hogglestock

When I made the chart below showing the distribution of my book ratings I noticed that 23 of the 646 books I have read since 1995 fell into the “All Time Favorite” category. Keep in mind these are not in any order, and they don’t necessarily equate to “great books”. They are just books that were my favorites. And please keep in mind they don’t take into account anything I read before 1995, so not all of my all time favorites are listed here.

It was interesting to see what showed up on the list. Although I am not a huge fan of non-fiction, six putative works of non-fiction showed up:
In Cold Blood – Truman Capote
The Piano Shop on the Left Bank – Thad Carhart
Ex Libris – Anne Fadiman
The Diary of a Young Girl – Anne Frank
84, Charing Cross Road – Helene Hanff
Comfort Me With Apples – Ruth Reichl

There were two that can be considered “juvenile” books:
Harriet the Spy – Louise Fitzhugh
Heidi – Johanna Spyri

Five that could be considered “classics”:
A Room with a View – E.M. Forster
A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving
The Color Purple – Alice Walker
The Age of Innocence – Edith Wharton
The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde

And the rest are just novels that I really liked for one reason or another:
Oryx and Crake – Margaret Atwood
The Robber Bride – Margaret Atwood
The Uncommon Reader – Alan Bennett
Entries From a Hot Pink Notbook – Todd Brown
The Professor’s House – Willa Cather
The Seven Sisters – Margaret Drabble
The Student Conductor – Robert Ford
Under the Net – Iris Murdoch
As for Me and My House – Sinclair Ross
Tepper Isn’t Going Out – Calvin Trillin

Not surprisingly to me, 13 of the 23 books were written by women.