Check out 50 of my favorite books, listed here by title. Maybe they wouldn't all qualify for an official list of the absolute best books of all time, but these are favorites because they do rank as the most important, most moving, most entertaining, most empowering and/or most inspiring books I have encountered so far.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver
Beloved, by Toni Morrison
Bet Me, by Jennifer Crusie
The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
Bobbie Faye’s Very (very, very, very) Bad Day, by Toni McGee Causey
Bobbie Faye’s (kinda, sorta, not exactly) Family Jewels, by Toni McGee Causey
The Chosen, by Chiam Potek
The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
Dance of the Gods (Book 2 of the Circle Trilogy), by Nora Roberts
Dance Upon the Air (Book 1 of Three Sisters Island series), by Nora Roberts
Dancing Shoes and Honky-Tonk Blues, by LuAnn McLane
Delicious, by Sherry Thomas
Don Quixote, Miguel Cervantes
Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
Ever Since Darwin, by Stephen Jay Gould
Every Number is Lucky to Someone, by Sean Leary
Face the Fire (Book 3 of Three Sisters Island series), by Nora Roberts
The Heart of a Woman, by Maya Angelou
Heaven and Earth (Book 2 of Three Sisters Island series), by Nora Roberts
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
Into Thick Air, by Jim Malusa
The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan
The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula Le Guin
Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Macbeth, by William Shakespeare
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, by Oscar Hijuelos
The Matchmaker of Perigord, by Julia Stuart
The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Montage of a Dream Deferred, by Langston Hughes
Morning Glory, by LaVyrle Spencer
Morrigan’s Cross (Book 1 of the Circle Trilogy), by Nora Roberts
My Mother/My Self, by Nancy Friday
Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich
One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Our Bodies, Ourselves, by the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective
Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions, by Gloria Steinem
Phenomenal Woman, by Maya Angelou
The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant
Singin’ and Swingin’ and Getting’ Merry Like Christmas, by Maya Angelou
Tales of the City, by Armistead Maupin
The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran
The Temple of My Familiar, by Alice Walker
Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
Tipping the Velvet, by Sarah Waters
Ulysses, by James Joyce
Valley of Silence (Book 3 of the Circle Trilogy), by Nora Roberts
Warrior Rising, by P.C. Cast
Where the Sidewalk Ends, by Shel Silverstein
Why Big Fierce Animals Are Rare, by Paul Colinvaux
