Tomorrow is moving day!

As you can imagine, my brain is mush.

So instead of writing you something mushy (though I do love you dearly) I thought I’d answer the one question I get more than any other:

What are your favorite books? 

And thus, without regard for my ego, my literary cred, or any attempt to be balanced, here are my absolute favorite books in the world.  These are the ones I read and reread when I need comfort, inspiration, or I’m trying to remember who I want to be in the world.

(I’ll have you know that this was harder to do than usual, because all my books are packed! You can tell me which ones I missed…)

(Also I must tell you that the pressure to only choose snooty too-cool artsy smart books was STRONG. But I resisted.  Just for you.)

A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L’Engle (but be sure to read A Wrinkle In Time and A Wind in the Door first!)

Franny And Zooey and Raise High The Roofbeams, Carpenters by JD Salinger

Expecting Adam and Leaving The Saints by Martha Beck

Rosie and Crooked Little Heart by Anne Lamott

The Bean Trees, Animal Dreams, and Small Wonder by Barbara Kingsolver

Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed

Bird by Bird and Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott

the Brambly Hedge books by Jill Barklem

Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson

The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures by Anne Fadiman

Birds of America by Lorrie Moore

Picnic, Lightning by Billy Collins

10-lb Penalty and Banker by Dick Francis

Between The Acts and Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Carry On Warrior by Glennon Doyle

Eat Pray Love and The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

Birthing From Within by Pam England

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor

Sacred Choices by Christel Nani

The Harry Potter books by JK Rowling

September by Rosamunde Pilcher

Parenting Without Power Struggles by Susan Stiffelman

Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom by Christiane Northrup

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

Young, Fabulous and Broke by Suze Orman

The Shipping News by Annie Proulx

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

Insanely Simple: The Obsession That Drives Apple’s Success by Ken Segall

Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

Just writing this list is like visiting old friends.

Okay, now tell me yours.

much love, 
Anna

P.S. Next week I’ll have pictures in my new house!!!  In my fantasy they’re all beautiful!! But in reality it’ll still be piles of boxes!  OHHHH well.  Reality is a bitch sometimes.  But we shall kiss her on the mouth and woo her with apples until we are in love again.