Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Books I'm Thankful For

This list could have easily been twice as long, but I decided to only do ten today. I am thankful for every book that has made me think a little differently or allowed me to connect with a fictional character. So here's ten books that are very, very special to me. 

Hosted by: The Broke and the Bookish

 

1. Riding Freedom by Pam Munoz Ryan Illustrated by Brain Selznick 
My elementary librarian read this book to us and I absolutely loved it. It's one of the first books I remember with a really strong female protagonist. The main character is a young girl who dresses up as a boy in order to work in a horse stable and then goes on to be a stage coach driver. It's such an amazing story and the illustrations are gorgeous, as Selznick's illustrations always are.  

2. Chasing Redbird and Bloomability by Sharon Creech
Chasing Redbird is an odd story, but I remember it really stuck with me after I read it for the first time when I was young. I think Bloomability was the first Sharon Creech book I read and I really, really loved it. It's about an American girl who goes to a boarding school in Switerland. These books really made me think about life and humanity and I think about them quite often to this day, even though the details are fuzzy.

3. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
This is a given. I don't think another world will ever be as real and important to me as the wizarding world of Harry Potter.

 

4. Passing by Nella Larson
I read this book in my first real literature class in college, and as soon as I read it and left the classroom after discussing it as a class I knew that I was in the right field of study. I was seriously on a literature high after discussing this book in class. It's an amazing novel, but beyond that I have such positive and found memories of reading and discussing it.

5. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
I read this novel in the same class as Passing and the paper that I wrote on Zeena's pickle dish is my favorite paper I have ever written. This short novel taught me that simple can be thought provoking, beautiful, and tragic.

6. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
I have read this novel many times, and my thoughts about it evolve and grow as I evolve and grow. I read it for the first time when I was a Junior in high school, and now I'm in my fourth year of college. Each reading challenges me, and I appreciate the complex characters and the genuineness with which Fitzgerald created them.

 

7. The Bell Jar By Sylvia Plath
I talk about this one quite often. I am thankful that Plath vocalized in such an elegant and honest way what I feel inside sometimes, and whenever I am over whelmed with the pressures of being a woman, student, and whatever else I have to be, I can red Plath's words and know that I am not alone.

8. Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
This is my all-time favorite story, and I am so thankful for this novel and the comfort the story brings me. It also has some quite interesting and dark themes, if you have never read the original novel, you really should.

9. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
 I am thankful for a fierce and self-sufficient heroine in a time when men ruled the world.

10. Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 
These stories always bring me comfort and calm when I read or listen to them on audiobook or even watch an adaptation of them. I am thankful that I can share a connection with my mom over these top-notch mysteries which we both love.

What are you guys thankful for? Have a great Thanksgiving if your're in the States!