Top Ten Books I'd Save If My House Was On Fire
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly featured hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week they post a new topic/Top Ten list and invite everyone to share their own answers. I'm already so obsessed with lists so I'm excited to participate! This week's feature actually said "Top Ten Books I'd Save If My Was Abducted by Aliens (or any other natural disaster)" - so I made mine as if my house was on fire.
When I first made this list, I wrote down my ten favorite books. The ones that have meant the most to me. And then I realized that I needed to start over because my ten favorite books aren't the same as the ten books I'd save if my house was on fire. So here are the ten books that I'd save and what they taught me about reading.
1. A Day with Josephine and Her Friends by Pamela Prince - I used to love reading with my grandmother, who I call Grammy, and this book was one of my favorites in her collection. In fact, years ago, I actually asked her if I could keep it. I still love to look through it and admire the incredible illustrations. This book reminds me of the huge influence someone can have on your love of books.
2. Mad About Madeline: The Complete Tales by Ludwig Bemelmans - Madeline was my favorite book as a very little girl, and I had the entire thing memorized. A few years ago, I bought this collection that contains all of the Madeline stories. It is, without a doubt, my favorite book from my childhood. Seeing it on my shelf reminds me of the wonder of learning to read and all the places you can visit in a book.
3. Hannah and the Best Father on Route 9W by Mindy Warsaw Skolsky - Grammy gave me this book two months after I was born. How do I know? She dated and wrote a note in every book she gave me. I absolutely loved this book because the heroine's name is Hannah, which is also my name, and I thought I must be extra special to have a character in a book with the same name as me. It reminds of that wonderful feeling when you identify with a character in a book.
4. Annabel's House by Norman Messenger - This is a book with no words. It's a picture book, a house for paper dolls, and an Edwardian stage set. Now you're intrigued. Every spread is a different room in this elegant British home. The paper doll family included a father, mother, daughter, son, cook, maid and nanny that were stored in a back pocket. I spent hours playing with this book, coming up with my own stories and adventures for every member of the house. This book reminds that the best stories can often come from your own imagination.
5. The Annotated Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery - Anne Shirley was one of the many reasons I fell in love with reading. While I'd like to save everything I own by L.M. Montgomery, this book is my favorite. It's Anne of Green Gables that reminds me of the thrill that comes with finding a heroine that you want to call a friend and a world that you want to call your own.
6. Pride and Prejudice: The Annotated Edition by Jane Austen - I have a small collection of copies of Pride and Prejudice that I'm slowly adding to as I find more. I had a hard time deciding which copy I loved the most, but ultimately settled on this gorgeous edition. This book reminds me of the joy of finding a book you want to read again and again.
7. Savannah from Savannah by Denise Hildreth - When I first read this book, I fell in love with Savannah. I'm not always good at sharing books that I really love because I'm always scared that I won't get them back. I went out on a limb and loaned this to several of my friends. It took a while to come back to me, but it made it back all the same. The book is practically falling apart, and my friends wrote all over the margins. Looking at it reminds me that the joy of finding a book you love is in sharing it with the people you love.
8. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy - I'd definitely save my copy Anna Karenina, which I read in my AP Lit class my senior year of high school. I love flipping back through it and seeing all the passages that I marked. I can still remember my sense of pride when I turned the last page and realized I had read the entire book. I'd save this book because I love being reminded of that sense of accomplishment when you finish a book that intimidated you.
9. The Life Application Study Bible - Grammy gave me this Bible when I graduated high school. I took this Bible to college with me, and it's been with me ever since. Without a doubt, I'd definitely toss this in my "save these books" bag. It reminds me that the Bible is meant to be shared, not kept to ourselves, and that the best gift of all is its daily guidance.
10. My Kindle - You might think I'm cheating with this one, but one of the many reasons I love owning a Kindle is that my entire library can be stored on this one device. Anddddd.... if my house did burn down, I wouldn't have to replace all my books. My Kindle reminds me that whether it's on paper or on a screen, a book's magic is the story itself and isn't limited by its format.
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