Sapphire's Books: A Guest Post

Hi Steph's readers!  This is Sapphire filling in while Stephanie readjusts to life on this side of the pond.

Here is a picture of me in case we haven't met

Previously in my life, I had told Stephanie that I would write a post about books for her, but then I didn't.  I felt bad about it and now that I'm done with school and Steph is starting it seemed like a good time for a guest post.  I wanted to write about my top favorite books, but that proved too hard to narrow down.  Then I thought of books I like to re-read, but a lot of them were by the same author and that felt redundant.  So now I am going to write about my top 5 favorite books/authors to re-read (mainly so I can sneak in more Harry Potter books).  I hardly ever re-read a book even ones I really like (such as Agatha Christie or Willa Cather), so these aren't really my absolute favorite books but ones that I think hold up to subsequent readings.  And these are in no real order, but I do like numbering things. As Miranda would say, "On with the show!"

5: All 7 Harry Potter books by JK Rowling

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These are all great books, I've read all of them at least twice.  Usually if I pick one up to read it will be either 6 or 7.  Although 4 and 5 are great, too.  The books are oh so much better than the movies.  A lot of detail and little scenes are lost when moved to the big screen.  I'm going to guess that even if you haven't read the books or seen the movies you know what they are about.  If you haven't read them than I highly recommend that you do.

4: Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn

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I think this is the book I have re-read the most as an adult.  The whole book is told in letters back and forth between family members and community members living on an island off the United States.  The premise is that this little island succeeded from the US and is devoted to language and the written word.  They revere Nevin Nollop (the guy who wrote the sentence 'The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog') and trouble starts when letters from his famous sentence start falling off the tribute wall.  The subtitle of the book, a progressively lipogrammatic epistolary fable, is my favorite subtitle ever.  It also tells you what you need to know about the story.

3: John Steinbeck books

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I have read almost all of John Steinbeck's books.  Some of them are slow going (The Wayward Bus, I'm looking at you) while others are so good I've read them many times.  My favorite of his books is Travels with Charley, a nonfiction book about traveling around America with his dog in a pickup truck with attached trailer to sleep in.  He started his trip in the fall of 1960 and it provides a look at how different the country was.  He rides through the segregated south and friendly midwest.  Other Steinbeck books like Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden are more well known (and I love also) but Charley is my favorite.

2: Franny and Zooey by JD Salinger (and other books)

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I wasn't a big fan of Catcher in the Rye but I gave Salinger another try with Franny and Zooey and really loved it.  I like all the stories about the Glass family: Franny, Zooey and their older siblings.  

1: Bill Bryson books

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Bill Bryson is a native Iowan who now lives with his family in England.  Most of his books take place in America and are nonfiction.  A Walk in the Woods is probably my favorite of his books and really makes me want to hike the Appalacian Trail.  In the book Bryson hikes the trail with his friend Katz.  They break it up into sections and hike for several weeks at a time.  They run into issues and interesting people along the way.  Another of his books I really like is The Lost Continent a book about traveling around the US by car.  It is a lot like a sort of re-doing of Steinbeck's travels.  He doesn't go to exactly the same spots but a lot of the same areas of the country are covered nearly 30 years later.  

Well, that's a peak at my bookshelf.  Hope y'all enjoyed it!  Be sure to turn in when Stephanie is back up and blogging!

Saoirse says to read more books!