My Top 100 Favorite Books - In No Particular Order

In the fifteen places I have lived in the last nineteen years of my life these are the books I have lovingly packed from house to house.  They have been read facing the very mountain range Steinbeck was describing in the town where he grew up, on the floor of a completely empty Atlanta airport at 3am, on a depressing roadtrip using Sedaris to combat an otherwise miserable drive with miserable people, in times of love Neruda and in times of heartbreak Ovid or Cohen.  

While I have read the majority of what most consider classics this is not that list, though there are a few in here. They are not in order of importance or genre, or alphabetical. Maybe you will enjoy some of them as well. They are all linked to their Goodread's Information Page. If you would like to follow me on Goodread's my page is here: Susan Geissler On Goodreads

1. The Night Circus - Erin Morganstern
2. Jitterbug Perfume - Tom Robbins
3. Stranger Music: Selected Poems & Songs - Leonard Cohen
4. Winter's Tale - Mark Helprin
5. The Book of Illusions - Paul Auster
6. The Secret History - Donna Tartt 
7. The Natural - Bernard Malamud
8. Prozac Nation - Elizabeth Wurtzel
9. Birds of America - Lorrie Moore
10. The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand
11. Bust: The Guide To the New Girl Order - Debbie Stoller
12. The Ground Beneath Her Feet - Salman Rushdie
13. The Collected Poems - W.B. Yeats 
14. The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
15. High Fidelity - Nick Hornby 
16. Less Than Zero - Bret Easton Ellis
17. East of Eden - John Steinbeck 
18. The Robber Bride - Margaret Atwood
19. An American Journey - Colin Powell 
20. Catcher in the Wry - Bob Uecker 
21. The Shipping News - E. Annie Proulx
22. Empire Falls - Richard Russo
23. Bel Canto - Ann Patchett 
24. The World According To Garp - John Irving
25. Phantom of the Opera - Gaston Laroux
26. The Risk Pool - Richard Russo
27. Lady Chatterly's Lover - D.H. Lawrence
28. Ball Four - Jim Bouton 
29. This Side of Paradise - F. Scott Fitzgerald
30. Alias Grace - Margaret Atwood
31. The Martian Chronicles - Ray Bradbury 
32. On the Road - Jack Kerouac
33. The Sociopath Next Door - Martha Stout, ph.d.
34. Drinking, Smoking & Screwing: Great Writers on Good Times - Various Authors
35. Blonde - Joyce Carol Oates
36. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail - Cheryl Strayed
37. The Pacific and Other Stories - Mark Helprin
38. The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
39. The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis
40. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
41. The Art of Racing in the Rain - Garth Stein
42. 11/22/63 - Stephen King
43. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
44. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
45. The Road - Cormac McCarthy
46. Lullaby - Chuck Palaniuk 
47. Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling
48. The Hitchkiders Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
49. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens 
50. Glamourama - Bret Easton Ellis
51. Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
52. Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austen
53. Friday Night Lights - H.G. Bissinger
54. The Tender Bar - J.R. Moehringer
55. Selected Poems - Pablo Neruda 
56. The Ice Storm - Rick Moody
57. V for Vendetta - Alan Moore
58. Dry - Augusten Burroughs
59. American Gods - Neil Gaiman
60. The Year of Magical Thinking - Joan Didion
61. Wicked - Gregory Maguire
62. 1 Dead in Attic - Chris Rose
63. Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris
64. Carter Beats the Devil - Glen David Gold
65. Gone With the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
66. Choke - Chuck Palaniuk 
67. House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski
68. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
69. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil - John Berendt
70. Persuasion - Jane Austen
71. The Girl's Guide to Hunting & Fishing - Melissa Bank
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker 
73. Blankets - Craig Thompson
74. A Place of Execution - Val McDermid
75. The Postman Always Rings Twice - James M. Cain
76. The Hours - Michael Cunningham
77. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
78. The Curious Incidence of the Dog in the Nighttime - Mark Haddon
79. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
80. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
81. Cat's Eye - Margaret Atwood
82. Delta of Venus - Anais Nin
83. The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis
84. Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn
85. The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success - Deepak Chopra
86. The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje
87. Where the Sidewalk Ends - Shel Silverstein
88. The Devil In the White City - Erik Larson
89. One Day - David Nicolls
90. Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert
91. Thus Spoke Zarathustra - Friedrich Nietzsche
92. The Virgin Suicides - Jeffery Eugenides 
93. A Streetcar Named Desire - Tennessee Williams
94. The Color Purple - Alice Walker 
95. It - Stephen King
96. Happy Birthday To You! - Dr. Seuss
97. Generation X - Douglas Coupland
98. Love Poems, Letters, and Remedies of OVID - Ovid
99. The Night Listener - Armistead Maupin
100. Why Architecture Matters: Lessons in Chicago - Blair Kamin

