A Section of my Collection

[create_destiny]

The top section is the American author section.

The bottom section consists entirely of books that have been named "top ten favorite books" by my bibliophile friends and family.


A few years ago I decided to ask my parents and some other book-loving friends what their top ten favorite books are, or more specifically, what books have greatly impacted the ways they "think, believe and behave." My parents are big-time readers and when they depart from this planet I want to be able to stand in front of a section of my book shelf and think, "Yep, there's my dad right there, in ten books," or "Yep, there's my mom," or "Yep, there's my most excellent friend Beth," you get the idea...I have a long way to go before I complete this section. Allow me to post a few of these lists, with an asterisk next to the titles that are pictured here on this shelf:

My Dad's List:
1. The Jungle* - Upton Sinclair
2. Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
3. This is It - Allen Watts
4. The Night They Burned the Mountain - Tom Dooley
5. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert Pirsig
6. The Chosen* - Chaim Potok
7. The Immense Journey - Loren Eiseley
8. Tao Te Ching* - Lao-tzu
9. Steppenwolf* - Herman Hesse
10. The Snow Leopard* - Peter Matthessen

My Mom's List:
1. The Good Earth - Pearl S. Buck
2. Cry, the Beloved Country - Alan Paton [on another shelf]
3. Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee - Dee Alexander Brown [on another shelf]
4. The Red Pony* - John Steinbeck
5. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek* - Annie Dillard
6. Small is Beautiful - EF Schumacher
7. Prodigal Summer* - Barbara Kingsolver
8. The Doll Maker - ?
9. The Jungle* - Upton Sinclair
10. The Prophet - Kahlil Gibran