Musing Mondays

MM is hosted by Rebecca at Just One More Page.


Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about the ‘best’ books'.
She writes:
There’s been some discussion on my blog this week about what should or shouldn’t make a ‘best' books’ list. What elements do you think lands a book in that ‘best’ category? Think of your top 5 best books and tune in next week to see the collated list.


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I think that asking someone what they would put on their "best" list is like delving into religion and politics. ~grins~
(not that I don't love these lists, because I do!  I love reading about what others love to read)


What would (and does) make my "best" list, is not the same---nor nearly as literary--as most of you. As I've often said, I'm not a book reviewer, I'm just a lover of books (it says so on my license plate), and what I love about books is the feeling they give me, long after I've put them down.


Goodnight Moon could make my list....because it gives me the BEST feeling, holding a grandbaby and reading it. (so does Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb, dum ditty, dum ditty, dum, dum, dum. GOOD STUFF when you're reading to a one-year old)


The Godfather could make my list....because it gives me the BEST memory for hiding under the covers, long after I should have been asleep, reading a grown-up book, when I probably wasn't old enough to "get it". (or Valley of the Dolls, or the Exorcist...all of which I read when I was 12! If my parents had only known!)


The Call of the Wild could make my list....because it gave me the BEST sense of adventure I had ever felt in my entire life (again, I was 12).


My Sister's Keeper could make my list....because, while yes, I know it's a bit mass-markety, the ending really did give me the BEST shock ending I had read in a long time!


The Shining could make my list....because, it gave me the BEST scare ever!


One for the Money could make my list....because Stephanie Plumb gives me some of the BEST laughs ever.


I do love Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, To Kill a Mockingbird, Oh Pioneers, The Great Gatsby....I do. I really do. But "best" is subjective. And really, I am writing down titles off the other "besties lists" to read. Brideshead Revisited being on the top of the list. And Death Comes to the Archbishop. I'm excited to read these, because I haven't.


Please don't hate me for not following the "best" rules. (what were they again?) Like I said, best is subjective and this is "my" best.


1. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
2. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
3. Seventeenth Summer by Maureen Daly (My first romance book... I learned not to call a boy or kiss until the 3rd date at least!)
4. The Hobbit ( I read it long before Lord of The Rings--it started it all)
5. The Changeling by Zilpha Keatly Snyder (I saw her at a convention once and I told her that was a life changing book for me...in the 4th grade. She said, "oh, you're one of those...changelings". Then I was sure there was a secret club, a secret world, a secret message....meant just for me and other lovers of the Changeling )