your turn! I have more fiction books on my to-read list than I know what to do with, but I’d love more nonfiction recommendations. What are your favorites?

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This post was sponsored by Grammarly, but all opinions are my own.

This is the best wrap-up of last year that I have in me this year. It was a year, things happened, life is about to change a lot, and through it all I was reading books. Here are my favorites.

The Passage by Justin Cronin: This is not the kind of book that I would normally just pick up, but it was a book club pick and I’m so glad. To me, it had it all and I got seriously invested in the characters. This reminds me that I need to read the sequel ASAP.

Abhorsen by Garth Nix: Just one of the best and most unique young adult fantasy series I’ve ever read, and the awesomeness of this finale to the trilogy can’t be overstated. I highly recommend the audio version.

Katherine by Anya Seton: If all historical fiction were like this, I would read so much more of it. I just loved it all even though it had a lot of tragic parts.

A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin: A large part of my year was spent reading the first three of this series that starts with A Game of Thrones. I liked it right away, but it took me about halfway into the first book to really love it. After that I was all in. This third in the series was the best yet and it prompted many heated discussions with fellow fans at work.

Wild by Cheryl Strayed: I read this memoir in two days, which is super fast for me. It has adventure and emotion and fantastic writing, and it made me want to be better.

Honorable mentions: Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (I finally conquered it and it was so great, way better than I expected, except for the boring parts about whaling that I had to skim), Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (it just gets better and better and by the end I wanted to start it over from the beginning), and The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (super interesting fantasy with outstanding narration if you listen to the audio).

Have you read any of these? What were the best books you read this year?