Best Loved Books – Carol

Emma – Jane Austen  -  I love this book so much, it is so wonderfully written , I read it at least once a year, actually I read all her books at least once a year!  This one is my personal favorite of Austen, narrowing beating out Pride and Prejudice, which is also very high on my list.  Of the main character,  Emma Woodhouse, Austen said “I am going to take a heroine who no one but myself will much like”, but I love Emma and her meddling ways.

Christy- Catherine Marshall – PopPop recommended this one to me when I was just barely in my teens.  I have always loved it and read it many times.  The heroine, Christy Huddleston, leaves home at age nineteen to teach school in the Smoky Mountains, and comes to know and love the resilient Appalachian people, with their fierce pride and terrible poverty.  I loved the character Christy, but most loved her friend Fairlight Spencer.

Coming Home – Rosamunde Pilcher – This beloved book is my favorite Pilcher novel, which is saying a lot, because The Shell Seekers as well as September are also very high on my "favorite books ever" list.  In all her books, but especially Coming Home, Pilcher creates characters that I fall in love with, care about, and who stay with me forever. 

Harry Potter, the entire series – J K Rowling – I fell in love with these books way before any movies were made, and still love the characters, the storyline, and wish more than anything that Rowling would continue to write about Harry, Ron, and Hermione.  If you have only watched the movies, I encourage you to read the books, there is so much more to the story than the movies portray. 

Ender’s Game, the entire Ender and Bean series – Orson Scott Card – These books will totally take over your life if you aren’t careful.  I came to care so much about these children,  and love that Card continues to write about them as they grow up, and indeed even after they are grown.  This is another series that I re-read often.  I wish you all would read these books, they are just that wonderful.