Crowdsourcing Your Friends About Books

Every year I determine my goals for the New Year. About five years ago I stopped doing traditional resolutions STOP EATING! STOP SITTING! STOP FUN! and started doing things that improved my relationships with friends, family, or the world around me. 

This year one of my resolutions will be to Read Books Adored by People I Adore. In the past I've read through a large amount of the books traditionally listed in the Best of... collections. I've found some beautiful work but so often I have found it more enjoyable to read things that my friends love and will want to talk about. You discover a lot about people from reading things they enjoy. 

I will upload my goal list and also a list of the books that I would recommend to my friends tomorrow. The ones I've never stopped quoting or have left my head and heart. 

To get ideas for my final list (to be released soon) I crowdsourced my friends for ideas. Many of these books will not go on the 2013 list because I've already read them but I have new topics to discuss next time we see each other. I included their full suggestions below with their names in parenthetical in case you would like to try some new books as well. I am again reminded how lucky I have to have such intelligent company that surrounds me. 

These are their answers to the question:
"There are no rules to genre, theme, length, topic, appropriateness, maturity level or public perception. So I want to know...what are the books you can't imagine having not read. What are your favorites of all time? What were the game changers? I'd love some suggestions as I make my list."

1. Assholes (a theory) - James Aaron (Lizzie Maldonado)
2. A Thousand Splendid Suns - Kahled Hosseini (Jordan Ditty, Maria Cupp)
3. Bird by Bird - Anne Lamott (Lizzie Maldonado)
4. The Hunter - Richard Stark (Britt Schramm)
5. Life on Planet Rock - Lonn Friend (Britt Schramm)
6. Such a Pretty Fat: One Narcissist's Quest To Discover If Her Life Makes Her Ass Look Big, Or Why Pie Is Not the Answer - Jen Lancaster (Melinda Massie)
7. Redeeming Love - Francine Rivers (Melissa Ward Brock, Alyson Tidwell)
8. Same Kind of Different Than Me - (Melissa Ward Brock)
9. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell (Librado Lopez)
10. 1Q84 - Haruki Murakami (Librado Lopez) 
11. The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail - But Some Don't - Nate Silver (Jacob Siler)
12. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott (Kristina Hernandez) 
13. Guilty Pleasures - Laurell K. Hamilton (Kristina Hernandez)
14. The Dark Tower - Stephen King (Blake Northern, Cameron Lowry, Kelli Harrington)
15. Discovery of Witches - Deborah Harkness (Kelli Harrington)
16. The Shining - Stephen King (Katie Grimes, David Michaels) 
17. The David Sedaris Collection (Katie Grimes, Tom Harrington)
18. Black Coffee Blues - Henry Rollins (Katie Grimes)
19. Small Gods - Terry Pratchett (Randi Edwards)
20. Night Watch - Terry Pratchett (Randi Edwards)
21. The Memoirs of Cleopatra - Margaret George (Randi Edwards)
22. Triggerfish Twist - Tim Dorsey (Randi Edwards)
23. A Walk in the Woods - Bill Bryson (Randi Edwards)
24. Candide - Voltaire (Randi Edwards)
25. Frankenstein - Mary Shelley (Randi Edwards)
26. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson (Randi Edwards)
27. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller (Jody Arbuckle Ulich)
28. Assassination Nation - Sarah Vowell (Jessica Hoover)
29. Cheat: A Man's Guide To Infidelity - Bill Burr, Robert Kelly, Joe DeRosa (Chris Guilloton)
30. The Botany of Desire - Michael Pollan (Jessica Hoover)
31. A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving (Mike Springer)
32. Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry (Mike Springer)
33. The Night Trilogy - Elie Wiesel (Mike Springer)
34. Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure The World (Mike Springer)
35. Traveling Mercies - Anne Lamott (Mike Springer)
36. The Education of Little Tree - Forrest Carter (Mike Springer)
37. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness In the Fair that Changed America - Erik Larson (Mike Springer, Rich Nazarro, Alyson Tidwell)
38. The Big Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes - Bryan Burroughs (Mike Springer)
39. The Art of Racing in the Rain - Garth Stein (Mike Springer, Dr. David Rocks)
40. A Game of Thrones - George R.R. Martin (Lauren Martin) 
41. Bitter Is the New Black - Jen Lancaster (Lauren Martin)
42. The 5 People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Ablom (Debbie Thomas) 
43. Mysteries of Pittsburgh - Michael Chabon (Mary Wiernicki) 
44. The Prince of Tides - Pat Conroy (Mary Wiernicki)
45. The Brothers Karamazov - Leo Tolstoy - (David Michaels)
46. The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand (David Michaels)
47. Naked Lunch - William S. Burroughs (David Michaels)
48. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test - Tom Woolf (David Michaels)
49. A Perfect Day for Bananafish - J.D. Salinger (David Michaels)
50. Women - Charles Bukowski (David Michaels)
51. World War Z - Max Brooks (David Michaels)
52. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man - John Perkins (Brad Sims)
53. Redneck Manifesto: How Hillbillies, Hicks, and White Trash Have Become America's Scapegoats - Jim Goad (Brad Sims)
54. Dry - Augusten Burroughs (Ana Sanchez-Morales)
55. The Sweet Potato Queens Book of Love - Jill Conner Browne (Ana Sanchez-Morales) 
56. Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone To Action - Simon Sinek (Simon Salt)
57. Amazing Things Will Happen - C.C. Chapman (Simon Salt)
58. The Lightning Thief - Rick Riorden (Jay DiBenedetto)
59. The Sun Also Rises - Rick Riorden (Jay DiBenedetto)
60. The Vonnegut Collection (David Michaels, Emerson Ailidh Boggs)
61. Darkness at Noon - Arthur Koestler (Emerson Ailidh Boggs)
62. Middlesex - Jeffery Eugenides (Emerson Ailidh Boggs) 
63. Dogs of Babel - Carolyn Parkhurst (Emerson Ailidh Boggs)
64. Chariots of the Gods - Erich von Daniken (Lucas Parks)
65. Mark of the Lion Series - Francine Rivers (Alyson Tidwell)
66. Armed to the Teeth With Lipstick - Blag Dalia (Dan Winemiller)
67. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert Pirsig (Charles Soule)
68. Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand (Kalen Craig Ruiz)
69. Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austen (Kalen Craig Ruiz)
70. The Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon (Kalen Craig Ruiz)
71. Prodigal Summer - Barbara Kingsolver (Maria Cupp)
72. The Princess Bride - William Goldman (Cameron Lowry)
73. We Were Soldiers Once...and Young - Harold Moore (Cameron Lowry)
74. The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog - John Erikson (Cameron Lowry)
75. The Dresden Files - Jim Butcher (Kathy Bugajsky)
76. The End of Your Life Bookclub - Will Schwalbe (Kathy Bugajsky)
77. Devil of Nanking - Mo Hayder (Caroline Guttery)
78. Wind Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami (Caroline Guttery)
79. Everything is Illuminated - Jonathan Safran Foer (Caroline Guttery)
80. The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho (Caroline Guttery) 
81. Ellen Foster - Kaye Gibbons (Caroline Guttery) 
82. The Secret History - Donna Tartt (Caroline Guttery) 
83. Fool - Christopher Moore (Pete Rearden) 
84. The Godhead Trilogy - James K. Morrow (Pete Rearden)  
85. The Places In Between - Rory Stewart (Pete Rearden)