My Top All-Time 15 Favorite Books
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Since it’s Christmas time and everyone is putting out their list of top books, I decided to do the same. This is not my list for just this year though. I also don’t include children’s books or non-fiction on this list. Those books often depend heavily on age or context. These are my all-time favorite adult fiction books that I recommend for everyone, all the time, in no particular order:
[image error]1. Lord of the Rings by Tolkien
This epic fantasy trilogy defined the genre for generations. Tolkien was a scholar who created a rich world based on the folklore of multiple western cultures. This tale of good versus evil forces us to examine the corruption inside of us. “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
[image error]2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin
This romantic comedy is still far superior to anything that has been written today. I can read this over and over again and still fall in love with Darcy. I laugh each time at the ridiculousness of humanity, and yet the character seems like people who I would meet in reality. The story is just fun from beginning to end. The first line describes the plot perfectly: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”
[image error]3. The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy
I picked up this book at an airport while in college, having no idea what it was about. I fell in love with this swashbuckling tale and have read it three or four times. The mix of vanity and heroic in the main characters keep you guessing during the struggle to save lives during the French Revolution. A love story between two characters who are already married to each other is such a novelty. “They seek him here. They seek him there. Those Frenchies seek him everywhere. Is he in Heaven? Or is he in Hell? That damned, illusive pimpernel.”
[image error]4. Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini
This book took me by surprise. It is a highly intellectual swashbuckling tale that keeps you guessing what the main character will do next. It has the best opening sentence I have ever read in a book: “He was born with a gift of laughter and the sense the world was mad.”
[image error]5. The Princess and the Goblin and it’s sequel The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald
Perhaps fairytales are not considered adult-worthy books, but I love these even though I never read them as a child. So many fairy tales and children’s books have progress in ways that mars it somehow. This is just beautiful from beginning to end. A young princess and a coal miner boy experience magical adventures which end perfectly. “Seeing is not believing—it is only seeing.”
[image error]6. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott
Knights, ladies, adventure and romance, what more could you want? This story is just beautiful in the historical context of the medieval world. I love the chivalry and the language. “Chivalry!—why, maiden, she is the nurse of pure and high affection—the stay of the oppressed, the redresser of grievances, the curb of the power of the tyrant —Nobility were but an empty name without her, and liberty finds the best protection in her lance and her sword.”
[image error]7. The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
The Blue Fairy Book is a collection of fairytales mostly from Europe. Unlike some of the other fairy books, most of these stories are clean love stories verse fables or generic folklore. We could use a broadening of our fairytales from the standard Cinderella, Snow White, and Beauty and the Beast stories we hear over and over again.
[image error]8. Ruth by Ellen Gunderson Traylor
Ruth is a retelling of the book of Ruth that enhances your understanding of the Biblical story rather than butchering it. Is it possible for a woman to love two men in a lifetime? In this story Ruth does, and the complexity of her emotions are real to life.
[image error]9. The Mark of the Lion Series by Francine Rivers
The Mark of the Lion is a series of three books, but I have to be honest and say I only read the first two. The first two books follow a young Jewish girl named Hadassah as she is taken into slavery in Rome during the destruction of Jerusalem after Christ. The first and third books follow a gladiator who was also somewhat interesting, but not nearly as interesting to me as Hadassah. I had expected these books to be another one of the standard Christian fiction bland stuff, but instead, it has a lot of depth. Hadassah is a Christian, and she stays a Christian even when it becomes hard, including costing her life, or so she thinks. This isn’t a book about missionary dating or whining to God about why life it hard. This is a gritty story about faith that has a beautiful love story as kind of an afterthought.
[image error]10. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
One of the few original portal fantasy stories. Some see a gospel message in the Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe, but if you don’t limit yourself by a search for allegory, you’ll find a beautiful series about faith and courage. I love how each book holds its own adventure. Narnia grows and changes and so do the children in each book.
[image error]11. The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander
I read this as a lark because my cousin recommended it and I was bored. I never expected to fall in love with the whole series. We have all heard of the stereotype of a farm boy becoming the called hero, king, or wizard in tons of fantasy fiction. What if the farm boy is a lower pig herder and he stays a pig herder, most of the time. This is a fantasy series about being content in who you are and making the most of it. What a novel idea!
[image error]12. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
In some ways, this books seems like two stories. In the first we see Jane Eyre overcoming her suffering as a child to become an independent woman. The second part is her love story and effort to be true to her desires and morals at the same time. The complex characters have you feeling a full range of emotions.
[image error]13. Christy by Catherine Marshall
Christy is another Christian fiction book that I expected to be sappy and trite. Instead, it touched me deeply. It’s based on a true story about a young woman who follows God’s call to teach the children in the Appilaciation mountains. Christy discovers that her commission is much much harder than she realized. As she deals with poverty, harsh conditions, and an ignorant, isolated society, she also develops a relationship with a grumpy Scottish doctor and an idealistic minister. This is the only book I have ever read that had a love triangle that was tolerable because it wasn’t deceptive. The trying of all the character’s faith is intense. The ending is powerful.
[image error]14. Arabian Nights
Who wrote this? No one knows, but it’s remarkable in how it holds layers and layers of stories that almost never end. If a less skilled writer attempted this the reader would get bored or lost. Instead, this story or stories is/are engaging and never gets old. This is about a sultan who marries a new woman every night and kills his bride in the morning. His new bride, Shahrazad, prolongs her life indefinitely by telling a never-ending series of stories.
[image error]15. My books: Gryphendale, The Shadow of the Gryphon, and The Gryphon’s Handmaiden (being released January 29th)
So maybe it seems unfair to add my own books to this list, but since it is a list of my personal favorites, I’m being honest. I really do enjoy my own books and read them over again. I write the kind of books I like to read. These books are grown-up fairy tales with a Christian worldview. They are fun and end with hope. The characters are each different from each other in their own quirky ways, and I laugh at my own jokes. I also cry at my characters’ sorrows. I suppose that if I didn’t like my books then why would I expect anyone else to love them?
Some books profoundly influenced my life that did not make it onto this list. It’s hard to choose favorites when there are so many outstanding books. My criteria was whether I would read the books over and over again which I almost never do with most books. I also cheated by counting an entire series as a single book on the list. This is because I would recommend buying the series at the same time. I like books and can’t imagine not finishing a series! These are all classics for a good reason. I may do a “best of” this year at some point, but I don’t read many brand new books except by indie writers. The only reason is that I’m cheap like that.
