Yesterday I blogged about the Enduring Favorites list so today I’m perusing the Ongoing Favorites. We’ve got 20 titles on the Ongoing Favorites List as well and just as with the Enduring Favorites, I have by no means read them all. Which I think is great…it just means there are more highly recommended awesome books that I haven’t read yet. Who could complain about that? Of the ones I have read, my absolute favorites are:
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory
and The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
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There are several books on this list that I either hadn’t heard of or considered (or if I’m being honest simply forgot about), but am now curious enough to try to fit them in. They are:
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
and The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar
And there are a few on the list that weren’t my favorites. Not that I didn’t value them for what they are, but everyone can’t love everything, right?
Though I admire Jodi Picoult’s work and admit she’s a page turner – I hated the ending of My Sister’s Keeper and that kind of ruined it for me. That said, both the subject of the book, and the ending I didn’t like will make for great book group conversation.
The Secret Life of Bees is also an excellent book but the problem for me is that I had heard soooo much about it that by the time I read it I was underwhelmed. Has that ever happened to you? (and did you ever admit it out loud?)
And then there’s Three Cups of Tea. An important story for sure – but I felt it got a little repetitive towards the end (as real life can sometimes do). I’m glad I read it, but might have gotten just as much out of a magazine article on the topic.
Any favorites from this list for you? Or un-favorites? Let us know. You may save someone a couple hours, or introduce them to a title they hadn’t thought about!
-- Dana
