A book is a window to the world Part 1

Note: After I started this post and began to go through my books I decided my list would be to long, so I am breaking this down into a couple of entries.

Part 1

I'm not too sure who said A book is a window to the world besides me. I often give myself credit for quotes that I think are originally mine only to find later that someone else said the same thing first or better.

If you have read my profile you already know that I am an avid reader, and I do mean avid. I can't imagine where I would be right now in my life without my love for reading. I have learned more from reading on my own than I ever learned in a classroom. When I read I do exactly as I do when I write. I block out everything and everyone around me. That's not always a good thing.

I mentioned some of my favorite authors and books in my profile, but I wanted to elaborate more. Although, I tend to lean more toward non-fiction with anything regarding politics or journalists (mostly bios) at the top of my list, I really am versatile in what I read and I also enjoy fiction. The thing is, I don't read only for pleasure. I read to absorb something new. When I start a book I don't nurse it along. I get with the program and don't rest (usually I don't sleep either) until I've finished.

So, kind of like the post where I shared my favorite music, I want to share some of my favorite books. I will say that it is hard to just pick a few of my favorites because there are so many, and some are kind of off the beaten track (sort of like me).

I'll try to break these down into some order and may mention the author first instead of the book. I have a habit of starting on an author and if they're someone I really like to read I pretty much go through everything they have written.

Classics/Literature
Everything by Hemingway (Best: Islands in the Stream and A Movable Feast Hemingway is my favorite author)
J R R Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (Best: The Fellowship of the Ring)
The Odyssey of Homer A Verse Translation by Allen Mandelbaum

Miscellaneous/Odds and Ends
The Life of Mahatma Gandhi by Fisher (Gandhi remains one of my all time favorite reads)
John Updike's Rabbit series (Best: Rabbit at Rest)
Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes and Teacher Man
A Monk Swimming Malachy McCourt
Maya Angelou (I have all her books but I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is my favorite)
The Rice Room Ben Fong Torres
Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven and Tuesdays with Morrie
Devine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Little Altars Everywhere Rebecca Wells (these are girlie books)
Hotel New Hampshire John Irving (this is the strangest book I think I have ever read but couldn't put it down)
E.L. Doctrow (Best: Worlds Fair and Lives of the Poets: A Novella and Six Stories
The Prayer of Jabez Bruce H. Wilkinson


Stay tuned for Part 2. A continued list of odds and ends and a list of the best left wing books around and some off the beaten track reads.

Let me just add here that the one most important book that I have read and continue to read is the Holy Bible.